After a few races under the belt, I would like to give an update to all my followers & sponsors on what I've been up to in these past few weeks.
KLONDIKE GP
Starting with my first big test of the season and national road series opener, Klondike Grand Prix. This can be a strange race as in the past it's been a mass bunch sprint but in last years edition it split into many pieces, so it can be a unpredictable race for sure. I was playing a support roll to start off with, looking after our designated team leader for the day. As the race went on our leader very honestly told us he wasn't feeling great so if anything was to go up the road, don't hesitate to follow it. I was still fairly fresh, so that's what I did and managed to find myself in the front group of the race. It was only on the final small lap in the lead up to Saltburn climb I found myself a bit isolated & unable to follow the crucial move. In the final 15km I ended up with one continental rider in a two up bid to hold off a group behind with the aim to finish inside the top 20 which we managed to do. With so little racing miles in the legs, I was happy with my performance giving me a boost in confidence in the next races to come.
Tour Of The North 3 Day (Ireland)
This was the first time I had participated in this race having previously ridden in the Ras Mumhan & Suir Valley 3 day. I have had a lot of success in those races and wanted to keep it that way in this one also.
Day 1 got off to a good start with one of our riders finishing in 3rd & taking the Under-23 Jersey too. Brother Tom was looking great in the final for the win but unfortunately got tangled up with another rider cutting across and taking most of his spokes out in the front wheel.
Day 2 would be a double day with a short TT in the morning followed by a 110km stage in the afternoon. Our team were first off with start time of 9am. Personally I didn't have the best warm up but had to deal with it and try my best anyways. I wasn't happy with my time but it didn't mean I was going to give up in the bid to stay high up in the general classification.
In the afternoon stage I put the TT behind me and concentrated on how I was going to make time back and putting the other teams under pressure. Myself and teammate who was sat 6th in GC got into the early and applied the pressure. The gap didn't grow massively but kept it consistent through the stage. Just before the KOM with two laps to go the main peloton caught us again with counter attacks going straight away. After a small breather I wanted to hit out again, with three riders up the road after contesting the KOM points I made a solo bid to get across. After giving everything I had, I made it across which turned out to be the winning move of the day. We reached the KOM for the final time before heading towards the finish, one of the three just had the fresher legs and went for a long solo attempt. Having been in the break all day my legs were slowly fatiguing but I had to keep riding if I wanted to keep my hopes alive for the GC. We didn't quite catch the rider in front but I won the small sprint for 2nd Place which also moved me up the 3rd in General Classification.
Day 3 was all about saving as much energy until 48km in, which would decide the General Classification. A massively steep and 10km long climb would test how everyone had recovered from the previous days. A dangerous move slipped up the road just before the first KOM which I burnt a match and soloed across to. It was then brought back near the top of the climb where things had started to string out already. When we reached the crucial climb of the day I placed myself well, ready for any attacks to go. For the majority, I hung in well and tried to follow all the dangerous moves. As we reached closer to the top and a few riders looking at each other, two of the GC 'one's to watch' attacked. Honestly I wasn't able to follow and nobody else could either. When reaching the top I tried to get our small group riding with the possibility of catching the front again but there was a lack of co-operation. I had to wait until the final climb of the day to try my last bid but unfortunately it wasn't enough with the top 10 being all within 1 minute of each other. I came home 10th on the day and also in the general classification. With everyone looking at me we played a good card with my team mate attacking in the final which moved him into 5th Overall & the team winning the Team Classification Overall.
All in all it was a great team effort, we worked great together & got some decent results along the way with a nice racing block in the legs too.
UCI Rutland CiCLE Classic
The most recent and probably one of my favourite races on the calendar, CiCLE Classic. I took part in the junior version when I was younger but have never taken to the start of the UCI one day classic, mainly because I spent most of my U-23 career in Belgium. It was a pretty calm start to the race after a 3 man breakaway went up the road which no one was too worried about. The key thing was to keep eating and drinking as we'd be racing 200km and spend roughly 5hrs in the saddle. It was also important to keep towards the front as much as possible to make things easier when the sectors came along where it was almost a sprint to each one (11 in total). The first time things started to split up a little was over the somerberg the first time but it was still a bit too far out for teams to fully commit so everything came back together. I had an untimely puncture in one of the small lanes but thankfully my team mate Chris kindly gave me his wheel & Rupert dropped back to help me back on, so I didn't lose too much energy or time.
I knew when we would hit the somerberg the second time from the other direction (40km to go), everything would kick off so I moved right towards the front at what I felt was the best time. As expected things did kick off and I had the legs to follow and make the winning move of the day along with Tom. As we were isolated with numbers, we had a bit of a free ride until we reached the final lap of the finishing circuit. There were a number of attacks in the last 20km but it seemed like nothing was going to stick, which turned out to be the case. With everything still together coming into the finish, a canyon rider went for a long one with around 1km to go. I was directly behind him and went for it myself too. In the final 500 metres we were caught and quickly swamped by the sprinters in the group where my legs ceased up and had to settle for 26th on the day.
For my first participation I was happy with how I performed but now I know the sectors there is room for improvement for the editions to come.
(Does that really give you wings?)
Thanks again to all my friends, family and sponsors for the support, where I hope this is just the start of a successful season.
