Ok, I know it is almost a week later, but I never updated this thing with the Sunday stage race.
Sunday was a mixed day. I probably shouldn't have raced Saturday, but I don't regret it. Saturday and the Pic de Nore was a great day.
Sunday was an early start as I got up and drove up to the team house for this 1 day stage race.
Stage 1 went fairly well and I was feeling good. The first part was flattish, but it wasn't long before we hit the hills. The stage would then finish with 5 or 6 loops of a 5km circuit taking up up a crazy climb to the finish line before plummeting out of the village and hitting endless wind swept and gravel covered corners. We had a guy up the 4man group that got away on the flat. As we entered the finishing loops, still with some 25 or 30k to go, one of the older guys on the team who is a part time DS and is one of the main guys behind putting the team together can read a race like no one I know (except for Chris Hayes, who's a legend). He grew up with Didier Rous, and as I gather spent a fair few years racing at high level. He told me that I was looking good, and needed to attack and bridge up alone to the 4 man group. Now I don't actually know how far ahead of us the 4 man break was, but it was minutes! I looked at him and said "bridge up? Alone? But they are miles away..." But seeing as I sort of like to be told what to do in races, and seeing as I lack confidence in myself, come the steepest part of the climb on the next lap, I did as I was told. I attacked, when over the top alone and nailed the descent. A few km later a few other riders from the main field joined me, and there it was... we had a chase group going. Not quite the solo bridge I had been told to do, but we had sent a guy out early and he was waiting for us to come up to him. In this chase group we had 3 guys from the team, and it was only a 5 man group. So the emphasis was on us to work. Sadly for us the National Champ was also in the group. I had the bit between my teeth and really thought I was going for the win.
Just before we caught the break with 2 laps to go, a rider from the break attacked and went off alone. Everyone in our group was supposed to be working for me, or for Julien Couaillac if I screwed it up. Our man from the original break (Ludovic) worked like a flippin' titan and sat on the front protecting me and pulling back the 1 remaining rider. But one of our guys wasn't working at all. Julien and myself were leaders and we were working, but not this guy. As we hit the climb for the second to last time this guy attacked (much to our surprise)... He didn't go anywhere, but he screwed up our rhythm for the last lap. I ended up working a fair bit in the past lap and felt a bit dead come the bottom of the climb. I had been planning to attack but I didn't feel I had it in me... in all the confusion we still hadn't caught the 1 remaining rider up the road. I thought I would wait until the steepest part of the climb to attack, but the National champ beat me to it. I was in the box at that stage and I basically messed the whole stage up. The solo guy won, the National champ was 2nd, Julien held on well and saved the day with 4th, I got 6th. In hindsight I should have attacked at the bottom of the climb anyway... even if I was tired I probably wouldn't have finished lower than 6th when it came down to it. But there you go. That's life. And that's also what happens when there is a little confusion in your own team. Our club was the organizing club, and with that many riders in the winning break, we really SHOULD have won.
Stage 2, after lunch, saw me reacting to all attacks and trying to myself and Julien up in the top ten overall. Once again I was feeling fairly good on the climbs, and was one of the few able to
respond and keep control of the threatening attacks. Eventually a group of 3 went up the road and we let them go (we had 1 guy in the move.) The group soon reduced to 2 guys, and once we hit the finishing loops our man was solo off the front. The finishing loops this time were much shorter. Only a 2km loop and with a steep hill to the finish line. Basically a crit. Everyone knows how I feel about crits. This time however I Was more motivated as I was sitting in the top ten on GC. Sadly the crit got the better of me and it wasn't long before I was dropped from the main contenders. The race blew up all over the road. Our man out front was joined by a shockingly on form National Champ who bridged up to him alone. The National Champ too the overall win and so it was only fitting that our guy took the stage. Julien raced well and moved up to 3rd overall... I suffered big time and lost massive time both on the stage and for the overall. I guess the Sat race took something out of me, and yes, the bloody crit ate me up and spat me out like a lump of fat in a tender chicken breast.
