Sorry for the late blog. We got back from France at 1.30am on Tuesday and we were out and about all day yesterday and then I had to cook up some kai so I didn't really have too much time to write a blog but now I'm pretty fresh and got time on my hands. But yea the start of the week was crappy as, pouring with rain all day and night, bit like home. Went for a 4.5 hour ride on Monday and it rained for 4.5 hours, then rained Tuesday, then rained Wednesday. After our ride on Wednesday, 4 of us went up to Roselare which is a fairly big town about 10km away and found a cafe that makes flat whites!!! It's a really cool cafe that's sort of hidden away and the guy who owns it makes some really awesome different coffees. First ordered a flat white and had a look at the menu again and there was a coffee called 'Cookie' so I thought I'd give that one a crack. Couldn't understand what was in it cause it was all written in Flemish in the menu but I was pretty certain that it would involve a cookie or something. It was like a coffee chocolate syrup at the bottom with milk, cream and cookie crumbles on top with caramel sauce. Sooooo good! So we were back there today and got another good old flat white and a berry crumble pie. Ka Pie.
Ah yea the tour. The tour didn't go too badly I guess. Stayed up right which is a bonus considering the conditions on the second day. First stage was 163km of rolling short climbs which suited me alright. There was a sprint challenge at 19km (which is basically like a sprint prem like in the kermesses but they have a few of them through out the course and you win prizes) and then at 24km there was a KOM sprint (which stands for King Of the Mountain and if you cross the line first you win 6 points, then 4 points for 2nd, then 1 or 2 points for 3rd then whoever has the most points after the stage wins the Polka Dot jersey) so after the sprint challenge I decided to counter attack and went off the front solo for 5km and won the KOM sprint so I had 6 points in the bank. Not long after that a big break of about 25 riders got away, including Zeno, so I just had to sit in the bunch for most of the day because we had a man up the road. There were two more KOM's throughout the course and one rider in the break won both of them so he had 12 points and I only had 6 so I was sitting in second for that. The break stayed away and Zeno picked up 10th which is a good result for him. We were sitting about 30 seconds behind the winner and I rolled in about 58th place I think.
Next day started off with a 12.8km Time Trial in the morning and then a 90km road race in the afternoon. Pissed with rain from morning till night. I borrowed one of the boys time trial bikes for the TT. I had a quick ride on it in the car park the night before and it seemed alright but once I started my warm up I knew it was way too small. The seat wasn't quite high enough and the seat was too far forward and the stem was too small so I was smashing my knees on my elbows. I had to sit right on the back of the seat which wasn't too comfortable but didn't do too badly. I managed to catch my minute man after 8km and ended up around 20th place. I was 30 secs off the winner so I reckon I would've been up there if I had my own TT rig and I was also being extra careful round the corners cause it wasn't my bike and it was pissing with rain. Afternoon stage, still raining. My goal for that race was to not die. I just sat right up the front out of trouble for the whole race. Felt really good too and I was following a couple moves in the first few km of the race. There was one of those sprint challenges at around 6km so I attacked about a km before that and won that. I turned around and saw I had bit of a gap so I put my head down and kept drilling it because there was a KOM in 5km. Managed to stay away and won that but the KOM leader got 2nd so I had 12 points and he now had 16 points. That was the only KOM for the day so couldn't do too much more but stay out of trouble and that's just what I did. After the race I had to go up on the stage to collect my prize for winning the sprint challenge. Won an iPad mini and a tee. The t-shirt was too big so we used it as an oil rag but the iPad could come in handy. I'm just going to sell it cause I've already got an iPad.
Last stage was a nice day and it was Bastille day so all the Frenchys were out in support. It was 153km of rolling and flat sections with lots of cross winds. I really wanted to get into a break that day so I could win all the KOM points on the course, there were 3 KOMs. Got into a small move fairly early and we had a small gap with about 7 riders but everyone stopped working so I attacked them and rode solo for a bit to see if anyone would come with me. There was a sprint challenge about 3km out from where I attacked so I put my head down to try and win another one of them. Crossed the line first again so picked up another prize. After I crossed the line I turned around and saw the bunch wasn't too far behind so I sat up and waited for them but it was actually a group of about 12 riders who got away. We rode hard in the crosswind section but then everyone just stopped working again which was frustrating. A couple people were still riding hard so I jumped on to them and we rolled through a bit but then for some reason the team that had the yellow jersey just sat on the front and mowed us down for no reason. Normally in tours, the team that has the yellow jersey will let a break go and then slowly bring it back near the end of the race. They do this because it's a lot easier to slowly bring back one break than to chase down every single attack in the race. Not long after being in the bunch another big attack went and I sat there watching them go thinking they will surely pull that back straight away. I would have tried to go with that break but I thought it would be a waste of energy because I was already pretty tired after my big effort before and I thought that it would be pulled back pretty quickly like what happened to the break I was in just before but nope, they stayed away for the whole race. Bugger. Just sat in the bunch for most of the race after that and let all the big teams try chase down the break but they couldn't... Break finished 32 secs ahead of us and I rolled in 31st. I was quite angry for most of the ride because I missed the break but to make it worse, Andrew came up to me after the race and said I had won a jersey for 60km of the race. That sprint challenge was actually a points sprint for the green jersey and there was a jersey for the person who had the most combined points in the KOM sprints and the Points sprint. So when I won that sprint it put me in the lead for the Pink Combination Jersey. Bugger. If I had known I was in the lead I would have got the team and I to help bring that break back ASAP because someone in that break won the Pink Jersey. Really gutted. We put tape at the beginning of each stage and write when each sprint competition is but we didn't write what each sprint was like whether it was a KOM or a sprint Challenge and I thought the first sprint was a sprint challenge.
Still ended up 20th overall and came away with an iPad so not all too bad I guess. Would've done so much better if I had gotten into the break on the last day though. Ah well, at least I know I'm in good form and I'll give it another good crack in the upcoming tours. It was a pretty awesome atmosphere too with heaps of Frenchys coming out in support and we had some pretty good banter within the team.
Thanks for reading
Nick
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