his young pro career after "surviving'' his first outing at the just completed Tour of the Mediterranean.

Hubbard placed 140th overall out of 210 starters during the five day, six stage event covering some 900 miles of French countryside, stretching from near the Pyrenees Mountains to Marseille.

However, Hubbard's final position was not crucial, as he and the rest of the eight members representing Monaco-based outfit AKI Gipiemme were charged solely with the responsibility of supporting their team leader.

In that regard the cast did well, with the leader placing 15th overall, while the team ended seventh out of 16 squads in what was their first outing of the season.

"My position was not of any importance, we were all working for the sake of our team leaders,'' explained Hubbard, speaking from the northern Italian town of Laigueglia last night. "We were satisfied with the result considering it was our first race, while other teams had the advantage of more races in their legs.'' The 23-year-old was understandably pleased to have passed his first test and was excited about the challenges ahead.

He said the standard of competition was of much higher quality than any he had experienced previously, during stints in both France and the United States.

"I must say that the level is everything I expected it to be,'' said Hubbard.

"It's very challenging and I know now how much work lies ahead for me in order to be competitive at this level.

"It's not going to be easy, but if I do as I'm told and stick to my training plan and diet I should do well.'' When asked if last week gave him a view to the future, Hubbard noted it to be too early to tell and that he would continue to "take it step by step'' and not try to put added pressure on himself by setting unrealistic goals.

"I have a positive outlook and I survived my first outing and a lot don't.'' Nevertheless, today presents another challenge in the form of the Laigueglia Race, a murderous 380 kilometre event spaced evenly over two days that takes competitors high in the mountains and tests them with three major climbs of 15-20 kilometres each.

Hubbard is known as a solid climber, but even he was wary of what the day would bring and hoped that he and his team-mates will have recovered their legs by the time they take the starting line.

"It's definitely going to be selective, if anybody's not having a good day they will not finish.''