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Tour of Malta 2018
Here we go again! Tour of Malta 2018. Me and Dave W for CCA, and Mitchy representing Contour Cycles in the Masters GC, and Jenny in the Ladies GC. Every CCA member I know would love this true international four stage race: so go for it in 2019.
We all arrived on Tuesday, and with all our bikes in one piece (phew!), we spent Wednesday fettling with hex keys and headset expander bolts, and then having a delightful tootle to Golden Bay on the west coast for coffee. We also took a look at the TT course, different to the coast road course from last year: taking us instead scenically on the bypass dual carriageway alongside Imdina - the magnificent medieval ‘Silent City’. The course has been the Maltese national TT course before. In the evening we went to the Tour technical meeting, mingled with everyone, said hi to some who were here last year and imparted some wisdom to those here for the first time. There seems to be quite a lot of youth in the Elite GC which is nice to see. In among many Maltese riders, there’s loads of Brits, a sprinkling of Italians and a comedy angry Swede or two. You can’t have a proper tour without an easily riled Scandinavian who doesn’t get with how things roll in Malta. I doubt they sell many Swiss watches in Malta.
And so, to a fairly fretful night dreaming of gear selections and cornering techniques for Stage 1. It’s a hilly 8 mile TT on a short closed dual carriageway course. 5 laps. In the morning, we arrive at the course to leaden skies and as soon as I get my stuff together: me, Dave and Mitchy jump back into the team car for warmth. It’s tipping down and albeit not too cold, the wind is vicious. It’s in these conditions that poor Jenny has to set off.
There’s 109 riders in total, with 30+ Masters and around 20 Ladies, with the Elite GC taking up the biggest quota. The heavy showers come and go as Dave, then Mitchy, and finally I set off. The weather threw all proper prep out of the window and it’s without any warm-up other than a Ford Focus air con system that I thrash it up the hill.
I’m not at all mentally prepared and fear I am putting in a bad first lap. Turns out, looking at the transponder split-times, I go off really well. Maybe too well, as laps 2 and 3 are rubbish. I get past the two riders in front. Jenny’s precious advice - having had a chance to chat after her race and before mine - was to treat the hill in three sections and use the big descent to recover. The corners look treacherous in the wet and I corner very gingerly. I figure with two tight corners, this is significant to the timing, but I’d rather stay upright. When I do try putting the hammer down on one corner, my rear wheel slides on a grid, so think - nah - let’s recover and give it beans on the climb instead.
I’m sort of fortunate to be the last Master rider off. On laps 4 and 5, three Elite riders go past me. It really spurs me into action and gives me focus which is a massive issue for me. I too often drift and start thinking about anything else but the pain I need to get involved with. My bike struggles to find its fastest gear on the descent but other than that - it’s performing well in the grime. The Elite riders smash me on the descents, but I actually gain ground on the uphill. It’s great to hear my team mates call my name and I fight for a straight line on an aero-road bike with 30mph crosswinds. Very soon, it’s the final burst and I’m over the finish line and breathing heavily and loudly, a little bit on purpose, next to the queuing line of Elite riders yet to start: just to give them the willies about the effort ahead.
The results are pretty much in real-time, so I’m delighted to find out that I’ve come 10th as I look for the gang. In doing so, I score a British Cycling point to add to my meagre collection so far this season in 3rd Category. The feeling is sweeter for finding out that I beat a Malteser by just 2.04 seconds. I think to all my marginal gains: from shaved legs to rubber overshoes. Electronic timing has added such granular excitement to the sport. Meanwhile… Dave is a brilliant 12th and Mitchy… 2nd! So we are all in GC points positions at this point (Stage points are for the top 10, but overall GC goes down to 15th place). Jenny: amazing. She crossed the line giddy with excitement and justifiably so as she blasted it to 9th place. Brilliant.
