Spring Campaign Wrap NextGenU23, Part 1

I am well into my last week here in Belgium. It is just me and Adam as the rest of the team is currently in Ireland racing the An Post Ras. It was nice to have some rest after the Tour de la Manche but it was even nicer to get back to racing in Belgium. I spent Thursday on the train and it was a pretty intense travel day, lots of running around with heavy bags. When I finally got into the house in Tielt, I was completely wrecked, didn't know how I was going to race on the weekend. Heading out on the Friday was a struggle, I felt just terrible and I could not push the watts that I had planned on. I summed up the strength to do a few efforts up some hills just to make sure my legs were not flat for the following day, but I still felt really tired.

On Saturday morning I was able to sleep in as races in Belgium don’t start till late afternoon. I would be tackling the next few races alone as Adam suffered a crash in Normandie and will be out of action for a little while. The first race of the weekend was a 98 km race on a 9.8 km circuit. It was a weird day in terms of weather, with rain coming down during registration, which seemed to have scared some people off as I watched more than a few riders get back in their cars and leave. However about an hour later the roads were nearly dry for the start. Unlike the previous kermesse’s I've done, I decided to do a longer 30 minute warm-up, because these races always start fast. The circuit had one small hill, and two tricky corners, it was a rectangle in shape and there were long sections of head wind and tail wind.

The race started with only 55 starters, I never really knew how big the field was as I started on the second line of riders and once the race started, I never left the top 15. I was covering some moves up the climb the first time but nothing seemed to get really going and I felt absolutely amazing. The race rolled on for about 15 km and then it started to rain again, not too hard, but all I wanted to do was get out of the pack. On the second time up the hill I attacked and only one other rider came with me, this was about 23 km into the race I knew that we would not survive all day but I did want to stay out front. I was hoping that a few more riders would come across so when I saw some riders attack and start to come across I waited for them, but only one rider made it. I was not sold on the break of three we had rolling, but after about 10 km the race car pulled in behind us, (usually signaling a gap of over 1:00) I decided to commit to this move and started pulling through with some more power. The three of us worked together really well, and I was not even thinking about the final; I was more concerned with doing my fair share are trying to conserve energy everywhere I could, like staying on the drops, passing the others very close and taking wide lines through the corners to keep more speed. The rain really started to come down with about 30 km to go and our gap at one point was down to less than a minute as the car pulled out and I could see the pack over my shoulder on the straightaways, but I had decided to fully commit to this move at the 30 km mark, and now with only 25 km to go, I was not going to give up on it; sure enough, our gap started to increase again and the car came back into the gap.

Going into the last 20 km I started to think of how I was going to beat these guys, I had noticed throughout the day some places that I was gapping them without too much effort. The first was on the climb one of the guys was really suffering, and the other was a tricky left right corner. I was going to let the other rider with me attack on the climb and try to break the other guy who was suffering, and then I would attack him after the corners with about 7 km to go. This was an awesome plan in my mind, so on the final lap I was ready to go. We hit the climb and sure enough the other rider accelerated, but not a full on attack, we distanced the other rider, but over the top he made it back on and did not take a pull for the next little while. Going into the chicane I led through it as I had before and came out with a gap of about 15 meters, so instead of taking it easy and getting a free little break like I had before, I attacked and tried to go solo. The two of them worked together to bring me back and they did so just a kilometer later. I was a little too afraid to fully commit to my attack as it was a head wind section and there was still 7 km to go. It was now a free for all, the other two attacked a few times but it was not anything I could not cover. With about 2.5 km to go there was another attack, but it seemed as though all the kick was gone out of the other two riders, he attacked but I was able to swing over into his wheel with not a whole lot of effort. He continued his effort until about 2 km to go. He looked over his shoulder and I attacked, I got a gap very quickly and the last guys did not have the energy to shut it down immediately and I simply out dragged him, I looked over my shoulder a few times and saw him sit up and look at the other guy, that was when I knew I had it. I passed under the 1 km go flag and was going full gas. I was in so much pain, but you can barely feel it when you know you are in a winning position, one last look over my shoulder with 200 meters to go and I had about a 50-60 meter gap over the two guys. It felt amazing to finally do a victory celebration, so much relief and joy. I saw Eddy (Soigneur) and he had his arms in the air, he was very happy, and helpful throughout the day giving me time gaps and some motivation as well. It was amazing to finally win a race here in Europe. I did not think I was capable of it this year, but it was a risky move to try and stay away with just two other guys, but it paid off! I did a quick cool down but it was already time to start thinking about tomorrow’s race.

