G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Elbeuf, a town on the Seine in the Normandy region of France, where earlier today, the fourth stage of the Tour of Normandie finished with a sprint stage to here from Grand Couronne, another town in Normandy. So far, the race has been interesting with a prologue time trial to start, followed by 3 almost completely flat sprint stages. This kind of race doesn't suit me at all, but I was only here for the prologue and the experience of riding on the flat.
Stage 1 was a prologue time-trial of 4.8 kilometres, of which me and my team-mates Jack Bobridge and Brendan Canty were all favourites for; the course had a short climb and a short descent in it which would make the time-trial interesting. I hoped to be in the white best young rider jersey after the prologue and get a top 10 placing in the prologue.
As soon as I rolled off the start ramp and began accelerating, I knew I was going to be amongst the leaders towards the end. Throughout the whole time-trial, I made sure I was gripping the extension bars as tightly as possible and remained in the most aerodynamic position possible that was allowed by the UCI. As I turned into the finishing straight, I didn't even look up, just kept my body as low as possible with my eyes looking straight down between my arms at my power-meter. As I crossed the line, I saw the time 6 mnutes and 34 seconds. It was the best time when I crossed the line, but by the end, one man had beat me; Christophe Laporte (Cofidis), who came in with a time of 6 minutes 31 seconds. I knew I would be wearing the best young rider jersey tomorrow as even though Laporte was under-25, he was going to be in yellow and you can't wear two jerseys at once.
Stage 2 was a flat-rated 190.4km stage between Colombelles and Forges les Eaux. It was set to end with a sprint finish. Sam Witmitz was our man for the sprint and we would be planning a sprint train for him, while ensuring I was protecting in case an opportunity to take the race lead came up.
The stage was pretty uneventful, despite the horrible weather and by the end of it, I was to be no longer in white. Early on a break of 6 got away and they contested both the 3 early mountain sprints and the 2 intermediate sprints, before being reeled in under the 10km to go bannner for the finish. All during this time, I was enjoying my day in white as I knew I probably wouldn't be in white if one of two things happened in the final sprint, one of which would happen; a Romain Cardis (Vendée U) victory in the stage, meaning he went level on time with me but because he had won a stage he took the white jersey, just. I actually ended up finishing 22nd, on the same time as him. However, because he also wears the green jersey of leader of the points classification, I will yet again wear the white jersey on behalf of someone else; seems like I'm the stand-in for the should-be wearers of the white jersey who lead other classifications.
Stage 3 was similar to stage 2, but a whole lot shorter, another flat stage, this time of around 82.5km, from Forges Les Eaux to Grand-Couronne, another stage destined for a sprint finish. On this stage, I was very ready to lose my temporary white jersey, for real, in the final sprint, but there part of me that said I could still hang on to it, but only just.
Early on, a one man break went clear, with only the leader of the KoM competition in it and soon we got to the front to set the pace, as we were hoping that Sam would be able to take the stage win for us today, as he seemed to be in-form. Surprisingly, I managed to take 2nd at the intermediate sprint and pick up a 2 second time bonus, moving me to within a second of Laporte. Luckily for us, the break was caught with 7.5km to go in the stage, and our lead-out train soon got in position to lead out Sam. However, it just wasn't to be our day as Sam ended up crashing in the last 3km, which meant even though he finished on the same time as me, but came in around a minute and half later, with no chance of the stage win. I had a very good sprint and ended up finishing on the same time as new yellow jersey and double-stage winner Cardis, which meant I would no longer be wearing white on another rider's behalf, this honour would go to Laporte instead.
Today's stage was another short stage, this one was a 69.3km stage featuring a double lap of a circuit around the finish town of Elbeuf sur Seine, where we came to from yesterday's finish town, Grand-Couronne. This was yet another stage expected to end with a sprint, and there was one intermediate sprint for me to steal back time on Laporte and it was on the first passage of the finish line; I only needed one second of a bonus to re-take the best young rider jersey.