We grab a coffee in a great hidden away gem of a cafe nearby and then hang around, shivering, for the presentations to see Mitchy take his 2nd place silver medal podium. Luckily, he doesn’t take the podium when the wind blows the podium arch off. He’s 10 seconds off 1st place. There’s a massive 40 seconds from 9th, to me in 10th place, so it will be interesting to see how the Queen Stage road race goes tomorrow if there’s a break and how the bunch will respond. Mitchy will now be a marked man in the pack, and the Red Jersey wearer will be watching his every move. Exciting stuff.
Me and team soigneur Nick round the day off at Brad Pitt’s favourite pastizzi cafe in Imdina and we reflect on the day with a pea pastizzi, a ricotta one, and two rocket-fuel Maltese cups of tea. Then it’s back to the Tour hotel to do all the bike cleaning and hand washing of clothes while watching ski jumping on German Eurosport telly.
Wish us luck for Stage 2 and I hope to report in tomorrow.
We all arrived on Tuesday, and with all our bikes in one piece (phew!), we spent Wednesday fettling with hex keys and headset expander bolts, and then having a delightful tootle to Golden Bay on the west coast for coffee. We also took a look at the TT course, different to the coast road course from last year: taking us instead scenically on the bypass dual carriageway alongside Imdina - the magnificent medieval ‘Silent City’. The course has been the Maltese national TT course before. In the evening we went to the Tour technical meeting, mingled with everyone, said hi to some who were here last year and imparted some wisdom to those here for the first time. There seems to be quite a lot of youth in the Elite GC which is nice to see. In among many Maltese riders, there’s loads of Brits, a sprinkling of Italians and a comedy angry Swede or two. You can’t have a proper tour without an easily riled Scandinavian who doesn’t get with how things roll in Malta. I doubt they sell many Swiss watches in Malta.
And so, to a fairly fretful night dreaming of gear selections and cornering techniques for Stage 1. It’s a hilly 8 mile TT on a short closed dual carriageway course. 5 laps. In the morning, we arrive at the course to leaden skies and as soon as I get my stuff together: me, Dave and Mitchy jump back into the team car for warmth. It’s tipping down and albeit not too cold, the wind is vicious. It’s in these conditions that poor Jenny has to set off.
There’s 109 riders in total, with 30+ Masters and around 20 Ladies, with the Elite GC taking up the biggest quota. The heavy showers come and go as Dave, then Mitchy, and finally I set off. The weather threw all proper prep out of the window and it’s without any warm-up other than a Ford Focus air con system that I thrash it up the hill.
I’m not at all mentally prepared and fear I am putting in a bad first lap. Turns out, looking at the transponder split-times, I go off really well. Maybe too well, as laps 2 and 3 are rubbish. I get past the two riders in front. Jenny’s precious advice - having had a chance to chat after her race and before mine - was to treat the hill in three sections and use the big descent to recover. The corners look treacherous in the wet and I corner very gingerly. I figure with two tight corners, this is significant to the timing, but I’d rather stay upright. When I do try putting the hammer down on one corner, my rear wheel slides on a grid, so think - nah - let’s recover and give it beans on the climb instead.
I’m sort of fortunate to be the last Master rider off. On laps 4 and 5, three Elite riders go past me. It really spurs me into action and gives me focus which is a massive issue for me. I too often drift and start thinking about anything else but the pain I need to get involved with. My bike struggles to find its fastest gear on the descent but other than that - it’s performing well in the grime. The Elite riders smash me on the descents, but I actually gain ground on the uphill. It’s great to hear my team mates call my name and I fight for a straight line on an aero-road bike with 30mph crosswinds. Very soon, it’s the final burst and I’m over the finish line and breathing heavily and loudly, a little bit on purpose, next to the queuing line of Elite riders yet to start: just to give them the willies about the effort ahead.
