Race start was 12.30pm, we met other team mates Tom David and Wade Manhgam at the race, along with myself, Jason Christie, Cameron Karwowski and Tom Findlay. Chris (our mechanic) had built us up some awesome wheels, 32spoke Mavic Reflex with Ultegra hubs.... Bullet proof. We had 17 climbs, 7 cobble sections and 3 cobbled climbs. Most normal wheels wouldn't be able to withstand the big cobbles in Belgium we were about to race over! In saying that, we missed the worst of the cobbles and the cobbled climbs that the Pro's raced over the weekend before!
The Molenberg, one of many hills in the race.
Race started, right from the go it was dodgy. Everyone was very twitchy, eager and wanting to be at the front. Before the first cobble at 11km, there was a huge stack! We knew where the 1st section was, I was 2nd rider into the cobbles behind an Italian.
First cobble section, 3km long, 1 Italian in front and 4 behind me!
Throughout the race I was happy with my positioning. Was first in the bunch up a number of the climbs. A group of 6 riders were off the front, but theynever got more than 2 and a half minutes. At 105km there was a feed station, flat, fast, 40-45kmh.
The Eikenberg
A stupid Mexican rider grabbed his feed bag and put it through his own front wheel, taking me and him down! I was pretty pissed off... I hit the deck hard, landed on my hip and had graze's on my hip, elbow and hand.
I said a few words to the Mexican, put my bike on top of the car and went to the finishing circuits to get cleaned up. Race over, but shit happens... Tom David and Tom Findlay rode well, with Tom David coming in 12th, andFindlay around 30th. It was a hard day out for all but it seemed we all enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot.
Had a few nightswhere sleep wasa bit difficult, a few days for the body to recover and prepare for the next Nations Cup race in France - La Cote Picardie. Drove 4hours to the region, North West of France on Tuesday. Arrived mid afternoon, got on our bikes and rode 2 laps of the finishing circuits. Was a pretty hard wee circuit, 2x 1.5km climbs with a couple of open/exposed flat sections. We stayed in a nice little French motel about 8km from the finishing circuits. Typical French dinner, baguette's, soup, then rice, pasta, a bit of tomato sauce and a small piece of steak.
The race went very close to the coast in some sections
Up the next morning for brekky, baguette with ham and cheese, muesli with fruit and yoghurt - tops. Drove anhour to the start of the race, pretty fresh day which never really warmed up! We had about 140k with a few short climbs, plenty of flat, open exposed roads and through heaps of little French Towns.
Course Route
The race rolled out at 12.45, and was scheduled for around 4hours 15mins to do the 176km race. We knew the wind direction and where some important crosswind sections in the race that could blow the race apart, and it happened sooner than we thought!
After 30mins of racing it was a dirty cross wind and everyone was in the right handgutter... Just as it was happening I jumped behind a big Latvian who took meclose to the front 40 riders, good timing! In front of me was around 30 riders in an echelon, then we started another echelon with 20 or so riders and dropped more than halfof the bunch behind us, and rode across to the front group... I almost thought it was race over to be honest! Only Tom Findlay and me were in the front group, we had roughly 20-30seconds on the 2nd half of the bunch behind us and it wasn't coming down... For a while I thought our group would stay away for whole race but after about 10km and 3-4 echelons on the road the bunch was back together again.
The bunch together
The wind for the rest of the race unfortunately wasn't strong enough to break up the bunch again. Around the 70km mark there was due to be some crosswinds, Cam, Tom Findlay, Wade and myself were all on the front and started rolling and putting it in the gutter, (wish we had some more pictures but can't find any!) but the wind wasn't strong enough and turned into a bit of a head cross wind. We rolled for about 10km but decided not much was happening and it was a bit of a waste of energy...
Just before we rolled the front.
Throughout the race there were plenty of crashes, I don't know what it is about these nations cups but they are some of the dodgiest races I've ever done!
Trying to stay at the front, fighting for position.
Quite possibly the dodgiest moment was when Tom Findlay, my own team mate, locked up, his back wheel came about 15cm off the ground and I veered off into the grass for about 200m trying to hold it up! Haha lucky he didn't take me down, my superior bike handling skills saved the day (not like at Flanders... eeek).
A group was away for most of the race but like in Flanders they never got anymore than 2-3minutes. As we got closer to the finishing circuits I tried to help a few of the other boys where I could. Realistically at the moment, coming off my broken collarbone a few months ago, I don't think I would make the front group at the end of 176km with 4 climbs in the last 35km, so when Wade and Tom Findlay asked me to take them to the front, I was more than happy to ride out in the wind for 1-2km to get them to the front, as cycling is as much a team sport as an individual sport. We know Findlay has good form at the moment, and always feel good to be part of a team that gets a good result.
We hit the finishing circuits, 2x18km laps in a bunch of around 130 riders. Down the finishing straight, a right hander and into a 1.5km hill. By this point my legs were pretty fatigued, and slowly got dropped up the hill and formed a group of around 10 riders to ride the last 30km with. I wanted to just finish the race so I could get some warm clothes on, felt like it dropped 3-5degrees in the last hour! Was around 11 degrees at the finish line... Brrr.
Sounds like the group got smaller on the last 2 laps, down to 50 riders, and the French rode the front for the last 5km and delivered one of their boys to the line to take the win on home soil, always nice. Findlay finished in the front group at 28th, with Tom David also in the front group rolling over the line in 45th. I finished in a small group around 12minutes down. To be honest I was happy to not crash, and actually finish a hard race and get the km's in the legs!
Next up is the next U23 Nations Cup, ZLM in Holland this Saturday. And after that will be a few easier days to let the body recover and get going again leading into some tours in May.
Sancho
