Tour de Côte d'Or

Had my 3rd tour in a row this weekend, another 3 days of hard racing. But I would defiantly say I enjoy tours more than 1 day races, as I seem to feel really good by the final stages. So anyway on Friday morning we made our way to Dijon for the first stage and after amazing 30 degree weather all week it decided to rain and was only 12degrees at the start which felt a bit odd after the good weather id had all week. the stage started with some hills, got in the first bunch of 20 odd but we were caught on a flat section mid stage, then didnt make the break that stayed away for the win so finished in the bunch.

2eme etape
flat stage bunch stayed together.

3eme etape
Was pretty cool had a 20km team time trial and we even had radios with ear pieces so that the DS could yell at us to go faster the whole time. We only started with 5 as one of our guys was sick and had to pull out the day before so had a wee disadvantage but all good. I found it pretty hard to find my own rhythm as it was only my 2nd ride on my tt bike but was still ok. About 4km from the finish there was a 1km steep climb and we dropped 2 guys so only 3 of us till the end (which was the minimum we had to finish with). We finished 8th out of 22teams.

4eme etape
last stage and was probly the hardest, an early break got away which I didnt try for. Then there was a cobbled section maybe 2km long slightly uphill, I was expecting them to be not to bad but they were massive full on bone jarring cobbles and it split the bunch a bit, luckily i made the front group. Stayed in the bunch till the hardest climb mid race was about 10 guys from the front at the bottom and the guy in third GC a miniature french climber attacked from the front taking one other with him and I went after them but was a bit far back to get on the back so held them all the way up the climb (which averaged about 15 percent ouch) and they pulled away from me over the top and i ended up getting caught by the bunch and they bridged to the front. Annoyed with myself for not being in a better position at the bottom of the climb but owell. finished in a diminished bunch of 30 arriving for 6th place.
Managed 27th on GC.
Again felt great and I have the Legs but I'm just not making the right breaks or being in the right place at the right time.

Tour du Beaujolais

So this weekend I had a small tour in the region of Beaujolais which is just west of Lyon maybe an hour drive or so. Probably had the hottest weekend since I have been in France and it made the racing really enjoyable especially with the amazing scenery as Beaujolais is famous for its wines so there were a million vineyards.
Well anyways the race 3 stages, the first being 100km on Saturday on a rolling course but no long hills. Right from the start the pace was on and the peloton was single file through windy small road passing through a lot of small villages with a lot of corners, so before long there were a few breaks up the road and people trying to bridge all over the show and eventually when it settled down 15km in there was a group of tenish up the road and my group which was basically the peloton now, of 30 riders. The team only had 1 guy up the road and all the rest of us in the group behind so the chase was left up to us. I ended up doing a lot of work as I was feeling super strong( in hindsight it probly wasnt the smartest move ) and we caught the front bunch fairly quick. As soon as wee caught them attacks were going straight away. Went with a few but didnt quite pick the right attacks so a group of 6 got off the front and we had Jeremy in there so we didnt have to chase. In the end the group stayed away and Jeremy got 3rd on the stage, I was in the group behind, 16th.
2nd stage was on Sunday and completely flat on a circuit we did 4 times, I just sat in saving myself for the afternoon stage and finished in the bunch.
Last stage was 120km of rolling terrain like the first stage but probably a bit harder. I felt really good and was mostly helping out the team defend Jeremy's 3rd position on GC(he also had the U23 jersey). The whole stage seemed really easy to me, and I was really itching to try get off the front on the final KOM climb although unfortunately it wasn't as long as I hoped, and Jeremy put in a dig first and then over the top of the climb I tried to get away but it came to nothing. Then coming into the finish I looked behind and realized our group had only about 15riders and I was looking at my speedo and I have had training rides with a higher average heart rate than what I had at that point.. so anyway Jeremy said he wanted to have a crack at the sprint so I tried to give him a good lead out which wasn't to bad i thought and got 5th on the stage with me in 12th. I ended up moving into 9th GC so not too bad.
Im defiantly pleased with my form at the moment and can feel I can still improve. I am starting my build up to one of my main season goals Tour des Pays de Savoie on June 16th so all is basically towards that at the moment, will put more about the it another time.

Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour

Well this tour was insane, like nothing I have ever done before it was crazy fast and my four days were filled with ups and downs. Before the start I had fairly high expectations but after finishing it has really showed me how much faster pro racing is, and this isn't even the very top level....
Just to name a few of the top teams there-(for anyone who knows a bit about cycling) FDJ, Europcar, Saur-Sojasun. http://www.rhone-alpes-isere-tour.com/

So the first two stages I felt like crap. I dunno what it was either the speed of the race or I was just having bad days, but when ever I was going hard on the hills I could never find my rhythm and my legs felt like lead and also positioning was really important before the climbs because of such a big peloton and I was having a bit of a hard time getting a good place. So first stage I was 5 min down and the 2nd stage I was like 20min down eeek...

