But last year, he finally discovered a team that has enabled him to realise his true potential.

In his best-ever season and on the eve of Fly V Australia’s biggest race, the Tour of California, he tells Anthony Tan the ride is far from over.

At 31, Ben Day is a man reborn. Following an arthroscopic hip operation straight after last year’s Herald Sun Tour, for the first time in his life, he began pedalling straight.

In January, he tied the knot with Isabelle Vachon, a fetching French-Canadian girl he intends to spend the rest of his life with.

In March and in his second season with Fly V Australia, he won two significant stage races in the US, all in the space of a fortnight. With a team that he says shares a unity like no other, he led from start to finish and found it to be “one of the most special moments of my cycling career”.

However on April 24, a week before another big meet that would see Lance Armstrong’s Mellow Johnny’s team compete, the SRAM Tour of Gila, Day fell violently ill.

Interminable bouts of vomiting, fever and diarrhoea finally produced a cause.

Extracted from his bum, a four-foot tapeworm that according to the doctor who examined him, had been comfortably living inside for up to three years.

After what he describes as an “out-of-body experience”, really battling through Gila just to survive, an insatiable appetite and a new nickname – now emblazoned on his helmet is “Ben ‘Willy’ Day” – the larrikin Queenslander finds himself close to top form again, finishing fifth overall in the Joe Martin Stage Race, ending a week before his team’s biggest race of the year, the Tour of California.

“We want to be talked about,” he says of the team’s objectives for the star-studded eight-day race, which appears to be second only to the Tour de France in terms of cycling’s A-listers.

Asked if he’d liked to repeat his eighth place overall from last year’s Tour of California, Day answers: “We don’t want to be eighth, ninth or tenth [on GC] – we want to be on the podium and represent Fly V Australia.

“And to do that, we’re going to be more aggressive in the individual stages, as opposed to going for the overall.

“We have eight stages of really hard and fast racing. We want to take the bull by the horns, and we want to be active in every stage. We want to be really aggressive, and have guys in every breakaway.”

Stresses Day: “We need to be on the podium. We need to be spoken about from the commentators and everyone back in Australia to see us racing. We want to be super-aggressive and go for the stage wins – GC will take care of itself.”

Apart from the obvious, why is there this near-do-or-die urgency to be seen and heard, you may ask?

The answer: Fly V Australia is determined to be the first Australian-registered team to compete at the Tour de France.

And Ben Day wants to be a part of it: “It’s all these little things that I haven’t seen in any other team that give me a lot of faith,” he says.

“We’re not just talking the talk, we’re going about walking the walk.”

Cycling Central: How are you recovering from the tapeworm you extracted from your anus the Saturday before the Tour of Gila began?

Ben Day: Yeah… (laughs) I think I’m starting to get back on top of everything.

I feel a lot better. That week after the parasite struck down low, that was a really rough week. I had a lot of problems trying to hold my food down, lost a lot of weight, got very dehydrated and I tried to race through that.

Which is a choice I made at the time but I’m glad I made that choice. It really helped me during the Tour of the Gila, which is an important race for us. Towards the end of the race, I broke my diarrhoea and was able to start finding my legs again, and contribute a bit to the team’s cause.

So I had a pretty rough week, did get back on top of it and since then, I’ve just had this crazy appetite – I’m catching up on lost nutrition, I think. Last weekend, we had the Joe Martin stage race and my form was still catching up; I was second in the [opening] time trial there and finished fifth overall in that tour.

This week I’m trying to lay low and really freshen up before the Tour of California. It’s such a hard race – eight days long, very little rest during that time; I really want to go into the tour fresh, and finish it in good shape and not just in a big body bag.

CC: Is it true the tapeworm was over a metre long? Did you measure it?

BD: (laughs) I didn’t stop to measure it – it was an out-of-body experience, honestly… but I pulled at least three or four feet out of my butt.

CC: So you flushed it straight away…

BD: Pretty much. I kind of knew what was going on, but I removed myself from the situation.

Psychology is such an important thing going into these races and I wanted to have a great Tour of the Gila. My training was going so well; I wanted to stay positive – nothing would derail my preparation… then all my preparation was derailed.

Even two or three days before when I was still throwing up and had fevers and everything, I was trying to stay positive, [I told myself]: ‘I’m going to be right for the race, I’m going to be right for the race…’ 

I wasn’t really right for the race.

I got to that first stage, finished the stage, lost a fair bit of time and just rode to the finish… I couldn’t focus on anything for three or four hours after. I had nausea again, and was pretty empty after that.

CC: Are you surprised how well you’ve ridden this season so far, given what was inside you?

BD: It’s hard to quantify, really; I’ve been told I had [the tapeworm] for two or three years.

I’ve never had an issue with being too lean. For me to get lean, I need to watch my diet very, very closely, really cut my calorie intake. It’s not like I’ve had this issue of putting weight on.

So it’s hard to say how much it has affected me during this time. I’m sure it’s affected my energy levels and recovery levels and made me a little bit lethargic, but I don’t think it’s been an incredibly drastic drain on my body.

