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.