Finally on the 3rd stage which had the most climbing I felt a little bit better and was just pissed I got dropped on the penultimate climb due to poor positioning. But pleased to be getting some good feelings back in the legs. O yea and it also poured with rain on this stage and at the top of the last climb which was at 1200m altitude it was freezing and we then had one of the most dodgy decents I have ever done which was 25km long and was wet and you couldn't see 10m in front of you with the fog and with it being so wet it took about 200m of squeezing your brakes before they started working, hmm fun.

Last stage my legs were pretty much back to normal and I was feeling great on the climbs and ended up finishing in the front group so really happy with that. I reckon if there was another stage I would feel even better...

In the end I finished 46th on GC and 10th U23 and also 1st U23 ameture. So not too bad but nothing special. And It was defiantly some good training with 650km of racing in 4 days, I hope it gives me some good form for next weekend!

Tour du Chablais

So after having an easy week in Holland with 3 days of the bike I was sort of hoping I would have some good legs for this race as it was super hilly with some big climbs and it is also a big race here in France. Unfortunately it didn't go my way, well my legs let me down, I cramped up really bad at only 115km of the 160km which is strange as I haven't cramped all year. So I think I'm going to put it down to the lack of riding I did in the previous week, as I always feel really good in a race after a hard weeks training. Otherwise the first part of the race I was feeling strong, not as good as the previous weeks but still good. I finished in 28th and looking at the results I have beaten a lot of the guys in the top ten in previous hilly races so I'll take that as a positive.
Hopefully I'm good for next Thursday as I have pretty much the biggest tour of the year a UCI 2.2 with a few top European pro teams.

Some pictures from my trip to Holland

Enjoying the Heineken tour











A typical sight in Holland, Bikes everywhere!



Just some casual souvenirs

Holland

Its Brad Tilby and I've decided to guest write on Sam's blog and tell you what he has been up to for the week. My blogs tend to be on the longer side so I apologize in advance.

Sam had a few days free in his training so he decided to head up and stay with me to check out life in Holland.
I am living in a small town called Rhenen about 100km south east of Amsterdam and like Sam I am also racing my bike.
With Sam being half dutch on his mums side, it was a great chance for him to come up and experience a little bit of his heritage and see the countryside. With me being here for 2 months already, I still hadn't knocked off all of the tourist attractions so I was keen to also have a big week of seeing what Holland is famous for.

Sam was meant to arrive on Monday afternoon but had a little problem with the trains he got to see a bit more of the countryside than he expected. Luckily he managed to get different connecting trains and finally made it to Holland. We met in Rotterdam because getting from there to my house involved using some of the local trains and after half a day of travelling.... and being in a different country I thought I would cut down the stress for him.

Tuesday we headed to the zoo in Rhenen. It is one of the biggest in the country and has some crazy animals you wouldn't get to see in NZ.
I thought I would give Sam a true taste of Holland in the afternoon by making him bike on a 'town bike' to the swimming pool and back. 7km each way doesn't sound a lot and under normal circumstances we would knock it off in under 15 minutes. The problem is these bikes are not going to win any speed contests..... exhausting ourselves to the max, we were still only getting to 30kmph and the 43 meter high hill to my house soon feels like 400 meters.
We headed into Utrecht city on Tuesday night to meet up with his Aunty and Uncle + kids for dinner. It had been 3 years since they last saw each other so there was a lot of catching up to do.

Wednesday was going to be a big day as we went to Amsterdam. This place truly is the tourist mecca. There is so many things to see and do....(and not do) that it is one great big circus. We headed in with the people I live so they could show us around. We did the city canal cruise to see all the attractions first and then headed out on the streets to see what makes this place famous. All you hear about Amsterdam is the cafes and the red light district and indeed these places are surreal to see. Ofcourse we did the window shop straight past these and went to do the tour of the Heineken factory. We came away from here each with a Heineken bottle with our names on them and mildly drunk. We did a bit more touring of the wider city and then did a bit of shopping. One thing about this city is the souvenir shops could pass as sex shops...crazy..

On Thursday I took Sam out for one of my favourite rides in Holland. It is a loop ride that starts from Rhenen and goes through Apaldoorn to Arnham and back. Sam was a bit worried with the lack of hills here but I promised that I would make him crack on a climb and I think I succeeded...... 10kms at 1% gradient, into a headwind at 36kmph is an artform and takes a bit to get used to.
Thursday night, we headed back in to Utrecht to meet up with my team mate Alex for a beer and the movies....or in Alex's case....beer, then a beer in the movies!!...only in Europe.

Friday was more riding and checking out where my team HQ before he boarded the train back to France

So a very big 5 days here in Holland. It was interesting to hear the contrasts between France to Holland and the different ways of life. Sam will upload some photos in the next few days as he is an asian tourist and carries his camera everywhere.

Brad