Day 2 was a bit shorter, 127km with 6 Category 1 climbs, oh joy.... Early on, we had the job of riding the front, and not letting any groups get away before the first sprint on the road - at 20km. It was a fairly flat start to the stage, with a few rises, perfect for attacks... It was up to Wade Mangham and I to ride the front and keep the bunch together, while Cam and Novie would lead out Gatey for the intermediate sprint, to secure maximum points and extend his lead in the sprint jersey over the next rider which had 5 points. We were unsure if this rider would go for the sprint, as he was also in the KOM jersey.
We worked it perfectly, rode the front, didn't let any attacks get away, and it was up to Cam and Shane to take Gatey to the line for the sprint preme. With 300m we could see the flag for the sprint, and Novie jumped past us with Gatey on his wheel. Oddly enough, there was 2 lines on the road, which one was for the sprint preme? Shane won to the first line, and Gatey won to the second line.... Who got the points? Shane did. Turns out the actual line was the first one, so Novie got 5 points and Gatey 3, with the KOM jersey getting 3rd and 1 point. He sat on Gatey's wheel the last 5km but couldn't get over him. Main thing was, Gatey extended his lead in the Rush jersey. The rest of the stage went by, and I hung in there until the last climb of the day, and damn it was brutal! Less than 10km from the finish, roughly 2km long, with parts up around 15-20% steep! I rolled in around 5mins down on the front group, which contained Novie and Gatey was in the next group a few seconds back.
Shutting shit down on stage 2 - riding on front early on
Day 3 and we had a similar task, keep the bunch together, no attacks, but this time it was for 30km, and included a relatively long uphill drag. We finally got some shit weather, which was meant to arrive the day before but luckily for us, it didn't! The strategy was the same, for myself, Wade and Jason to close down attacks and keep the bunch together. We executed perfectly, all riding hard and working well together. For the last 10km before the sprint we were riding so hard and fast that the bunch decided to not attack us, and just let us do our job and ride the front.
Closing in on 300m to the sprint preme, which was at 31.5km, and Shane jumped past us, with Gatey on his wheel. Gatey won the sprint, Novie 2nd and again the KOM jersey 3rd. But for us it didn't matter, as Gatey was far enough ahead on points of the next rider that he had secured the jersey, a great feeling for myself and I'm sure the rest of the boys as well as the staff at the race. Knowing you have a job to do, and completing the task, feels awesome.
The rain continued to fall for another hour or so, before stopping, and then starting again! I had to put my rain jacket on just to keep me warm, as I was already soaked from the first 30km - there was no way I was going back to the car when I was riding the front, so had to just get wet! From here on in, my legs started to get more and more fatigued as the stage went on. The first 30km of the race really took its toll on my legs and by 70km I was riding in the convoy of team, just trying to hang in there. I then got a puncture and for me it was day over. I jumped in the van at the feed station and got warm again. Wade also joined me.
We drove to the finish line, and between Wade, Steve and myself we had a feeling that we may get a good result at the finish line... And we were right. 2 riders slipped off the front late in the race, they both ended up staying away, with 1 of them from Davo, stealing the show and taking yellow on the final stage! Next in was the bunch, and Novie stormed home to win the bunch uphill sprint, and get 3rd in the stage.
Gatey won the Rush (sprint) jersey, matched our kit in Black and White!
All in all it was a good and successful 3 days. We got a result, as well as some hard racing which we'll need as we head off to Ireland tomorrow for the 8-Day Ras tour, starting this Sunday.
Cheers for reading. Hopefully more to come of what happened in the Ardenness in Ireland....
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