No this was one of the most prestigious races of the season, the GP Plouay amateur race.
The afternoon blogging is down to the race starting at a very English and very unfrench, 9am in the morning.
This was definitely a shock to the system as the alarm went off just gone 6am and I awoke pretty confused yet also quite excited as to what the day would hold.
Breakfast, bike on car and off to pick Sam Allen up. It was freezing and really dark still, forgot this is normal for going to a race in the UK! Arriving at Sam and he seemed equally bemused racing so early. This was to be my 47th race out here and only my second one which started in the morning!
Luckily the race was not far away. A mere 20 minutes in the car. Arriving at Plouay and the sun was rising, it was still really cold and there was thick fog.
Bit of background info on this Plouay race. It is part of the Plouay festival weekend. Made up of a track race Friday night, Saturday morning, the GP Plouay amateurs (me!), Saturday afternoon The GP Plouay Coupe de Monde womens race (Pooley,Vos and the best female riders in world) then Sunday The GP Plouay Professional race. So a packed weekend of racing and definitely one of the biggest cycling events in France.
So arriving and the first sight, through the fog, was hundreds of campervans all lined up along the course. Next was a massive finishing banner, lots of security, barriers, eating establishments and crowds. Cant quite explain how big this event is!
In previous years this race for amateurs was an Elite National but for this year was for some reason downgraded to a 1,2,3, so although there were still good riders here, a lot of the big hitters were not present. Mainly due also to a stage race being run over this weekend as well. But saying all this still 150 riders for this one.
On the start line was Vendee U, Saur Sojasun, Cotes D'amor, Hennebont Cyclisme, VCP Lorient, Armee de Terre and lots of other possible winners. For UCL Hennebont it was myself, Rene and Mickael. The big news was there was 5 Brits in this race!
Myself, Sam, Chris Seviour (Jersey), James Mclaughlin (Guernsey) and Mike Cuming (twenty3c_orbea)
So lined up, 9am the circuit was the same for our racing, womens and pro mens. A 20km lap made up of a wide finishing straight (with a tailwind), a short sharp climb coming into a longer drag, a fast twisty descent, a nasty couple of kilometre climb, more descending and then an evil motorway like road with a cross wind, uphill to finish off before turning back onto finish.
A hard circuit and with the wind blowing in typical Breton fashion it was gonna be a testing 6 laps making 120km.
Away we went and boy did we go! It was cold and even with a warm up I was feeling it as we flew along. I was about 50 riders back and I knew I should have been riding nearer the front but to be blunt was struggling enough where I was!
First lap done and 30 riders already dropped! Good news in the Brit camp though as Mike had managed to get into a break of 9 and were soon pulling away. Another lap done and I was feeling slightly better, unfortunately another group had chipped off the front of the bunch with 9 riders in it, including James.
Coming over the top of the 2km climb I could see the race was going away from me and also that people were using the top of the climb to take a breather. Perfect time to....attack!
That's what I did, soon away and joined by a Veranda Sarthe rider and an Armee de Terre rider. Yet not for long, they were motoring and I was soon dropped. Luckily looking round another 12 or so riders were coming across. This including Vendee U, Sojasun and Cote d'Armor. I sat up, waited and got in the wheels and with some serious hard riding we were soon long gone from the peloton.
A good move to be in as the front two groups had formed to make 18 riders leaving myself in the second group of 15 or so chasing with a 1 min 40 to make up.
With 4 Cote d'Armor in the group it was down to them to do majority of work. Free ride for me then! In theory yes! In practise no! You know your either not on a good day or your with some very strong riders when your struggling to just hang on. This was a bit of both. Legs were not especially good and they were flying with the gap coming down nicely.
Another lap and 80km. The elastic snapped. Well more to the point the riders in my group decided we weren't going quick enough. Soon attacks were flying up the 2km climb and the group split into 4, 7 or so in front, a 3, myself and 2 others and then a 3 behind me. All that separated us though was a mere few metres yet everyone was on the limit and nothing was being closed.
The two I was with were (surprisingly) even more knackered than me and we soon dropped one of them and the other rider, from AC Lanester, could hardly pull a turn. With 40km to go, surely I wasn't going to have to ride 2 laps alone!
The final climb before the finish and riding up it I dropped the Lanester rider. Knowing I still had a long way to go I sat up at the top and he got back on. Bit more through and off but we were both knackered. Last lap and 8km to go. I was in no mans land (after dropping Mr Lanester again!) and riding solo. Yet looking round and a big group of a dozen or more riders were coming across. I dug deep and got in it.
Basically the next 3km I was hanging and 5km to go on the final climb our group split into two. I was struggling and ended up in the second part. Last kilometre and going for nothing now. I followed wheels and gave it everything I had left in the sprint.
48th. I'd gone from a possible top 20 to 48th in the space of 2 laps! I was knackered and very disappointed.
I was in a relatively good move, yet when the attacks went..my legs didn't. Why? Possibly not drinking enough, tiredness, at time of season, and just not going strong enough. A combination of all 3 I think!
I know this is a race, if I am in form, I could do well in, but today wasn't my day. What a circuit, what an atmosphere though!
How did other Brits get on then? James did an absolutely amazing ride for 3rd, a big talent. Mike also did a great ride, in break all day for 15th place, myself 48th, Sam 55th and unfortunately Chris a DNF. Yet was a hard race with just myself from UCL Hennebont finishing and just 84 finishers from the 150 starters.
So not the race I wanted yet that's racing sometimes. Tomorrow a bit different as spending day watching the Mens Pro race at Plouay, cant wait! Followed by two races for me, Monday and Tuesday.
Will keep you posted on how they go and hopefully will have more positive racing news!
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