I started off with a weekend of kermesses, the first in Halle on the Saturday and the second in Zwijndrecht on the Sunday. Halle (Buizingen) was a great race; a really technical circuit with next to no flat and an uphill finish. A moment's hesitation early on meant I missed the break and was left to contest the finish with the peloton. I finished 2nd in the bunch kick and 13th on the day. The next day I was in Zwijndrecht where the race was completely different; pan flat and windy in places. A break got away early on with 4 guys from the same team in it so it soon disappeared. Late on in the race it began to pour down, despite being baking hot early on. I took a chance and pressed on through a series of corners and managed to get a gap on the bunch with a small group of riders on my wheel. We worked well and caught the break but soon after it split and with a teammate in the front group I had no option but to just watch and follow others, in the end I finished 12th.
 |
| Halle 1.12B |
 |
| Halle 1.12B |
 |
| Zwijndrecht 1.12B |
My next races were rounds of the Beker Van Belgie/Coupe de Belgique (depending on where you're from), basically the Belgian Cup. The first was the Memorial Albert Fauville, it was probably the worst day I've had on the bike this year. After 9km there was a 2.4km cobble section which we tackled 4 times in between some climbs that flattened out into exposed crosswind sections. I suffered all day and had a string of mechanicals and near misses with crashes but to be honest neither of the latter effected my race that much, I felt crap. The group I was in was pulled out with 1 finishing lap to go despite the fact we were well ahead of the front of the race, it didn't make any sense and completely messed up our team result for the day as we only had 2 other guys left in the race. A large part of the Belgian Cup is the team standings; each team starts with 6 guys and your top 3 on the day have their time accumulated and that forms the team standing's for the series. A few days after the Memorial Albert Fauville I developed a cold which explained why I felt so bad in the race. It had all but cleared going into the next weekend's BVB race; the GP Olivier Kaisen. I had bad legs early on but felt better as the race progressed, it was a fairly rolling course with a tough crosswind section which ripped the race apart every lap. Halfway through the race I crossed to the front split with a group but much like in Zwijndrecht it split again as soon as I got there and I had teammates in the front. I punctured with less than 10km to go but got a bike change and finished 38th. On the day the team finished 2nd in the team standings which was a good result. The cold I thought I'd shifted came down on me like I tonne of bricks the next day and I had to miss the next round of the BVB in Romsee but again the team did a great ride and finished 2nd in the team standings.
 |
| GP Olivier Kaisen |
 |
| After screaming "J'ai une crevasion" in my best French accent to the commissaire |
Shortly after these races I headed back to the UK for the National Road Race Championships in Stockton. All I could manage in the days running up to the event were short, low intensity rides but even then my heart rate was around 15bpm higher than normal. So obviously I followed the first attack as soon as we came out of the neutral section. It came to nothing, the attacks continued for around an hour until all the big favourites were up the road and in that typical UK style of road racing everyone looked around at each other and said "well that's that". In truth though, that really was that. Every team had at least one rider up the road and even if they didn't there's nothing they could have done about it when every WorldTour and ProConti rider was off the front. After 170km I arrived with the peloton at the ridiculously small finishing laps which have become the norm with the British Road Race Championships and we were pulled from the race. "Oooh yeah lets have a brilliant road race then end it with a crit... nice one BC." said nobody ever. In the end there were only 24 finishers from a 160 man race and 7 U23's. It's no wonder whenever I speak to anyone in Belgium or France or Italy they laugh at me when I say "no we don't have a 'non-contract' national champs or even a separate race for the U23's", it's embarrassing really.
 |
| Warming up for Nationals |
I'm currently packing my bags and preparing for the long drive back to Ottenburg tomorrow morning. I've loved being back in the UK, seeing family and friends and training on home roads. In truth though I'm hungry to get back to Belgium, I've got some great races coming up with the team, including a couple of 5 day stage races and I am determined to get that elusive victory. I'm certain that if I get in the right move, on my day, with a bit of luck, it will come.
"The race isn't over, because I have not won yet..."
Tom.
No comments:
Post a Comment