With about 10km gone in the stage, a group of 2 riders broke away, but neither of them were of any significance. With about 5km to go to the intermediate sprint, I broke away from the pack to try to take 3rd at the intermediate sprint; what I didn't know was that the break had split up and that the rider in front of me on the road had cracked. I ended up sprinting past him to take the 2nd placed bonus of 2 seconds. This should of put me in the white jersey again for tomorrow, apart from the fact that Laporte won the stage, took a 10 second bonus for doing so and reclaimed the yellow jersey from Cardis. This meant that even though with the intermediate time bonus I should have took 2nd on GC, because Laporte and Cardis finished on the same time, with Laporte also getting a bonus, meaning I would stay 3rd, 10 seconds behind Laporte and 7 seconds behind Cardis. However, because Laporte will be wearing yellow and Cardis will be wearing green, I shall be wearing the white jersey yet again tomorrow, for the 3rd day so far in this race.
Anyway, I'll write to you again at the end of this race, with my early season round-up and the results of the Tour of Normandie!
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Caen, the final finish town of this year's Tour of Normandie, where there was yet another sprinter stage in this Tour. Over the last 3 stages, it has been a battle for me completely about whether I can still wear the white jersey by default and hang onto my 3rd place in the GC. And the results of my efforts are about to be revealed...
Stage 5 was arguably the easy day of the last 3 days, with few small lumps and bumps to go over before the finish in Flers. At the start of the day, I felt really, really good, but towards the end I started to suffer, it was the second longest stage of a race, after 9 days of racing with no rest at such a level, it was more than right that I was suffering, as I didn't have the experience of the day-in, day-out stamina qualities of some of my opponents. Anyway, with a break of 6 being caught with 6km to go to the line, it was set for yet another bunch sprint; I managed to put up a little fight in the sprint and ended up finishing 12th, on the same time as winner and new points classification leader Justin Jules (Veranclassic) still keeping my 3rd on GC. However, I lost my right to the white jersey, as Romain Cardis(Vendée U), who had been leading the points and was second on both GC and Young Riders, lost his green jersey lead, and automatically took on the white jersey instead.
Stage 6, potentially the medium difficulty stage in the race of 100km+ was a stage that took us over rolling hills to the town of Villers-Bocage. However, it was a race that from the profile seemed to have several high wind spots throughout the route, some headwinds, some tailwinds, and even a couple of crosswind sections. It was exhausting and at the end of the stage, with the pace having been frantic all day for whatever reasons, I found myself freewheeling to the team bus and jumping straight inside, before falling onto one of the seats and feeling as if I had no more energy to use. I luckily had used the last of my power wisely, to finish 17th on the stage, with no time loss to winner Julien Duval (Armée de Terre). However, a couple of guys who finished second and third on the stage managed to jump me in the overall standings because they got time bonuses for their placings on the stage, which allowed them to close their gaps to me and jump ahead, one of them 2 seconds ahead, and the other a single second ahead.
Stage 7, the ultimate stage, the stage with which the race would end, and it was set to be a spectacular arrival into the town of Caen, in Normandy. A stage again with rolling hills, but more crosswinds and tailwinds, which was a slight relief, though the crosswinds would still require my utmost attention to maintain position within the field. There was just one goal and one ambition for this stage, keep the top 5 placing on GC, and if the opportunity arises, try to move up the GC! However, when the race started, our DS told us that the potential windy section would have no impact today as the wind speeds seemed to be very low, around 4km/h. It was an easier day than we thought it would be and it was also quite enjoyable. The break of 9 got away and weren't caught for real, with the main pack on the same time, but unable to pass any of breakaway riders. At one point in the race, my Danish teammate in the break, Kristian Juel was the provisional race leader, but only for a few kilometres. It all ended in a mass bunch sprint for 10th in the main group and I finished 24th, on the same time as winner Yanto Barker (ONE Pro Cycling), on the wheel on race GC winner Christophe Laporte who won the prologue and stage 4 on the way to winning the GC. I was satisfied to keep my 5th place on GC, 10 seconds down on Laporte.
So, I really think my early season has been a great success! With triumphs at the PCMdaily Cup 4 and the GC at the GP Sochi, as well as Mountain Classification victories in New Zealand and Australia, with high placings at the PCMdaily Cup 5, several prologues and 5th on the final stage of the Herald Sun Tour, I believe that my performances will only get better! However, I was expecting a bit more from myself at the National Champs and at the PCMdaily Cup 3, so I am a bit unhappy with that. I managed to achieve all of my goals for this early season section and I hope to write to you soon about the pre-GTs section of my season, telling you about my choices and my objectives!
