prix de St Geosmes

this was a real small race with only 40 starters and was on a 2km circuit 50 times round. dont know what i was doing at the start so i missed the break of 6, but team mate kieran was in it so was just sitting in the bunch covering attacks and about half way the director said we had to start chasing as kieran wasnt going to well in the break, so me and matt got on the front and just went as hard as we could which was real cool as we busted up the peleton but at the same time smashed ourselves, i just thought of it as a training ride and just sat on the front for as long as i could till i was stuffed. we almost caught the break then alex from our team who was just sitting on bridged across to what was left of the break and then ended up winning the sprint so was real good to do heaps of work and then see alex get the win. we also picked up a few sprint primes along the way so a bit of extra cash is always good.

prix de Prevessin-Moens

so finally got my first win in france after a lot of 2nds and 3rds and i defianatley didnt think id be in with a chance as it was a dead flat 4.7km course and i was just feeling crap the first half of the race.
There were 100 odd starters so was a pretty big peleton and the course was prety tight in some parts so was hard to move up if u got stuck in the middle, i think the race was 95km long. for the first 45km i was just feeling crap and going with a few attacks but nothing would stay away. then the group just sat up at about 50km in and 2 guys attacked and i was on the front so i just followed them and when i looked back no one was chasing and we built up a pretty big gap. the 2 guys i was with werent pulling very strong laps so 20km to go i attacked them and they couldnt follow so the last 20km i did solo and by the finish i was about 30 seconds ahead of what was left of the peleton. so was pretty cool to win solo and all the people cheering along the course helped me along so good day.

tour du jura

stage 1 800m up hill tt
this stage was pretty cool it was flat for about 200m then 600m uphill at about 15% gradient and the whole way up the hill there were people lining the road cheering and alot were dressed up as random things like there was some guy dressed up as an angel and a group of old ladies all dressed as cows.i had an alright time nothing special
though as it was a bit short for me suited the sprinters more. I was 30th i think and the guy that won was a mountain biker that was 2nd in the U23 world champs and he smashed everyone he beat me by like 10 seconds.

stage 2 65km
This stage started on saturday and was only short as we had a stage in the afternoon aswell. It was all flat and with a pretty big field 130 odd riders it was a mission trying to hold a good position in the bunch so for the most the race i was mid pack as i didnt really think much would happen. then about 10km from the finish there was a cross wind section that wasnt really that strong but some muppet dropped a wheel and a group of 30 were out front and i didnt make the split so i tried bridging solo but didnt make it. so kieran prety much sat on the front and we only just managed to catch them at the end so luckily i still got bunch time.

stage 3 75km
this stage was pretty hilly so was a chance to move up on GC. this time i made sure i was at the front of the peleton the whole way. at about 25km in a couple guys got of the front and then a few groups of 2s and 3s brdged up to them making a pretty big break up the road, i was origanly going to try brdge acrross to them on the big climb that was coming up but the bunch was creeping, so i went with 2 guys that attacked and we managed to get accross to the front group after 5km of chasing. the break was pretty big maybe 30riders so the whole time it was attack, sit up, attack untill we dropped a few riders. by this point though the yellow jersey got up to us so he covered most of the atacks which was good. about 20km from the end i started to get a real bad stomach ache which was annoying. a group of three managed to get away from our group at about 10km to go. the finish was at the bottom of a 5km hill and at the botom it was a mess with 2 sharp turns and riders goin the wrong way and almost hitting barriers and i got caught up in it a bit so i came in 21st with 2 riders ahead of my bunch. so this moved me up to 13th on GC not to bad but real hilly stage tomorrow.

stage 4 130km
the first 65 km was pretty easy mostly falt with a few rollers. there was an early break of 8 guys so the team with the yellow jersey, cc etupes, were doing all the chasing so was pretty cruisy. the first climb was 10km but wasnt very steep and the bunch stayed together. the last 40km were real hard there were 3 3km real steep climbs, on the first one we caught the break, then 2 guys snuck off the front on the flat. the 2nd hill was real hard and the peleton blew to bits, i was in the front group of 5 going over the top, but on the decent my group was caught by a few more guys. the last hill was 10km from the finish and we got pretty close to the break but didnt quite catch them, i finished 8th on the stage and moved up to 10th on GC.

