My Focus for the spring is to build upon last years UCI race experience and develop race strength and tactical awareness into the Summer season where I have some big races coming up.
VC Sevale Spring Open 10m TT
I am planning to build my Time Trialling experience by racing mid week TTs during the spring. For my first event, I did a 10 mile TT- I finished 3rd out of 50 riders on a restricted junior gear with a time of 21:44 which is a fast time for this rolling course. I enjoyed the TT and will now be working to improve my bike position etc.
The Tour of Mendips:
This is my first National race of the year. The race comprised of a TT and two stage races. The TT was on a road bike and I finished in a reasonable position (top half of the draw) but was disappointed not to have done better.
The road races went ok with me finishing safe in the bunch on stage one. Unfortunately, I had a mechanical issue on stage two and lost touch of the peloton. After a long chase, I managed to get back to the peloton but at the same time, the pace picked up and I lost touch of the lead group.
Generally a disappointing result for me but lessons learned.
Ster Van Zuid Limburg
Four day stage race comprising of a short 5km TT prologue and three tough stages including the last stage in the Ardennes.
TT went reasonable well although I’m more suited to the longer efforts. Stage 1 was heavily controlled by the National USA team who were defending their top 3 positions on GC after the TT. Having tried to create a few breakaways, it was obvious that this was going to be hard and fast racing throughout the weekend. The temperature was an unseasonal 25 degrees and I found stages 2 and 3 to be tough going. The finish of stage 2 was a bunch sprint and I finished safe in the bunch. Stage 3 again went to a bunch sprint were I came in 36th position . The final stage in the Ardennes was very windy and hot. It turned out to be one of the toughest days that I’ve had on the bike with many riders dropping out altogether. I was pleased to finish albeit had lost a lot of time. I have learned a lot about myself and there was a lot to take away from it for the future.
Omloop Van Borsele
This is one the UCIs longest junior races. The race started in torrential rain and I managed to avoid many crashes at the beginning of the race. There were several crosswind sections. I just missed out on a split in the peloton in the cross winds, with a large group of around 29 riders getting a gap on the peloton. I realised that I needed to get cross to the group and made a breakaway. Unfortunately we ran out of miles to make the catch after a long hard chase. I finished in a group of 6 riders and finished 34th from 160 starters which, whilst still slightly disappointing is a step in the right direction and more importantly, I’m beginning to feel stronger and more confident now.