Back after along weekend in Wales doing probably one of the hardest races I have done… ever! The first day consisted of a 4.5 mile time trial, I was meant to start at 12.15 but it was moved to 11.15 and i was told this at 11.10 so had no time for a warm up and rushed to the start line to get ready. I managed a reasonable time in the end and finished mid way in the results however I would of liked to of done much better. The second stage of the day was a 46 mile point to point course which was very hilly and very tough. With lots of attacks throughout the day and i quick pace set i found my self out the back of the main peloton with quite a few other riders with about 5 miles to go. Not an ideal start to the tour but not bad for my first road race.
The second day again had two stages, the first of which was a tough, hilly circuit race with a head wind on the down hill so you were constantly working. The pace from the start was super quick and almost straight away the pack had split in half. eventually smaller groups formed and I managed to keep my self in a decent position to finish in the top 60. The second stage was a much flatter 50 mile point to point race. midway through you did two loops of a very flat A road. The pace through the whole day was super quick but i was able to keep with the pack this time. The final hill to the finish was a long drag, i settled in to my own pace and after a slow start finally started picking people off. In the end i finished in the top 70 which was much better than the day before.
The final day was the toughest, my legs were tired but I wasn’t going to let the pack get away over the 58 mile stage. The hills came through out the whole day and were super tough. A lot of riders cracked and were unable to keep with the pace. At the end was the biggest and steepest hill. The main pack managed to drop me with a high pace at the very bottom but as the climb went on i got stronger. I managed to climb back up past the support cars and then continued to climb past riders untillIi eventually made it in to 53rd place, my best result of the tour!
I was really pleased with the result as it was my first road race and really enjoyed it. The supersix was perfect for the ride and made it even more enjoyable!
