Bike handling
Bike handling
Hammond’s skills on the bike were honed during a cyclo-cross career that earned him eight national titles and the junior world champion crown.
And he is not the only one to benefit on the cobbles from the skills gained in cyclo-cross either – with former ‘cross world champion Lars Boom having won the cobbled stage of the Tour de France last year.
Zdenek Stybar is another former ‘cross man excelling in the spring Classics and Hammond believes the discipline taught him a lot.
“My ‘cross background was hugely beneficial. It’s one of the main reasons I used to carry on doing cyclo-cross throughout the winter, through my entire career,” he says.
“It all goes back to that first bit of advice I gave to try and relax on the cobbles. You don’t get too much opportunity to ride on cobbles and ride on a bike that’s bouncing around all over the place. But cyclo-cross is very similar in that regard.
“The bike’s bouncing around all over the place, especially when you ride on ice or frozen rutted ground. You’re not really in control of the bike so you just have to relax and let it ride.
“As soon as you start tensing up and freezing on the bike you start crashing – and frequently.
“There’s nothing like ‘cross for getting a two-wheel slide on the bike and really pushing the limit if handling on the bike.”
Indeed, Hammond can recall one such incident in 2009 when he was riding alongside team-mate Thor Hushovd in pursuit of the lead group.
He recounts: “I still remember now when I bridged across to the group with Thor Hushovd in 2009, on the cobbles I went around a corner and did a two-wheel slide across them and the only thing that kept me up was the fact I bounced off the grass verge on the side of the road.
“I just remember thinking at the time, ‘ah well that was pretty cool’, but then I could imagine other people will be in a complete panic and slam on the brakes. For me it was just second nature because I did it throughout the winter.
“It didn’t feel all that outrageous to me at the time. I think it was hugely beneficial. The training for ‘cross was also very good for Paris-Roubaix.
“Roubaix is all about going deep and then getting back down out of your oxygen debt as quickly as possible and ‘cross was always like that to me.”