Team RaceClean

Its official, Team RaceClean is where I will be for 2016. The team has grown out of the NextGenU23 program and I could not be more excited to be racing with my awesome teammates and support staff. RaceClean is a great initiative from Cycling Canada and I am happy to become an ambassador for it alongside such great athletes such as Geoff Kabush and Catharine Pendrel. Our 11 day team camp in Spain’s Sierra Nevada’s was even better than last year, awesome riding, and great form resulted from it all. The numbers I have been developing over the past few weeks are miles ahead of what I could have hoped for, thanks to the coaches for teaching me to recover just as hard as I race! Spain was great training, but I was really missing the racing, and was chomping at the bit to get to Belgium and get this Spring Campaign started!

Be sure to check out all the rides we did during the camp on my Strava account: https://www.strava.com/athletes/edward_walsh

Team Press Release:

http://www.cyclingcanada.ca/sport/road/news/nextgen-mte-program-evolves-into-team-raceclean/

On April 3rd, we arrived in Belgium. Just like I remembered it, 5 degrees and raining, the perfect ‘Welcome to Belgium’ for all our new guys that have never been. We spent the first few days in recovery mode as the camp was really taxing on the body. Got some good Belgian coffees and got adjusted to the cold rainy weather. Lovely. Of course, once in Belgium it was also ‘second Christmas’, when we receive all of our new gear for the season. I have my brand new, custom painted Aquila (fighter jet) Equipe-R, too cool. And of course all of our amazing Garneau clothing and new Aero helmets, very stylish! Proud to be supported by great companies and people! Loving the new Pioneer power meters as well, Left – Right power gave me some very cool insight into pedaling metrics, but I’m getting off topic here. Racing, On April 6th, we lined up for our first race of the year, Scheldeprijs, A perfect opportunity for our sprinter, and a good leg opener for the team.

Scheldeprijs is a famous sprinters race, flat roads for all of the 142 km. We did the same finishing circuit as the UCI Pro Race, so check out the TV coverage if you would like to see it. Ours started with a 45 km outer loop that then connected to the 17 km finishing circuit that we complete 6 times in the amateur race. It was a typical Belgian day, 10 degrees and overcast with light rain throughout the day. My RaceClean team were lining up for the first time, and we were very motivated to get a man in the days break-away and position our sprinter Alec Cowan for a bunch finish. It started with two hours of full gas, with everyone trying to get away, but the peleton did not want to let anything get away, despite the Cobblestones and long three km strong crosswind section; It all stayed together. Until it didn't, a strong 10 man group slipped away with our very own William Elliot slipping into the move. They stayed away for nearly two full laps of the circuit.

The Lotto-Soudal U23 team put in a brilliant team effort to shatter the peleton on the third last time through the cross winds. Happily for me, I was right on their wheels. I sat in the bridging group of 15 until we caught the group up front. Once we did, both groups seemed too large and we all sat-up and were caught by the peleton with a little over two laps remaining. That was when the winning move happened, I was still feeling fantastic despite covering every single move early on in the race with Sean Mackinnon. When I saw the five man group go I was feeling a lot of Lactic acid in my legs, but that is a sign that everyone is in pain and near the breaking point, so I knew that the move would be going soon. I bridged up and worked with them for a few kilometers until the group swelled to 16 riders. Once the group had enlarged, I noticed that I was alone among many teams of three or four. I did my best to interrupt their efforts for our sprinter (Alec) but I was making no friends doing that, so instead I just hung around 6th-10th place until we were lining up for the 8 km to go banner. At 8 km to go, we hit the 1.7 km cobble section for the last time. I moved up to second wheel as the cobbles were soaked at this point and I wanted to be near the front for safety. I was still feeling good and once the cobbles ended we turned straight into the crosswinds. After a few hundred meters of riding in the gutter, I noticed the Shimano Neutral Service car pull in behind us symbolizing that our gap was over one minute to the chasing peleton.

The group still lined out, I thought, 'It's time to go!' I swung out of line, leaving a 'death gap' as we like to call them. Attacking up the left hand side of the road, I was given maybe an 8 second advantage over the 15 other riders and managed to hold that until the end of the windy section, just going as hard as I possibly could. Once I turned right into the tail wind, I was caught at the two km to go banner. I was gassed, but I held onto the group and managed a 12th place finish with cramping legs in the sprint. Not a great result, but no regrets, I tried my best and I am unbelievably happy with my fitness at the moment. I have never been able to do so much in one race. Looking back on it, we did one of the best team performances that we have ever done, always having a man at the front of the race and always staying attentive and assertive. Well done boys. Be sure to check all out on Strava!

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/athletes/edward_walsh

Tomorrow we do Recon for the first U23 Nations Cup, bring on the Ronde van Vlaanderen U23! Stay tuned on Saturday April 9th.

Thanks for reading.