The results are pretty much in real-time, so I’m delighted to find out that I’ve come 10th as I look for the gang. In doing so, I score a British Cycling point to add to my meagre collection so far this season in 3rd Category. The feeling is sweeter for finding out that I beat a Malteser by just 2.04 seconds. I think to all my marginal gains: from shaved legs to rubber overshoes. Electronic timing has added such granular excitement to the sport. Meanwhile… Dave is a brilliant 12th and Mitchy… 2nd! So we are all in GC points positions at this point (Stage points are for the top 10, but overall GC goes down to 15th place). Jenny: amazing. She crossed the line giddy with excitement and justifiably so as she blasted it to 9th place. Brilliant.
We grab a coffee in a great hidden away gem of a cafe nearby and then hang around, shivering, for the presentations to see Mitchy take his 2nd place silver medal podium. Luckily, he doesn’t take the podium when the wind blows the podium arch off. He’s 10 seconds off 1st place. There’s a massive 40 seconds from 9th, to me in 10th place, so it will be interesting to see how the Queen Stage road race goes tomorrow if there’s a break and how the bunch will respond. Mitchy will now be a marked man in the pack, and the Red Jersey wearer will be watching his every move. Exciting stuff.
Me and team soigneur Nick round the day off at Brad Pitt’s favourite pastizzi cafe in Imdina and we reflect on the day with a pea pastizzi, a ricotta one, and two rocket-fuel Maltese cups of tea. Then it’s back to the Tour hotel to do all the bike cleaning and hand washing of clothes while watching ski jumping on German Eurosport telly.
Wish us luck for Stage 2 and I hope to report in tomorrow.
Comments
More photos please.
https://i.imgur.com/6F2TjV9.jpg
After giving out advice on how we needed to clip in immediately on the uphill start, I made the most terrible start ever, desperately pedalling with one foot for the first ten metres or so... Managed to stay on the front of the bunch for the top section, and then really got to enjoy the massive descent, which then turned into the lower road, which in direct contrast with last year had a beautiful tailwind- managed to relax and take a drink at nearly 40mph on the flat... However, my assertive behaviour on the front was short-lived, as when we got the climb, I started going backwards, as lithe little Italians started shooting past me, followed by the rest of the bunch... I was just about hanging on as we passed the start line, but was struggling with a dilemma- I know my numbers well enough to know that I can't sustain that level of power for long, so either I could risk blowing up irretrievably by giving everything to stay on, or ride at a safe power and hope that the bunch slowed down at some point, either through fatigue or a massive (and likely) downpour. I decided that the latter option was the only way I could save anything of my GC position of 13th - we'd already shed quite a few riders, so if I could keep a reasonable pace, I might catch other stragglers. Caught a few who'd dropped of the back - some of whom were pretty uncooperative, and expected me to tow them through the headwind, so I dropped them. Eventually came across the guy who came 4th yesterday, who'd had a mechanical- he was far more amenable, and stronger than me, despite being 58 (apparently he'd previously raced as a semi-pro in Belgium, and it was clear he'd still got some strength, as well as hair-raising technical skills with no fear of oncoming traffic...). On the final lap, the Elite bunch caught and then slowed down in front of us, then when I overtook them on the descent, locked onto my back wheel for a tow (whilst it was my final lap, they still had 4 to go, so were in less of a desperate hurry).
Lost my compatriot ahead of me on the final climb, but finished 15th, about 5minutes back from the bunch. Very happy with that, an improvement of 9 places from last year, and puts me in 15th place on GC.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1467284221
Love the photo of Jenny practicing her off-bike race-visualisation technique.
And isn't that Dave Norris sneaking a cheeky 3rd place on the TT podium?
The weather ain’t good here at the moment. And so, it tipped it down all morning before the race. Having the team car is proving useful as all the races start where there’s no sheltered HQ. As it was, there was a good weather break for our race and was mostly dry. When the sun came out - it was scorchio on the climb. I guess in a way we were ‘lucky’. These conditions are quite British.
