PRIX DE LA SOURCE and prix de Frontenaud

So first up on Saturday I had prix de Frontenaud it was a pretty small race with only 40 people and was raced over a 5km flat ciruit with one steep pinch climb in it. I tried to be as active as I could at the start of the race so I could get in the early break which worked out well as I got away with 3 other riders. We worked pretty well together and with 3 laps I put in an attack up the steep climb but I think they were all expecting it and managed to catch me. So next lap I attacked them just before the hill and this time I managed to get away alone and ended up winning with a decent gap to 2nd.

prix de la SOURCE
this was a weird race as the course looked pretty hard driving around it with a few climbs and rollers. But when we started the race nothing could seem to get away and it was really easy sitting in the bunch. Our team was the strongest there as we had the most riders so we always had someone goin with the attacks of the front. It wasn't until the last lap with half a lap to go Matt got off the front with another guy and got pretty close to staying away but the finishing straight was slightly uphill so he just died a bit and got caught just before the finish bit it was still good for the team as Kieran won the bunch sprint. I just finished mid bunch.

So my computer decided to stop working for me over a week ago and because its the summer holidays in france the repair shop has been extremly slow and i still havent got it back yet so not ideal.
In the time iv had no computer iv had 5 races and the first 3 will be a pretty brief report as they arent very fresh in my memory.

Orchamps criterium
This was a local race on a thursday night was a 1.5km course with half of the course up hill and half downhill. the pace was on right from the start and i was really active trying to make the break unfortunatly after bridging up to some promising breaks, i missed the winning break so just rolled in with bunch. but i did win a sprint prime so got some euro.

prix du jura nord
Was a cat 1 race and part of the credit mutuel series and i was in the leaders jersey for leading cat 2 rider. was a pretty flat course, had a small hill which was big ring stuff. unfortunatley being in the jersey meant i was pretty well marked and i was feeling crap for most the race so i didnt make the winning break (again). so got no points for the series and lost the jersey by 1 point i think.

PRIX DE LA GRENETTE
this was a midweek race on the national french holiday basteille day. and this race was part of another series and turns i was leeading this one aswell so had to wear a white leaders jersy. and same story as last race everytime i even thort of moving i had the whole bunch following so extremly annoying. and break got away, but i managed to win the bunch sprint and got 10th. and my team mate clement moved 1 point ahead of me on the series which was fine by me as it got me out of the jersey.

MONTEE DE LA RAMAZ
this race was really cool it was 14km uphill on a cat 1 climb from the tour de france this year, and there was writing all over the road the whole way up so was really cool to be racing over the same climb as all the pros. the race had 50odd starters but it thined out real quick to about 10 riders and for the first 8km there where a few attacks but nothing split the group up.
it wasnt until we reached a real part of the climb about 10 to 12 percent for a couple of kms i was in the front group of 5 untill i just lost contact when the eventual winner put in an acceleration near the end of the steep section, for the last 3kms it wasnt so steep so im pretty guttered i couldnt just hold on to the group over the top of the steep section. so i came in 5th.

PRIX DE DELLE
the 6th race in the credit mutuel series so had try get my cat 2 leaders jersey back.
was a really hard race was 120km over a 20km course with a 3km hill which was a big ring climb. tried pretty hard to make the early break but i missed it. the cmc team who had the cat 1 leaders jersey for the tour put up a good chase and the bunch got real close to catching the break and then on the third lap the bunch blew up on the hill with everyone strugling to stay at the front i made the front group of 25 and we were about 30seconds from the break and a couple of guys managed to bridge across, and then the chase just stopped it was like the cmc team just gave up. so that was race over. i ended up coming finishing in the bunch and was 23rd so managed to get my cat 2 leaders jersey back which was good.

friday crit, sunday race

So the friday night crit was the 2nd crit iv raced since iv been in france, it was 60 laps of a 1km circuit dead flat.Oh and it started at 8.30 pm so was pretty weird racing so late. start of the race i missed the break but kieran got into it so i just was following attacks. then it started raining and i lost all motivation and was just rolling round in the bunch making sure i didnt crash.

the race on sunday was another hot day and it was only me and 2 other team mates racing as kieran, matt and the rest of the team were off at another race. the course was real cool through heaps off small towns and roads wide enough for 1 car. it was 6 laps all up 120km and had a decent 2km hill in it. on the first lap a break went and i just sat near the front waiting for a good moment to bridge up, i attacked at the bottom of the hill and got up to the break solo pretty easily. we had 6 in the break but one guy just sat on the back not willing to pull any laps. i drove the break pretty hard and we got a decent lead and until the last lap i was just cruising waiting for a good time to make a move. but right at the start of the last lap a group of 5 bridged up to our group and 3 guys attacked straight off the front and i followed them easily and it all seemed so easy to make the winning move, but then i got a puncture and the wheel wagon was behind two groups behind so i had to wait forever to get a new wheel. got the wheel got motorpaced up to the 3rd group, attacked straight off the front, got up to the next group and tried to get a good chase together but the leaders were to far ahead by now, so a couple kms from the bottom of the hill i attacked and went solo and ended up 4th 30seconds behind the 3 guys up the road. pretty pissed as i was feeling really strong and would have had a good chance for a win.