DARYL IMPEY
HITTING HIS
PRIME
Daryl Impey got his 2019 season off to a stellar
start, defending his title both at the Tour Down
Under and at the SA National Road Race
Championship in February. The 34-year-old
Mitchelton-Scott rider feels he’s in his best years
after what’s been a rollercoaster of a career.
BY JASON BAILEY
aryl Impey is a survivor.
Now into his 13th year as a
professional rider, the man from
Johannesburg has endured his
fair share of ups and downs. He realised a
dream by turning pro with Team Barloworld
in 2008 and then had a horrific crash at the
Tour of Turkey the following year. He had a
promising season with Team Radioshack
before signing a solid deal in 2011 for the
Pegasus ‘team-that-never-was’. He wore
the coveted yellow jersey at the Tour in
2013, only to be embroiled in a doping
case 12 months later (he was cleared of
a Probenecid-positive). The 2015 Tour
saw him break a collarbone, as did Liege-
Bastogne-Liege in 2016. Yet after each
potentially career-ending setback, Daryl
has picked himself up and brushed himself
off. The Mitchelton-Scott rider has never
been one to take the hard knocks lying
down. Besides, there is still so much that
he wants to accomplish
“I feel like I’m still improving year by year,”
says Daryl. “As if my career trajectory has
continued to move in the right direction.
The main thing, though, is that my team
have placed their trust in me for certain key
D
objectives. Whereas before, I was more
in the background fulfilling a role as a
domestique de luxe, the past two seasons
have allowed me to pursue some of my
own race-winning opportunities. So it
almost feels like I’ve suddenly made heaps
of progress.”
Not that there is anything ‘sudden’
about Daryl’s impressive form of late. All
those years spent on the front toiling for
his teammates are starting to pay off. And
like he says, it’s all about being in the right
place at the right time to capitalise on
opportunities. Like the past two editions of
the Santos Tour Down Under for instance.
“Tour Down Under 2018 was pivotal
for me,” he explains. “While the team
management had earmarked me as our
GC leader the previous November, our
main strategy was to win stages with
Caleb [Ewan, the former Mitchelton-Scott
sprinter now with Lotto Soudal]. So I was
back up really. While many people didn’t
fancy my chances of pulling it off on the
race-deciding Willunga Hill, I knew I had
the condition to be a factor. So to actually
deliver there and win the race made me
realise I could be a leader and take the
2 0 1 9 TO U R D E FR ANCE
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