This month I decided to start doing some mid week races in order to gain enough points to get into national champs and to retain a first cat race licence into 2020. I also find that they are also good fun in a relaxed environment and can help with training.
1st Stourport Summer Series Round 1:
2 riders got away from the bunch early on and I realised their break would probably work so I attacked the peloton and after a hard chase bridged across to the leaders. When I got to them I realised they were already pretty tired, so I attacked pretty soon after reaching them. One of the 2 stayed with me but the other couldn’t. We both tried to get away from each other a number of times but in the end it went down to a photo finished which I won with a lunge.
SSSCC Road Race league Round 2:
It was a though high paced race with lots of the strongest riders from the region. After several attempts to make a breakaway it finished with a bunch sprint. In the sprint I finished 5th overall and 1st Junior.
1st Stourport Summer Series Round 2:
With many of the same riders as the week before I was a marked rider which made it hard to get away. I felt strong but I knew the sprint didn’t suit me against some of the riders because of my restricted gearing. After probably too many attempts to get away, tiring myself out a lot, I got away with another rider. I recovered sharing the work out and then attacked again as I could see he was getting tired, luckily my attack worked and I took a solo win.
I also raced my local track league picking up more useful points towards my goal.
Cadence Junior National:
With my moral higher from the last few races and because I was feeling strong, my plan for the race was to get in a strong break away. Most of the race I sat in, conserving energy and waiting for a good opportunity. I went with a few moves which failed but finally about 3/4 of the way though the race I got into a decent break. There were 8 of us and included a lot of strong riders (perhaps why the peloton chased hard to catch us). We were away for some time but ultimately we were caught approaching the final lap. In hindsight I probably put too much work into the break but I thought it was going to work, I ended up just finishing in the middle of the main group.
Stourport Summer Series round 3:
After wining the last few rounds I was marked heavily, I tried to get away lots of times throughout the race but it ended up going to a bunch sprint, in which I finished 4th.
3 days of Axel UCI 2.1:
This race was very though and a lot harder than the other races I’ve done this month, the highest level of junior racing with multiple national teams. Nothing really to write home about from the first 2 days I tried to get in break always but just finished in the bunch unable to do well in the sprints. Out of the 3 days the final days stage suited me the most being a challenging stage with short steep climbs. The stage was 100km with 3 33km laps, I was feeling good and was near the front of a reduced group until coming up to the final lap I was caught up in a big crash on a cobbled section... I did my best to chase back on but during the chase I realised I had a slow puncture from the crash. After swapping to a new wheel I wasn’t going to get back, especially on such a hard course. I finished but without the result I know I’m capable of. Out of 180 starters 114 didn’t finish the race. The stage race ended with only 66 finishers, showing just how hard the tour was.
