This week I have been staying at Kieran Hambrooks (my NZ team mate from 2 years ago) apartment in Saint Etienne, which is just 45min by train from Lyon. Has been really good riding somewhere different and chilling with another New Zealander, almost like Morteau days. Weather is still average, been battling the wind the last few days.

Kieran at the top of a climb. 

rain...

Was a very average weekend of racing. I had 2 races and both in the rain and cold. They don't really deserve much of a report, finished in the bunch on the first race and didn't finish the second one after doing a lot of work on the front when none of the team made the break.
Thought I'd just put some pictures instead.

Tour du Loir-et-Cher

Last week I had a UCI 2.2 tour up northern France, just below Paris in the Loir et Cher department. The tour was basically pan flat most of the time and had some long stages, it was 5 days and 900km all up. Was a cool experience racing with lots of pro teams, only 5 amateur teams including us out of 27. Was also only 4 french teams and the rest Belgium, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Austrian, Japanese, English and American. There was more english than french spoken in the peloton which was a welcome change!

Stage 1- 190km
first stage was completely flat and super fast. right from the start is really hard as there were alot of turns going through small towns and with 170 odd riders all trying to be at the front there were also heaps of crashes, I saw one rider hit a hole in the road that he didnt see and lost control of his bike and headed straight into a fence dragging his face along it... Luckily I stayed out of trouble and a break eventually got away and the pace cooled down a bit. Until we got to a cross wind section a group of 10 or so split of the front and bridged to the break. So with a large group up the road and most teams represented there were only a couple of teams chasing. In the end the group stayed away and won by 3 minutes. I finished in the main bunch. The average speed for the stage was 46km/h.  Also was cool to see another kiwi Mike Northey win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

Stage 2- 210km
This stage was controlled fairly well by the top 3 teams on GC, but again it was really fast (45km/h average) as the break didnt get away untill 110km. After it was established the peloton settled down to a controled pace. It was prety easy untill we reached the finishing circuits at 200km, 4 times round a tight circuit with a 500m steep climb each lap. The Russian drilled it on the front and easily reeled in the break away while dropping most of the feild. I managed to hang in there finishing front group in 30th place.

Stage 3- 201km
You could say this stage was like a 'rest' day for the peloton. It was a flat stage again and the break got away in the first 5km and the rest of the stage was controlled by the yellow jerseys team. everything came back together for a bunch sprint. just a cool 43km/h average today.

stage 4- 190km
This was by far the hardest stage. The forecast was for thunderstorms so I made sure I brung my rain jacket, but for the first 50 km the race was flat out with the break not able to get away and with the sun shining I was getting really hot and re thinking my decision to wear so much kit. But all of a sudden 70km in started pouring with rain and then was so cold hail followed and continued for the rest of the stage. At about 80km crosswinds also added to the mix and split the peloton. I was a bit caught out and was only in the second group but worked hard and managed to make my way back to the front by 100km. From there I was feeling good and had a couple goes of the front as the terrain was a bit more up and down. The final 40 km were round another hard finishing circuit with 2 small climbs and with rain and cold the peloton was getting smaller and smaller. By the end there 10 up the road and I finished in the group 35seconds behind in 37th place. The stormy conditions definitely took their toll as 70 riders didnt finish.

Stage 5- 100km
The final stage was on 8 km circuit around the town where we were staying. It was fairly uneventful as it was controlled by the leaders team and came together for a bunch sprint which was on a bit of an uphill. I wasnt really confident in my sprint so was in a bad position, but in the end I felt good and was moving up alot of places so I was a bit annoyed I didnt try a bit harder to keep a good position at the front. I finished 42nd on the stage.
I was fairly happy with how I went as it wasnt a tour that suited me very well but I finished 25th overall and 6th U23. 

Tour du Charolais

Had another elite national race this weekend. It was 160km on an undulating loop with a couple finishing circuits with some short steep climbs.
Felt pretty crap for the first hour or 2, but didn't have to do anything anyway as a break got away and the team had to guys in it and one of the bigger teams had nobody so they were chasing all day. I started to come right when we hit the finishing circuits. The pace really shot up and the peloton easily pulled in the break. So with about 40km to go it was attack after attack. My team mate Sebastien got away with another guy so behind we only had to cover the attacks.
On the last lap with about 15km to go I got away with 2 other guys and we bridged up to Sebastien at the front. about 5km later Jeremy from my team also got across with 2 others. We were holding about a 40second gap to the peloton and it looked like we were gunna stay away, until 5km to go everybody started pissing around playing cat and mouse so we ended up being caught by the peloton less 500m from the line. I ended up 25th in the end and team mate Alex got 2nd in the sprint. Bit annoying for me but felt strong again, just waiting for a result.

Tour du canton Bourg-de-Péage

Had a fairly good race here, I felt good and I have no regrets with how I raced just unfortunate I didnt get the best result. It was a really cool course just south of Lyon, a circuit with 2 separate loops always undulating with no climbs over 3km and was super windy, 150km all up.

There were 120 starters so again was important to be at the front from the start with the strong wind always threatening to split the peloton. But when everyone is trying to do the same there were alot of close crashes and riding on the grass etc. It wasn't until 50km a group got away on one of the climbs which I managed to get in it and we stayed away for the whole race, there were 16 of us and also Sebastian from my team was also there.
We worked together well and got a big lead and knew the winner would come from our group. With 45km to go we went up the hardest climb and I was feeling good and the group was a bit big for my liking so I put in an attack and one guy came with me, but dropped after a km. so I was away by myself and was hoping a couple of guys would bridge up to me but the group ended up catching me but we were now down to 10.

Basically to the finish it was flat with a couple small pinches. With 25km to go there were alot of attacks and 4 got away including my team mate Sebastian so I was just sitting in behind not chasing. The four stayed away and I knew from my group I wouldnt win the sprint for 5th so I attacked with 2km to go, but unfortunatly I was caught just on the line and got 10th.. Still happy with my race and the form is definitely on the up.