Today Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Zdenek Stybar was presented with his all-new S-Works carbon CruX Cyclo-cross bicycle, designed specifically for his needs by Specialized. Specialized was able to get personal with his frame design in a way he had never seen before.
"This frame is great," Stybar said. "With the geometry and these things it is very hard to make things quite personal. But I think the bike, with cyclo-cross, it's all about details. The brakes, the cables — every little detail means so much. So it was really great, with what we said along with our mechanic, that you can see every detail we asked for on the frame. It's really the bike I was waiting for.
Stybar also discussed his aspirations for the 2012 UCI Road World Championship, held on Sunday. Stybar is coming off his first road season, in which he won Tour de Pologne Stage 3 and also completed his first Grand Tour: La Vuelta a Espana.
"La Vuelta was a great experience," Stybar said. "I learned a lot during the race and I'm sure it will be important for the rest of my carreer. Concerning Worlds, it will be my first participation. I really would like to do well. I don't know what I can expect from the race. I'm curious. For sure I will try to stay with the best even in the final."
As far as cyclo-cross season goes, Stybar said his approach will be very different. Rather than focus his training strictly on cyclo-cross season, he will use cyclo-cross as a training method for the 2013 road season.
"After the first training camp I will be there at the cyclo-cross races until the Czech Championship for sure," Stybar said. "Because it is in the place where I live in Czech Republic, and my dad is the race organizer. So I have to start there anyway. Then I will decide if I will do the Cyclo-Cross World Championship or not. I can't really say if I can do that yet or not, it is too far away at the moment. I don't know how well I will do in the cyclo-cross races because now, when I am at the start, I will start always as the last one. I will have no points from the world cups or the other races. I will likely start from 50th and 60th position from my first races. It will be really hard to get in front, but I will do my best to get there despite these circumstances. I will use cyclo-cross to use as good preparation for the Spring Classics, to get started on the road again."
PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Keiser