Tour de l'Abitibi update

Tour de l'Abitibi-Stage 3-Senneterre to Val-d'Or
Today's race was the second longest stage of the tour for us at 94k of racing. Yesterday's stage was the longest at 118k, followed by the Team Time Trial latter on that day. We drove out of Val-d'Or over to the neighboring town of Senneterre which is about an hour away in a car. The road signs here are all in French so that kinda adds to the whole different country effect. It rained almost the whole way over and only cleared out a little bit for the start. The streets were almost completelly dry at the start but it was still overcast and looked like it was raining everywhere else than where we were.
We did roll-out and then signed-in on a great big almost canvas like piece of paper that has all the teams on it and all the riders under that. It's just like the big leages with the news guys and the french press all getting it on film and taking pictures while you bend over in tight little clothes to write your name.
Warmed up for a little bit, then hit the start line with about 20 minuets till the start. In a race with 155 riders that all want to be at the front, you have to get to the start line really early so as not to be at the back. They finally got going and the mayor of Senneterre got on the stage and said some stuff in French, then called the leader to the line followed by the porteurs des maillots, the jerseys wearers. The bleu, orange, and brun. The best young rider (blue), the best sprinter (orange), and the leader (brown). They then called up the whole US National team because they were leading the "classement cumulatif des e'quipes" best overall team. Then we got to go up.
A coulple more things in french, then they counted us down from 3:00. When we got the gunshot it was complete madness. 3 crashes happened just trying to clip in and get on our bikes. The speed when it startes is just crazy fast. It futs anything else I've ever done to shame, except nationals.
The race was a road race, but we did 5 circuits in town on a course that was about the same as a crit, 1 1/2k. The finish was also like than in Val-d'Or with a 3k course that we did 3 times. Now I know why they have us do those. They are super intense and very fast. Plus there are more crashes so that's really cool too if you're a spectator.
I stayed in the top 20 to 40 for the circuits cause it was stupid to be farther back than that, and then for the first part of the trek back to Val-d'Or. The fan base is mind blowing. People stop work to come out and see us come by. We have a police escort that gets all the traffic off the road and gets people out to see us come by. They scream at you, people honk their horns, ther's megga phones. It's like Nevada City for 100k.
Anyways, when we got out of town it started to sprinkle a little, and the attacks came. There was one that had like 40 guys in it that had about 20 seconds and none of the US national guys, so they were forced to chase. We caught it after a long period of time and alot of argueing with the french and canada guys who wouldn't work, then there was another break that went, this time with like 15 dudes. Again, no US national team bros in there which is really weird so they had to chase. They were getting really pissy at everyone who was at the front who wasn't working, and were really getting mad at the quebec and french kids who were blocking for the canadian national champian (who was in the break) so it was madness.
It started raining after the break had been established and that kind of discouraged any serious chasing. The rain only lasted 20 min or so then it changed to a drizzle, so we picked it up a little bit. The roads dried up and we had a left hand turn followed by a large hill about 5 miles down the road. I knew there were KOM somewhere on the course, but I didn't know where so I wanted to be at the front when it came. I was on Ben King's wheel going up the most agressive climb of the day, which was big chain ring and probablly 21 in the back, so not that hard, but I didn't see any KOM sign. It wouldn't have mattered anyways but it felt good to be up there.
coming into town just got faster and faster as the gap came from about 2:00 down to 1:00 into the circuits of Val-d'Or. I was in the top 15 to 20 trying to get Trent (our team sprinter) into good position. There is a steep little hill for 150 meters at 5 to 6% that really strung things out single file. I moved positions on the first 2 laps with trent on my wheel trying to keep him up there, but on the last one I was dead, so he was on his own. I driffed back to about 50th to 60th coming through the last few corners before the finish. Trent was top 20 I think but the break hung on for the win, so it didn't really count for much.
I was happy I stayed with the lead group, about 100, cause 50 or so dudes didn't. The group was about 2 1/2 blocks long because there were 100 riders streched single file. We averaged 27 mph, so not as fast as the first stage's 29 but still friking hauling.
Today is the TT that starts in a mine shaft and then comes out, so it should be interesting.
micah