Lucky Corners...

Five Americans in the top twenty. That’s not a bad way to start off this blog. As you can imagine, the race yesterday went fairly well. It could have gone better, but considering all the facts, it wasn’t a bad day. The course consisted of 24 5k laps in the next town over from ours. It had some aggressive turns that played into our hands very well. There was a slight downhill after the start/finish area, and a slight uphill preceding the start/finish line. I have to admit that I wasn’t paying that close attention to attacks that went off the front of the pack in the beginning of the race. Usually these attacks aren’t worth wasting any energy on because the pack brings them back. Unfortunately for me, and the rest of the team, an Avia guy (Avia is a powerful Belgian club) got off the front in a small break. I wouldn’t see him again until we crossed the finish line after our 24th lap. Between the time when the Avia rider broke away and when he won the race, several chase groups organized to attempt to bridge the gap. I stayed in the pack for the first ten or so laps trying to conserve my energy, until I found myself in position to bridge to a small breakaway forming about 100 yards of the front of the pack. On the downhill corner I took a rather aggressive line that, of course, the Belgians could not follow, opened a small gap, and motored up to the break. We stayed away for five of six laps. This break had potential to be the race winning move, but the other three riders were more concerned about looking backwards for the pack, rather than looking forwards for the leaders (not even “persuasive” yelling could not motivate these guys to commit to the effort). We were caught, and I went with the counter attack, hoping to get with a better group of guys, but nothing went away, so I retired to the middle of the pack. With about six laps to go, and beginning to realize that we were racing for second (the Avia guy attacked his companions and was soloing his way to a win), our team somehow organized to pull off a pretty sweet move. We were coming into a series of corners that could easily be pedaled through (unless your European) that led into the downhill corner. I strung it out through the corners with three of my teammates on my wheel, and then hammered the downhill corner once again, to open up a solid lead. The third rider on my wheel (American) braked as he was coming out of the corner to allow our break to roll further off the front. The three of us began a rotation and were soon joined by three other riders (another American, and two Belgians, making it 4 Americans and 2 Belgians in the break). Our rotation stayed strong and fluid and we soon caught up to a group of about eight riders that were also off the front. As soon as we got there the group split up and three Belgian riders managed to get up the road in front of the group that I was in (along with the other Americans) and then there were groups behind us. The laps dwindled down with each of us attacking one another (or Belgians attacking Americans). We came into the final lap with the Avia guy off the front and about to win the race, a group of Belgian riders, and then the Americans. I still do not know how the group of Belgians riders got away from us, but it is pretty embarrassing to have a split in the break and not have one of the four Americans in the break on the front end of the split. But it happened and we couldn’t seem to bring them back. After some futile attacking on my own part (made futile by the fact that my teammate kept following my wheel and would bring the Belgians with me- frustrating, but in actuality you are not supposed to have team tactics in kermesses, they are designed to have everyman for himself), we came into the last 2k’s of the final lap with a group of three Americans, and three Belgians. I know, and many of the people back home know, that I am not a sprinter, so with about 1.5k’s to go I attacked the group to make the Belgians chase me down which allowed my teammates to have a free ride to the line where hopefully they could out sprints the Belgians. They caught me with only a couple hundred meters left, and as soon as they caught me my teammate sprinted around them for an eighth place finish. The other American finished 12th, and I finished 13th. Our next teammate rolled through in 15th, and another guy won the field sprint for 19th. So based on the results sheet it wasn’t a bad day, but tactically and teammate-wise we probably should have done a bit better.
The legs are really starting to feel good. We leave for Switzerland tomorrow, and I expect good things to come. We are competing in a in a 3 day stage race with four stages. If the hotel we are staying at has internet, I will try to post some info and results, if not, then expect some news on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for the support/reading.