Curitas Classic

My 2nd time racing the Curitas Classic and it is definetly a course for me! A 50km start loop followed by 8 x 7.5km city curcuits. I was really happy with my positioning all race and never strayed far from the top 15 places. A few of my teammates were struggling with the positioning on the small roads so I found myself isolated for the first 20km of the race I was panicking when I move went over the cobbles and I had no one to help me bring it back. After bringing it back I was joined at the front by Nigel and we worked together to make all the splits for the next little while. After 35km we ended up together in a group of 20 or so but we were 80km out and that is too far to drive a break with only 10:1 odds. Rolling through gently we still lasted until kilometer 45, just before the curcuits. After we got caught and the pace picked up on the technical curcuits I found myself in a move with Brandon in a small group of 10. After a few laps it was apparent we were the winning move. A couple riders were going for the KOM prize and with 10km left a guy pushed his gap after cresting the summit solo. He had a teammate who messed up our chase and then bridge attempts started to fly. A single rider slipped away in a crafty manner and we rolled around the last corner group sprinting for 3rd. Etzl won the sprint and I came third getting team Canada 3rd and 5th in a large Belgian race. Today's race is combined with tomorrow's and seeing as only two teams had multiple riders in the lead group we sit 2nd on team "GC" with a total of 27 points points, Avia - Fuji is first with 20, so it will be a close battle at Zemst Laar Sunday! I am hoping to do something for Etzl because he is by far the best sprinter in the 190 rider field this weekend. Cobbles here we come!