September 20, 2011

Hoeselt


  1. My 2nd race of the weekend was another success, yet not as successful day. Adam and I found ourselves in the break of 9 on the hilly, windy and wet 4km loop. Our group sat at about 10 seconds for the first 2 laps but then we started to put time onto the group pursuing us, turning our 85 man race into a 9 man race. We drove the pace and Adam and I were corning far better in the rain than all the others so we felt we had the upper hand. Adam then told me he was feeling a little on the cooked side so he suggested we switch the roles we had previously laid out of him attacking first right after a corner and me responding on the steep hill, 800m before the line. This was a risky move because he admitted to be weaker on the day so he should essentially be attacking first, but a hitch in this plan is that he is a stellar sprinter and if he was near enough to the front of the group in the last 200m his max power output should still be relatively undeterred by fatigue and a sprint win should be expected. Seeing as how we had about 10 minutes of racing left and 100m before the prime attacking spot I decided not to hesitate and just went for it. I launched out of a corner and quickly had a decent gap but then 2 riders came across and didn't pull around me and just sat on my wheel so we quickly again became a group of 9. I covered a move a km later before the base of the climb and attacked right away getting a gap but a group of 4 riders caught me about 200m later 200m before the line and just sat on me, hoping for a leadout. I sat up, feeling out of matches and a little embarrassed about my misaligned tactics, due to the fact Adam wasn't there. The guy 2nd wheel jumped hard with two riders close on his wheel and I managed to fit in 4th wheel and cross the line for 4th place. Not a bad day, but I feel a win was definitely well within my grasp and with that I was a little disappointed.      
I am writing this post from Copenhagen, we are in a sweet hotel where I have already seen the likes of Bradley Wiggins and David Millar. I am excited for my road race Saturday and I believe I am among the worlds best, I look forward to proving myself.   

2 comments:

  1. you're racing like the world's best benny. amazing to see how you think your way through these races. and when you add the fact that you can actually execute the plans... lights out! have an awesome time this weekend, enjoy and when the business end comes around show those euros a thing or two.

    ReplyDelete