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

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.

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.

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.

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.