route du Comte Petite a St Antoine

From the start of this race it was wet and cold and I had nowhere enough kit on so for most the race I was freezing my ass off struggling to change gears as my hands were frozen. It was another lap race 8 laps with 3km low gradient hill that you go up in the big ring, then after the last lap we turned off to finish up another low gradient 3km hill still big ring.
The race I had a few goes of the front and did a bit of chasing for the team but nothing to much as I was so cold and boderline pulling out the whole race.
Just before we turned off the laps and into the finishing hill there was a group of 8ish off the front with team mate clement up there, but as soon as they hit the hill clement dropped his anchors and dropped from the front group so the other NZ rider in the team Kieran Hambrook got on the front of the peloton and drove it with me and Matt Benson on his wheel, so by 3/4 the way up the hill he had reeled in half the break and dropped the peleton, so me and Benson attacked and reeled in the rest of the break away except for one rider, Benson then attacked again and got past the last rider and got the win with me just behind rolling in 3rd. Was real good team work by the whole team so pretty happy.

french race that i forgot the name

This race had only 40 odd starters and was 12 laps of 8km. the laps had a prety steep hill of about 1km and a couple of other rollers. I attacked right from the gun as the hill was about 100m after the start line, and so I got away with a team mate and an ACB guy.we rolled together for about half a lap and a group of 8 bridged up to us and then by the start of the 2nd lap a group of 5ish bridged up to us which had another team mate.
Wasnt feeling to good as the cold I had from during the week was bothering me a bit so just had to ignore it. Every lap up the hill someone would attack and a couple of guys would drop so by half way there were 7 or 8 of us left up front and still all three from my team. So we started our attacking, ii ended up getting away with this guy that was really weak so we only managed to stay away for a lap and as soon as we were caught the bunched slowed right down and a team mate and the same guy I was just with got away and got a gap of 30seconds.
The next time up the hill an ACB rider attacked hard so I followed and just sat on him as I had a team mate up the road but this guy was real strong and caught the break in 2 and a half laps without me pulling a lap. By this point there were 2 laps to go so everybody started attacking but no one could get away until half way round the last lap I got away with the same guy that had bridged up to the break. I knew id have no chance in the sprint so at every rise id attack but he would always just manage to get back on .. so coming into the finish he owned me in the sprint so I rolled in 2nd, pretty disappointing.
To make it even better I got back to the team van and the director was all angry at me because he thought I helped the ACB guy bridge up to the break but I had just sat on the whole way because I knew there was my team mate up the road. But he didnt seem to believe me because he saw me roll through once on the hill. Its kind of annoying that whatever I say he never believes me and im just getting sick of all the bitching that goes on in the team. After awhile I had a talk to the director and managed to sort it out so its all good now. Race tomorrow hopefully goes a bit better

prix du Saugeais

So this race was the home race for VCCMM, it was a category 1, 120km race of a hilly circuit, and to top it off it was pouring with rain and freezing cold. I was told by the director that this race would be "very very ard". And it was, right from the start it was attack after attack and it was super fast and by the first lap of 15km over half the peleton had dropped. then by the 2nd lap the front group was down to about 20. I was feeling good on the hills it was the flat sections in the wind that seemed to hurt me the most and also the cold I could hardly change gears my hands were so frozen.
With two laps to go I went with an attack up the main climb with another guy, I think there were about 4 or 5 riders up the road. As we crossed the finish line to get the bell for the final lap we caught 2 riders that had dropped from the front break, but by this time I want feeling to good, so not even half way round the lap I got dropped up a climb with another guy and we got caught by a group of 4 behind.
So we reached the final climb and i went with an attack from another guy and we got a good gap but 200m from the top of the climb a rider from the group behind came flying past us and I didnt manage to get on his wheel, so at the finish I came in 7th or 8th im not sure and first category 2 rider. So pretty pleased with my result as was super hard race, easily one of the hardest races iv done. most of the field ended up pulling out and the ones that finished came in in 1s and 2s.

a bit of an update of what iv been up to this week. Have been on the train to Neuchatel in Suisse and it was mean weather and had to wing it on the train with no ticket. Went to watch the tour of romandy prologue and stage one which was awsum to see all the pros race and was amazing just to see all the people and just how big the whole thing was.