Sunday was a mixed day. I probably shouldn't have raced Saturday, but I don't regret it. Saturday and the Pic de Nore was a great day.
Sunday was an early start as I got up and drove up to the team house for this 1 day stage race.
Stage 1 went fairly well and I was feeling good. The first part was flattish, but it wasn't long before we hit the hills. The stage would then finish with 5 or 6 loops of a 5km circuit taking up up a crazy climb to the finish line before plummeting out of the village and hitting endless wind swept and gravel covered corners. We had a guy up the 4man group that got away on the flat. As we entered the finishing loops, still with some 25 or 30k to go, one of the older guys on the team who is a part time DS and is one of the main guys behind putting the team together can read a race like no one I know (except for Chris Hayes, who's a legend). He grew up with Didier Rous, and as I gather spent a fair few years racing at high level. He told me that I was looking good, and needed to attack and bridge up alone to the 4 man group. Now I don't actually know how far ahead of us the 4 man break was, but it was minutes! I looked at him and said "bridge up? Alone? But they are miles away..." But seeing as I sort of like to be told what to do in races, and seeing as I lack confidence in myself, come the steepest part of the climb on the next lap, I did as I was told. I attacked, when over the top alone and nailed the descent. A few km later a few other riders from the main field joined me, and there it was... we had a chase group going. Not quite the solo bridge I had been told to do, but we had sent a guy out early and he was waiting for us to come up to him. In this chase group we had 3 guys from the team, and it was only a 5 man group. So the emphasis was on us to work. Sadly for us the National Champ was also in the group. I had the bit between my teeth and really thought I was going for the win.
Just before we caught the break with 2 laps to go, a rider from the break attacked and went off alone. Everyone in our group was supposed to be working for me, or for Julien Couaillac if I screwed it up. Our man from the original break (Ludovic) worked like a flippin' titan and sat on the front protecting me and pulling back the 1 remaining rider. But one of our guys wasn't working at all. Julien and myself were leaders and we were working, but not this guy. As we hit the climb for the second to last time this guy attacked (much to our surprise)... He didn't go anywhere, but he screwed up our rhythm for the last lap. I ended up working a fair bit in the past lap and felt a bit dead come the bottom of the climb. I had been planning to attack but I didn't feel I had it in me... in all the confusion we still hadn't caught the 1 remaining rider up the road. I thought I would wait until the steepest part of the climb to attack, but the National champ beat me to it. I was in the box at that stage and I basically messed the whole stage up. The solo guy won, the National champ was 2nd, Julien held on well and saved the day with 4th, I got 6th. In hindsight I should have attacked at the bottom of the climb anyway... even if I was tired I probably wouldn't have finished lower than 6th when it came down to it. But there you go. That's life. And that's also what happens when there is a little confusion in your own team. Our club was the organizing club, and with that many riders in the winning break, we really SHOULD have won.
Stage 2, after lunch, saw me reacting to all attacks and trying to myself and Julien up in the top ten overall. Once again I was feeling fairly good on the climbs, and was one of the few able to
respond and keep control of the threatening attacks. Eventually a group of 3 went up the road and we let them go (we had 1 guy in the move.) The group soon reduced to 2 guys, and once we hit the finishing loops our man was solo off the front. The finishing loops this time were much shorter. Only a 2km loop and with a steep hill to the finish line. Basically a crit. Everyone knows how I feel about crits. This time however I Was more motivated as I was sitting in the top ten on GC. Sadly the crit got the better of me and it wasn't long before I was dropped from the main contenders. The race blew up all over the road. Our man out front was joined by a shockingly on form National Champ who bridged up to him alone. The National Champ too the overall win and so it was only fitting that our guy took the stage. Julien raced well and moved up to 3rd overall... I suffered big time and lost massive time both on the stage and for the overall. I guess the Sat race took something out of me, and yes, the bloody crit ate me up and spat me out like a lump of fat in a tender chicken breast. 
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