the race this weekend was on a hard little circuit of 3km that was mostly downhill with the rest uphill and the last 300m to the start/finish real steep uphill. id had a good good hard week of training so came into the race feeling pretty good. anyway the first few laps i just rolled around in the bunch not up to much sort of saving myself a bit, in that time a break got away of about 7 with 2 team mates up there so about half hay i decided i should probly try bridge across the gap was about a minute and 2 other guys came with me but one guy dropped his chain and got dropped so it was down to two of us it took us about 4 or 5 laps to get across and just as i got on i saw that kieran had gone solo from the main group and got across the gap in only 2 laps wich was pretty impressive.
so we had 4 guys in the front group we should have had this race in the bag. but when i got up to the front group with 4 laps to go no one told me that there was actually 1 guy up the road and our bunch was just pissing around and by the time i found out we had 2 laps to go and he had a big gap, so i got on the front to drive in the hope of catching this guy as but i was practically the only guy from my team wanting to work, everyone should have come through and chopped off with me and have kieran sitting in behind as he is our best sprinter and we would have probly caught the guy. so pretty pissed off, keiran ended up 3rd and my two other team mates 4th and 5th with me at the back of the bunch in 9th after my hard work.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Prix de Harricourt
After a crap race the day before i didnt think today would be much better so decided to be a team player today.
the race was 250km drive away so bloody long. the course had a few rollers and 1 hill about a km long, it didnt look very hard riding around it in the warm up but soon the wind picked up and changed everything. the first lap a small break of three guys got away and then a few small groups bridged across i had two team mates up the road, so at the start of the 3rd lap i had a crack to see if i get across to the front group to help them out, 2 guys went with me but on the next small hill i attacked them as i didnt want to bring more across to the break, i managed to make it the rest of the way to make the group 11 riders and the group i was with didnt make it, which was lucky. I wanted to help out my team mates kieran and clement in the break so i did alot of work on the front.
with 3 laps to go attacks started coming and keiran got away with 2 other guys, then on the hill someone attacked and i went with them and we bridged up to the front. we all worked well for a bit untill everyone started playing around atacking each other, 1 guy got away, then i went after him. we got to the hill with 1 guy 30seconds ahead of me and the group 20 seconds behind me. 1 guy jumped from kierans group and caught me and we worked together to catch the guy out front.
We caught him with a lap to go and the hole time it was just cat and mouse between us with no one able to get away or drop anyone, so we came to the finish all together but all the work i had done earlier in the race caught up with me and i got drilled in the sprint and got the 3rd.
Was good to do alot better than the day before so was pretty happy with my race but still a bit guttered i couldnt win.
the race was 250km drive away so bloody long. the course had a few rollers and 1 hill about a km long, it didnt look very hard riding around it in the warm up but soon the wind picked up and changed everything. the first lap a small break of three guys got away and then a few small groups bridged across i had two team mates up the road, so at the start of the 3rd lap i had a crack to see if i get across to the front group to help them out, 2 guys went with me but on the next small hill i attacked them as i didnt want to bring more across to the break, i managed to make it the rest of the way to make the group 11 riders and the group i was with didnt make it, which was lucky. I wanted to help out my team mates kieran and clement in the break so i did alot of work on the front.
with 3 laps to go attacks started coming and keiran got away with 2 other guys, then on the hill someone attacked and i went with them and we bridged up to the front. we all worked well for a bit untill everyone started playing around atacking each other, 1 guy got away, then i went after him. we got to the hill with 1 guy 30seconds ahead of me and the group 20 seconds behind me. 1 guy jumped from kierans group and caught me and we worked together to catch the guy out front.
We caught him with a lap to go and the hole time it was just cat and mouse between us with no one able to get away or drop anyone, so we came to the finish all together but all the work i had done earlier in the race caught up with me and i got drilled in the sprint and got the 3rd.
Was good to do alot better than the day before so was pretty happy with my race but still a bit guttered i couldnt win.
PRIX DU PLATEAU
well not much to say about this race it seemed it wasnt my day, my legs hardly worked and i missed every move that went off the front. and in the end finished up 17th
Sunday, August 15, 2010
PRIX DE PLAIMBOIS DU MIROIR and PRIX DE VALFIN LES ST CLAUDE
Was a pretty successful weekend for me which was really good as both races suited me really well.
PRIX DE PLAIMBOIS DU MIROIR
this race was a Morteau hosted race and was also held in the town of the president of the team so was really important for the team. the course was 7 laps of a circuit which had a 3km hill with the start finish at the top the rest was rolling. the first time up the hill the break got away and it included me, 3 other team mates and 5 other guys. we rolled around with a few attacks coming and going but my team dominated always having someone with the attacks. it wasnt until the last lap till it got interesting. about half way round the lap i got off the front with a group of 4 including one team mate and the guy who won this race last year was behind so he was chasing hard, we were about 4 km from the bottom of the hill and i attacked off my group just as they were caught by the chasers, and i got to the bottom of the hill with a about a 15second gap and managed to hold of the group for the win so was pretty stoked our team also got 2nd and 3rd.