The Elite, Masters and Ladies races start in two minutes intervals, on the crest of the climb, causing wobbly clipping in moments all around. But we soon settle in, surrounding the Red Jersey who reckoned he was more a time trial rider than a road racer. Mind games. He was pretty handy.
The wind is still up at 27mph average here and as we turn on the flat top bit to begin our descent, we are struggling at 10mph in the fierce wind. Ahead we can see the sea just a mile away, with big waves crashing the rocks. Down we go, sharp right turn and then an absolute rocket blast with a tailwind through the valley past all the fresh fruit and veg growing all around that’s loving this weather at the moment.
Soon enough the turn for the climb appears, and I switch into the small ring. I was kind of hoping this first climb would be a familiariser for us all. No such luck. There’s immediate jostling at the front that escalates until we are all in quite a thin line and firmly in the pain cave with no visible way out. This is hurting straightaway and I suspect we are dropping riders behind. There are some good climbers here. I always worry about riders with tattoos on their calves - as it means they’re so confident about their legs. I just look at the fancy pair of them turning in front of me and try not to look up too much. There’s a brief respite and I switch to a bigger gear that suits me more. Still no looking back though and as we approach the start/fiinish line, it turns sharper as does the speed. Yikes. But I’m still holding on with the front several riders. I figure there’s a break occurring and it’s now or never. I start sliding back as we crest the climb, but fortunately my recovery is pretty rapid. Bam: back in the big ring, and swoop along the flat to rejoin the several riders in front, including Mitchy.
As we turn to the headwind before the descent, I look back and count who’s here. There’s Mitchy, but no Dave. I check the Strava later: it’s just 4 seconds on the climb that creates a break between us and the bunch. But that’s all it takes and now 11 of us are clear.
Lap 2 is kind of a recovery lap after that. I see the Maltese chap 2 seconds behind me in GC is in the break too. And I pretend - for now - not to know that I know the significance of his wheel.
On lap 3, Mitchy whispers he’s going for it at the start of the climb. I hadn’t realised it, but there’s an Italian who pinged off and disappeared up the road. Mitchy needed to try something. But we also had to test the Red Jersey who was with us too. I watched Mitchy glide up ahead of us, and the Red Jersey didn’t respond well. I knew his goose was cooked. Mitchy’s effort did create a surge on the climb though and the break split. I really wanted to be sick here with the effort. On top of the hill I’m a bit discombobulated by lack of oxygen but there’s a good teamwork for us in the back of the split to regroup. I’m surprised when we manage it. It rarely pays off. The regrouping allays individual efforts a little and lap 4 is quite easy with a bit of international banter while grinding it up the hill.
A third gel for lap 5. It’s memorable for the Master’s race car making a ropey effort to keep us on the left lane of the descent. I think after some prior poor riding with some drafting a coach that had got trapped on our course! Amazingly, some riders start to draft the commissaire’s car and the whole thing turns quite comical, and not the sort of thing you see in a BC race back home.
The final lap is upon us. I hear we are 50 seconds clear of the bunch and so not troubled there. It’s all about what’s up ahead. I lob my bidon into a field of strawberries like a pro (and like a wally forget to retrieve it after the race). We start off together on the final climb, but around half way, Mitchy puts in a big effort on the Red Jersey. He takes another with him and Mitchy takes 3rd place overhauling the deficit by 14 seconds or so. Meanwhile, my GC nemesis works out that I know, he knows, he’s watching me. I sit on his wheel as the climb reaches the finish line, refusing to work for him. When I sense he’s in bits and with the finish line in sight, ‘sprint’ past him to take 8th place and increase the gap between me and Ivan to 5 seconds on GC. It means I move up to 8th in GC too.
We catch our breath and then cheer in Dave, then Jenny over the line. Dave moves to 15th in GC making a massive leap up the ranking from last year, and Jenny is likewise in great form coming in 11th to go 10th in GC. Both come in zapped having soloed much of their races. Indeed this race has ripped everything apart. The Elite race is in tatters with massive gaps across mostly individuals and small groups. The Ladies, the same: I think everyone there crossed the line solo.
