ZLM

An hour drive up to the start of the race in Holland, arrived at 11am with the race start at 12.30pm. We had 5 starters, Aaron Gate, Tom David, Shane Archbold, Cam Karwowski and myself. We had 6 starts but the other rider decided not to race the morning of the race. Novie (Shane) had done this race 2 years ago, and after 60km there was 4-5 groups on the road and it was bloody windy. On Saturday, we were flippin lucky and there was virtually no wind.... Websites predicted 2mph, and on the start line there was sweet f all!

It seemed to be the smallest of the 3 nations cups so far, with Italy not even starting a team. The route was 180km, went through a number of small bike paths, over a 2km cobble/pave section, over a 3km bridge onto arandom island, and back over a 5km bridge, heaps of open and exposed sections, a pretty interesting course. Again I say it, these have been the dodgiest race's I've ever done, seems as everyone is nervous and on edge! Make's for a lot of heavy breaking in the peloton, pile ups, crashes, and plenty of abuse... So much so, there was a crash in the neutral section!

For the other nations cups I knew there was hills, cobbles, crosswinds that I had to be at the front for. With no wind and a super fast course, it seemed like nothing was going to stay away and I was relatively safe sitting at the back of the group, out of the chaos in the peloton. Over the first bridge across a big section of water, it was a cross wind, left to right, and surely enough it ended up in the gutter! 150 riders, single file... If one rider can't hold the wheel, could mean a huge split in the group, and race over for a number of riders! This did happen, but the bridge and crosswind section wasn't long enough for the split to be anymore than 5seconds. I sat pretty comfortably behind a rider who wasn't so good at riding in the gutter, giving me plenty of draft which meant I could save the legs a bit compared to those riders riding out in the wind making it hard for themselves!

Throughout the race not too much happened, there were some short sections where some teams tried to put it in the gutter but nothing much happened because there wasn't enough wind. The race was to finish with two virtually square 10km circuits, and when we hit the circuits it was still a bunch of 110 riders. We had all 5 guys there, and leader on the road was Novie with me 2nd in charge. With around 50km to go, Novie went back to the car to get some bottles and have a chat to Stu. He came back to me and said the roles had reversed as he wasn't feeling super (it was his first big race after coming off his Silver medal at the Track World Champs in the Omnium in Holland 3 weeks ago, pretty quick turn around!).

Leading into the finishing circuits I sat on Novie to get near the front, as we knew with 160km in the legs and a bit of crosswind, the front group could get much smaller. We rolled through the finish line with 20km to go, just 2 of the finishing circuits. The race turned right and into a cross wind. Slovenia and France were on the front of the bunch driving it, trying to split the bunch, and thats just what happened! With 15km to go, Novie put himself in the wind for around 1.5km and rode as hard as he could to move up the bunch, as we saw it splitting in front of us. He rode past 30-40 riders, bloody impressive! In front of him was a gap of 20-30meters, and he had just done a huge turn, with some quick thinking, he put his hand out behind him, grabbed me and slung me across the gap, I motored across, hardly having to pedal! Novie had a go to try and get onto the 40 odd riders in front of him but I was virtually the last rider to make the front group, with 15km to go.

I sat in the front group for the next 10km, legs feeling good and with a bit of research before the race, I knew who to follow if it came down to a bunch sprint, which it was going too..... Everyone was a bit twitchy in the last 5km, fighting for wheels, following their team mates, knowing the finish is only a few turns away... I was the sole Kiwi in the front group of around 40 riders, thanks to Novie I got there relatively fresh. With 2km to go, some dickhead in front of me must have overlapped the wheel or something, and decided to eat shit and taste the tarmac... Unfortunately for me, I had no where to go and went into the back of 6-8 riders, straight over the top. Not going to lie, I was pretty fu**ed off... Another crash. I landed on a rider so had no damage to me, but my chance at my first big result of the season was over...

Bottom 10cm of bar, gone.....

Got up off the ground, put my chain on, but by this time the bunch was well gone! I cruised into the finish in 48th, just over a minute down, with a broken handle bar - note to self, don't run carbon handle bars. Luke Rowe from Great Britain won the race, he won it 2 years ago and was one of the guys I would have been following in the last km.... Ah well, thats bike racing. Hopefully I'll get some luck my way soon, as I know the legs are coming along alright after 3 solid races in the space of 7 days.

This week I'm back into the training after a few easy days following ZLM. Kermesse tomorrow which I'll try get amongst, and off to Gent next week for a 3 day block on the track.

Lastly gotta say how mint the weather in Belg has been, clear blue skies, easily up to 25degrees today. Seems Spring is better than Summer! Loving training in it, even better racing in the warmth.

Ciao,

Sancho