World Tour cyclist Tom Scully had a Polish chef to thank for his fifth appearance in a Grand Tour earlier this year.
The 2019 Southland Sportsperson of the Year is home for his first decent New Zealand summer in three years, nabbing one of the final two-week MIQ spots in order to be back in Cromwell for his sister’s wedding in the New Year.
It’s a time to reflect for the 31-year-old, who recently re-signed with his EF Pro Cycling team for the next two years.
And when he looks back on the 2021 season, there’s a great yarn which underlines just what a crazy existence being a professional bike rider is.
Scully was a late call up for La Vuelta, the Tour of Spain, in August. It’s one of the three biggest races on the calendar alongside the Giro d’Italia and, of course, the Tour de France.
The only problem was that he was already entered in the Tour of Poland, some 3000km away, with time running out to make the start line.
“I got a call saying someone was sick and I was the first reserve for Spain. I didn’t even have enough time to repack my suitcase.”
Scully was dropped at the train station by team staff hurrying to stay in front of the race, but he’d already missed that day’s train.
A taxi driver refused to drive him because he didn’t want a bike on the back seat of his Mercedes, but then a woman who could speak English realised Scully’s predicament and found the train station’s chef, who owned a van and was willing to drive Scully 400km across Poland to Warsaw so he could catch another train south.
“I rang my general manager and he said to do whatever was necessary. The guy didn’t speak much English but we were able to have a rough conversation and I found out about how he made vodka in his basement. It’s probably not the ideal preparation for a three-week race, but these things happen and you’ve just go to roll with it. You turn up and do your job.”
Scully’s cycling career has had plenty of ‘Sliding Doors’ moments, from teams falling over due to financial issues, a serious crash in Ireland in 2010, points race gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and silver in the same event at the 2014 world track championships, to competing on the fabled Flemish cobblestones and across all three Grand Tours.
He’s spent half a decade with Education First, developing a reputation as a rider – the French term is domestique – who will remain calm, stop those around him from panicking and do whatever is necessary to help his team succeed.
“It’s all about being able to turn up, kit up and do what you are told. That could be riding over five mountains or staying on the front in the crosswinds. You have to be pretty flexible, otherwise if you only have one thing you are good at you can get shoehorned into one role and they will only call on you when they need you.”
After a relaxing few weeks – Scully opted to do MIQ without bike, trainer or oxygen tent – thoughts are turning to next season.
February’s opening weekend in Belgium, alongside a bunch of European riders who have been training in the south of Spain, is never far from his mind as he rides a lap of Lake Dunstan or down through the Catlins.
Scully recently attended the Southland track champs, both impressed with the quality on display and also a little taken aback at the thought of how far he has travelled – both geographically and metaphorically – in the past decade.
“It was great to catch up with a lot of familiar faces and talk a bit of shop, about how it was when I was there. There’s a lot of good Southland people who have helped me out along the way and we were all there watching the next generation come through,” he said.
“It’s all there in front of those riders if they want it, they just have to pick their own pathway.”
During a training ride down to Bluff with good friend Shane Archbold, Scully came across the hugely talented junior Josh Burnett, a stage winner in his first SBS Bank Tour of Southland earlier this year, and the trio had a good chat about cycling and life and everything that comes with it.
Excitingly for Southland cycling fans, Scully is hoping to ride the Gore to Invercargill Classic in February before returning to Europe, where another season of toil and triumph await.
“It’s a journey but you don’t set out on it, you start just doing it and the next thing you know 10 years have gone past,” he said.
“It’s a good feeling to get that contract signed and know there’s a pathway for me. At 31, I don’t know how many years I’ll have left, but I’m still enjoying it and I know a lot about how I ride best, how I prepare best. You are constantly learning and that’s the side that I enjoy.”
Source: Academy Southland, Republished by arrangement.