The winner of our race smashes it. But we see the results come in some time later in the hotel and he must have had a mechanical on the TT, as it’s not enough time on total to dislodge Mitchy in GC. This means Mitchy is now our race leader and will wear the Red Jersey on Stage 3. How amazing is that?!. What a souvenir to bring back - whatever happens next.
Stage 3 is kind of a crit race. This will be hard for me. But the best stage races have a good mix for all types of riders. Fair enough.
We are doing CCA proud and getting lots of nice comments. The blue jersey stands out well in a sea of fluoro Euro silliness. Fingers crossed we do well on Stage 3. Cheers.
Great results. Is there a team prize?
Stage 3 is new, a special request by some riders for a flat stage. My race switches between a slow game of chess and a fast game of chess. Almost link elbows at 30mph with a Maltese rider and feel so relieved when we glide off rather than have a catastrophe. Team TW1 from Twickenham are really mixing things up with some very strong riders. I start to really feel it in legs by halfway, but keep positive, and keep eating and drinking. I hit the final turn in first position in the bunch (one TW1 rider off the front), then some riders go for the sprint early. Far too early. Back in the bunch, two more go, so I go long, hold it, hold it and get over the line ahead of the others by sheer willpower. So on the podium with a second place medal.
Anyone who remembers the reports from last year and the absolute pasting I took day after day will know how much this means. Hard work really can pay off.
Team morale is super high with Mitchy topping the podium and keeping his Red Jersey and Dave and Martin doing themselves, and us, absolutely proud. One day left to see what we can all manage in GC...and to figure out how messy last year's "pints for points" strategy is going to get tomorrow night
Only had one shaky moment, where I'd done too much on the front into the headwind, and could feel myself running out of steam, but was saved by the tailwind just in time. Predictably, the pace ramped up a bit on the final lap, and I found myself about 20 riders back- using the tailwind, pushed to the front, picking up Mitchy on the way. I was tempted to push on from there, taking him with me, but common sense suggested that as soon as I turned into the headwind, we'd both be done for(well, mainly me...) Reached the final turn in second wheel, and started to give it everything, knowing that I don't have a sprint- managed to hold it in 3rd position until about 70 metres to go, when I faded, and started to get swamped. More than happy to get 14th, but even more happy to see Mitchy get the win, and Martin 10th place. Then blown away to see Jenny pull a mega-sprint out of the bag for 2nd place!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1468790356
In the Masters race and Ladies Elite race, me, Dave, Mitchy and Jenny were facing 10 laps of the 3 miles course that stepped up quite steeply in a headwind and then turned to blast down to the roundabout.
This course was for the sprinters, so my aim was to stick with the bunch, go with any break that might occur if my GC rivals were in it, and breakdown any attempts to make a break in the first place: a tactic superbly led by Dave: in part to assure status quo in GC, and we knew this would suit Mitchy in the sprint in the end.
Off we went on a largely good quality road. The more central location, Saturday and good weather meant we had a good crowd watching and TV cameras there. The corners bookending the course were both tight, but all that winter training down Welwyn way paid off and we held our lines well.
The Maltese riders are very enthusiastic, but a bit too lively at times. I try and stay off their wheels. One of them nudges into one of the Yorkshire lads who were here last year and we hear a lot of By ‘eck - and worse. I plead with the peloton to focus and concentrate on the Italian who has soloed off the front.
To his credit, the Italian holds us off for over a lap, but it’s futile. There’s not enough desire to create a serious break. Mitchy has a dig - more really to announce that the Red Jersey is not afraid. The Italian hot on his heels in GC who won on Stage 2 has a go too. But he gets swallowed up. This chap has shown his cards now to us and we watch him all the time.