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from our second-quarter training camp in Brittany, France, at Vannes, where this year's Tour de France will have the start point of its hilly TTT. We're here to practise our punchy abilities for the hilly stage races coming up as well as the sprint lead out, as there are more classics and multiple flat stage races coming up soon. I could talk for ages about our training camp, but that isn't really what this post is about.
This post is about my schedule for the second section of the season! After a great early season, can I keep up my brilliant form for the upcoming races? When I got my choices for the races I could attend, I saw a great deal of diversity in the races I got attend, with several flat classics, a few hilly classics, multiple flat stage races and a couple of hilly stage races! It was a great selection of races that could be used to gain experience. There was even a cobbled hill one day race in the from of the University of Lincoln GP in the UK.
After around two hours on working out potential schedules, I finally decided on the one I wanted to use for the next part of my season. I will kick off my second part of my season at the Subaru Sea Otter Classic, a four day hilly stage race, including a hilly time-trial, in the USA, on the 16th of April. I will then stay in the USA and a couple of weeks later, I will go to the 5-day Tour of the Gila, which starts on the 30th of April, a mixed terrain stage race including a time-trial and two hilly stages. After these two stage races, it will be time for a couple of one-day races; the Ringerike GP in Norway on the 9th of May, a hilly race with a few laps of a finishing circuit and two days later, the University of Lincoln GP, in Britain, a circuit race with many kilometres of flat and more than 10 times up the cobbled climb of the Michaelgate, featuring ramps of over 15%! Then, after these classics, its back to the stage racing front, for I will be going back to France again, this time to race the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, a predominantly flat stage race starting on 14th of May with one hilly stage in it, which would no doubt be interesting. Finally, on the 19th of May, I will start my last race of this section of the season, the Baltyk-Karkonosze Tour, a Polish stage race, that features 4 flat stages, a Mountain Time Trial and a hilly stage featuring a climbing circuit.
After finalising my schedule, it was time for me to set my goals and objectives for this section of the season. With a brief overview of my schedule, I decided that I wouldn't set one of my targets as either the Ringerike GP or the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, as their profiles didn't suit me as well as the other races that I would set as my goals for the season section. So, here is my list of objective races for this part of the season:
-Subaru Sea Otter Classic
-Tour of the Gila
-University of Lincoln GP
- Baltyk-Karkonosze Tour
After the Tour of Normandie, I also learned from my team DS, that from the performance test they had done just after the end of the first part of season, that my skills seemed to have improved a bit, but not by much, so here are my new abiltiy levels:
So, anyway I'll write you after the end of the Subaru Sea Otter Classic, where I hope to take the GC win and a stage as well.
The Subaru Sea Otter Classic finished a couple of days ago with the longest circuit stage of the race. The race had everything; controversy, a battle in the time-trial and a breakaway win, as well as other things. But what is the point sitting here talking about it vaguely, here is a more detailed diary of the race:
Stage 1 was the shortest road stage of the whole race; a 59km circuit race on the Laguna Seca Racetrack that included laps of the circuit 9 times and was suited to punchy sprinters or punchers for the stage win. However, it also was suitable for stage racers, who had a half decent sprint, and any time losses here could be hard to make up in the time trial on stage 3. The circuit was 6km long and there was one very steep climb. Early on, a break got away early, but there were no great punchers in it and so it presented no worry to the favourites group. After just 5 laps, a favourite's group escaped including me and we were never seen the main group again! I felt good on the climbs, but I could tell that others were feeling better, Phil Gaimon(Optum p/b Kelly) in particular. On the 8th and penultimate lap, me, Brajkovic, Gaimon, Simone Petilli(Unieuro) and Mauro Santambrogio(Amore & Vita) escaped from the elite break, who would never catch us again, despite their best efforts. Then, on the flat before final climb, disaster struck me; I got a flat tyre at the worst possible moment, when we were all going full gas. My team mechanic quickly got me a new bike off the team car and I was back on my way within about 10 seconds. However, that had upset my rythmn and I never managed to re-catch the group before the end of the climb. However, surpisingly, Brajkovic over estimated his own ability and cracked on the climb, and near the top, I caught and passed him! I finished 4th on the stage, 35 seconds behind stage winner Gaimon and 16 seconds behind best young rider Petilli. Definitely not too much time lost!
