And he couldn’t be more excited.
Eddy, 20, is currently riding in the Tour Alsace, a five-stage road race in France complete with a 4.5km time trail and over 600kms of racing, including rolling hills and two days of mountain climbing.
This type of racing is not for the faint-hearted with cyclists hitting speeds upwards of 80km an hour and averaging between 40-50km.
Eddy said there was a lot of teamwork that goes into racing and it was certainly a different environment.
“It has been pretty exciting out on the bike for me and travelling with my mates, I am really loving it so far,” he said.
“It is awesome and full on especially in the pits when you are getting ready – there are people everywhere taking photos and wanting cards signed and it's really hectic.”
The opportunity to compete overseas hasn’t been taken lightly by Eddy and he is relishing every opportunity and lesson that comes his way.
Sadly though, he can confirm the French asphalt tastes the same as the Aussie asphalt after hitting a discarded water bottle and crashing on stage two.
The crash saw Eddy lose his gears and with nothing but grit and determination, ride the 100kms back home solo.
Mum Kirsty Donchi said while bike riding was a tough sport, Sam was tougher.
“It was a brave ride for him to not give up after going over the handlebars,” she said.
The tour is just the start of a three-month campaign which will see Eddy representing team Bridge Lane from Sydney.
The team is provided with Argon 18 bikes with Shimano components and all associated gear, including wheels, shoes, helmets, bike kit and glasses.
Eddy reckons he was around 15 when he started to dream of a future in cycling.
“I was racing in the under 17’s and I was getting close to the state team,” he said.
“It became my goal to make the team and then race at the nationals and then I just started to take my racing more seriously.
“It has been a series of progressions - from club level, to state and national and developing contacts along the way, and it was always my ultimate dream to travel overseas and race.”
But racing at this level doesn’t come easy.
It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication to training and nutrition.
And in the lead-up to Europe, Eddy was training around 25 hours a week on the bike and around eight hours a week in the gym.
“I have to monitor what I eat and watch my weight and I did all this on the back of a full time semester studying law,” he said.
Eddy has relocated to Bendigo and spends a lot of his training time riding up and down Mount Alexander and around Castlemaine and Harcourt.
“The hills in France are much the same as the ones around home, there is just a lot more of them,” he said with a laugh.
Eddy said he would spend the next couple of years embracing every opportunity that comes his way to further his racing career.
His ultimate dream is to one day compete and race in the Tour de France.
“It has been an eye-opener competing at an elite level,” Eddy said.
“It is achievable but what makes it hard is there are just so many other people riding at that same level.”
