Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek

I have finally found a quiet moment to get a race report up from the weekend.

I raced the Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek. Being my first race of the real season and having so much time off my bike in recent months due to injuries etc.. I was unsure as to how my condition was.

The course was 3 stages in 2 days (see previous post) so was going to be interesting to see if I could back up days. The course was full of cobbles and wind with a couple of little hills and roads thrown in for good measure. No easy task but with objectives fast approaching I had to get some condition in my legs and to do that just get through the tour as best I could.

The first day started out not too bad. 158km stage, I felt good, but being my first race back in europe I was a little nervous back in the big pelotons so just had to get a feel for it again. In this race with the wind and cobbles you always have to be in the front as usually it will split to pieces in the cross winds.

The race hit the Kwaremont, a cobbled climb with quite a gradient and it split. I was on the wrong side of the split and tried to ride across with a team mate, we didn't quite make it and spent the next 60km riding the front on the chase bunch with about 80 other guys. No problem for me. I was just there for training to begin with. So this is where we ended, I think I was something in the 130's on the results but I made it through.

Sunday morning was an 8km tt. I was up early, 9.20 start. I went as well as I could to give our leaders Fabio and Romain something to aim for. I started fast, built for a bit and then held it till the end, finishing with a time of 10minutes 12 seconds. Which was the fastest time so far. I stayed in the lead for an hour or so before 33 guys decided they wanted to go faster. Ended 34th. Fabio with a 10.02 moved into 5th place on classification.

The last stage was 130km, more wind and cobbles but this time with a 2-3km climb and thankfully no cobbles. We hit the bottom of the climb after 20km and I took Fabio with me to the front and settled into a rhythem. Stringing out the peloton. On the decent it was all back together but a few of the guys feeling the racing taking it's toll. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty lactic at this point too. I was in the front as we turned left into the cross wind, riding well but got hooked and overshot the turn. Ended up at the back, rode round a lot of guys, got dropped, rode back all in the space of 10km. I got back into position as the peloton starting getting smaller. And again the race started spliting, me and 2 team mates were in the 2nd group but after 5km were able to ride back across the gap. It was a shit fight to the finishing circuits, 3 laps of 6km. The break still had 2minutes as we hit the circuits and were threatening our place on classification. I got the word to hit the front again with another team mate, unfortunatly he decided after 3 pulls it was too hard or he wasn't ready to sacrifice himself, I duno. So I was left alone of the front with the 2 remaining riders of the leader's team. 2 laps to go it was down to 1 min 18 seconds. I was pretty smashed by this point and was really having to hurt myself. 1 lap to go and it was 40 seconds to the front. With 3km to go we had the break back in. It was then time to set up for the sprint. So again I dragged my sorry ass to the head, pulled again before drifting back in the last 500m. Finishing the stage in the 50's but more importantly finishing in the front, with good condition coming and doing what was asked of me.

As Fabio said, we might not have won the race but we were the strongest team in the race and had a few things gone our way we could have just as easily won it. But thats bike racing. Everyone was happy and the team worked really well and got on really well together. It's a bit cool when i'm starting to understand more french too. Not feeling so out of the loop.

So now I am in a training camp for this weekend. The first objective for the season, Liege - Bastogne - Liege under 23. A race which would normally suit my riding. I will be after a big result. I know I have good enough form, just have to pull it all together come Saturday.

Will get some pics from the weekend when they become available.

Thats all for now, and I will be back with a report from Liege.