The weekend just gonee was spent in the rather inhostile region known as La Manche... known for always being windy. And it didn't let us down for our flying visit! Clement, Matthieu, Laurent, Kevin Collin and myself were in the town of Cherbourg for the 3 days of... Cherbourg.
Stage 1 started off at break neck speed as we took off with a fat tail wind only to swing a right at the end of the road = Crosswind! It was at this point i realised that my radio wasn't working and i was getting no info on when and where the wind was. As a result i was very badly positioned and missed the first "echelon" as about 15/20 rode clear. Luckily for us (as all 5 of us missed it!) there were a few other teams who had missed it too and a hard chase back on got us back to square one, minus a fair chunk of the peloton i should note! The day was marked mainly by the wind and a lot of time was spend cursing at how the guy infront was always a lot smaller than me offering little wind resistance... a problem i will always have unfortunately! At about 20km to go on one of the final hills of the stage a small group went clear including Clement and they would hold a small advantage until the line over a chasing group of 40 odd including all but Kevin. Clement took 3rd for the stage at 9 seconds... race on!
Stage 2 was a steady stage until the final 40 odd kms as a break of 4 got away and stretched out to 8 minutes before and real chase was organised. With Clement 3rd we gave a helping hand and come the last 6km all was back together. We had protected clem well all day but i'd also said i was feeling great and i only had to do a small amount of work on the front to save my legs for the final hill 2kms from the finish which would be decisive. In the mad tussle for position at the base of the climb a hand full of riders hit the deck infront of me and i had nowhere to go... the split seconds where your saying to yourself "i'm going to crash... i'm going to crash..." passed and i nearly saved it by some swift breaking and turning however the guys behind obviously weren't as exceptionally skillful as myself ;) and they came flying into the back of me and joined the pile up. Game Over, for the stage at least. I was gutted to say the least. However up the road clement pretty much completed the job and took 2nd on the stage, missing out on yellow by 2 seconds as Arnaud Corteille of UC Nantes Atlantique just nicked it.
Damage report... chainring marks in my forearm and leg... road rash and bruised knee... broken shifter on the bike.
Stage 3 was a short 55km morning stage on a pretty much out and back route with a good wind to keep everyone on their toes. From the gun a small group of 14 got clear with me in and the stage would be spent with my 13 new made pals for the morning up until the finish line, however not without incident. The max advantage we had was 55 seconds but with a few teams missing out and the French champ present and at only 38 seconds on GC, Nantes were forced to ride behind. Everyone pulled through well and come 2 km to go the gap was at 20 seconds and the attacks were starting to kick off. It was around this time when the majority of the break didn't fancy following the course route to the left as the road looked rather nice straight ahead... yes we went the wrong way as the signallers on the corner were caught napping. A quick skid stop and U-turn got us back on track but with the peloton at about 5 seconds behind it was a mad dash to the line for the last km. It turns out one of the fellas in the break happened to take the left turn and he finished ahead with 4seconds to spare. On my part i had missed the 1km to go banner and was confused as to how far the finish was... until we swung a right and the finish was 100m infront. I finished 10th for the stage with the rest of the peloton arriving ontop of us on the line. Frustrating stage as i was feeling great.
Stage 4, the afternoon stage of 100km, was a fight from start to finish. I didnt have a great impact on the stage apart from a fair bit of riding on the front especially in the final 20km where we and Nantes got on the front to try to bring it back together for the finish. I imploded and swung off in the last 2km hoping clem could hold his position in the front and keep 2nd overall... however both himself and the yellow jersey got jumped and lost out to Kevin Lalouette from USSA Pavilly Barentin who took the overall by a slim 2second margin thanks to a final break in the last few kms. A third on GC and top 3 in the team classification plus a top 10 stage for myself rounded off a good weekend away.
I've tried looking for photos of the race but cant find any for the moment.
The following day, Monday, there was a local race which is part of the series Trophée Aven Moros in which i was lying 2nd overall. I was going to go along and watch the race nonetheless but just before we left i decided i would race... turns out even with legs shot to pieces after the weekends efforts i took 5th. Last year i got 2nd here arriving with Salva Vilchez... this year he was up the road and won alone. He's been off form for a few weeks now, however i can say from what i saw on monday that Salva Vilchez is back and he ain't pissing about!
A steady week is on the programme before heading off to the Mayenne region on saturday for the Boucles de la Mayenne on sunday. Another big one day elite race.
Until next time