CC: You had a cracker of a start to the season, clinching overall wins at San Dimas and perhaps better known to Aussies, the Redlands Bicycle Classic. What led to this resurgence in your form – training and preparation, or a change of mentality?

BD: I think, with the professional athlete, a lot of things have to come together.

Just to recap the last seven or eight months of my life: straight after the Sun Tour, I had an operation on my hip – my femur was hitting my pelvis, bone-to-bone; due to this I could never ride straight and just had all these body issues, muscularly.

This surgery has become successful with AFL footballers and I found a good surgeon in Brisbane and it was done and very non-invasive. I had three, one-centimetre portals in the side of my hip. And within four to six weeks, I was feeling pretty good; I had a few bad days but it was three steps forward, one step back, kind-of-thing.

And honestly, I’m riding straight for the first time in my life. I think that’s been a very big factor in my form this year.

CC: As in San Dimas, you led from the moment you won the opening time trial in Redlands. But your Redlands win was so close, you finished on the same time as Ben Jacques-Maynes and won on a count-back. How stressful were those four days, or did you and the Fly V guys thrive on it?

BD: I definitely think we all thrive on stressful situations, because they were all stressful situations.

We live for this stuff – this is what defines our existence. Being together and coming out of it together, was one of the most special moments of my cycling career.

It’ll be four days I’ll never forget. And the reaction of my team-mates goes to show close we are as a team and the great ambience we have here. I challenge anybody to show me another team in the world that is as close as what we are.

CC: Do you think you’re becoming a better GC rider, though at the slight expense of your renowned ability in the longer-form time trial?

BD: One thing I find about time trialing is that to go well, I need stability in my life. I got married in January and my life is nicely set up here in the US now; I’m very happy and in a good place.

And as long as I have the time to do specific time trial training and have control over my situation – which has not always been the case with some the teams I’ve been involved with – I can improve or get back to where I was.

We’re given such a great environment here with Fly V Australia. From the top, Chris White, and our director Henk Vogels ensure we always have the tools at our disposal.

Just because you’re a talented time trialist doesn’t mean it happens out of nowhere – you still have to put the work in and the training in. And now that I have this great environment around me, things have been picking back up again, and I’m getting back to my core abilities.

CC: The 2009 Tour of Gila was already a big deal with Lance, Levi & co. How did this year compare, with these honorary suspects turning up once again?

BD: Last year was a massive moment for the Tour of Gila. The race was very close to folding; SRAM kindly stepped in and saved the race, and we have a lot to thank them for.

The Tour of the Gila is a bit of an enigma; it’s one of the hardest races we do all year in the US. But it’s in the middle of nowhere. So there’s a lot of support from the cycling industry, but the mass media, you’re not going to get a lot of crowds and a lot of attention.

So those guys coming to the race, they draw their own attention into it, obviously. Last year we had the New York Times coming to the race and writing articles about Lance.

This year again there was a lot of interest, especially over the weekend – people drove to watch the races. It may not have been as big as last year but it was certainly fierce racing and it wasn’t an easy race to win. A lot of the ProTour guys don’t race at altitude and that makes it quite tough [for them].

CC: With a team like Lance’s Mellow Johnny’s in Gila, does the level go up a notch, and if so, by how much?

BD: Well, Levi [Leipheimer] was up the rode by a minute and everybody else was racing at full capacity. Back then, we were two weeks away from Tour of California so everybody’s preparation was at the max.

The Tour of the Gila, this year especially, really worked well into the calendar. All the domestic guys were firing and they weren’t taking a back seat at all to some of the best guys in the world.

Levi’s just a classy bike rider. He’s one of the best climbers in the world, he’s proven he’s one of the best time trialists in the world, and that’s why he’s been so successful the last couple of years.

Cycling Central: What’s your opinion of Lance shooting for an eighth Tour title? Realistic, or did you see him try to groom Levi into the leadership role for the Tour de France?

Ben Day: That’s hard to say. Levi’s coming into some great form for the Tour of California, and Lance is just an amazingly talented athlete.

[Armstrong] is getting a bit older now, but he trains with more determination than most people ever could. He does have a lot of work to do still; [at the Tour of Gila], he contributed a lot to the race but wasn’t really featuring in the results, so he’s going to have to make some big leaps and bounds in time for the Tour de France.

What I’ve observed about Lance in the last couple of years is that he’s a changed man; it’s not all about him and his team. It’s not just all about building the Tour de France team for Lance Armstrong. He’s trying to create a team that has a better balance.

So maybe his drive to win an eighth Tour de France isn’t what it used to be, but none of us stop acknowledging that he’s such an incredibly talented athlete. And the surprises he may bring shouldn’t really be much of a surprise.

Anybody who finishes in the top 10 of the Tour de France obviously has incredible form – he was on the podium [last year] – so you have to say he’s going to progress again this year and it’s going to be a great battle between Lance Armstrong and RadioShack and Alberto Contador.

CC: When Lance isn’t around, do you feel like Fly V is the dominant team in the US? You guys seemed to have put United Healthcare/ Maxxis, the previous most dominant team in the United States, down a rung…

BD: We’ve come out absolutely firing this year and I think we’ve rattled quite of few teams. They’ve been setting up early with their lead-out trains for the sprint and we seem to be able to ride over them.

