Yesterday, the US national team drove to the town of Orroir to race in the "Mont d'Enclus" kermesse. "Mont d'Enclus" is French for the "Kluisberg", which is one of the paved climbs in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The course was 9 laps of a short (3.7km) loop and then 4 laps of the longer loop (6.6 km), which included the Kluisberg. The Kluisberg is about 1.5k at 10% grade, similar to the climb on the lollipop course at nationals.
The team's strategy going into the race was to send the non-climbers up the road early and have the good climbers sit-in until the hill. Since I was considered a "climber", I just relaxed in the front third of the peloton for the 9 flat laps. My teammate, Cody Foster, rolled off the front one lap into the race and caught up with a rider already up the road. Joel Shaffer put in a huge effort to bridge up to Cody, but was reeled in as the peloton significantly increased their speed. With a brutal cross wind on two sections of the flat course, the peloton was shattering before we even reached the climb. Four laps into the race, two more of my teammates, Ian Boswell and Jacob Rathe, attacked and bridged up to Cody. The peloton sat up and the four riders up the road built up a two and a half minute lead by the time the pack hit the first climb. Since there is technically no "teamwork" in junior kermesses, no one was chasing the break so for the third time in three races, the peloton was racing for a top five position. I set a tempo up the first climb that only one guy could follow and the two of us sat up after the descent and joined a group of maybe ten riders. We rolled around the rest of the flat loop and were eventually caught by another group of ten. The second time up the climb was a lot easier, but we still had just fifteen guys at the top. We pacelined around the flatter loop and then on a small rise in the crosswind section, I attacked and took two guys with me. The pack did not chase and so I quickly built up a lead. We hit the climb with a 30 second advantage and kept a smooth tempo to the top and then worked well together on the flat part of the course. There was no one in sight behind us but we still worked hard just in case. The last time up the climb, the Flemish rider attacked. The French rider sat on my wheel and made me chase. I kept the tempo and caught him before the top of the climb. At the bottom of the descent, the French rider attacked and the Flemish rider sat on my wheel. I guess the Belgians really wanted to beat the Americans because these two riders were definitely teaming up against me. The Flemish rider attacked one more time and I had a struggled to bring him back. I caught at 500 meters to go and just didn't stop and attacked the two of them. The French rider almost came around me at the end, but I held him off for a 5th place finish. My teammates up the road finished 1,2,3. The US national team had another dominant performance with four riders in teh top five. Joel's hard effort unfortunately came right before the peloton split and Joel was in the second group on the road. He gets another chance today, however, because all of those who ride the track get to do a track race this afternoon. I will have fun watching Joel and the US national team tear up the track.