Greg Henderson is confident of getting a start in next year's Tour de France, and says the preparation for that race starts now.
And though he probably has the best credentials to win the Tour of Southland this week, he feels he has no chance in the race.
Henderson, who grew up in Dunedin before leaving the city to forge a professional cycling career, first in the United States, and now in Europe as part of the Team Sky racing team, looked a tired man after he battled up Bluff Hill yesterday.
But that was with good reason.
"I've just had three weeks off, and had 10 days in Bali, on the beach for most of that time.
"That was my off-season so now it's just about getting back to riding the bike and start remembering what to do," he said.
"Really, I have no chance of making any impact here.
I just want to help out the team, support Roly [team-mate Hayden Roulston] and then later in the week, maybe Thursday-Friday, pick up a couple of sprints."
Henderson has bigger fish to fry than the Tour of Southland, though he admitted the intensity of this week's race was a great training ride.
"A lot of guys that I race against are just starting back into the pre-season now and getting back on the bike.
"So in some regards this race is perfect for me.
"I can start training with some competition."
Henderson was part of the Calder Stewart team which started strongly on the team time trial yesterday, winning it by 11sec, and he was wearing the sprint ace jersey after the first stage.
He finished in the middle of the field on the 81km afternoon ride around Invercargill and up Bluff Hill, and was in 32nd place last night, more than 3min down on leader Jeremy Yates.
Henderson, who admitted Bluff Hill was not getting any easier, said next year was a big one for him as he wanted to race well at the world road championships in Copenhagen and then ride in what was the ultimate for a bike rider, the Tour de France.
"I've got a big one next year at the world champs, which is basically a sprinter's course.
"Then I want to ride in the Vuelta a Espana and then the Tour de France.
"They have told me they are going to take a sprinter in this time.
"Last year, they put all their eggs in one basket with Bradley Wiggins and it didn't work out for them."
Henderson was looking a likely starter for the Tour this year before he was dropped at the last minute for the Team Sky line-up.
"I was pretty devastated to be honest. I couldn't believe it.
"Some of the directors of the team told me they couldn't believe their decision, but they went with Bradley Wiggins."
Wiggins had finished fourth in 2009 but this year never made any impact in the race, finishing well down the field.
Though 34, Henderson felt he still had four or five years left in the sport in Europe.
"I'm a bit different than a lot of them over there.
'I'm still relatively fresh, only been on the circuit for four or five years, not been slogging it out for 14 years."
He hoped to then move into a development team.
Changes to the Olympic track programme meant his days at the velodrome were over.
"Now they have taken out the points race and the madison there are no real endurance events on the track.
"I can't understand it really. There is just the teams pursuit really so that is for four or five guys."
He had no regrets about pulling out of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, as he had a family to consider, and competing in that event would not have raised his profile in Europe.
He will head back to Dunedin next week, and catch up with some old friends, for the first time in a couple of years.
"Life is pretty good really.
"I live in Melbourne for three months of the year, then in Girona in Spain for the rest of the year.
"I've got a nice house there, living on a golf course in a nice area. I can't complain too much."
