It's hard to remember where I'm starting off with this blog..... I've been all over Europe and I can just about remember where this journey began and where I am now!
Valle d'Aosta
A bit of background on the race:
Its arguably up there as one of the toughest stage races on the U23 calendar. Riders who perform well here usually go on to professional teams. For instance most of last years top 10 are now professionals. So the level is real high to begin with. Then throw in the terrain which is just bonkers! I mean I'm usually someone who looks forward to a tough parcours but the Queen stage of this race trumped the Tour de France queen stage in elevation!
So back to my race. For me realistically, my goal as a first year U23 was to just get round the race and last as long as I could. I knew I was pretty well prepared for the race so it was just for me to go out and leave my legs on the road. And this is what I did.
Stage 1 (Prologue)
This was a good course for me just an uphill time trial and I was pretty happy with my ride getting 53rd out of 135 riders and 8th young rider (U20).
Stage 2 170km with Scalaro Finish
This stage was mega hot with temperatures recorded at 35degrees. It started with a climb of about 8km which was rode fairly hard to establish the break, then the pace eased off. I don't think Ive ever consumed so much water as I did on this stage; it was just a long zapping day. And then to finish there was a 10km climb averaging 10.7%. I honestly think this was the toughest climb I've ever ridden. To tackle it, I just sat into my own rhythm instead of risking holding onto the heels of the big boys and then blowing up. It seemed to work, as I moved up a few places on GC and ended up 5th in the young riders comp.
Stage 3 138 km 'the Liege Bastogne Liege style stage'
I mean it was titled this but I'm not quite sure if the organiser of the race had ever watched the LBL...... It finished up an 8km climb with a 5km immediately before that! And the stage was just up and down all day with no flat whatsoever. It also started straight into a 3.2km climb which was ridden HARD. To top it off, around mid way through the stage we had a climb which was around 20% and lasted for 1.3km on a road which is usually closed off to cars. Also have I not mentioned that the penultimate climb had a 2km gravel section at the top!!
All in all, I found this the hardest stage for me personally. I got dropped on the penultimate climb and was really feeling it. By the end of the stage I had slipped back to around 60th on GC and 8th in young riders. That was a tough day.
Stage 4 - 170km Queen Stage with 4390 metres elevation
I was very tired the morning of this stage so much so that 50 minutes before the Stage I was still asleep in the team car!
However, when I got on the bike my legs felt pretty good; I was relieved about this. The day was made up of a 15km fast 90+kph descent (sorry Mum...) to start, which was mad. Then a 3rd category climb, a 2nd category climb, then 3 1st category climbs to finish. The end of the Stage was at 2000 metres.
I ended up getting dropped on the penultimate climb with my team mate James but together with a few others we worked together up the long 17km climb to try to close the gap on the Group in front. Then on the descent me and James attacked and gained 1 minute on the group we were in. We then caught the next group on the road in the valley. We stayed with this group to the line. This was one tough old day out - 5hours 50 minutes long but I was happy with my day.
Stage 5 - Final Day only 108km
Don't be fooled as this had a tough penultimate climb and an 18km uphill slog to the line. The race was controlled by the GC leaders, BMC today with a controlled pace all day. But they turned on the gas up the penultimate climb shelling a lot of people. I managed to stick in until the last climb where I ended up getting dropped but the weirdest thing happened on this final climb.... Flavio gave me a gel from the car and I ripped the top off with my teeth. I then realised that it had ripped off my front capped tooth... I couldn't believe it and I was gutted about this. But anyway back to the race. I ended up 53rd on GC and 8th young rider in the race. I am pretty pleased with this result as a first year U23.
Currently I'm at Flavio's old coach Garbelli's house in Bergamo. We are going to be living here for at least 3 weeks now as there isn't a lot of racing. We are training with the notorious Palazzago Team.
This is the team that Fabio Aru rode for when he was an U23. This will be an interesting opportunity and certainly an eye opener to be training with these guys for a few weeks as its incredibly different from how I'm used to training. Currently they have the European champion from Belarus - Ribushenko riding for them. He has won countless Italian UCI races over the last 2 seasons and is real nice.
Stage 1 (Prologue)
This was a good course for me just an uphill time trial and I was pretty happy with my ride getting 53rd out of 135 riders and 8th young rider (U20).
Stage 2 170km with Scalaro Finish
This stage was mega hot with temperatures recorded at 35degrees. It started with a climb of about 8km which was rode fairly hard to establish the break, then the pace eased off. I don't think Ive ever consumed so much water as I did on this stage; it was just a long zapping day. And then to finish there was a 10km climb averaging 10.7%. I honestly think this was the toughest climb I've ever ridden. To tackle it, I just sat into my own rhythm instead of risking holding onto the heels of the big boys and then blowing up. It seemed to work, as I moved up a few places on GC and ended up 5th in the young riders comp.
I mean it was titled this but I'm not quite sure if the organiser of the race had ever watched the LBL...... It finished up an 8km climb with a 5km immediately before that! And the stage was just up and down all day with no flat whatsoever. It also started straight into a 3.2km climb which was ridden HARD. To top it off, around mid way through the stage we had a climb which was around 20% and lasted for 1.3km on a road which is usually closed off to cars. Also have I not mentioned that the penultimate climb had a 2km gravel section at the top!!
Stage 4 - 170km Queen Stage with 4390 metres elevation
I was very tired the morning of this stage so much so that 50 minutes before the Stage I was still asleep in the team car!
Stage 5 - Final Day only 108km
Don't be fooled as this had a tough penultimate climb and an 18km uphill slog to the line. The race was controlled by the GC leaders, BMC today with a controlled pace all day. But they turned on the gas up the penultimate climb shelling a lot of people. I managed to stick in until the last climb where I ended up getting dropped but the weirdest thing happened on this final climb.... Flavio gave me a gel from the car and I ripped the top off with my teeth. I then realised that it had ripped off my front capped tooth... I couldn't believe it and I was gutted about this. But anyway back to the race. I ended up 53rd on GC and 8th young rider in the race. I am pretty pleased with this result as a first year U23.
Currently I'm at Flavio's old coach Garbelli's house in Bergamo. We are going to be living here for at least 3 weeks now as there isn't a lot of racing. We are training with the notorious Palazzago Team.
I'll keep you updated on how it's all going (and whether or not I'd recommend Italian dentists...) in the next few weeks.
Ciao
Ciao
