The journey started off with the 7 hour drive from the team house here in Sax up to Valladolid. We arrived at 10:30pm, so we wolfed down our food and hit the hay. The first stage was 135km with rolling terrain all day. As the race started at 5pm in peak heat at 35 degrees it would make for a difficult day out. The stage started off with a long 3km neutralised zone. It was very nervy in the bunch with everyone fighting for every inch of the road. The neutral zone ended at the bottom of the of a 3km climb, so it made for a pretty grippy first 5-10mins. As it was a stage for the breakaway everyone was trying to be in the decisive move. The first attack of the day managed to go without anyone really giving chase to it. Then once they got a gap of around 10 seconds it was relentless for the next 20km with attacks going everywhere. After many attempts there were now around 4 groups of 4s and 5s. There was quite a decisive right hand turn coming up in the road and everyone was fighting for it.
I managed to get into the turn in around 5th wheel. The rider in second smashed it through this small village and put it in the gutter. After a few hundred metres I took a look back and we had a gap. We then worked really well together and managed to bridge across to the 4th group and then the 3rd group and just about with the help of the other riders we got up to the 2nd group on the road.
Now I was hanging on a bit after all the effort I had put into the chase to try and bridge across. We worked well together and got over to the first group on the road. Now because there was around 25 of us in the group everyone was attacking to reduce the group down. My teammate Marti was in the group with me and he went with a group of 4. I saw this go and sat back as I wasn't going to chase my own teammate. They got a pretty big gap very quickly. After that I never saw the front of the race again. The group I was in just kept reducing and reducing. We got to the final climb of the day it felt like climbing Everest. I cramped pretty badly half way up the climb. Now I was on my own for the remaining 45KM. I was eventually caught by the bunch with 10km to go due to the relentless headwind back to the finish. I came in with the bunch.
Stage 2.
116km
Day two would turn out to be deja vu. As the leader of the race's team wasn't as strong as the rider in 2nd place they lit the race up again. Mostly crosswinds again. A group of 25 riders including me, managed to breakaway down a decent after a crosswind section. Once we realised there was a gap we then put our heads down to establish a gap.
We got a gap of around 1:30 before the bunch started to work together to bring us back. We worked well together until the final finishing circuit. Where there was a hard 4min climb just before the finish. We went up the first time and then bunch had reduced the gap to 40 seconds.
Coming into the final time up the climb, the group split in half as one of the riders lost the wheel, as I was thinking of the finish I decided to let the other riders close the gap. However they never did and our portion of the breakaway got caught by the bunch at the bottom of the climb. I managed to hold onto the group going up the climb and even broke my bets 3min power in the process. However a very dangerous GC rider had broke away up the climb and had bridged across to the breakaway. The current leader had no teammates in the bunch left after the climb so it all went pear shaped. A French team then put their whole team on the front to try and bring the breakaway back. I jumped straight onto their train and managed to stay their until 250m to go. I could feel riders coming up behind me so I started my sprint early I managed to get 2nd in the bunch sprint. This was very annoying f9r me because if I would have closed the gap in the breakaway I could have won the stage from the front group with my sprint from the bunch. But that's hindsight I guess!!
Stage 3
120km
The day was going to be a bunch sprint on paper. The new leaders team was much stronger than the previous leader's. They controlled the race from the gun. It was a very boring stage so much so I nearly fell asleep. Until 9km to go when our teams leader who was in the young riders jersey punctured. It was all hands on deck from our team to try and get him back into the bunch. We managed to do it just before the climb to the finish. I was able to hang onto the coattails of the group and finish in 39th.
Overall it was a frustrating race for me, as I knew I had some decent legs going into this. However, it was a great experience racing one of the biggest races in Spain. I even got to use a radio for the first time in a race.
Onwards and upwards going into the second half of the season. Next for me is a nice block of training before the Junior Tour Of Wales. As always a big shout out to Pedal Potential, Withington Physiotherapy and Cycle Service Course for their continued support this season.
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