And I bloody love it. Not so much the US specifically, but the job itself. This is medicine, the fact that I am needed to oversee the health of these riders, that I must observe how their bodies work, how they need to heal and what I can do to help them win and what I must do to keep them healthy too. Many of my riders have wives, girlfriends – and it is for them that I keep their men safe.

And you, Ben?

I love watching a body function – and pro cycling often means that the body is at its absolute peak but also its ultimate limit. I have to keep those bodies continually at the summit of the climb – I cannot let them hurtle downhill. It’s my job.

Interesting, but I was referring to the ‘wives and girlfriends’ bit. Do you only live for your job? Who is Ben when he isn’t assessing tendons or administering balancing doses of B12 and electrolytes?

I don’t understand the question. This is my life.

It’s your job.

Exactly.

Exactly. Who are you when you’re off duty?

What the fuck does that mean?

I said ‘off duty’, not off your guard. Ben York, you’re a doctor, but you’re also thirty, brawny, caring (and don’t just say that’s your job) and something of a catch yourself. It is an undisputed fact that doctors are fantasy men for many women. Especially one with an English accent out in America. That you should also be aesthetically charming on the eye – by that I mean six foot, fit and handsome – well, you’re the cake, the icing and the cherry on top that most women would want to consume in its entirety.

Most women are too calorie conscious.

Oh, very droll. Come on, Ben, post-Amelia details?

In the States they call it dating. If dating goes well, one proceeds to going steady.

How’s the dating going?

Fine.

That sounds final.

I date. But then I steady up.

Why?

As I say to my riders when they ask, sex is very good for mind and body.

And love nourishes the soul.

And can be utterly exhausting. These chaps need to be focused to race.

I wasn’t referring to your riders.

Ben York isn’t the only one in Team Megapac whose accent gains him much attention. Luca Jones was born to an Italian mother and English father and his resultant Anglo-Italianisms are inimitable and do strange things to women. He lives partly in Italy, partly in America. Currently, he is in Colorado, at the team headquarters. They leave for France tomorrow. As is Luca’s wont, he met a pretty girl in a bar last night, stayed up far too late, went way too far and is now not only tired but also late for a physical with Ben.

‘I’m later than late, bugger damn.’

Luca hurries himself into a tracksuit, winces at the bags under his eyes, slaps his cheeks to shift the pallid evidence of the previous night’s over-exertion, and darts out of the apartment to cycle the short distance to Ben’s surgery.