A perfect morning greeted the team today, not a breath of wind nor a cloud in the sky, today was a sunscreen day. With an unplanned but welcomed rest day yesterday everyone was raring to go, Westbury was the start location and with only 79.4km on the cards and a dead flat lead in to the day’s climb, it was going to be a fast start to the day. Unlike the short sharp climbs of previous today’s climb was 17km long but still tough enough to put pressure on the best.
The team plan was to help me get in the early break or in the hunt for the sprints. Putting myself at the front of the bunch was the best option and trying to make each break was taking a toll on the legs so I decided to take a break before having one last crack. Unsuccessful and the climb beginning to cast a shadow on the peloton I moved to the back and gave debutant Matt Gassner a hand hiding from the wind before making an assault on his terrain. As we began to climb I let the mountain goats go have their fun as I say up and rode tempo to the top only loosing five and a half minutes to the stage winner.
Due to the ascent, I’ll let Justin Gassner voice his comments on how the leaders played out:
A fast pace was set to the bottom of the climb with the Orange Army leading the way as riders tried to position themselves near the front. A steady tempo was set for the first half of the climb with the break holding a lead of around 45 seconds. The second half of the climb saw attacks come from many riders as the wind picked up across the top. The main bunch was split in two by a small gap of around 10 seconds as the break away held there advantage to the finish.
Thank you once again to Veneziano Coffee Roasters, Blefari Cafe & Cucina, Team Manager Michael Slater and everyone else who has thrown their support behind our small team. “What goes up must come down” well that at least keeps me optimistic as the kilometres pass.
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