Dave does a great job at keeping the pace high up front. I don’t shout for him to get off the front: because I realise Dave likes it up there and is bossing the peloton well. His pace stops other breaks and before you know it we are into the final two laps as one bunch.
Into the final turn and we turn for a straight, slightly rising road for the line. Me and Dave jostle for the front. I find Mitchy’s wheel and try and get behind it, knowing he will launch the afterburners any second. In the melee though I get boxed off and have to find another way through. Into the final 100 metres or so and Mitchy and a really good Italian sprinter have gone around to the front and Mitchy edges it for 1st place. I think Mitchy is really satisfied by this: justifying his Red Jersey. Meanwhile, the rest of the bunch cross the line, I see Dave is blocked but I have a bit of a gap and manage to put a bit of welly very near the line, complete with lunge. I’ll never know whether it was a good lunge to make 10th place, or a rubbish one to get pipped by the rider in 9th place by 0.01 seconds.
Dave is happy at the quality of his race and we all congratulate each other before hopping back to the finish line to await the Ladies Elite race finish. We grab our camera phones as we see the Ladies bundling towards us as a bunch with the GC leader well in front. I search for Jenny in the pack and suddenly notice the CCA blue bursting to the front. It’s breathtaking as I watch her wheel stick out from the rest. And then start to fall back a little. But then hold as she gives it everything she’s got. Jenny goes right past me as she screams with a ‘yes!’ over the line. We all go mental.
Then everything gets surreal. It’s a double podium for Mitchy - Stage and GC. Then Jenny has here moment of glory. I find myself finishing off Mitchy’s bottle of champagne in one hand, bidon of salty energy drink in other, asking a Maltese mother if she can get off the wall as she’s sat on my shorts and I want to put them on, while her family seem fascinated by my whiter-than-white English winter certified legs. The only thing that could have made the day better would have been some comedy from our angry Swedish friend. But he’s stormed off and abandoned. One less in GC to worry about.
So, final stage tomorrow. A hybrid really: part crit and road race. It finishes on top of the hill. We’ll do our best.
We’re all here on Malta TV news… Mitchy, Jenny and “Cycle Club Ashwell” getting a mention.
We’ve got tonnes of images and pics. Too many to go through when I should now really be getting involved with the foam roller before bed. Maybe we’ll share stuff at a club night. Think about this race in 2019. It’s a bit like the CX scene: with people fighting out their GC positions all down the classification. And the Maltese are super friendly.
Sunday's final stage on St Paul's Bypass always looked like being an interesting stage with riders out to repair damage in GC timings. I think the CCA/Contour crew were all out to defend and maintain current positions, with those ahead of us pretty much out of reach.
We awoke to the fabric of the hotel juddering in the wind and rain lashing the windows. Not good - I knew I would be likely to fare worse in the wind than the strong rider just behind me on GC. But equally, how many would be mentally climbing off at just the thought of the weather?
Dave, Mitchy and I gingerly rode out to the start. As we crested the hill the wind was like hitting a brick wall...a brick wall that is wobbling and threatening to push you off your bike. At the start/finish area instead of a jolly array of gazebos, flags and smiling support crew we saw a lone Maltese organiser huddled in his car making gestures which clearly meant 'stage cancelled, please go home'. A weird mix of disappointment and relief.
So we regrouped at the Tour hotel for the presentations of the final prizes, good chat with the other riders and big smiles all round as we cheered Mitchy on his amazing win of the masters GC. Dave and Martin finished brilliant 8th and 15th, and I kept my 10th spot. So British Cycling points for all...we think 83 between us. And brilliant news that next year there will be a special 25th anniversary edition of the Tour with an under 15 race, and a ladies masters - great news for those of us on the cusp of turning 40
I think it's fair to say we've all taken a lot of confidence from this Tour, have had an immense amount of fun and continue to be blown away by the hospitality of the Maltese people. Bring on next year...!
I need a break
Cheers all