PRIX DE VALFIN LES ST CLAUDE
this was another hilly race, it included a lap of 39km which had a 7km hill in it and then 2 laps of 22 km which had a steep 3km hill each lap. the first lap was pretty easy as i was just waiting for the final 22km laps to do anything. a group of 3 got away and built a pretty big lead but none of them were very good climbers so i knew it would eventually be caught. the first time up the steep 3km climb i was caught at the back and had to work hard to get to the front but managed to get over the top of the climb with 2 other guys and we caught the break out front just after the top of the climb. so we rolled around the rest of the lap untill we got to the hill again and the three guys from the break were droped straight away so it was down to me and 2 other guys we set a hard pace up the hill and attacked each other a bit but we stayed together over the top of the climb. it wasnt untill a flat section about 9km from the finish where i got caught out after doing a hard turn on the front when one of the guys attacked and i just didnt make it onto his wheel and the other guy jumped me to get on so i was stuck on my own. it was a pretty ameture mistake not leaving enough in the tank to cover an attack so close to the finsh. but anyway i ended up rolling in 3rd so not to bad.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tour de la Drome
This was one of the premier cat2 tours in france so was a real hard race with massive climbs, strong winds, was real hot and had heaps of strong riders and 130 starters.
Stage 1 100km
the first stage was probably the hardest stage as we raced up a big climb that went up 1000m in altitude and then a couple more shorter steep climbs after that and then the final 20km flat being a howling crosswind. So the start was real fast with a small break getting up the raod but as soon as we hit the big hill it was reeled in, one of the strong teams controlled the pace up the hill keeping it fast the whole way up, with the pace so high there werent any attacks untill the last 500m of the climb so there was still a pretty big group about 30 the next climbs attacks went but nothing could stay away and just a few dropped off, so goin down the last decent which was a gnarly 11km downhill with big switch backs there was a group of 20 odd left, and Kieran who had been dropped on the last climb managed to get back up to the front group after he hooked the decent. so there was only me and kieran from morteau in the front group, we tried our luck with trying to get away from the group but it was to windy and it always came back together. so it ended up as a bunch sprint for the finish wjich Kieran got 2nd and i was 17th out of 22 in our group.
Stage 2 11km tt
the next day was a time trial that included a 4km hill at the start which wasnt very steep then 7km flat to the finish. i got 8th in the stage which moved me up to 5th on GC. Unfortunatly i havnt doing much time trialing so not goin aswell as what i would have hoped for.
stage 3 105km
the last stage wasnt as hilly as the first but still had some steep climbs thrown in i was hoping to gain some time to move me up on GC but lost my chance when a group with a few guys in the top ten got away and i had to do alot of work to pull the group back so we caught them with 30km to go and one 3km hill to go i wasnt sure if i could stay with the front group over the climb but it seemed everybody was pretty tired and i got over the top of the climb with a group of 4 and we were working well together to hold of the chasing group but the last 20km was flat so we were eventually reeled in. coming into the finish one of my team mates in the group got of the front in the last km and won the stage an i came in mid pack.
so in the end i was 5th on GC and 3rd U23 and i also got 2nd in the KOM points which im unsure how i got as i didnt go for many KOM sprints. so wasnt to bad but would have liked to finish on the podium.
Stage 1 100km
the first stage was probably the hardest stage as we raced up a big climb that went up 1000m in altitude and then a couple more shorter steep climbs after that and then the final 20km flat being a howling crosswind. So the start was real fast with a small break getting up the raod but as soon as we hit the big hill it was reeled in, one of the strong teams controlled the pace up the hill keeping it fast the whole way up, with the pace so high there werent any attacks untill the last 500m of the climb so there was still a pretty big group about 30 the next climbs attacks went but nothing could stay away and just a few dropped off, so goin down the last decent which was a gnarly 11km downhill with big switch backs there was a group of 20 odd left, and Kieran who had been dropped on the last climb managed to get back up to the front group after he hooked the decent. so there was only me and kieran from morteau in the front group, we tried our luck with trying to get away from the group but it was to windy and it always came back together. so it ended up as a bunch sprint for the finish wjich Kieran got 2nd and i was 17th out of 22 in our group.
Stage 2 11km tt
the next day was a time trial that included a 4km hill at the start which wasnt very steep then 7km flat to the finish. i got 8th in the stage which moved me up to 5th on GC. Unfortunatly i havnt doing much time trialing so not goin aswell as what i would have hoped for.
stage 3 105km
the last stage wasnt as hilly as the first but still had some steep climbs thrown in i was hoping to gain some time to move me up on GC but lost my chance when a group with a few guys in the top ten got away and i had to do alot of work to pull the group back so we caught them with 30km to go and one 3km hill to go i wasnt sure if i could stay with the front group over the climb but it seemed everybody was pretty tired and i got over the top of the climb with a group of 4 and we were working well together to hold of the chasing group but the last 20km was flat so we were eventually reeled in. coming into the finish one of my team mates in the group got of the front in the last km and won the stage an i came in mid pack.
so in the end i was 5th on GC and 3rd U23 and i also got 2nd in the KOM points which im unsure how i got as i didnt go for many KOM sprints. so wasnt to bad but would have liked to finish on the podium.
Monday, August 2, 2010
prix d'Authoison
was another round of the credit mutuel series and i was in the leaders jersey for leading cat 2 rider. but unfortunately today was not my day and a couple laps into the race my shifter for my rear derailer stopped working so it was race over for me. so i went back to the team car and got it sorted and hooked onto the back of the race just to get the kms up as iv got a tour next weekend. i also lost my leaders jersey.
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