Stage 2 was a mid-length version of Stage 1; another circuit of the Laguna Seca Racetrack, this time 73km, which meant 11 circuits of the racetrack, including the same climb once again, and it was suited to the same kind of rider, a punchy sprinter, a top level example would be Michael Matthews or Alejandro Valverde. However, as per stage 1, stage-racers and good TT-ists would not want to lose time ahead of tomorrow's time-trial of 10km. Yet again, a break got away very early on and they collected KoM points from all but one of the KoM sprints, which was on the 3rd last lap, when we caught them heading up the climb. With 11km to go, I dropped back to the team car to get a new bike for myself, as none of my team-mates were still there. I had to do so because I bumped into Gaimon on the descent and one of my cranks snapped. I also went back to collect a water bottle for myself and in that time, Petilli, thinking of gaining time ahead of the time-trial, a disclipine which he struggles in, attacked. When I came back to the group, I found Petilli gone and immediately gave chase. In the end, he took the win ahead of me by 19 seconds and Javier Mégias (Novo Nordisk) finished third, 27 seconds down on Petilli. I was outraged with Petilli, as I was riding alongside him amd he had seen I had a mechanical problem, before I dropped back to the team car, and it is an unwritten rule of cycling not to attack while an opponent is having a mechanical problem through no fault of their own.
Stage 3; the time-trial, my favourite disclipine, the one in which I could potentially take back 42 seconds and become the new race leader of the Subaru Sea Otter Classic. But it would be hard; taking back 42 seconds on a hilly 10km course would never be easy. Surprisingly, there would be no intermediate time-check in the time-trial. I was second last man to start, wearing the white jersey of the leader of the best young rider classification, which was actually on loan to me from Petilli, who would start last, in the yellow jersey of race leader. At the time, the best provisional time had been set by Ben Jacques-Maynes(Jamis-Hagens Berman), which was 17'24”. As soon as I left the starthouse, I knew I was feeling amazing. I flew up the first climb on the course and by the top, I was around 400 metres behind third placed on GC Megías. A good sign for me; a very bad sign for him! On the climb before the 1.2km descent down to the line, I heard that Petilli was 40 seconds behind me provisionally on the stage. I still had 2 seconds to make up and I then I heard I'd probably take the stage win, as I was 10 seconds faster than Jacques-Maynes over the course so far. As I turned into the home straight, the crowd were cheering me on towards the line! As I hit the line, I turned round and saw my time... 17 minutes and 8 seconds! I was going to win the stage as there was no way that Petilli would be able to regain 40 seconds on the 1.2 km descent. As Petilli came down the home straight, I couldn't bare to watch, as it would be very close if I could take yellow, or not. As he crossed the line, I heard he had completed the course 47 seconds slower than me. I took the race lead... by 5 seconds from Petilli! I soon stood on the podium four times, to collect the green jersey for leader of the points classification, the white jersey for best young rider, the stage win and the yellow jersey for race leader! Now, all I can do is pray that I don't lose 5 seconds to Petilli tomorrow!
Stage 4, the longest stage of the whole race, featuring the same circuit as stages 1 and 2, but this time: 18 laps of it! On the course there are 7 green jersey sprints and there are also 8 KoM sprints. This is the stage where I can't afford to lose any time to Petilli at all! My plan is to try and grab as many bonus seconds at the green jersey sprints as possible, to help bolster my lead in the GC. For the third road stage in succession, the break got away on lap 2, formed of 5 riders. They stayed away all day and at one point had an advantage of near 6 and a half minutes! My team-mates didn't have the ability or strength in numbers to control the race, so I had Nankervis protecting me, while the team of Petilli set the pace at the front of bunch, attempting to reel in the break. By the penultimate lap, they had reeled in 3 members of the original break, that had split on the 10th climb of the day. The head of the race was Oscar Clark(Hincapie) and he was almost 2 minutes ahead of the main group, including me. On the final lap, we managed to catch the 2nd last member of the break, but catching Clark would prove as too much. In the end, I finished 4th on the stage, 1 minute 4 seconds down, to secure a triple haul of jerseys; the points classification by 3 points from Clark, the GC and Best young rider classification by 5 seconds from Petilli, exactly what I gained in yesterday's TT. So, all in all, a brilliant performance by me!
