Result 'about what I expected', says Lyttle

Scott Lyttle was "not too disappointed" with his failure to achieve his original objective of a top 10 finish in last week's Trust House Cycle Classic, held over seven stages in Wellington and Wairarapa last week.
Lyttle, from Masterton, still wasn't too sure of his actual placing yesterday because of delays apparently caused by timing issues but he thought about 15th would be his lot.
"It wasn't too bad, about what I expected in fact," he said. "I knew I wasn't quite at my peak and I guess that told in the end."
Lyttle was part of the Trust House team which included young Kiwi Michael Torckler who finished fifth overall just one minute down on tour winner, Australian Peter McDonald and runner-up for the leading young rider award.
And once his own chances of a top placing went by the board he concentrated his energies on ensuring that Torckler was given every possible assistance.
"He (Torckler) went really well, he's a young guy with a lot of talent," Lyttle said. "The rest of the boys gave him every encouragement they could too and he did us proud."
Not surprisingly, Lyttle considered his own best stage to be that which finished on Friday at the top of Admiral's Hill in Gladstone. He was one of a group of one riders who broke away from the field and established a lead of over three minutes only to be hauled in over the closing stages. He was 13th to finish in the end but very satisfied with what had been a hard day's work in very warm temperatures.
Reflecting on the hot weather which prevailed throughout most of this year's classic, Lyttle said it obviously had an effect on race tactics with many of the riders opting to be less aggressive than they would have been had the heat not been so intense.
"Personally the heat didn't worry me too much but a lot of the guys were saying how draining it was ... mentally, it certainly does have an effect," he said.
Normally Lyttle would be winging his way to France at the completion of the Trust House Classic to continue his professional road cycling career there but this year he is able to spend more time at home through his signing with the Australian-based Panasonic team.
The first major assignment for Lyttle with that team will be the Tour of Taiwan in March with the Tour of East Java in Indonesia and the Tour of Japan next on the list.
Lyttle said his priority over the next few weeks will be to build his fitness with the idea of being at peak for the Tour of Taiwan.
"Right now I'm a bit heavier in weight than I want to be so I need to get that off ... some big kilometres around the Wairarapa roads should do the trick there," he said.