Racing The TorTour Summer Cyclocross Stage Race
Three days. Three stages. Three chances to explore the gravel roads in the beautiful Lucerne region of Switzerland. The TorTour Cyclocross Stage Race provides a lung bursting, leg busting challenge. The concept of the TorTour Cyclocross event is familiar to me; I rode the winter edition in 2017 in the Schaffhausen region just south of Zürich. That event featured snow, sub-zero temperatures, and a plethora of winter kit. This premiere edition of the Summer Cyclocross is in the foothills of the Alps, and delivers a contrasting mix of dust, grit, 'shark-tooth' climbs, and summertime temperatures. The Prologue The three-day event starts with a 20-kilometre prologue on the Friday evening. A chance to test the legs, or rather give them their first beating of the weekend. Short course racing has never been my forte, and my aim for this first stage was simply to stay safe and minimise time loses ahead of the longer stages. From the moment the start gun sounds it is a ...