Team Sky's helper takes 10,300-mile trip to Australia

Tireless soigneur Marko Dzalo travelled in excess of 16,585km (roughly 10,305 miles) to do his job and support Team Sky riders Richie Porte and Nathan Earle at the Australian national road championships, which concluded at the weekend.

The Slovenian was spotted in the feed zone of yesterday’s elite men’s road race looking surprisingly fresh after his momentous journey by aeroplane and team issue Jaguar.

Dzalo touched down in Adelaide, South Australia, via Brussels and Dubai, on Sunday, January 4 before driving to Buninyong, which is in regional Victoria, the following day ahead of the elite men’s time trial championship that Porte won.

The connecting flight from Brussels to Dubai and Dubai to Adelaide was approximately 19 hours with the road trip to Buninyong about a seven-and-a-half hour slog.

The odd 624km (388 mile) drive was made longer as local motorways have heavily regulated 100-110km/h speed limits meaning Dzalo could not take full advantage of his nice wheels.

“All the Aussie roads are a pain in the arse,” he said. “It’s not nice you have such a strong car and then you have to drive 100km/h! I got a text from [Australian head of athlete performance] Tim Kerrison and he said, ‘seriously, don’t drive the Slovenian way!’”

Dzalo flew back to Adelaide today ahead of the Tour Down Under that Porte, British national road champion Peter Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe, Salvatore Puccio and Chris Sutton will start for Team Sky.

Beers aren’t typically part of Sky’s infamous marginal gains but hopefully the hardworking, or sucker for punishment, Dzalo will have time for one prior to the first WorldTour event of the 2015 season.