Club Tour or Pro Tour?
Today's stage 1 of the Northern Combine Queens Birthday weekend 3 Day Tour made me question in fact which one we were racing.
What a weekend of racing it was though. Not often do we get 4 stages over 3 days without having to take time off work.
Stage 1 was set around the Lancefield - Newham circuit, with 3 laps on the menu and a strong field of 45 in A grade we set off. Only 90km for the day the racing was fast with a small group establishing itself early Target Trek was left to bring it back with none of their team up front. Before long it became certain that it was going to be a day for the sprinters. Not sure of who would be the fastest I searched for sprint ace Shannon Johnson's wheel hoping to hedge my bets knowing that come the final 300m he would be up near the front. Frustration set in as riders were attacking in hope of surviving to the finish and being caught quickly, but instead of sliding down the side of the bunch they say up in the middle of the road hampering everyone's run to the line. Separated from the ideal wheel I soon saw Shannon on my wheel and tried to move through the bunch to shake him off with no luck. 300m to go and it was flat out and just had to wait and kick by the time I moved Shannon had already kicked and there was no way I was bringing the gap back just kept pushing to hold on for 3rd place.
Stage 2 was a simple 6.5km ITT with the temperature gauge in the car hitting -2 degrees it was a chilly morning. I had an 8:49 start, between needing to warm up and wanting to stay in the car and keep warm it was hard to decide when to start. Feeling frosty in a skinsuit there was no time to slowly build in to the ride it was go from the start. Nothing really to write about such a short TT but it was hard. After 8.26 I was finished and took 5th place which after stage one had me in 4th overall.
Stage 3 was the stage that I really disliked. I've the past 3 years I've blown up on stage 3 every time. Everything about the day for me was to conserve energy and wait for a sprint finish. Just after the halfway mark of the race a group of 4 jumped away, with no threats to overall there was no urgency in the bunch. As the climb started I moved to the front and just did the very bare minimum to make it to the top. After the climb I was still with the main bunch and decided to wait for the sprint. This time I put myself on Shannon's wheel and no matter who tried to push me off I pushed back harder. Coming into the final kilometre Rowan De Ver was still away solo from the early break, James Butler and Jeremy Cameron hit the bunch with 1km to go, I held on to Shannon's wheel but when he jumped I was half a second too late and there was already a 2 length gap, no bringing that back so I just held on and took 4th across the line. With time bonus' from the sprint and a small gap in the bunch I moved up to 3rd over all now 18 seconds behind leader David Kelly.
Stage 4 on Monday was delayed until 11am due to the heavy fog, the race was also shortened by a lap from 105km to 83km. The mission for the day was to not lose time and try to hold on for 3rd place knowing that it was going to be difficult to jump past James Butler and David Kelly, nonetheless I had a dig at the first KOM and so did everyone else so I sat up and took it easy enough to stay in tact with the main peloton. Soon enough we got the bell for the final lap, not a lot was happening in the peloton until 2nd place James Butler and Rowan De Ver both of Target Trek began to attack and counter attack David Kelly time and time again hoping that he would soon blow. I sat second wheel do about 15km as Kelly sat on the front setting a constant pace slowly pulling back the pair as the kept on putting in attack after attack, a super impressive display of strength from the Total Rush rider. As we reached the final climb before the final 2km descent into the finish Butler put in a big attack and held a gap, up the final climb we pushed hard and brought him back dropping tour leader Kelly in the process. As we crested the climb I was on the limit and felt as if I was about to pop, the pace didn't ease as Nic Katsonis drove the dwindling bunch down the descent. African Wildlife Safari rider Jeremy Cameron stepped out with 500m to go and hit the front, with a downhill sprint I kicked at 300m and put everything into it. Shannon Johnson moved up beside me and the drag race was on, no one had the lead until the last 15m when Shannon just had that extra revolution that I didn't. 2nd place and with that I moved up to 2nd overall, on 2 seconds off 1st.
Overall I was surprised that I did so well yet disappointed to have missed out by so little. A massive thank you to my girlfriend Mikaela for doing a lot of the driving to and from the races while I slept, to my family for all of their help over the weekend and everyone from the combine who helped to put he whole weekend on. Last but not least my sponsors at Corsa Cycle Centre, Lightsview and Cervelo for their help and support.
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