145 riders lined up for the start of the race, which was brilliant. Funnily enough, my dad (in the Androni jersey) decided to go in the break. Brilliant!


With 7.5km an amateur by the name of Jose Joella had a 1'36 lead. We were trying to chase but it wasn't to be.


Joella took the win ahead of Roberto Latti. Good to see the first stage ending with an amateur 1-2.


Gonzalo Perez was put into action too. He was tasked with leading out Jorge.


He did a great job too. A good tryout for the brother of my biggest fan, as he was only overtaken by Jorge with 10m to go. 3rd and 4th for our guys on the first stage.
Tomorrow will be a bit hilly with a flat finish.
Should be good!

After 2 thirds of the race the break had a big lead, so I decided to turn back the clock and go forward with my brother on one of the hills.


He set me up to catch the leaders quite easily. I decided to just go straight past.


I ended up taking an easy win by 8'29. No celebrations for that though!

This was the time trial stage. I took it easy but still won it. I beat Esteban by 23" and the best amateur by 37". Jorge came in 6th as well.




This was the mountain stage. I went with Esteban about mid-way through to catch the 11 man break.


When we caught them I kept going while he got blocked. A long, lonely road awaited me.


Fortunately before I drifted off into my own subconscious, he got back up to me. We made our own little race of it, and unfortunately I'd spent myself too early. Esteban went straight past me with a bit over 3 and-a-half kilometres to go.


Unfortunately he was too good. I wasn't going to catch him as he went forth towards victory.


Apparently he also wasn't above an ironic celebration to rub in in


Despite the fact that I lost by 1'46, I the GC lead by a solid 7'06

A split left just 39 riders in the main group. Fortunately I'd kept us all up there.


Gonzalo started sprinting 2.2km out from the line while Jorge was getting blocked behind. There was still a leader with 1'03 who pretty much had the win in the bag.


Gonzalo got into second well in his last chance to get a professional contract for next season.


Giorgio Martinez Lasca took the win.


Jorge beat Gonzalo to second, as the first ever End Poverty Today Cycling Challenge was over. A great success!

I had no time to myself after the charity race, as the team all met up in Spain for a training camp. I felt at ease knowing the strength of our squad this season, and it was obvious from the way we all prepared that everyone was ready for a successful season.


Among our mountains squad there was obviously the reigning Tour de France champion in Thibaut, then Andrew Talansky the upcoming star, and then the old guard of John Darwin Atapuma, with everyone in between.


As the pace went up I was with Thibaut, Andrew and Estaban.
The pace was high but good.


We decided to take turns relaying and challenging eachother. Everyone's legs needed a good workout and the steep slope was the perfect venue in a non-competitive environment.

Overall I'm really happy with the training camp. The season's starting in a couple of weeks, and as usual I'll be at San Luis.
There's still a bit to go before then though, so see you soon.