After getting my legs blown apart racing exclusively Nat B’s and Prems this year, I wanted moral boosting regional A race to test my form. Being the week before the Yorkshire champs, Team Chronomaster RR fit the bill. With only 60 riders and a distance of 90km (shortest by 25 km this season) I had a feeling I could do well.
My plan going into the race was to attack hard on a steep climb on the first lap and ideally get into a break. Things don’t always go to plan though! I let an initial flurry of attacks go and by mistake let a group of 4 get away. DOH!
I obviously couldn’t let this go and with a teammate blocking the road their gap went out. I tried to bridge solo but got marked so had to do it the hard way. I got to the front and set a hard pace. I made anyone I could help me out and I (almost single-handedly) brought the break back. Normally this signals counter attacks but none came so I sat in 5th wheel and let others keep the pace.
I must have stretched it out a bit because we had an easy second lap. I was being a bit daft doing too much too early but I knew I’d recover so just kept throwing in the odd dig before my mate Freddie told me to chill out. Which was probably great advice.
On the third lap the bunch had recovered and attacks started to come again. I kept marking and where I could threw down turns on the front stretching it out. I got a group of maybe 6 to work on the front and we pulled hard turns. I kept them motivated and we were starting to split the field. What I was really trying for was a group of 6 or so to get a gap but it never came. We didn’t relent the pace for 10 – 15 minutes at least and when we did ease the bunch was down to 20 riders.
The situation wasn’t ideal as it wasn’t a breakaway just a tiny peloton. This meant no one pulled turns. Before the race I had one guy to watch and I just marked him. Every attack he threw down I’d follow and these short increases in pace were taking their toll on the group.
On the final lap, I knew it would come down to a group sprint, but I couldn’t let anyone sneak off the front so I marked everyone. I used my nous and kept it all together. With 4 km to go, I was on the front and flicked my elbows but no one came through. In fact, they gave me a 3m gap, so I attacked. One rider came with me and I said “lets sneak off the front”. In any other situation this might should have worked. We pulled hard turns but I was getting fatigued and one rider dragged us back (the eventual winner). I spoke to him after and he said he was red lining and that we nearly made it. With 2 km to go I sat in 2nd wheel as the guy in first attacked! Way too early; so I let him lead it out. He never relented and up the final climb I got to the top in second wheel, ready to open up my sprint.
I knew the finish was further away than it looked, so I waited. 400m to go attacks came, without thinking I jumped on. With 200m to go I kicked. With a great surge I smashed the pedals but just couldn’t bring back the winner. As more of a climber I don’t often back myself for the sprint, but I was tactically astute today. I jumped onto the right wheels and timed it perfectly. Just couldn’t get the win. It was one of my best ever sprints, I think due to the severity of the race everyone was knackered. This was shown by there being only 12 in the bunch at the end!
2nd is a solid result and I’m not too gutted as the winner was Matt Langridge who is an Olympic gold medallist in rowing (tank) and could probably out sprint me every single day. £80 winnings makes everything sweeter too.
My plan going into the race was to attack hard on a steep climb on the first lap and ideally get into a break. Things don’t always go to plan though! I let an initial flurry of attacks go and by mistake let a group of 4 get away. DOH!
I obviously couldn’t let this go and with a teammate blocking the road their gap went out. I tried to bridge solo but got marked so had to do it the hard way. I got to the front and set a hard pace. I made anyone I could help me out and I (almost single-handedly) brought the break back. Normally this signals counter attacks but none came so I sat in 5th wheel and let others keep the pace.
I must have stretched it out a bit because we had an easy second lap. I was being a bit daft doing too much too early but I knew I’d recover so just kept throwing in the odd dig before my mate Freddie told me to chill out. Which was probably great advice.
On the third lap the bunch had recovered and attacks started to come again. I kept marking and where I could threw down turns on the front stretching it out. I got a group of maybe 6 to work on the front and we pulled hard turns. I kept them motivated and we were starting to split the field. What I was really trying for was a group of 6 or so to get a gap but it never came. We didn’t relent the pace for 10 – 15 minutes at least and when we did ease the bunch was down to 20 riders.
The situation wasn’t ideal as it wasn’t a breakaway just a tiny peloton. This meant no one pulled turns. Before the race I had one guy to watch and I just marked him. Every attack he threw down I’d follow and these short increases in pace were taking their toll on the group.
On the final lap, I knew it would come down to a group sprint, but I couldn’t let anyone sneak off the front so I marked everyone. I used my nous and kept it all together. With 4 km to go, I was on the front and flicked my elbows but no one came through. In fact, they gave me a 3m gap, so I attacked. One rider came with me and I said “lets sneak off the front”. In any other situation this might should have worked. We pulled hard turns but I was getting fatigued and one rider dragged us back (the eventual winner). I spoke to him after and he said he was red lining and that we nearly made it. With 2 km to go I sat in 2nd wheel as the guy in first attacked! Way too early; so I let him lead it out. He never relented and up the final climb I got to the top in second wheel, ready to open up my sprint.
I knew the finish was further away than it looked, so I waited. 400m to go attacks came, without thinking I jumped on. With 200m to go I kicked. With a great surge I smashed the pedals but just couldn’t bring back the winner. As more of a climber I don’t often back myself for the sprint, but I was tactically astute today. I jumped onto the right wheels and timed it perfectly. Just couldn’t get the win. It was one of my best ever sprints, I think due to the severity of the race everyone was knackered. This was shown by there being only 12 in the bunch at the end!
2nd is a solid result and I’m not too gutted as the winner was Matt Langridge who is an Olympic gold medallist in rowing (tank) and could probably out sprint me every single day. £80 winnings makes everything sweeter too.
