Chris Opie is one of the top British pro's in the peloton at the moment, and the ONE Pro Cycling rider took some time to talk to us about how its going.
Chris Opie has a palmares ranging from stages in the Tour of Libya to the Stockton Grand Prix. Opie was a young bloomer, starting racing at the age of 10 years old 'It was always there' he says 'it was always something i wanted to do.' Chris went on racing from there and started to realise he could make it as a teenager. Despite this, Chris had to endure a few years of hurt after having multiple different crashes and injuries. 'My biggest setback was in the years when I was 19,20. I couldn't really get back to the level i was at when i was 18 (before the crashes and setbacks).' This eventually paid off for Chris, as he got his first pro contract with Team UK Youth in 2012 and then moving to the Rapha Condor-JLT squad in 2014.
When asked about his long term goals, Chris remains very humble claiming that he just wants to 'get the best out of himself' and 'be a good father.' He is however a lot more than a 'good father', with 24th in the Handzame Classic and a crash ruling him out of the Three Days Of De Panne. Chris goes next to the Volta Limburg Classic where he will be riding with the likes of Marcin Bialoblocki and Matt Goss for the ONE Pro cycling squad. When asked about what ONE has done for him, Chris comments on the positive environment of the squad. 'I feel as though they have helped me hugely, its a really positive environment with a race program that suits me.' The race program has improved greatly since the team became Pro Continental.'also the facilities that the team offers are wonderful and i feel that gives me the opportunity to get the results.'
After recent events we felt it appropriate to ask Chris to comment on the safety of the riders in the peloton. 'Lots of it has to do with the riders common sense, lots of riders fight for positions that they dont need too.' Chris comments on this after having a nasty crash in the three days of De Panne. 'Also the race organizers can help with the route. For example in the tour of De Panne there were tram tracks in the middle of the road which you couldn't really avoid.' Many riders feel the same way, as so called 'road furniture' has caused many crashes in the peloton and are probably more dangerous than the motorbikes and the neutral service cars.
This year Chris plans to take assault on the National Championships in Stockton and after his win on the circuit last year in the Stockton GP and his powerful sprint, he is definitely amongst the favorites.
Lastly we'd just like to say thank you to Chris for doing this interview with us and good luck for the season!
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