Young Neo Pro Mark O’Brien, is one of Australia’s many up and coming riders making a name for himself internationally. We caught up with Mark in Hokkaido, Japan while he was celebrating his 20th birthday.
CR: Happy birthday Mark & congratulations on today’s top 10 result from the team at Cyclingresults.net!
MO: Thank you
CR: You are currently racing in the Tour of Hokkaido, how are you feeling?
MO: The legs are a little bit shabby after today’s 171km stage in the mountains, but overall I’m feeling great and having a fantastic time. Especially happy to get a top 10 in a stage on my birthday!!
CR: Can you tell us a bit about this tour?
MO: The Tour of Hokkaido is in it’s 21st year I believe and is raced around the North Island of Japan. For the past few years it has predominantly been a flat tour, but this year for some strange reason they have decided to send us into the mountains at every chance possible (Laughs)
CR: You’ve been in Asia for a while now, racing in the Tour of Korea and now Hokkaido, how’s the experience been for you so far?
MO: It has been a fantastic experience. The quality of racing here is higher than I have ever experienced and I have felt myself getting stronger as the racing continues and I adapt to the style of racing.
Also, the food is completely different which always adds to the experience.
CR: Drapac Porsche seems to be a very professional outfit, are there plans of moving to Pro Tour? (Come on, give us a scoop!)
MO: HAHA that is not for me to discuss. The team raced in Europe this year in some very big races and I think it was a bit of a shock as to how high the quality actually is over there. At this stage it’s still a while off.
CR: When Mitch Docker placed on the podium in the first stage, there must have been a boost in confidence for the team?
MO: All results help the morale. Once you seem a team mate achieves a great result like Mitch’s, the whole team is motivated to keep those results up.
CR: But of course that was nothing in comparison, as he went on to win the 174km 3rd stage in Imakane, were there many celebrations?
O: It’s such a tight knit group here, of course there were celebrations. All the crew here is great so we pretty much celebrate every night regardless of the results. It’s just great fun!!
CR: Enough about the tour; for all the people reading this, how has your progression through the sport occurred?
MO: Pretty much, my father and older brother Xavier were both racing when I was 6 years old, so I, like many younger brothers, just followed to what my older brother was doing.
I went down to the velodrome, raced around on my BMX and have never stopped. In 2003, I started to getting really serious about cycling and thought I should get a coach.
Fortunately, a good family friend and ex Horshamite, Tim Decker was just starting to coach a few athletes. I asked him if he would help me and we have worked together since.
CR: I remember you winning an Australian road title in the U17 ranks and believing you would become a pro rider one day, and here you are riding for Drapac Porsche (which is a Pro Continental Team). Is this how you expected it to happen?
MO: In cycling, the most important thing is to just believe in yourself. I always looked at the Drapac program as a direction I would love to go, as they enforce the philosophy of sticking with your education, which I always wanted to do.
All of a sudden, one thing led to another and I found myself in a professional continental team, as happy as ever.
CR: You come from the country Victorian town of Horsham and you are now riding in the Tour de Hokkaido, any similarities?
MO: HAHA I guess both Horsham and Hokkaido start with a ‘H’ and have trees haha. No real similarities between the two, I mean Hokkaido actually has hills!!
CR: What are your plans for the future, beyond Hokkaido…
MO: Beyond Hokkaido, hopefully I can get a start in the Sun Tour with the team. There are so many strong cyclist in our team, and of course everyone wants to do one of their biggest local races, so I’ll cross my fingers.
Beyond this year, I want to complete my uni degree in business next year, then hopefully, if I’m good enough, one day make a career out of cycling in Europe!! We can all dream”!
CR: Any one you would like to thank?
MO: I would like to thank my parents of course. They are the best, and have never doubted me. Also the Deckers and of course everyone involved in Drapac.
CR: Mark O’Brien, thanks for having a Cyclingresults.net Live Interview
MO: Any time
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