A lot of that is about depth and talent – we have such a talented team. We’ve come out flying at the beginning of the year and we’ve continued that momentum so far. We really want to make our mark at the Tour of California this year.

Our next step is to go to Europe. We have these ProTour aspirations and logically, we need to step up to that next level and prove on an international stage that we’re a massively strong team and we’re cohesive and we’ve got some incredibly talented riders.

Anything but a successful Tour of California will be a big disappointment for us.

CC: At last year’s Tour of Gila, you wrote in your diary that you were asked by a New York Times reporter if you’ve ever broken your collarbone. You replied: “If you haven’t broken your collarbone yet, you haven’t ridden a bike for long enough”.

Will that statement now change to: “If you haven’t had a four-foot tapeworm come out of your arse, you haven’t ridden a bike long enough”?

BD: (laughs) I don’t wish that upon anybody! I hope I don’t experience that again, and it was just a very weird, bizarre experience. It’s not common in Western civilisation and I got a lot of people shaking their heads [in disbelief].

CC: Did any of your team-mates ask for photographic evidence?

BD: Yeah – you know what they’re like…

CC: So you did take a photo then, before it went down the gurgler?

BD: No, I didn’t take one; I sent them to some Googled Web sites instead, which I think freaked them out a little bit. My helmet has now been marked with “Ben ‘Willy’ Day”.

CC: Going back to your collarbone, how how many breaks have you had as an amateur and a pro?

BD: Touch wood, not too many. I’m not a crazy bunch sprinter and so far I’ve been so lucky, but you never know what’s going to happen. You never know who’s going to fall out in front of you; you never know who’s going to come out of nowhere.

Cycling’s such a dangerous sport, you really have to make the most use of the opportunities you have now, because you never know when the end of your career’s going to be.

CC: It’s been four years since you decided to move from Europe to the US, which you did at the end of the 2006 season. Was it the best move you’ve ever made, or do you sometimes feel like you should have stuck it out in Europe for another year or two? Or do you feel like you should’ve gone to the States earlier than ‘06?

BD: I don’t regret anything about my life. I’m in such a great place right now; I’m happy, I’m married to a beautiful girl… I’m happy with where I’m at.

I look at my time back in Europe and I was never given big opportunities. I was racing on teams that didn’t have a lot of support; I was never financially secure with those teams.

Coming to the US, I think, was a great career side-step for me. Here, I’ve been able to flourish, gain confidence, know how to train my body and be fit and ready for races – and I’ve improved. I know I’ve improved from where I was in Europe.

The lifestyle we live in the US is great – Boulder, Colorado is a really awesome town to live in. Now that I’m involved in a team where I have some stability, and I’m in a team where our manager and team managers are receptive of what we as riders need and want – from an Australian perspective, anyway – it’s a very important thing for all of us.

I can’t wait to get back to Europe now – I miss the racing there. I love living in the US but I miss those hard and fast races; races that change you like no other racing you do. Week in, week out, there’s some really challenging races to do over there.

CC: Which races hurt most to watch?

BD: For me, my two biggest dreams have always been the Olympic Games and the Tour de France. I have faith and confidence in my own ability that I can participate in those races and it’s just been a matter of politics, where I’ve been in my career, or lack of opportunities that I haven’t had the chance to do that yet.

One day, if I get the chance to do the Tour, it would make my career and it would be a really special moment. 

CC: Next is perhaps your team’s biggest race of the year with the Tour of California. What are Fly V’s objectives?

BD: We want to be talked about. We have eight stages of really hard and fast racing. We want to take the bull by the horns, and we want to be active in every stage. We want to be really aggressive, and have guys in every breakaway.

And I really think we can challenge closely in the sprints. We have such a great range: Jon Cantwell, who has his own style of sprinting; Aaron Kemps, who honestly is one of the strongest sprinters in the world; Charles Dionne, who sprints uphill better than most people ever will… 

We have such a talented line-up, we’ll be disappointed if we don’t come away with some really close-run results, and a stage win would be icing on the cake for us.

In terms of GC, Phil [Zajicek], myself, Darren Lill, we’re all good climbers and [can] ride consistently throughout the week. But we don’t want to be eighth, ninth or tenth [on GC] – we want to be on the podium and represent Fly V Australia. And to do that, we’re going to be more aggressive in the individual stages, as opposed to going for the overall.

CC: This is the first time the race will be held in May, and there’s some of the biggest names coming. Last year you finished eighth overall – are you going for a top-10 again, or aiming higher?

BD: [To finish eighth] would be great; personally, it would show I’m in top form, and it would be a top ride for any domestic rider to do that.

But we need to be on the podium; we need to be spoken about from the commentators and everyone back in Australia to see us racing. We want to be super-aggressive and go for the stage wins – GC will take care of itself.

But we’re talking about Levi Leipheimer, Michael Rogers, Andy Schleck… some of the best climbers and racers in the world. Realistically, it’s going to be tough to dethrone those guys but we’re going to be aggressive and see what unfolds.