So, I'll be staying the USA for a couple of weeks before I start the Tour of the Gila on the 30th April and I'll write to you during that, where I hope for another stage win and to lead the GC!
G'day mates,
Earlier today, I finished the fourth and penultimate stage of the Tour of the Gila. So far, this race has been really good to me and my team-mates. I've only got one more tough stage to hang on to the GC lead, and hope to not lose it. Here at this race, I was originally joint team leader with Jack Bobridge, but now I'm the sole team leader, as I am race leader as well.
Stage 1 was not your usual first stage; normally you'd expect a sprint stage or a prologue to start off this kind of stage-race, but instead we had one of the two hill stages, albeit the easier of the 2. The stage finished with the 1st category climb to the summit finish at Mogollon. The stage started with a small climb before a fast descent and a long ride along the flat and rolling hills, through a couple of sprint points, before the climb to Mogollon. I was considered as an outside favourite for this stage by the press and race organisers. We got Josh Berry in the early break and he won the first intermediate sprint, before getting 4th in the 2nd sprint point. They were caught with 20km to go, 16km to the bottom of the climb to Mogollon at an average gradient of 8%, which is very steep and lasts just under 4km. At the foot of the climb, Tom Skujins(Hincapie) tried to attack, but my team-mate Jack Bobridge shut him down immediately, he tried to go again a couple of more times, but then he cracked and ended up finishing 3 minutes down on the winner. With about 3km to go, Javier Megías(Novo Nordisk) launched one attack, then 500m later, he launched another one. Luckily for me, Jack was there to bring back both attacks, but when he had closed down the second attack, he pulled off the front, exhausted from his efforts. I began to up the tempo on the front of the group, using my low-gear high-cadence style to make it harder for anyone to follow the pace. It sure took its toll on my rivals, as one by one, they starting to drop off. The last kilometre was definitely the hardest as 700m of it at a gradient of around 12/13%. In this section, I dropped the last man with me, Vladimir Gusev(Skydive Dubai), who finished 2nd on the stage, 51 seconds. Third place was Bjorn Selander(Optum) at 1 minute 27 seconds down on me. A great start to the tour and my first road stage (non-time-trial) victory!
Stage 2 was a stage for your punchy sprinter kind of guy, think Michael Matthews or Simon Gerrans. It would be our job to control the race and set the pace in the peloton. We had one hopeful for today's stage, Sam Witmitz, who has a good acceleration but isn't great at uphill sprints, but we hoped for the best. Early on, we found out that Sam wasn't feeling great and we told him to not go for the sprint and instead help set the pace at the front of the group. This changed our sprinter plan from Sam to our other, not as good, sprinter Glenn O'Shea who we had planned to use as Sam's lead out man in the sprint. For the first 100 or so kilometres, the racing was pretty quiet in the peloton. A two-man break got away early and eventually attained a lead of just over 3 minutes with 90km to go in the stage. That was the best it got for them, as slowly but surely, we raised in the pace in the main field. With the break caught with about 20km to go, the teams of the sprinters came up to set the pace and my team-mates could relax, having been near the front all the day. In the lead up to the sprint, even though he wasn't at his best, Sam still managed to protect me and Jack took my back wheel, to prevent anyone from trying to bring me down or using my slipstream. In the end, it was a win for Tyler Magner (Hincapie); I finished 17th on the same time as him, not too bad a sprint, eh?
