La Ronde du Porhoet today. As per usual an afternoon race so a morning of chilling and twiddling thumbs. Picked up by the team at just gone midday we had a 45 min drive to the start in a town near Rennes called Guilliers. With two helpers and my team mate Sebastien for company I had plenty of time to speak French, and after a week or so not speaking much in the way of French I was a bit rusty!
Arriving at race and it was a 2:30pm start so the usual hand shaking and sign on followed. Team manager there and also The Mills' so lots of familiar faces.
After finding my size 2 jersey abit on the large side, the last few weeks, I got given a size 0 today which still seems to be slightly big! Still much better than before and team manager looked impressed I needed a smaller jersey!
Another baking hot day and racing at the hottest part of it! Five of us from team today, myself, the local legend Rene (basically a Malcolm Elliott/Andy Lyons character, massive engine and a lot of experience and wins!) Sebastien, Emmanuel and Pascal. So we had a strong team. A very small field of just over 60 riders lined up for the off and we were soon away. The usual flurries of attacks from the word go followed.
After last week I learnt the key to these races is usually being as fresh as possible coming to the finishing circuits where the race really heats up and is decided. Following wheels I wasn't feeling great so hiding was name of the game...for now anyway!
A few kilometres in and a fast left hander saw a rider, a few places in front of me, crash. Must have been close to 50km/h so a painful one! This though caused a split and a few riders attacking. Not very sportsman like at all!
Soon though these 5 attackers had prised out a gap and the bunch decided it didnt want to play ball. With none of our team in the break we were on the back foot so Seb and Rene drove the bunch along over the undulating course.
Now Brittany seems to be renowned for wind and today didnt disappoint! What a wind! A block headwind and the bunch splitting and reforming constantly. I was still feeling rough so hid in the wheels. But by hidding and really struggling putting the power down I was riding to far back and splits were happening. Anyway soon a chase group had formed and I had missed it (didnt have the legs if I'm honest)
So I was in what was left of the bunch coming into the 10 finishing laps. With the wind still howling this was gonna be interesting. First finishing lap and after eating well and drinking alot in the heat I started to feel better. The finishing circuit of about 4km was like a Belgium crit so a few corners and drags.
Not usually my cup of tea. But into the first lap I suddenly found some legs! Onto the drag and with a block headwind I put it into the little ring and spun. To my amazement everyone else was in the big ring churning, yet it didnt matter as I was riding away from the bunch!
Soon two other guys bridged and the bunch disappeared out of sight, we went about getting ourselves back into the race!
Through and off we were working well. We soon caught a few riders who had been shelled by the chase group. Soon we had the chase group of 10 or so riders in site. We were gaining on them. I'm sure we were the fastest 3 riders on the circuit that lap as we bridged the gap and got on.
About 20km to go and with myself and Rene in this chase group going for 7th place and Pascal in the break, now a few minutes up the road, it was looking good. Every lap even though I wasnt flying I was feeling stronger lap by lap. I'd saved something for the finishing circuits!
A few laps to go I attacked up the headwind drag and head down tried to go solo. Brought back, it was only a matter of time and a few more digs and I might be able to break the stranglehold of the chasing group.
Two laps to go and Rene had got away with another two riders. Not wanting to take others across I bided my time. Lap and a half to go and as usual knocked it down onto the small ring as we hit the drag only to jam my chain. Panic! With 5km to go this was definately not the moment for this to happen. Struggling to get chain back on I had no option but to get off and with help from a following car we prised it back on. I'd lost a good 30 or so seconds on the chase group.
Angry I wasnt gonna give up without a fight and put my head down coming into the last lap and soon had the chase group back in my sight. Yet it was to late as although I was gaining on them I'd run out of road. Sitting up I rolled in alone. What was left of the bunch followed a few minutes later after a hard days racing.
So not the best race but think there's more positives than negatives to take away.
Positives
1. My team mate Pascal did an awesome ride, bridging to the break and coming 3rd.
2. I saved lots of energy early and used it to my advantage later in the race on the finishing circuit
3. Rene said I attacked in the best place on the circuit, happy to be praised by such a highly regarded rider
4. I know "what ifs" are worthless but I'm convinced without dropping my chain I was on for around a top 10 today.
5. Drank and ate well in the heat, lots of bottles!
Not gonna do negatives as I made the best out of feeling pretty rubbish for majority of race and was only thwarted by a mechanical problem out of my control. That's racing some times.
So Ploerdut tomorrow. Another local one. From what I hear the circuit is "tres difficile" lets hope the legs feel better than today and bike holds up!
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