Leon
KLONDIKE GP
Starting with my first big test of the season and national road series opener, Klondike Grand Prix. This can be a strange race as in the past it's been a mass bunch sprint but in last years edition it split into many pieces, so it can be a unpredictable race for sure. I was playing a support roll to start off with, looking after our designated team leader for the day. As the race went on our leader very honestly told us he wasn't feeling great so if anything was to go up the road, don't hesitate to follow it. I was still fairly fresh, so that's what I did and managed to find myself in the front group of the race. It was only on the final small lap in the lead up to Saltburn climb I found myself a bit isolated & unable to follow the crucial move. In the final 15km I ended up with one continental rider in a two up bid to hold off a group behind with the aim to finish inside the top 20 which we managed to do. With so little racing miles in the legs, I was happy with my performance giving me a boost in confidence in the next races to come.
Tour Of The North 3 Day (Ireland)
This was the first time I had participated in this race having previously ridden in the Ras Mumhan & Suir Valley 3 day. I have had a lot of success in those races and wanted to keep it that way in this one also.
Day 1 got off to a good start with one of our riders finishing in 3rd & taking the Under-23 Jersey too. Brother Tom was looking great in the final for the win but unfortunately got tangled up with another rider cutting across and taking most of his spokes out in the front wheel.
Day 2 would be a double day with a short TT in the morning followed by a 110km stage in the afternoon. Our team were first off with start time of 9am. Personally I didn't have the best warm up but had to deal with it and try my best anyways. I wasn't happy with my time but it didn't mean I was going to give up in the bid to stay high up in the general classification.
In the afternoon stage I put the TT behind me and concentrated on how I was going to make time back and putting the other teams under pressure. Myself and teammate who was sat 6th in GC got into the early and applied the pressure. The gap didn't grow massively but kept it consistent through the stage. Just before the KOM with two laps to go the main peloton caught us again with counter attacks going straight away. After a small breather I wanted to hit out again, with three riders up the road after contesting the KOM points I made a solo bid to get across. After giving everything I had, I made it across which turned out to be the winning move of the day. We reached the KOM for the final time before heading towards the finish, one of the three just had the fresher legs and went for a long solo attempt. Having been in the break all day my legs were slowly fatiguing but I had to keep riding if I wanted to keep my hopes alive for the GC. We didn't quite catch the rider in front but I won the small sprint for 2nd Place which also moved me up the 3rd in General Classification.
Day 3 was all about saving as much energy until 48km in, which would decide the General Classification. A massively steep and 10km long climb would test how everyone had recovered from the previous days. A dangerous move slipped up the road just before the first KOM which I burnt a match and soloed across to. It was then brought back near the top of the climb where things had started to string out already. When we reached the crucial climb of the day I placed myself well, ready for any attacks to go. For the majority, I hung in well and tried to follow all the dangerous moves. As we reached closer to the top and a few riders looking at each other, two of the GC 'one's to watch' attacked. Honestly I wasn't able to follow and nobody else could either. When reaching the top I tried to get our small group riding with the possibility of catching the front again but there was a lack of co-operation. I had to wait until the final climb of the day to try my last bid but unfortunately it wasn't enough with the top 10 being all within 1 minute of each other. I came home 10th on the day and also in the general classification. With everyone looking at me we played a good card with my team mate attacking in the final which moved him into 5th Overall & the team winning the Team Classification Overall.
All in all it was a great team effort, we worked great together & got some decent results along the way with a nice racing block in the legs too.
UCI Rutland CiCLE Classic
The most recent and probably one of my favourite races on the calendar, CiCLE Classic. I took part in the junior version when I was younger but have never taken to the start of the UCI one day classic, mainly because I spent most of my U-23 career in Belgium. It was a pretty calm start to the race after a 3 man breakaway went up the road which no one was too worried about. The key thing was to keep eating and drinking as we'd be racing 200km and spend roughly 5hrs in the saddle. It was also important to keep towards the front as much as possible to make things easier when the sectors came along where it was almost a sprint to each one (11 in total). The first time things started to split up a little was over the somerberg the first time but it was still a bit too far out for teams to fully commit so everything came back together. I had an untimely puncture in one of the small lanes but thankfully my team mate Chris kindly gave me his wheel & Rupert dropped back to help me back on, so I didn't lose too much energy or time.
I knew when we would hit the somerberg the second time from the other direction (40km to go), everything would kick off so I moved right towards the front at what I felt was the best time. As expected things did kick off and I had the legs to follow and make the winning move of the day along with Tom. As we were isolated with numbers, we had a bit of a free ride until we reached the final lap of the finishing circuit. There were a number of attacks in the last 20km but it seemed like nothing was going to stick, which turned out to be the case. With everything still together coming into the finish, a canyon rider went for a long one with around 1km to go. I was directly behind him and went for it myself too. In the final 500 metres we were caught and quickly swamped by the sprinters in the group where my legs ceased up and had to settle for 26th on the day.
For my first participation I was happy with how I performed but now I know the sectors there is room for improvement for the editions to come.
Thanks again to all my friends, family and sponsors for the support, where I hope this is just the start of a successful season.
Leon
Comments
Post a Comment