Stage 3; the race of the truth, against the clock, contre la montre, whatever else you want to call it... I simply know it as the time-trial. The course is simple; ride up one side of a road, turn around at the top end of the road at the roundabout, where the only intermediate time check is located, and then head back down the other side of the road, back towards the start, where the finish is very close to. With a couple of slight rises on the course, it was a stage made for a special in the discipline of time-trialling, think Cancellara or Tony Martin. Luckily for me, neither of them are allowed to take part, as this is the continental level of pro cycling, otherwise, my time would probably be blitzed by them both. Waiting in the start house for my start, in the jersey of race leader, I was calm and composed, feeling very good ahead of the time-trial. When I left the start, the best time at the finish had been set by Tom Zirbel(Optum), which was exactly 35 minutes.. On the way up, I felt really good, so good that I think I may have went too fast in the first section and went low on energy in the second. At the half-way check, I was setting the fastest time of roughly 20 minutes. However, on the way back down to the finish, fatigue started to take its toll on my body, I obviously had went too fast up the other side. By the end I had came halfway across the gap to second-placed-on-GC Gusev(Skydive Dubai). In the end, I finished the time-trial in second place, 4 seconds down on stage winner Zirbel, who had went around 17 seconds in the latter part of the course, because he had measured his effort properly, unlike me, who had got slightly too excited! I still keep my race leader's jersey and increased my advantage over Gusev to 1 minute 28 seconds. Good, good heading into the short criterium around Silver City.
Stage 4; the short criterium stage, just 56km around Silver City, on multiple laps of a circuit around the town. The stage was a perfect stage for a breakaway win by a very small margin or a bunch sprint won by a sprinter(hopefully). It would be a battle between the chasing sprinters teams and the chased breakaway. I hope not to lose any time today, but you know, these criterium-style stages can be awfully hectic, especially with a full-on chase of a breakaway and very high speeds around corners and on the straights. At the start, the teams of the race leader decided that we would stay safe with the pace-making on the early laps of the circuit before going all-out over the last two or three laps. A break was formed, they got two minutes lead, and were out in front for 60km of the 66km being raced today, and were caught with 2km to go, having escaped at the 4km mark. It was a very late catch, but by a group of only 19, which included me and a few other of my team-mates. In the end, our small group that got away were bridged up to on the line, so everyone got the same time as the winner, Eric Young (Optum). It was unfortunate to be caught on the line, but this small escape showed me that while I was constantly on the look-out, some of my rivals weren't. Sounding really good for me if a gap opens on tomorrow's stage. In the sprint, I got 9th, an amazing result for me, due to my lack of real sprinting ability. By this stage it is now clear to many racers here that Optum are the best team in terms of stage wins, with 2 wins from two different riders for them, in two very different stages.
So yeah, that’s us up to now, the day before the last and possibly hardest stage of the race. I really do hope that I can keep my lead of a minute and a half, but you never know. I could have my worst day on a bike in years, I could get caught up in a crash, but then again I could take another stage win, which would epic. I'll probably write to you after the University of Lincoln GP, which I hope to get a top 10 in and I hope to be of use to my team at the Ringerike GP, a few days before then.
I know quite a few of you will have been thinking what on earth has happened to this story and I can tell you the one phrase to describe why this story hasn't been uploaded recently; "An abundance of unit assessments". Basically, a unit assessment or UASP is an assessment you must complete on each topic/block you cover in each school subject in Scotland. I have had a lot of them at once recently, as well as a couple of Scout camps, so I have been busy studying with a lot of my free time. Now, I am glad to say that they are all done for the next couple of months and that I shall be able to start posting regularly again! Look out for the next episode this weekend.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Lincoln in the United Kingdom, the host town of this year's British Championships and the start/finish town of the University of Lincoln GP, which the British Champs shall use a similar route to, but with two very long countryside laps. Over the past week, I completed the Tour of the Gila, then headed to Norway for the Ringerike GP, before coming here to Lincoln, for two days ago's UoL GP. So, let the catch-up reports begin!
