Got home at 3am after a 9 odd hour car drive home from france. Then spent most of the morning on phone, didn't sleep till midday.
I did the preview before the tour. Well the profiles couldn't have been more different to what I saw. Well the altitude measurements they posted.
We thought 4 of the 6 road stages would be bunch sprints, but these hills were ensuring there was only going to be one bunch sprint this week.
For me the tour was base building for the season, we set 2 goals before the tour, get in an escape one day and finish the race.
Underestimating the calibre of the feild I jumped across to one guy 5km into the first stage, we were joined by 3 more riders, before the u23 belgian champion dropped off and went back to the peloton.
So 4 of us set out to try and cheat the peloton of victory while picking up intermediate prizes along the way.
I was feeling ok, relaxed, but knowing I had a big week ahead of me I didn't want to push to hard. So I was trying to keep smooth and steady all day. I won an intermediate and mountain prime, 2nd in 2 mountain primes and 4th in another intermediate sprint (didn't know why they were attacking me haha)
I ended up getting caught with about 15km to ride, while the other 3 were still out front until 10km to go. It was successful for me as I was presented with the jersey of the combine classement, intermediate and mountain primes combined. I felt like I took another step in the right direction and things will come together for the rest of the season. Still have a lot of big races to go.
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Stage 2 was hard for me as I still had tired legs from day before. I did what I could and fought with everything but got run off the back of a small peloton with 2 finishing circuits to go. Things were bad this stage, I had a news paper go through my rear derailler and went off roading amongst other things. Each stage finished with 5x5km finishing circuits, and each finishing circuit had a climb of 800-1000m at 15%, so much for bunch sprints and easy finishing circuits. I got to the finish 12 minutes down.
Stage 3, the worst day i've faced on a bike, Imagine stage 4 of the tour of southland, and double it in length. It was horrible. I had layers and layers of clothes on, and for the first time in my life, raced in leg warmers.
I was still real tired from first 2 days. I crawled in with a group and lost a lot of time again, but that didn't matter. All I had to do was get through the tour and do what I could. Unfortunately lost 2 team mates on this stage.
Stage 4, Started out as bad as day 3, but cleared pretty well for the start and was drizzle most of day. I had found some legs by now, I was riding in the front, following moves as we headed towards the finishing circuit. It had a 1km climb to the finish. Which was quite difficult. I made it throw to 1 lap to go and couldn't get round a split the 2nd last time up to the finish, and rolled in 1min behind the winner and 45 sec behind peloton. So was a better day for me.
Stage 5, Again had good legs, and for the first time a stage that was easy enough for the sprinters. Unfortunately they were cheated as the last rider of the early break held them off by a matter of metres. So they settled for 2nd, we had Romain, My room mate for the week, up there in 6th. I finished last wheel in the bunch in 60th place after pulling out a 'look ma, no hands' stunt over a bump in the road. Was very lucky not to go down.
Stage 6 was a time trial. I thought I could go ok on this stage. I was coming better everyday, but the course again was very different to the profile. Within metres of coming out of the start house it was 4km up hill and then rolling for the next couple of kilometres before another 2x 2km climbs. Think I would have been faster on my road bike. I was lacking a lot of power on climbs but that will come in next few weeks. I was 41st on stage. Ended up with 3 hours total on bike, so much for easy day.
The last stage. Again like every other day, the team with all the ex-pros from credit agricole made the race hard, pulling moves away. I was good again and was able to follow some, none of them sticking. I rode in the front until the finishing circuits, where I missed split again, not that I could have made it, I was so tired, and got in 6minutes down. Romain was 4th on the stage which was another good result for him.
It was quite seriously the hardest race i've ever done, with most days the first 2 hours in excess of 320watts.
So now I have some power work to do, but I have a good racing base for rest of season. Looking forward to it. Still hoping Soren will be over soon too, refresh my head a bit mid season.
I think the next race for me will be a 3 day, 4 stage tour in 2 weeks time. Le tryptique ardennais.
Now i'm going to catch up on some sleep. Have an easier week of training this week.
Until next time.
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