Anyway, back to business, Sunday, Race on! Well the weekend was meant to have started with the "Louison Bobet" on saturday but the recovery situation with the arm was still ongoing and it was decided that i miss saturday and just do sundays "Circuit du Morbihan". On saturday the lads had a fairly good showing covering the breaks and then getting Clement (el capitano) in the main move after about 80k's. However it didnt look too promising as the group he was in was about 20strong, with mainly pros so he had his work cut out. As it happened a group of 7 clipped away and stayed away for the win. Jimmy Engoulevent soloed home (see below) followed by pro's taking 2nd through to 5th. 6th and first amateur was one of my local Quimper training partners and last season team-mate Yoann David who pulled a storming ride. Clement finished in 12th as 1st Bic2000 rider home with the others in the peleton bar Laurent LeGac who had a crash and pulled out on the finish circuits.
My day was a little less eventful with a nice steady 2hrs including a tempo 45minute leg stretcher behind the scooter with some race pace intervals to open up the legs for tomorrows efforts. The sensations in the legs were good but the arm did still hurt when out the saddle.
Sunday i woke to blue skies and little wind which made for perfect racing! After standard pre-race breifing i was again allowed free-reign as not a lot was expected of me due to the lack of training this week and not knowing how the arm would hold out over 160k's racing. It kicked off with an early attack but lillian jegou and 3others which although early days wasn't one to miss out on so as i was up near the front as it went it was up to me to bring it back which made for a good early leg stretcher! The race then stayed together with break s not getting more than 30seconds before the race reached the finish circuits (there were some eventful moments for me before this though, the main one being about 5/600metres of cobbled town street which did a good job of rattling the hell out of my arm just to make sure i was fully awake! Ouch!) The finish circuits weren't super hard but the last k had a short sharp climb followed by a false flat to the finish which, to be smashed 9times, took its toll! The race truely exploded on the finish laps with constant attacks and the main move going before me but i wasn't able to go with as we had 3 in it (clem, matthieu and laurent) out of the 10 so it looked good. i was then under orders down the radio to sit in front wheels and follow any attacks behind the break.... okey dokey! there were a few digs before Lorient took up the chase on the front of the main group. i sat in behind and watched them gradually pull it back to about 10/15seconds which was when all hell broke loose. I followed a couple of attacks before semi-exploding quite convincingly while watching about 15riders bridge across. That was curtains behind then as they pulled to about a minute by the finish and our group was left for 26th place. I rolled in 31st with one battered arm and a pair of nackered legs beneath! I wasnt too dissapointed with my ride, although i should have been in the front group, given the preparation and the busted arm. Team wise, clement finished 8th just behind 5that had clipped away nearing the finish. Matthieu was 12th and then the rest were in my group of behind.
I can feel that my form and confidence is building as i get more races under my belt and i know that once i get back to full health ill be back up the front. This is where i can see a marked difference already from last year as i was racing the elite races to finish as well as possible whereas now i am actually racing them proper, getting involved and learning from each one.
I read on BritishCycling too about the Bikeline 2-day being cancelled by police, a real shame for all involved but another blunt example of britains joe-public view towards cycling. Glad i'm not racing there.
Also this weekend, a one-up for me over here as england smashed france in the 6nations rugby!! Slight bragging rights there, even though we have been piss-poor so far!
The start to this week has been a lot better than last weeks and an easy ride in the sunshine (17degrees of it!) was on the cards for monday. I found after the efforts and the road rattling the shit out of my arm that it was pretty sore when riding on monday but today (tuesday) has been a rest day so hopefully it will be feeling better tomorrow for a long steady ride in what is forecast to be the hottest day of the week, 18degrees ... does that count as short sleeve jersey to work on the tan lines??! We shall see...
A la prochaine, Jens
(link to race finish video http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8otf7_video-arrivee-du-circuit-du-morbiha_sport)
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