European Road Race Championships

After my trip to the Basque country I headed to Italy to take part in the European road race championships. We arrived there to 40 degrees which was rather hot and took a bit of adapting but we got there on Tuesday so plenty of time before the race on Saturday. The race consisted of 8 laps round a relatively hilly loop with about 160 starters from 33 different nations. We spent the week running into the race doing some easy rides and a couple of laps of the course so we could get used to it. On race day we didn’t have to get up to early as it was an afternoon race but we spent the morning getting sorted and ready. It was going to be a very hot race about 35 degrees which meant we would have to take on a lot of water to survive the 110km. We headed to the sign on then headed to the start, I ended up arriving there late as I was trying to dodge the sun but luckily enough there was a gridding order in alphabetical order which meant I ended up about third row. The start isn’t usually to important but it started in to a climb and decent so I wanted to avoid any of the carnage that might unfold first couple of laps. So once everyone was lined up off we went and I moved up and kept myself towards the front of the race the first couple of laps with a small break of 5 going up the road. As it was a hot day and the level of the race the tactics for the race were just to watch and wait and that’s what I did, there were no big splits so I just kept myself hidden in the bunch and saved my legs. At about half way in the race I looked back to see that the bunch had shrunk in size due to the course and heat and there was about 60 left and the break had now been reeled back in. So it was still anyone’s game. All the action started to kick off in the final two laps of the circuit. I ended up having a problem at the top of the decent with my chain getting wrapped round the cranks so had to stop and fix that before chasing back on the decent which meant I was off the road a couple of times trying to make the corners as I didn’t plan on getting dropped because of a mechanical, although after about 10min I was back in the race. As we went into the last lap there was a break of five that was just up the road and as we hit the climb it was time to make a move. People were spread out all over the climb but a group of 6 started to get away and I then attacked from the peloton which was getting small by now and managed to move myself into this group, so as we went over the top of the climb there was a group of three leading then another group of three just ahead of our group of about seven then the bunch further behind. Our group wasn’t going to work because people had team mates up the road so there was lots of attacking but I just followed the wheels then the sprint started to begin about 500m to go and with 300 to go I got past two people and crossed the line in 12th place. I was pleased with my result as it was my first championship event on the road and I had been involved in the race, it was a great experience. The downside of me taking part in this race was the fact that I would miss National MTB Championships next day on Sunday in Yorkshire but it wasn’t possible for me to get back and I chose to race the bigger event. Thanks for reading, Grant.

Tour of Biskaia

We had our second stage race in Basque a couple of weeks ago and it was much bigger with 180 starters and much more aggressive similar to Belgium racing. The first stage was a road race with no big climbs and quite rolling. I didn’t start this stage well as my legs were really suffering and I just wasn’t feeling myself, so up until about half way through the stage I was mainly near the back of the peloton, during this time a group of about 20 riders had gone up the road and had about 1.30. I started to get into the race at about half way through and tried to get myself off the front of the peloton, eventually I did with two other boys, and we started a three up time trial with about 4 boys sitting on getting a free ride as they had team mates in the break. It was close in the end as we caught the break in the last 500m of the race which I never realised was the finish and didn’t really get a chance to sprint. The main thing was we finishing the stage on same time and in 16th place.
The next day was a road race but a bit more hilly, after about 5miles I was warned it went into single roads with a lot of hairpins so I kept myself in the top 10 and looked for attacks, no groups formed so I attacked myself and was joined by most of the jerseys and a group formed of about 20 of us again. This group got smaller as we went over some climbs but then three boys attacked from us and got away and then we spent the rest of the day chasing, I suffered from cramp towards the end of the stage and had to hang on to the group to make it back to the finish, ended up in the second group of 6 behind the three leaders. This put me in 10th place overall.
The next day was another road race and it didn’t start so well with one of the team cars crashing on the way to the race and getting oil over the road, this caused it to be neutralised for a hefty amount of time. When we got going though there was a decent second category climb which I was looking forward to, as we began the climb I kept myself towards the front and the group gradually got smaller with about 20 left half way up, this is where I attacked and I got a good gap with only 4 boys eventually bridging the gap to me by the top of the climb. At the top of the climb there was mountain points and I planned to go for them until I got boxed in with one person in front and one at my side putting me in the bushes so I had to go behind them then attack again to lose the sprint for the points and coming over the top in second. It was then a very technical decent and with all the jerseys there, there was a lot of attacking as people tried to get away but to no avail. I then decided I would go on the attack with what I thought was 1km to go  fully committed but soon enough realised it was 5km and got caught at the bottom of another climb which meant I was losing wheels but somehow made it again into the second group with 5 up the road, losing another 30 seconds. That was the second time I had done that and going into the final day I made sure we had driven the final 5km so I knew exactly where the finish was.
 The final day was a split day with a short road race in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon. It was quite a short road race and it had rained which meant some slippy roads and plenty of crashes. I stayed in the bunch this time and it gradually got smaller and with an uphill finish I was able to move up and attack towards the end of the stage finishing in 6th place which moved me up to 7th place overall with one stage left to go. The final stage was a rolling 15km time trial which I was looking forward to as there was a bit of a climb in the middle. So after a good warm up I headed over to the start and off I went, to start off with I thought I had gone too hard to early but It was okay and with team shouting from the following car at the first split I was up by 20sec on the current leader which I was happy about, so I kept ploughing along and went hard as I could up the final climb before descending back into the finishing town. When I crossed the line I was in 2nd place 1second down but with 10 riders still to go I finished the stage in 6th place again which put me in an overall position of 6th. It was a good stage race but took me some time adapting to the Spanish style of racing but overall was rather happy at the end. Thanks for reading Grant.