Age no barrier as Damien Shaw realises burning ambition

Wandering around the lobby of the Diamante Beach Hotel in Calpe, Spain, on a gun-metal grey afternoon in January are a host of the world’s best cyclists and teams.

There’s 34–time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish and four-time world time-trial champion Tony Martin and a number of other rail-thin riders, posing for pictures, Skyping girlfriends and wives and performing media duties.

An Post Chain Reaction rider Damien Shaw is here too, along with around a dozen teammates on their first official training camp of the year.