After a year of fantastic & new experience's racing in Australia, China & Belgium 2018 is now coming to a close. Some of my season highlights, maybe not results wise but definitely ones I won't forget, starting with the Commonwealth Games. When I had that phone call informing me I was selected I knew I couldn't tell my mum for a few days as she would have plastered it all over social media before the official release. What made it even better was that my big bro Tom had that same phone call. The household would have been a bit tense if only one of us was selected, so I guess it was worth a hug after a anxious wait for the team to be selected. All of my preparation went into helping fellow Manxmen Mark Cavendish for as long as I could to get him to the finish in the best shape possible but after a few unfortunate crashes early on in his season in preparation for the Road Race he had to rule himself out which was a big blow to the team but obviously understandable. The night before race day he kindly FaceTimed us with some tips & advice ahead of the race which helped me personally. On the day of the race I felt the whole team worked well together being involved with the race throughout. The course suited me well as it was more of a wearing down sort of course which plays into my favour but hydration was my problem unfortunately. Just 60km in I could start to feel cramp coming on, luckily I managed to get back on top of it & held it off until the final 2 laps where it reappeared & wasn't pleasant. On the second final climb, last lap my legs completely seized dropping me out of the lead group but on the decent I span my legs to the next level to try eliminate the cramp that built up. Myself & Harry Tanfield pushed on in the latter part of the lap where it was flat, rejoining a fairly large group. I was pretty cooked already from getting back on so I tried my best to save as much energy as I could for the sprint as I didn't know what place we were sprinting for. 34th was the final result which I was more than happy with & the staff seemed pretty chuffed too. I was so humbled to be able to represent the Isle of Man at what is the highest level we can compete at so if there is anyone reading this that was apart of this experience, thank you.
Where I really felt I have developed as a rider in a big way, was in China. To say the least we were thrown in the deep end. A two week stage race called 'Tour Of Qinghai Lake' the 4th Grand Tour they call it & now I see why after experiencing it. The whole race was at altitude which may I add, I've never been at before. I honestly didn't know what to expect at all. I had trained well building up but it was whether I would cope with the altitude. The first few days were flat which were ideal to acclimatise to the conditions. We were joined by 2 or 3 pro continental teams throughout which added a bit more pace to things on the sprint stages but everyone seemed to be coping well & finishing well in the finale, especially our Italians. The day had come where the climbs approached us (I will add the stage profiles). I knew I was pretty light at the time, maybe down to the noodle diet but was unsure how it would pan out. We arrived at the first proper test. we first had our Italian best placed in GC so I was protecting him throughout the first section but he was slow fading. I tried multiple times to bring him back to the slimmed down peloton but couldn't quite hold the pace. He then gave me the all clear to do my own thing. I then hung in for as long as possible on the main climb of the day which created some big time gaps. It was like a yoyo effect, the pace would go really high then drop, so I would get back on but near the top the held the gas on where I found myself with a group of about 10 riders. You could see miles & miles down the decent after reaching 3100m. We saw no sign of the front group but insisted we'd try our best to get back on. Soon enough we were flying round multiple hairpin turns, I lost count there were so many. With around 20km to go we were still pressing hard on the pedals to catch the group up the road, then all of a sudden we saw a team car in the distance. I don't think I had went so hard on a decent before, thankfully it paid off reaching the group with 10km to go. I was the only Holdsworth Rider in the front group so I had to fend for myself for the sprint after still feeling reasonably good considering the chase. I was a little blocked in so committed on the outside as I was positioned a little to far back for my liking. I was passing riders left, right & centre but just left too much work to do in the final kilometre or so. The hardest day I've ever pushed on a bike was on stage 6. It was the shortest stage of the tour but the hardest at the same time. 60km, you may think that would be easy enough, but imagine having to climb almost 45-50km of that 60km stage. From when the gradient started going up the Colombian team Manzana Postobon pressed the gas pedal to the floor ripping the race to shreds. This was a crucial day in terms of GC as there would be no more categorised climbs after this stage so everyone was fighting for position coming into the climb itself. This climb was unbelievably brutal in terms of gradient & altitude. I knew I didn't have the explosiveness like the Colombians so I had to pace myself well, which I felt I did. A lot of other riders tried to follow the big guns early on but payed for it further up the climb. My confidence built as I was only passing riders not riders passing me so I used each rider as a carrot. It only worked so far as we approached a super hard part of the climb where you almost had to go 100% just to get up. I was riding most of the way up with a two pro continental riders who were also suffering so I knew I wasn't doing too badly. The kilometres ticked on slowly & so did the altitude finding tougher & tougher to breathe. The final section of the climb was cross head wind, not ideal after climbing for so long already. This is where I dug really deep & pushed over my limits almost to the point I couldn't see, with the top of the climb reaching 4120m altitude.
The final few kilometres were signed posted so that gave me a bit of extra drive to push that much harder. Within the final couple of meters I was with 3-4 other guys, I started my sprint too early but maybe that was just me wanting to get to the top as quick as I could. On the stage I was 31st, that moved me into the top 40 overall.
The remaining days were all about surviving and helping our Italian sprinter out. We planned a lead out for each of the remaining days. We were a little rusty on the first 2 of the remaining 7 but we learnt each day & built stronger & stronger. The results soon came in the end & by the final stage he managed a 4th place only being passed in the final 150 meters. The final stage was our best team performance. All of the big teams had riders in the breakaway so it was down to us to bring that back. All riders put a huge effort to bring this back which we managed to do with only 4 riders. It was close but we caught the leaders on the final lap of the finishing circuit to put our sprinter to the front & it was down to him. In the end, I finished the UCI 2.HC 2 week Stage Race in 35th Place Overall & 3rd Under 23.
I could go on to summarise the rest of the season but I'll leave that for another day.
You've all probably clicked on this blog to see 'What Am I Doing Next'. Well, along with a lot of other riders & good riders to say the least, am I currently looking for a new team for 2019. There has been a massive flop in the UK it seems with lots of teams not continuing. It is a huge shame but that is reality & you've got to deal with these things & I hope it can only go up from here. Cycling is still a huge part of my life & still love riding my bike every single day. I don't want it to stop here as I feel I have so much more to give & show.
In the meantime all I can do is hope & thank my very supportive sponsors for the belief & wish it continues in the future.
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