No sleep. No surprise either as was pretty wired after last night's race and in the following rambling you will see why...
After Monday's wet and hard race, where I came away with another top 10 and some more breakaway experience, I took Tuesday easy. I'm saying that as if I had a choice, I felt terrible! A bad nights sleep after the race (seems to be a recurring theme now) and body feeling the effects of over 25 races this season so far. So an easy ride, which was probably the slowest ride I've done in a very long time..23km/h I was crawling.
Wednesday didn't feel much better, just tired and energyless. So I decided a day off was the best idea. A day spent chilling in town, visiting the Tourist Office, library, book shop and of course the cafe!
So Thursday and race day. Awoke to finally some good weather...sun! Headed out for an hours spin and still felt pretty naff to be honest, still I was entered to race in the evening and had nothing to lose. Did some sprints to open up and actually felt slightly better after an hour in the sun.
Picked up by Sam Allen, who had his team's car, we headed off for the 10 min (yes ridiculously local) journey to Caudan. Arriving we set about signing on. At sign on I saw a familiar face of Rhys Lloyd, Pendragon rider, who I'd ridden against a number of times as a junior. A good chat and catch up and we were soon off for a 20 min warm up round the 2 and a bit kilometre circuit.
Being a semi nocturne this circuit had to include loads of road furniture, corners and opportunities for sprinters..lovely. Made up of a drag past the finish, some fast left handers, another drag round the back and a roundabout it was pretty technical, a proper criterium circuit.
So 7:45pm and lined up. I was still not feeling all that with it and decided finish was my biggest aim.
The field for this race had some quality in it as well. Pole, Piotr Zielinski (VCP Lorient) former Bretagne Schuller rider and winner of numerous races out here, his team mate Simon Gouedard, one of the top Bretonne riders and winner of The Elite National Circuit d' Armorique earlier in the year, Florian Auberger (Hennebont Cyclisme) Bretonne TT champion and Lionel Beret (Leucemie Espoir Quimper) basically a kermesse king, lots of wins here and strong as an ox!
There was also strong teams from UC Cholet and others. This was gonna be a tough one...just over 60 riders, 40 laps, over 160 corners, lots of primes and lots of sprinting!
Off we went and first lap was neutralised. I made sure I was riding it like an hours crit, so stayed in the top 15 or so riders and waited for it to kick off. Kick off it did as second lap and a break went. Rhys was in it as was Auberger and a couple of others.
Surprisingly I was feeling good, very good! So when Zielinski attacked after 2 laps I made sure I was on his wheel. Yet however good I felt I just couldn't match his acceleration and watched as he bridged to the break at lightning speed.
So 6 riders were away and the pace was on. With no Leucieme Espoir riders in the break and the team being a semi nocturne based outfit, they set about a hard pace on the front of the bunch. Soon cracks were appearing in the bunch as the sprinting out of corners and going for primes strung it all out.
I was feeling great though, sitting in the top 10 and even attacking a bit, not the best thing to do I would later find. So an hour done, 1 dog running out on us, 1 bouncy ball rolling into the bunch and only 25 riders left!
Still feeling good, even though it was a circuit that really didn't suit me, I followed the wheels and even went for a prime. Unfortunately Sam, who'd been suffering from the result of crashes recently had pulled out as had Rhys, leaving me the sole Brit, I had to do a ride, not for myself, but for National pride!
An hour done, normally in an evening race, you'd be finished...not here! We were merely half way through! By now the bunch was very small, the break, now of 4 riders, had got a massive gap, yet I was in good company with Beret, Gouedard and a number of Cholet riders and the whole Leucieme team in the group.
We were lapping riders at a good rate. Unfortunately this had its problems as riders were getting in the way and making a hard race, even harder! 10 laps to go and slowly my legs began to feel the constant sprinting and pain.
4 laps to go and the group blew to pieces! I was in the chase group of 8 or so going for 5th and basically hanging on for dear life! Then a problem, caused by me! Coming into the roundabout, a dangerous corner, yet done 36 times previously, I went to brake and found nothing happened, I panicked and slammed the levers..my bike skidded and did stop! Unfortunately skidding I barely avoided crashing and by doing this found a gap to the group I was in had opened.
Head down I tried to close it yet for the next 4 laps the gap hovered at a mere 15 or so seconds. I was clearly still going well as was holding off the group behind and holding the gap to the 7 in front, yet I was alone in no mans land!
Last lap and rolling across the line I'd closed the gap to the 7 in front to 5 seconds, absolutely knackered. Just over 2 hrs, so not that quick but nearly 1000 metres climbing, tonnes of sprinting and the last few kilometres alone. I had finished 13th and got some prime money.
Now for the main protagonists, Auberger had won after attacking and timetrialling the final 2 laps! Zielinski 2nd, Beret 10th, Gouedard 16th and the best Cholet rider 3rd.
To be honest after last few days, I am pretty happy with that.
Positives:
rode in the correct place, sat top 10/15 riders throughout and stayed on right side of splits
sprinting remarkably well
had really good legs
a good top 15 against some good riders on a less than ideal circuit for me
Negatives:
got too excited early on, did too much work and silly attacks and paid for it when it mattered in final laps
couldn't follow Zielinski, but then again nobody could!
So all in all, a surprising race for me and a really enjoyable one. One more to go on Sunday before my mid season break. Another podium or even a win would be nice!
No comments:
Post a Comment