Last week I finished the Vlaams Brabant tour which was based close to where I am staying and was 5 stages over 5 days. The stages were around 130-140km with a 9.4km time trial on the 3rd day. Going into the tour I was feeling pretty tired the week out but after backing off the training to a few recovery days the week before the race started the legs and body freshened up.
The first stage was pretty flat apart from a few short sharp bergs so it came down to a mass sprint for the stage honors. The team formed a lead out train for our sprinter Jelle who ended up 6th. The next day was quite heavy with constant rolling climbs and 30 degree temperatures. After I missed the split that happened at 50km to go I hit it across the 30s gap with another guy and managed to successfully make it to the front group. From there I kept following the attacks and splits and hovered round the front of the group of 50 or so. I ended up a minute down after a hard day out but luckily I made it across to the front group as the bunch I was in lost 5mins+.
The next day was the time trial. After a spin down the canal where we were staying in Leuven I was happy with how the legs were, and looking forward to the TT that afternoon. The course was pretty technical with lots of corners and a hair pin turn to negotiate. And after riding a lap when we arrived I was confident I had the legs to go good. I went off just before the rain came but with that the wind had picked up. So I went out fast and held my speed steady for the 6km or so then with 3km to go I was on the last 2 straights before the finish and had a dirty block head wind which made me creep home! I lost a lot of time in the last 3 km and ended up out of the top 20.. which was a terrible result. 20mins earlier would've been ideal as it was sunny and no wind! Belgium weather..(excuses, excuses)
The next day was another flat circuit with the same climbs we went up on the first day. I was feeling pretty good and when we reached the finishing circuits I headed to the front the stay out of trouble and It actually makes it a lot easier. The final lap came round and I was holding it in a top ten position. With the pace being so high and the bunch stretched out it was good to be at the front for the corners and especially as it was wet. The last corner came round and everyone threw themselves at it as it was 250m to the line from there. I'm not the fastest sprinter so came in 24th.
The last day of the tour came around and the temperature had dropped slightly to 25 degrees. I was feeling ok but as it was dead flat i knew it was going to be a bunch kick of a sneaky late move that would win it. The last lap came round and I was sitting in the top 30 or so guy looking to move up the outside with 3km to go. I saw a gap and hit it through but as soon as I did that I got chopped off into the grass at 50km/h and just held it up after hitting the curb. I rolled to the line in the bunch and saw that my front carbon wheel had cracked after my little off-road experience. Damn...
I ended the tour 25th on general classification and 9th in (u23) young rider classification. It was ok but under performed.
Now I am just doing a 2 or 3 kermesses a week and as we don't have a car at the house i am at now we have to ride to them. I ended up doing 200km last Saturday then 150km on the Sunday. Getting 36th then 14th. Legs have come up good after this tour so looking to build on that form and get a win in the last 2 months that I am here in Belgium.
Thanks for reading. I will put some photos up soon.
Fraser