Stage 5 of the Tour of the Gila was the hardest stage of the race on paper, but would it play out the same on the open road? The answer quite frankly was “most definitely not!” The stage featured 2 category 4 climbs, including the climb to the finish at Pinos Altos, 2 second category climbs and the first category climb of Anderson Vista. Early on, a dangerous break got away and we were chasing them for a long time, over the hilly parcours of the stage, before finally catching all but one of them at the top of the harder side of Anderson Vista, our second climb up it, having came up the easier side previously. This is when bigger, a few dangerous attacks flew off the front, including Tom Skujins (Hincapie), who was considered as a favourite for today's stage, but he wasn't truly a threat to the overall, as he was around 4 minutes behind! Tom managed to get clear, and at the foot of the last 2nd category climb of the day, Wild Horse Mesa, he had a lead of around 45 seconds. A lot of us favourites in the main group of favourites were using our team-mates to attempt to chase in Tom, while allowing ourselves to get a bit of rest. By the time we reached the foot of Pinos Altos, Tom's lead had decreased to just 15 seconds, which for him, probably wouldn't be enough. And so it turned out, as with 500m to go, he was caught and passed by my group of favourites, but from him, it was a very brave effort. In the end, the stage winner was Zachary Bell(SmartStop), who had a lead of around 3 minutes at the top of the second climb of Anderson Vista. I finished 5th, in the main group, 1 minute 28 seconds down on Bell, who had lost too much time earlier to be a threat to the race lead. I had won my 3rd stage race of 2015, winning the yellow jersey for race winner, the green jersey for the winner of the points classification and the white jersey for best young rider here!
Next up for me and my team-mates was the Ringerike GP in Norway! I wasn't selected as the team leader of Budget for this race, that privilege went to my 28 year old team-mate from New Zealand, Michael Torckler. I was meant to be his lead-out man, but after only a few kilometres, I knew that I was feeling good enough to be his last man, so I talked to my ever-there team-mate, Brendan Canty. We decided that we would switch ourselves in the order of riders from our team, so I'd be Torckler's penultimate man, rather than his last man. This meant that I would be pace making from about 20km to go to 5km to go, at which point I could drop off. After around 25km of constant attacking, trying to form a break, a three man break finally went clear! The pace soon died down rapidly, and the break managed to gain a lead of just short of 5 minutes before the domestiques of the favourites started to raise the pace to bring them back before the last kilometre. With about 25 kilometres to go, the breakaway warriors were finally brought back and it was set to be a fast last 25km, full of attacks and hard chases through the hills near Hønefoss, the finishing destination of this race, where we would have a lap each of two different challenging circuits inside the town and its local area. I made a lot of hard pacing during those kilometres, bringing back both Odd Christian Eiking (Team Joker) and Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice). However, it simply wasn't to be enough; I pulled off the front almost 3km early, exhausted and literally dying out there on the road, with nowhere near enough energy to sit on the front and set the pace any longer. From this moment onwards, our team's hopes went down rapidly; Tom Skujins (Hincapie), Soren Kragh Andersen (Trefor) and Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis) and two lesser known Norwegians all attacked at once, Torckler's group would never see them again, despite hard efforts on the front from both Brendan and Michael to bring them back before the end. However, yet again about 5 kilometres later, Brendan dropped off that same group, exhausted as well. The gap out to the 5 leaders from that group soon grew and grew, up towards the minute mark, due to their being only 9 people in that group, all on different teams and with 3 of them having team-mates up front, not wanting to work. In the end, the winner was Team Trefor's Soren Kragh Andersen, who won the race in a sprint amongst the members of the breakaway, after Skujins opened the sprint up too early! I ended the race in 25th, in a big group of team domestiques for the favourites, 2 minutes and 12 seconds down. My team-mate Michael finished 12th, in the group that he was in previously, at a minute 20 seconds down on the winner. Little glory for hard work was the caption for this race's result from our view.
