Sam Allen

• born:

  11/09/90

• team:

  Hennebont cyclisme

• sponsors:

  Ouest Telecom

• nickname:

  Smallen

• website:

  www.hennebontcyclisme.com/

• likes:

  Cycling,eating,music,France

• dislikes:

  Cats

• favourite rider:

  Fabian Cancellara

• favourite race:

  Paris Roubaix

• If money was no object what would be the first thing you would buy:

  SRM Powermeter

• Race history:

  I stared racing when i was 16 having been a swimmer and triathlete from a young age. i raced a bit as a junior but it wasn't until i 18 that i started to take it more seriously.  In that year i when from 4th cat to elite with many wins in crits and a stage race. After this i decided what what i wanted to do and the following year headed to France with the help of the John Ibbotson funding with the ambition to turn Professional. In my my first year in France i was i bit of a shock being totally different to what i was used to in the UK but soon adapted to the racing and ended the year with 25 top 10 and although no wins i developed at a rider and mentally became a lot stronger. i also knew what i had to do the next year to be competing with the best. i had also got into one of the top amateur teams in France so was really looking forward to my second year. i trained well over the winter with the help of Dan Lloyd and entered my second year in great form in the big early season classics (Elite National) i was getting into the winning breaks every week getting top 10s and was getting closer to that big win. i had just been picked  for one of the biggest stage races in Brittany when a few days before i was hit by a van in a race. i was lucky that i only come away with a broken collarbone, ribs and a damaged hip as it could have been a lot worse but that was pretty much the end of my season as i never managed to recover fully from my injury's. This year i really felt it was going to be a good one, i had recovered well and again come into the season in good form. i just missed out in wining one of my first races with a puncture in the last 5km having been away all day. It seemed like the bad luck was going to continue, my next race i crashed badly in a bunch pileup and broke my collarbone again which had to be operated. This put me out for 7 weeks but managed to get back racing in the April. Having done just 2 races i crashed out again while training, hitting a pot hole. My head wasn't in a good place after this so went back to the uk to try and recover. i managed to recoverer and decided to do a small race in the uk before going back to france when my chain snapped in the race hitting the floor at 35mph. This time no broken bones but a lot of skin missing, now with a 2 inch hole in my knee which i had to have stitched back together but this was far harder to recover from then my collarbone, i couldn't do anything for 2 months! In august ended up going to the south of France, starting from scratch and tried to prepare my self best i could for the end on the season, as i wasn't going to let this beat me. This end of the season has been better for me with some top 15 in some big races as well as 6th in the National U23 TT Champs and 9th in the Tour de Rhuys which has been good for my confidence and i am more motivated now then i have ever been to have a great year next year.          

   

   

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