I wouldn't normally do a report for a criterium but this was a special one for me.
I've not raced a crit for a few years, it's not normally my forte, but there was a National B level one at Salt Ayre this Saturday afternoon. When I rocked up, more than one person said to me "you know there's no hill on this circuit don't you?". Salt Ayre circuit is dead flat and fairly non-technical but I need to work on my cornering and bunch intensity so I came for some race pace practice and a good work out.
The race was one hour plus five laps and the field was strong. I was hoping to avoid a bunch kick but I was with my teammate Max Silifant who can actually sprint and I was ready to help Max if it came down to it.
Attacks started from the gun, I believe Crimson Alumni, Oli Huszar was the first man to attack but it didn't stick. It took me a couple of laps to get into the flow as I stayed in the bunch watching for attacks.
After only a couple of circuits, a group of 5 riders got away. They only had a small gap but it looked like a strong move and I couldn't let it go. I unleashed an infernal sprint and went clear of the bunch to bridge to the move. After a chasing lap solo, I was joined by three others, Josh Whitehead, a Trainsharp rider and one more.
The gap to the five was not huge and I thought we'd close it in no time but they were actually pressing on so hard that we couldn't reduce the deficit. We were chasing tremendously but it felt like the gap was merely holding, not shortening. I was timing the gap every lap: 7 seconds, then 6, then back to 7, then 8, then 5. It was barely moving a but eventually their elastic snapped and within 3 laps we caught them.
The effort from me was 18 minutes at 370NP and 47.5kph. I was hurting a lot, but surely everyone else was too.
Our efforts distanced us significantly from the rest of the peloton, it was almost half a lap advantage after the first half an hour. With that gap and the firepower in our group we were unlikely to get brought back so I glided eased into pulling easy turns. I was canny about it and did the absolute minimum required to chase. I was particularly conscious about wasting energy and glass cranked as much as I could. If we started to get caught I could start pulling with vigour again.
It's much easier pulling turns in a group of 9 who are all committed. I do 10 seconds at threshold then have 2 minutes at 250W drafting.
Honestly, I would have been happy with a top 9. There's no way I could beat Matt Jones and Josh Whitehead in a sprint so the only way I could win is solo. However after that full gas first half, I was sure I didn't have the legs to break from the break.
I've not raced a crit for a few years, it's not normally my forte, but there was a National B level one at Salt Ayre this Saturday afternoon. When I rocked up, more than one person said to me "you know there's no hill on this circuit don't you?". Salt Ayre circuit is dead flat and fairly non-technical but I need to work on my cornering and bunch intensity so I came for some race pace practice and a good work out.
The race was one hour plus five laps and the field was strong. I was hoping to avoid a bunch kick but I was with my teammate Max Silifant who can actually sprint and I was ready to help Max if it came down to it.
Attacks started from the gun, I believe Crimson Alumni, Oli Huszar was the first man to attack but it didn't stick. It took me a couple of laps to get into the flow as I stayed in the bunch watching for attacks.
After only a couple of circuits, a group of 5 riders got away. They only had a small gap but it looked like a strong move and I couldn't let it go. I unleashed an infernal sprint and went clear of the bunch to bridge to the move. After a chasing lap solo, I was joined by three others, Josh Whitehead, a Trainsharp rider and one more.
The gap to the five was not huge and I thought we'd close it in no time but they were actually pressing on so hard that we couldn't reduce the deficit. We were chasing tremendously but it felt like the gap was merely holding, not shortening. I was timing the gap every lap: 7 seconds, then 6, then back to 7, then 8, then 5. It was barely moving a but eventually their elastic snapped and within 3 laps we caught them.
The effort from me was 18 minutes at 370NP and 47.5kph. I was hurting a lot, but surely everyone else was too.
Our efforts distanced us significantly from the rest of the peloton, it was almost half a lap advantage after the first half an hour. With that gap and the firepower in our group we were unlikely to get brought back so I glided eased into pulling easy turns. I was canny about it and did the absolute minimum required to chase. I was particularly conscious about wasting energy and glass cranked as much as I could. If we started to get caught I could start pulling with vigour again.
It's much easier pulling turns in a group of 9 who are all committed. I do 10 seconds at threshold then have 2 minutes at 250W drafting.