The final race that I've recently, the one I completed a couple of days ago, was the University of Lincoln GP a circuit race around the town of Lincoln in the UK, with 13 climbs of the very steep, cobbled hill, the Michaelgate. It was a race that I was set not be team leader for, but also not to be a domestique in; instead, I was given a carte blanche, or a free role inside the team, with the aim of doing well but being under no pressure to do so. It didn't take long for a break to form today, only just over 8 kilometres and the three man break for the day had went. Throughout the day, a quite a few riders tried to bridge up towards the break unsuccessfully, exhausting themselves during these chases, which were with no doubt fast and hard. We in the main field kept a modest steady pace going and the maximum advantage the break ever got was around 4 and a half minutes, with around 80 kilometres to go to the finish atop the 13th climb of the Michaelgate. It was set to be more than a great showdown for a finale, it was set to be a Continental standard epic, especially considering that we still had 3 climbs of the Michaelgate left to go when the break were caught quite far out for many of the favourites' teams' liking, at just over 30km. I think many would have preferred that the break were out there for at least five, if not ten kilometres more to ease the pressure on them and not start the attacks of the lesser favourites too early, which is always a problem in these kind of races. I was surprisingly protected throughout the day by my team's other free-role rider, Tommy Nankervis who was meant to try to get inside the breakaway group, but failed to spot the move which would stay! I was certainly a lot fresher and more energetic in those last 30km than I thought I would have been at the start of the day, which turned out to be a brilliant thing. In the end, on the penultimate climb of the Michaelgate, the man who would go on to win, Egoitz García (Murias Taldea) attacked and bridged up to his team mate from the original break, Ander Barrenetxea. I did manage to join them a couple of kilometres later, but when García attacked again, I couldn't respond and I was left alone, since Barrenextea had cracked completely pulling for García. At the bottom of the Michaelgate, the gap to García was around 1'15”, but I managed to pull back just over 20 seconds on him on the climb. He must have over estimated his own strength and started to bonk on the final climb, but he already had more than enough of a lead to survive. He won the race, I finished second at 53 seconds down; not too bad for a race no-one was giving me a chance in!
Yesterday, it was time for my May physiological test. I was on the simulation bike for quite a long time, riding a mixture of different surfaces and gradients. My top 5 famous roads that I did on that bike had to be; the steep climb to Hautacam, the challenging gradients of the Mur de Huy, the rough hard cobbles of the Forest of Arenberg, the fast challenging descent of the Col de Joux Plane down into Morzine and the flat-ish roads of Paris in a 1989-style practice time-trial. After this session, me and my team performance directors reviewed my performance during it, and by the end we had concluded that I had improved quite a bit, so here are my new stats:
Anyway, next up in my racing schedule is the Rhône-Alpes Isére Tour. Its a race that doesn't suit me too much, with 3 sprint stages and only 1 hilly stages, featuring a couple of long climbs, a day on which I could go for the win on. But I've heard the endings of the sprint stages are quite technical, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see a couple of crashes near the end; all I can do is hope I don't get caught up in or behind one!
Hey, I'm seeing this for the first time now and it looks really promising. I like your writing style, the screenshots are good and the reports really in-depth. But if I may give you a few tips: Try using some paragraphs. Those big walls of text can be a bit hard to read.
Also, although I like the angles and sizes of the screenshots, they're sometimes a bit dark. Maybe you can play with the color filters a bit. And I think it looks better when the pictures are centered, but that's really just a personal preference. Plus, I think it would be interesting to see more of the results than just your own place, maybe the Top5-10 or so.
I hope some of that may help, I'll keep following anyway, keep it up
Well trust it to be right after I say a regular schedule will restart that things start going wrong. Firstly, when I loaded my game up last week to start the first stage of the Rhone Alpes-Isére Tour, I found out that because I had been editing a couple of things about the save in Lachi's Editor for future use that the file had been corrupted. I had forgot to create a copy of the original pre-editing so I had no backup version of the game to use. Then, when I thought I had managed to sort things out, as I started to simulate to the start of the Tour, the file got corrupted again and then entirely disappeared from my saves for no apparent reason. But, this is good, in a way, as I'm currently downloading the 2016 DB to use for future careers. I will probably restart a new version of this career, maybe using a new character instead to mix things up and I didn't want to have to end this mid-season if there were no problems with the save. For your information, I am NOT interested in finding out how to recover this save game as it will become unplayable when I get the new DB for 2016. I look forward to seeing you in my next story, whatever that may be; I will take on tips from this story to help improve my next story and the way it is designed.
Thanks to all for reading this and see you in another story soon, Martii.
Elbeuf sur Seine, 26.03.2015
Laguna Seca Racetrack, 21.04.2015
Lincoln, 13.05.2015
