Race Report: Ras de Cymru 5 Day Stage Race
The week started out with a team time
trial, which at only 11 kilometers long, on a flat course, was always going to
be a whole world of pain. I won’t make any bones about it; I’m lacking top end
power at the moment, and knew that going into the event. A short team time
trial was therefore always going to be a struggle. I lasted about 6 kilometers
and then dropped off the back; it was only the first three times that counted,
and I really couldn’t keep up with the pace. It was disappointing, but probably
predictable. I ended up a good 2 minutes down on the team’s eventual time, and
whilst they won the stage, I was placed almost dead last on GC. A good start
for Team Wiggle, not such a good one for me.
The second stage was a rolling road race,
with one notable hill and a flat finish (one for the sprinters). Dan was the
sprinter in our team, so it was down to him to take the stage on this one.
There was a small breakaway up the road at the finish, but Dan took the bunch
sprint and the rest of us hung on to finish safely in the main bunch.
Day three was the real tough one; a road
stage in the morning, followed by a hilly individual time trial in the
afternoon. The road stage went better for me, and I was able to position myself
higher up in the bunch. I didn’t have enough of a kick to get a top ten place
on the final kick up to the finish, but Ben took third, and with three of us
finishing in the main bunch again, it was good for the Team GC. The stage was a
hard one, with some big hills and fast descents; I was beginning to find my
legs, but it was a hard effort to stay at the front on the tight Welsh lanes.
The individual time trial in the evening
was a real pain fest. At just 6.9 kilometers, with a 1.3 kilometer steep climb
at the end, and off the back of a hard road stage in the morning, it was going
to hurt. It did. I felt sluggish and really struggled to get on top of the gear
on the flat. I then promptly ‘parked-up’ on the climb, coming out with 50th
place out of the 100 riders in the end, so not that bad, but by no means great.
Saturday’s stage was a rolling course, with
a really good mix of hills and flat fast roads. It was a far easier stage than the previous day, and had one major hill in it leading up to the finish. Dan
got in a breakaway early on, and there was no way we were going to chase it back
when he was so high on GC, so Ben, Andy and myself sat-in and waited for the
final climb. I wasn’t positioned well on the final hill, but managed to pick up
a few places on the climb to come out with a position at the front half of the
field, which helped our Team GC aims.
The final sixth stage was the most severe
and challenging of all; finishing at the top of a second category climb,
Llangynidr mountain. My aim for the day was to finish as high as I could on the
stage, to try and help claim back the team GC, which we had lost by just 29
seconds on day three. I stayed in the bunch for most of the morning and then
moved up for the final 6.5 kilometer climb. I went ok up there, and certainly
as well as I thought I could. I finished 21st on the stage, but claimed
enough back from the rival team GC contenders to get back the classification.
Dan also wrapped up the sprinter’s jersey, and Ben had another high placed
finish with a 3rd.
The race as a whole was a great experience,
and although I didn’t have the legs or the positioning strength to come away
with any great personal results, it was definitely well worth doing, both for
the team success and the intensive training (it was good fun too!).
There are a few things that probably
affected my results… last weekend’s
crash, which I’m still recovering from; a lack of racing over the last few
weeks and to be honest months, which has let my power lapse somewhat; and
finally a bit of a lack of confidence with positioning in such a huge field of
100 riders, which dramatically improved throughout the week, but which did affect
things early on.
The whole race was a lot of fun, and I
certainly feel like I’ve put a fair bit of effort in over the last five days.
I’d like to do it again with better form and experience. For now though, I’m
going to try and recover, and then carry the form into a few road races in the
next few months… hopefully I’ll start bringing in some results now.
[Photos courtesy of Huw Fairclough]
Comments
Post a Comment