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Fleche Welwyn 2014
So back to Cople Village Hall to relive last years debut road race for me... I pedalled over nice and early, chilly out in the morning breeze, but it wasn't long before we all warmed up (after the first time over the finish line).
Soon enough, a small break of 2 had nipped off the front, with an Arbis rider in. Seems to have been their tactic this season, early break and then control the race, but with only one other rider in the bunch this wasn't going to happen today. However, I saw a chap from FRT make a move and thought, well, if there's 5 or 6 of us up there we could stay away. I knew the Arbis guy was strong and the Finchley guy looked like he could stay away too. I bridged across, taking Neil and a rider from Chelmer with me to the FRT rider and we started working well together to make the gap over to the two leaders. We were only about 25 seconds behind when the race had to be neutralised whilst a seemingly inexperienced driver tried to reverse into their driveway with a horse trailer on the back. This stopped us, and the main pack for about a minute and a half, wasting our efforts over the last lap as we all started off together again and giving the 2 riders out front (who had missed the trailer incident) a minute and a half on us at the next lap.
Gradually we hauled them back in, only to send out another break on the last lap with a couple of strong riders in, they managed to stay away till the finish line (just about) but couldn't stop a guy from VC revolution bridging across from the bunch and going past them to snatch 1st place from a cambridge rider by a bike length! The pack came plundering up the hill soon after, with several riders misjudging the climb and going too early. After almost deciding that I wasn't going to contest the sprint as I was in the middle of the bunch in a bad position I suddenly noticed that there were no more cyclists around me, so went as hard as I could and nipped past a few guys to grab 10th place. Neil and Luke were in the top 15 with Dan and Bryn following up not soon after. Dan Manyard sprinted strongly to get a solid 8th place! Overall a good result for CCA.
Huge thanks to the supporting club run! It really does make a difference when you see some familiar faces shouting out your name. I really can't wait to ride the primavera now (if I get a place, that is...).
Pedalling home wasn't half as easy as pedalling out and I managed to make the day up to 100 miles with a little detour in the sun. Right, I'm off for a beer.
I hear there's some much more exciting news from another race result today... Theo?
Soon enough, a small break of 2 had nipped off the front, with an Arbis rider in. Seems to have been their tactic this season, early break and then control the race, but with only one other rider in the bunch this wasn't going to happen today. However, I saw a chap from FRT make a move and thought, well, if there's 5 or 6 of us up there we could stay away. I knew the Arbis guy was strong and the Finchley guy looked like he could stay away too. I bridged across, taking Neil and a rider from Chelmer with me to the FRT rider and we started working well together to make the gap over to the two leaders. We were only about 25 seconds behind when the race had to be neutralised whilst a seemingly inexperienced driver tried to reverse into their driveway with a horse trailer on the back. This stopped us, and the main pack for about a minute and a half, wasting our efforts over the last lap as we all started off together again and giving the 2 riders out front (who had missed the trailer incident) a minute and a half on us at the next lap.
Gradually we hauled them back in, only to send out another break on the last lap with a couple of strong riders in, they managed to stay away till the finish line (just about) but couldn't stop a guy from VC revolution bridging across from the bunch and going past them to snatch 1st place from a cambridge rider by a bike length! The pack came plundering up the hill soon after, with several riders misjudging the climb and going too early. After almost deciding that I wasn't going to contest the sprint as I was in the middle of the bunch in a bad position I suddenly noticed that there were no more cyclists around me, so went as hard as I could and nipped past a few guys to grab 10th place. Neil and Luke were in the top 15 with Dan and Bryn following up not soon after. Dan Manyard sprinted strongly to get a solid 8th place! Overall a good result for CCA.
Huge thanks to the supporting club run! It really does make a difference when you see some familiar faces shouting out your name. I really can't wait to ride the primavera now (if I get a place, that is...).
Pedalling home wasn't half as easy as pedalling out and I managed to make the day up to 100 miles with a little detour in the sun. Right, I'm off for a beer.
I hear there's some much more exciting news from another race result today... Theo?
Comments
Each lap tended to be pretty pacey after having gone over the finishing climb before settling down a lot as we came back through Cople. I was spinning out right on my gear limit each time we came through Northill (or at least I think that was its name...). I blew up in the sprint as soon as the final climb properly started so rolled in at the back of the bunch. It was a great sight to see all five blue jerseys congregating towards the front in the closing kilometers, a nice end to a thoroughly enjoyable race, even if we were't able to dominate the sprint. Nice top 10 for Will though!
Really grateful for the support from the blue club run, it's such a lift to have people shouting your name from the roadside.
I don't know what you mean about people going early on the sprint Will...... That would just be stupid!!! Haha
I'll post my report in a mo.
Will Smith - 10th
Luke Danckert - 14th
Neil Murphy - 16th
Dan Pedder - 21st
Bryn Davies - 40th
Like Bryn says, perfect day to be on a bike!
Bit disappointed with my form at the mo, don't seem to have recovered from the bug I picked up.
Will on the other hand is absolutely flying, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he starts racking up some wins.
Decent race in the sunshine anyway and like everyone has already said thanks for the support from the club run.
Bring on next Sunday :-)