As the race got underway it was pretty clear that 4T who have a really large team racing were going to chasing a fair few things until they got a guy in a break. After about 3/4 of a lap, in a lull, I decided to try my luck and pinged off the front.
There did not seem to be too much of a reaction in the bunch, in fact, it seemed to be none so I thought sod it and put my head down to try and extend my gap. After about half a lap the motorbike outrider said I had 28 seconds. Ok, keep it going, as I am not built for climbing I was trying to take it easy on the climbs and really nailing the downhills and flat sections of the course.
Went over the finish line for the second time, another lap in the bag and the outrider came alongside me again, 32 seconds. Cool, so I kept plugging away, got to the hill after the finish straight and took it pretty easy again, at top of the hill he said 40 seconds so I carried on. Kept plugging away but it was getting tough, got around another lap and then got onto the hill and then the peleton came out of nowhere and swallowed me up.
I sat in for another half a lap or so, there was another lull, so I thought sod it, lets have another go for a bit of fun. So I pinged off the front again, this time it was hurting but I managed to get a good gap. Then all of a sudden Jonathan popped up out of nowhere and came screaming past me 'come on lets go'. Ok, so I grabbed his wheel and we got going. Onto the hill and it was pretty clear that Jonathan was going to have to slow down for me as I was pretty cooked. He did the hill and then I went on the front and nailed the downhill and flat afterwards. I think we had got a reasonable gap when the motorbike outrider came up and said 13 seconds. This mentally screwed me, we just hit another hill and Jonathan was bounding, then looked to wait for me, I told him to head out on his own, I would try to slow the peleton as I wouldn't be able to help him too much.
I let him go, and went back to the group and duly sat on the front soft pedalling and trying to slow things down. I was also trying to encourage riders to ping off the front to go up the road to help Jonathan. Before long a couple of guys managed to get off the front and that was pretty much it.
Am sure Jonathan can give you the low down on what happened, but he managed to get 3rd place with a good gap on the peleton by the finish and I came in mid pack in the sprint. Unfortunately Ashley punctured, shame as he was looking strong on the hills.
Good fun, but it would have been nice to have had a couple of others with me on the early break as we may have made it stick. Never mind, next week in with the Elites
Cheers
Marek....