Honestly, I would have been happy with a top 9. There's no way I could beat Matt Jones and Josh Whitehead in a sprint so the only way I could win is solo. However after that full gas first half, I was sure I didn't have the legs to break from the break.
I was counting down the minutes to go and our gap over the peloton only extended. Eventually, the back of them came into sight and Harvey Stroh pulled some huge turns to catch them. I didn't see the point in surging the pace to catch them but I was getting carried along nicely.
As we lapped the bunch on one of the corners, Harvey attacked. I was directly on his wheel and followed but it was becoming obvious that people were fatigued. They didn't have that 'snap' to chase the attacks.
We were approaching the last 10 minutes of the hour and there were multiple attacks but nothing was sticking and I was biding my time, just following. Now with 6 laps to go there was a small split in our group as we went around the "chicane". I was in the front half and someone at the back yelled that we had a gap. Josh Whitehead had just pulled a big turn but eased up around the corner into the headwind.
I wanted to eliminate as many other riders as I could so unleashed my attack. I didn't look back, I just got my head down. When I did eventually check, I realised I was solo by quite some margin.
Absolutely perfect.
As we lapped the bunch on one of the corners, Harvey attacked. I was directly on his wheel and followed but it was becoming obvious that people were fatigued. They didn't have that 'snap' to chase the attacks.
We were approaching the last 10 minutes of the hour and there were multiple attacks but nothing was sticking and I was biding my time, just following. Now with 6 laps to go there was a small split in our group as we went around the "chicane". I was in the front half and someone at the back yelled that we had a gap. Josh Whitehead had just pulled a big turn but eased up around the corner into the headwind.
I wanted to eliminate as many other riders as I could so unleashed my attack. I didn't look back, I just got my head down. When I did eventually check, I realised I was solo by quite some margin.
Absolutely perfect.
This was my best opportunity to win and when I passed the finish line with 5 laps to go and decided to completely commit to this move. If they caught me they caught me.
I was really hurting, I was using the corners to somewhat rest and railing the straights, particularly into the headwind, where I could make the most difference. It was only with 2 laps to go when I thought that I might actually win but I could see the 8 chasers close behind. I thought of how hard it was for us to close that 7 second gap earlier, so even if they were close, its hard to bridge a small gap.
I was really hurting, I was using the corners to somewhat rest and railing the straights, particularly into the headwind, where I could make the most difference. It was only with 2 laps to go when I thought that I might actually win but I could see the 8 chasers close behind. I thought of how hard it was for us to close that 7 second gap earlier, so even if they were close, its hard to bridge a small gap.
With one lap to go I really started to believe
Max was cheering me on loudly but I was screaming at maximum heart rate. It was only 2 minutes to go now. I finally looked back with half a lap left and considered cheering early but checked again and a Trainsharp guy had got away from the rest of the break and was on his was to catch me.
He didn't.
I held it to the line to take my first race victory in 3 years. I was absolutely ecstatic. It's so hard to win a race, especially if you don't have a finishing kick. I just couldn't believe I'd actually won. I know it's not the highest profile race, but it's a Nat B level crit and nothing is easy to win at that level. That winning feeling was unreal. It made all those hours on the turbo worth it.
Without being too conceited, it was a tactical masterclass from me, I literally attacked twice. Once to make the breakaway and once to go solo to win. In the end I averaged 320W for the final hour in the breakaway. I did 355W and just under 45kph for the last ten minutes solo to win. I've had so many messages of congratulations and I really appreciate it all. What a day.
He didn't.
I held it to the line to take my first race victory in 3 years. I was absolutely ecstatic. It's so hard to win a race, especially if you don't have a finishing kick. I just couldn't believe I'd actually won. I know it's not the highest profile race, but it's a Nat B level crit and nothing is easy to win at that level. That winning feeling was unreal. It made all those hours on the turbo worth it.
Without being too conceited, it was a tactical masterclass from me, I literally attacked twice. Once to make the breakaway and once to go solo to win. In the end I averaged 320W for the final hour in the breakaway. I did 355W and just under 45kph for the last ten minutes solo to win. I've had so many messages of congratulations and I really appreciate it all. What a day.
