Lisieux

For yesterday's race we were met with much clearer skies, a little less wind, and even a touch warmer weather, but not much! In any case, it was much more appealing to wake up to and made it far easier to get excited for my second race here in France. This time there were not quite as many riders, but still close to a hundred, and the course seemed very tough. It rode through town for a couple kilometers, and then climbed out of the valley that Lisieux finds itself in for the next 2-3km. This isn't a super steep climb, but throw in a strong headwind and it takes it's toll.

As told by coach Luc, I was to sit in the pack for at least the first little while and work on moving back and forth through the crowded city streets, skills that will come in very handy in a field of 200 juniors through the streets of Italy for the world championships! So, although there were moves going left and right, I steadily worked my way around the peleton, and learned a few tricks for getting moving up.

After a lap of doing this though, it was time to start racing, and with a lead group already well established, I had some catch up to do! Going through town I attacked out of the group and got a gap. Unfortunately, nobody came with me to share the time in the wind, but I was confident I could get across the gap solo, and I set out to do so. I did the climb at a pretty good tempo, never going too far into the red zone, and gradually the gap to the leaders came down. After a pretty solid effort, I was in the group of 6, with a gap of a couple minutes on the pack. We worked well together for the first while, but there were a few who disrupted the rhythm due to fatigue, which made it tough to keep our speed up. With about 40km left we were joined by another group of 8 or 9 riders, and this really messed up the rhythm. Since the race was drawing to an end everyone wanted to hide themselves from the strong wind, and people started skipping pulls left and right. We did however still have a good lead on the pack, so things were still looking good for the finish. The other problem with the new, larger group was that it now contained 4 or 5 teammates. It's awesome to be in a group containing 30% teammates, but only if you're wearing the same jersey as them, and since I'm flying solo in France, this was not a good sign for me! About 20km out the attacks started coming from ES Livarot quartet, and this splintered the group. After the KOM one of the stronger looking riders from this team attacked and got a decent lead on his own. There was a very strong headwind though, and with 15km to go it would be tough to go it alone, so I waited patiently. However, when one of his teammates started bridging and looked like he would make it, I knew it was time to go. I jumped hard out of the group and time trialed up to the duo. Upon catching them I rode past, trying to see who was the stronger one. It was clear that the original escapee filled that role, as he was the only one who could come across to me. I tried to get him to pull through, but he wouldn't have it, and his teammate caught back on.

Knowing I was in a horrible situation, I tried what I could do get rid of the weaker of the two, but they would always come back. Then they started taking their shots at me one at a time. This is probably the worst feeling you could ever experience in cycling. You are in the winning move, but you're alone and there are two guys both working to make you as miserable as possible! I was able to bring them back each time, but all the time I spent chasing, the other spent resting in my draft. When the final 500m kick came, the weaker of the two teammates launched the sprint, and left me and the other guy to duke it out. It looked close for a while, but he edged past me to take the win. I was bummed I couldn't get my first win of the season, but I did pick up the king of the mountains competition and was really pleased with how I felt the whole race. Don't quite have the legs to sprint at this time of the year, but I would be worried if I did. It's far too early to be in peak form, so I'm happy to be right where I am! Thanks for reading!