First WIN finally.

In a wierd sort of way i knew that i was going to win on saturday, don t ask me how but i just "felt "it i guess! I knew i was feeling good and was prepared, well kind of, i had already raced the tuesday and thursday evenings before and rode 30kms to the race, but on the start line i felt ready. When signing on i found out that i had the Green Jersey for leading the animateur competition as the race is part of a series ... my reputation as a new-found sprinter just keeps growing! (However i was at least 4th on the classement but 1st had the yellow jersey and 2nd and 3rd were not there). The race was 20 laps of a 5.5 km circuit with a false flat after the finish which takes its toll but apart from that a fairly flat circuit. After 3laps i started to think about the first animateur sprint on the 5th lap and ended up clipping off with 3others. We quickly pulled out a little gap and i nabbed the animateur sprint as well as a few primes in the following laps, however the break was missing a rider from Lanester who had at least 7 or 8 back in the bunch and were sure to organise a chase so i didnt really give too much to the break as it was still early days (this is something that last year i would have tripped up on straight away... getting in an early break and just killing it and myself!) Finally after 4 or 5laps off the front it all came back together and for the following several laps not much happened for a little while. Attacks came and went but nothing stuck until about 7laps to go when a small group clipped off round the finish following a prime and i jumped across with another fella on the drag and soon there was 12 of us rolling though pretty well with all of the teams in the race represented so it looked good. I cleaned up the final animateur meaning i had kept my jersey winning 2 out of the 3 on offer and also picked up 2 of 3 climbers jersey sprints putting me second overall in this classement following the race.

As we hit the second to last lap a cheeky fella attacked and ended up splitting the break, leaving seven of us in front to fight it out. Then come the last lap the standard attacks continued but i was biding my time and trying not to get involved in chasing anything down until 2km to go someone attacked and at first nobody jumped. He got a little gap and then a certain Cyrille Massé from Hennebont (i rode with him at VSQuimper last season) jumped and i jumped on his wheel. He ended up towing me up to the guy infront and just as we got to his wheel i jumped them both and put my head down... 1km to go... doesnt sound like much but it felt like a lifetime... i had a little gap but nothing spectacular as all six were back together behind and as i had a quick peek round one guy was giving it his worth to bring me back. From there i didnt look back again until the final 50metres when i knew i had it in the bag and sat up for the celebration, letting them edge a little closer behind just for good effect! Now celebration as your winning is a major part of how classy your win looks (i cant speak to much about this as i have been lacking in the winning departement) but i did a good job of messing my celebration up! Just as i flung my arms up and out i encountered a small but well positioned bump in the road which made me slip forward on my saddle ... fortunately i didnt come off and take out the rest of the riders in the break, i just looked a bit unconfortable in some of the photos coming across the line! The most important thing is though that i came across before the others! Makes a change, but a good one and i know that it will send my confidence through the roof when it comes to the final stages of races now knowing that i can win.

Following this, i'm having a couple of days off the bike then will be back on it on tuesday with another semi-nocturne wednesday where i'll be ready to work on my celebration again. Then thursday i leave for a place called Aurillac for a two-day three-stage race starting on saturday.

Ciao for now