Frankfurt and Beveren races

Last Sunday we raced in Germany, the U23 race of the Pro Race Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt. We had 140km, over a number of climbs, which before the race we didn't really know about.... We knew it had some climbs, but not as much as we raced over! The first big climb was 12km long, climbing up to 700m. Legs were alright up here, made it over in the bunch, but the climbs following were the ones that hurt me.

A number of shorter climbs and some bad positioning ended in me getting caught behind some guys and slowly watching the bunch ride away from me with around 60km to go. 1400m of climbing was a bit of a shock to the system! Gatey and Novie finished up in the front group, with Gatey getting 10th and Novie 28th. Both good results for the boys after a different build up coming off the Track Worlds in Holland.

On Wednesday we raced the Beveren Kermesse, the home town of Marc Ryan when he lives in Belgium. Dream won this race 2 years ago, and us boys were ready for a good result. It was 19laps of a fast 5km flat circuit. After 1 lap I followed a few Belgies as they attacked, and we slowly rode away from the bunch, a group of 8 of us. I was feeling pretty good, rolling through with them and keeping the pace up. The gap got out to 1 minute 15 seconds, with less than 40km to go. Then shortly after that, 4 guys literally came out of no where, riding across to the break in just over a lap. As soon as they hit our group, the pace went up a few kmh and it slowly got harder and harder, with 2 of the riders from the original break getting dropped.

With 4 laps to go, we could see the bunch only roughly 20 seconds behind, and some guys in the break were committed, and some weren't, making it difficult for the break to keep rolling. With 3 laps to go, one Belgie said to me "this is f***ing impossible, there's no way we'll stay away", I couldn't help but laugh... It was a funny moment. He said it as he was rolling over me, driving himself into the ground haha. 2 laps to go and the break were just behind, so I decided to attack the break, hoping 2-3 of the strong guys would follow and we might have another chance... Unfortunately for me it didn't happen like that! One guy slowly bought me back, I sat up and the bunch was only 5-10 seconds behind. I was Novie sitting about 6th wheel in the bunch, so as the bunch caught me, I put my head down again and drove them until they virtually caught the break, hopefully helping Novie.

My race and legs were over with around 7km to go, I rode to the start/finish line, put some clothes on and waited for the sprint on the next lap. I knew Novie was up the front, ready to get amongst it. 3 guys slipped off the front, he jumped across to them out of the last corner with just over 1km to go. As he caught them, he put his head down and decided to go straight past them with 500m to go and head for the line, as the bunch was also fast approaching. He drove it all the way to the line, only to be passed by 2 riders just before the finish, coming in for 3rd place. Our first podium in Europe this year, hopefully more to come!

Tomorrow we are off to the Ardennes for a 3 day training camp on some hills, preparing us for Tryptique Ardennais next weekend, a 3 day tour. Following Tryptique, we have 1 week until the 8-day An Post Ras tour starts in Ireland. Until then, happy mothers day for Sunday mum!

Cheers