I went into the Ronde van Midden Nederland with a plan and I executed it well. It was not quite the right read on the race though, I was agressive and made all the right selections between Amerongen and Rhenen thinking that would be where the race would be made, it certainly was the hardest section of the race but it came back together on the dyke back to Utrecht. A group of twenty got away inside the last 50km and we caught all but one, the winner, heading into a mass sprint with what was left of the peloton. In the kick I got gapped behind a crash and finished back in the bunch. The conditions were unbelievably bad, with cold, wind and as much rain as I have ever seen, making for a bloody hard day on the bike. 210km is a long way in that shit.
August 2011
5 posts
Ronde van Midden Nederland tomorrow.. stoked
This past weekend I raced in the Ronde van Antwerpen, a stage race in Belgium featuring many of the top teams in the country. I was a bit unsure of my form going in; I had trained well but been away from the races for a bit and had a pretty busy time in the last week getting our apartment in order.
The first stage I was perhaps missing a bit of snap but was up involved in the action and riding well. I made a tactical error midway, relaxing in the bunch after the breakaway went clear and watching helplessly as another big group went across. Thereafter I stayed calm in the peloton until the last laps where I again got involved, racing aggressively for what was left on the table. It wasn’t to be and the peloton sprinted with me somewhere in the middle.
The second day I was better and played things perfectly. Staying relaxed until the final hour where I went on the attack and made the final break to fight for the win. I was sitting in great position, one of the strongest in the group and able to sit on and let others work as I got stoked to fight for the win in the final kilometres. Then 15km before the line my tire went flat in a corner, I fishtailed like crazy but managed to right it and come to a stop for a wheel change. Only the neutral wagon was behind and while I got a wheel they left me in the dust and the group, and the race was gone. Shortly I was caught by the rest of the peloton and finished with nothing to show; a big opportunity missed and quite a bit of frustration.
