Pros and cons. I'm pretty gutted with today's result honestly. I came 8th but I was strong enough to maybe not win but podium. It's just how racing goes some times.
The race was 8 "rolling" 10 km laps and with a field of 60 making it a decent set up. It was slightly flatter than I wanted but it didn't hold me back. The first lap I was just idiotic and chased down at least 2 maybe 3 breaks by just dragging the bunch. I knew I was being an idiot but I didn't want them to stick.
Once it came back together I just tucked in marking a few riders here and there but staying hidden During the third lap I saw 2 decent guys make a move so I jumped on. We got a little gap before getting caught. There was a bit of cat and mouse before the same three of us drilled it and got away. 7 more bridged to us and that was it. A 10 man break, most of whom were willing to work was never going to get caught on that course.
I really wanted it to stick and while it was getting set up I was doing big pulls just to get the gap on the bunch so it would. I'll skip the next 70 minutes as it was basically all 10 of us pulling turns putting nearly 2 minutes into the bunch.
Right, last lap.
I was feeling good and was clearly one of the strongest there but I knew my sprint wasn't the best so I had a catch 22. Get away solo or a smaller group and maybe win or sprint it out as a 10 and try win that way. So with 8 km to go an out of the saddle rider got away and I bridged solo to him. I knew it wasn't going to stick and I told him exactly that but we made the rest chase us down.
There were a few feint attacks but I was marking a guy called Joe from Langsett cycles who I thought was the strongest so there was no way he was getting away solo without me.
With 3ish km to go I rode off the front. I absolutely nailed the move, on a slight rise into a headwind I got to the front and raised the pace just enough to get a gap before I drilled it. I gave it what I had and buried myself saying "you've got to eat shit now" I drove on and actually had a good gap. I really thought I'd mugged the field.
Alas when it turned into the tailwind straight and with 1.5km to the line one rider bridged to me. We worked a bit before Joe bridged. We drove it but some guy (literally the worst kind of racer) powered across at a slow enough pace to drag the 6 riders behind him along. If he'd have not done that it'd have been sealed.
The three of us would have made it. It was not to be though and it came down to a 10 man bunch sprint. I'd just spent my matches literally 2 minutes before so I didn't have much to give and I came 8th. I just got pipped over the line by 2 guys. I didn't deserve 8th. I felt like I should have made the podium really but that's racing.
Joe won btw. I spoke to him afterwards and he said I was unlucky and thought I deserved more. Still I had the legs to try and got enough points to stay cat 2 next year. It doesn't always go the way you want but I'll learn from this and next time it'll work out.
The race was 8 "rolling" 10 km laps and with a field of 60 making it a decent set up. It was slightly flatter than I wanted but it didn't hold me back. The first lap I was just idiotic and chased down at least 2 maybe 3 breaks by just dragging the bunch. I knew I was being an idiot but I didn't want them to stick.
Once it came back together I just tucked in marking a few riders here and there but staying hidden During the third lap I saw 2 decent guys make a move so I jumped on. We got a little gap before getting caught. There was a bit of cat and mouse before the same three of us drilled it and got away. 7 more bridged to us and that was it. A 10 man break, most of whom were willing to work was never going to get caught on that course.
I really wanted it to stick and while it was getting set up I was doing big pulls just to get the gap on the bunch so it would. I'll skip the next 70 minutes as it was basically all 10 of us pulling turns putting nearly 2 minutes into the bunch.
Right, last lap.
I was feeling good and was clearly one of the strongest there but I knew my sprint wasn't the best so I had a catch 22. Get away solo or a smaller group and maybe win or sprint it out as a 10 and try win that way. So with 8 km to go an out of the saddle rider got away and I bridged solo to him. I knew it wasn't going to stick and I told him exactly that but we made the rest chase us down.
There were a few feint attacks but I was marking a guy called Joe from Langsett cycles who I thought was the strongest so there was no way he was getting away solo without me.
With 3ish km to go I rode off the front. I absolutely nailed the move, on a slight rise into a headwind I got to the front and raised the pace just enough to get a gap before I drilled it. I gave it what I had and buried myself saying "you've got to eat shit now" I drove on and actually had a good gap. I really thought I'd mugged the field.
Alas when it turned into the tailwind straight and with 1.5km to the line one rider bridged to me. We worked a bit before Joe bridged. We drove it but some guy (literally the worst kind of racer) powered across at a slow enough pace to drag the 6 riders behind him along. If he'd have not done that it'd have been sealed.
The three of us would have made it. It was not to be though and it came down to a 10 man bunch sprint. I'd just spent my matches literally 2 minutes before so I didn't have much to give and I came 8th. I just got pipped over the line by 2 guys. I didn't deserve 8th. I felt like I should have made the podium really but that's racing.
Joe won btw. I spoke to him afterwards and he said I was unlucky and thought I deserved more. Still I had the legs to try and got enough points to stay cat 2 next year. It doesn't always go the way you want but I'll learn from this and next time it'll work out.