PLENTY of hooks and jabs are being thrown by Bendigo cycling star Zak Dempster in his pre-season campaign to another gruelling road campaign across Europe.
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Dempster has added workouts at the California Gully-based Bendigo Amateur Boxing Club to his training regime.
Although he has a three-month break from racing, the Tour de France competitor is doing plenty of work on and even more off the bike.
It's not just work with boxing trainers Gary and Pat Connolly the cyclist from Castlemaine will do this spring-summer "down under".
Dempster's fitness campaign includes weights at Feelgood Fitness in a program set out by Jarrod Butler.
"There is a lot of time spent on the bike, racing and training, so it's great to try a few different things such as boxing."
The 27-year-old is training with the Connolly brothers up to four nights a week.
"Already it's helped with upper-body strength and overall fitness," he said of the boxing sessions.
Bendigo Amateur Boxing Club is where Olympic boxer Lynden Hosking; Commonwealth Games representative Justin Whitehead; national titles competitor Scott Hosking and many more learnt and perfected their boxing skills.
After being with trainer Gene Bates the past five years, Spain-based Dempster has turned to Neal Henderson from the United States for advice.
"Cross-training is something I have done for a few years," said Dempster.
"Gene was a fantastic trainer to work with and really helped me a lot, as did Tim Decker for a long time."
A key player in Dempster's rise to his first Tour de France start in 2014 was Decker through stints at the Bendigo Academy of Sport and South Australia Sports Institute.
"Through Neal there will be some new ideas and different training programs."
For Dempster there are still the two or three hour rides of varying intensity in terms of pace and hill climbs.
His racing campaign in the new year includes the Bay criterium series and then the national road racing championships on the Buninyong circuit near Ballarat.
"My main focus at the nationals will be on the road race."
Dempster has achieved a top 10 finish in his past three hit-outs at Buninyong.
The climb is nowhere near as daunting as the French Alps or Pyrenees, but is one of the most challenging in Australia.
Once the nationals are done it will be time to head back to Europe and another season with what will be a new-look NetApp-Endura, not just in terms of riders, but also sponsors.
Dempster's feat to earn selection and then contest the Tour de France earned the June award in the 50th Bendigo Advertiser-Prime 7 Sports Star of the Year awards.
The awards are proudly backed by Bendigo Bank.
An outstanding career for Dempster includes an Austral Wheelrace victory when he was 16, a dominant run at the Commonwealth Youth Games raced in Bendigo, a Melbourne to Wheelrace title, and many other wins.