Sunday’s race was a lot bigger than the previous days, 150 starters, and 120 km. The start list had some big guys on it as well, BMC racings Loic Vliegen, Lotto Soudal development team had two riders and a few riders from cyclocross pro team Telenet-Fidea. The circuit had some windy sections but the real features were the three climbs, the last of which had strong winds over the top. The race started fast yet again. I was very well placed for the first number of kilometers, and covering some of the bigger moves. I had really good legs again which I did not expect after the previous days efforts. There were many attempts at a break away, and on one of the hills a few riders really went for it, I saw the move and went with it. I looked over my shoulder and saw a big group, at this point the pace usually drops and then a whole new attack would start, instead the pace stayed high over the top and the pack split. There was now a front group of 25 riders and the peloton was losing ground quickly. This was to be the move of the day, and now I was focused on playing poker with the group. With a group of more than 10 riders, there are always some who will not do their fair share and will act like sandbags on the back of the group. Our 25 man split had a lot of this going on, and I was careful to be one of the guys who's in between. I would do a few pulls and make sure that I am noticed, but then sit on at the back for a number of kilometers to conserve energy. There were still over 70 km to go with this group and the yelling and pointing fingers had already started. I just stayed out of it, did my fair share for the most part and continued to roll with the group. Over the next few laps, I was feeling particularly good on some of the climbs, and I noticed that the pace would drop a lot on the climbs as some of the weaker riders would try to stay in the group, so I started to pull up the climbs and try to thin the group. With about 20 km to go the group was 20 riders. There were two laps remaining and a total of six climbs. I was all of a sudden not feeling too well on the climbs and had barely made it over the previous ones in the group. I was playing through scenarios in my head to see how I could get the best result possible.

I took a pull on the front and on my way to the back I took my first proper look at the group that remained, counting riders on the same teams and seeing who is suffering and who to watch. I counted four riders from one team and three from another. I thought to myself, 'If I try to do anything, they have the man power to bring it back', so if a move went there would have to be a few of them in it. I was thinking very clearly at the time, but I was more concerned with trying to make it over the last number of climbs. Going over the hills it seemed that everyone was too afraid to attack and fully commit to the move, so the pace was a lot lower over the last number of climbs than it had been mid race. Going into the final lap I positioned myself nearer the back and was yelled at quite a lot to keep pulling but I just pointed to the guys other teammates and did nothing. The teams with big representation were forced to pull the last lap, I was feeling better going into the last climb and positioned myself near the front again. There was an attack as soon as we hit the climb, I put out a huge effort to accelerate with the rest of pack to cover the move, and everyone was now deep in the hurt locker when we caught the attacker. We were about ¾ of the way up the climb and now hitting the wind over the top, riders were dabbing their brakes when we caught the attacking rider because they did not want to go to front and be in the wind; I did nothing of the sort and did not hesitate to attack as soon as we caught him. I went on the left side of the road and I looked over and there was another rider attacking on the right, he was going faster than me so I swung over to his wheel and followed him over the top. There were only two other riders who attacked the group and came across to us up front. I was suffering more than I had all year, but I knew that this was ‘the move’, I gave my absolute all to be in it. This was now 5km to and the four of us rolled on as fast as possible, there was one rider who was sitting on the back of us though, not taking a pull. With 1500 meters to go I attacked, I was weaving back and forth across the road to try and deny the others my draft, and the one rider who had been sitting on was forced to chase me down, I was giving it my absolute all, I could not go any harder for any reason. The three riders caught me with 300 meters to go and they launched into their sprints immediately afterwards. I was finished, freewheeling the last 100 meters and came home for 4th. I was very angry to miss out on the win, when I was so close, but looking back on it afterwards I was pleased with that result, and even happier with how I played the game over the course of the day. All in all it was a great weekend of racing for myself and the boost in confidence I now have should help me over the next few races.

Just three more races in Europe for myself, then off to Quebec for even more suffering! Just can't get enough of it!

#NextGenU23