Week 2 in Belgium

The morning of a race day is always a little tense in the house. Whether it is just us Nieuwelingen or the Espoirs, anyone could predict what is coming later that day from the tension. We were able to sleep in, especially compared to a typical race morning in the US where we would get up around 5:30 AM. By the time we finished breakfast in the crowded dining area it was almost 10:30 and it was time for us to get ready for our morning spin. Since we weren’t going to be riding very long and the weather didn’t look very promising, the coaches decided we would stay inside for the morning ride. Everyone set up a trainer in the cold musky garage and hopped on their bikes. Forty five minutes later everyone was finished with their ride and made sure that their bike was in working condition.

For this race Yogi came along to help out and translate as needed. He and his father packed the car with our bikes, all the race food and the water. After a short 30 minute drive, Yogi said we were near the race course. We started seeing course marshals and course markers, but we didn’t know the location of inscription or the start / finish line. Yogi spoke to a few course marshals and thought he knew where everything was. We parked and started walking to where we thought inscription was located. Sadly, it was not where the marshal had told us, so we began to walk further and further from the car. Eventually we found the bar that inscription was in and got in line. When we got to the front of the line the race promoters and the officials asked to see our race permission but Yogi did not have it with him. He ran back to the car to grab the form then rode back to the bar. By the time we made it back to the car with our numbers we had less than 30 minutes to get ready. Everyone got dressed and headed towards the start.

We began to line up, trying to get spots near the front. A few of us succeeded, until the promoter approached us and told us that he needed to see our licenses again. I rode down to our coach and made sure that he had the licenses with him when he walked up to the start. After that was resolved, all the US riders were at the back of the pack for the start. As the whistle blew, we knew that we needed to get to the front soon. The course started out with a fairly fast straight downhill, went into a flatter section, turned up a really windy hill, flattened out, went over about 200m of cobbles and headed back down the hill.

The first lap was pretty slow and we were able to get to the front by the start of the flat section. A few weak attacks went off but they were brought back easily. This continued for another half lap when the pace began to stabilize, but as the pack came through the start / finish area I saw one of my teammates standing on the side of the road. After getting a good look, I saw that Peter had flatted. Each time up the hill riders were strung along the gutter preventing the rider behind them from getting any draft. On the second lap, Lawson got off the front with one other rider by sprinting hard out of a particularly slow corner. On the third lap Lawson was out of sight and I was riding at the front trying to find someone to bridge up to him with. As we started up the hill the third time I was sitting in the second row of riders when a pretty strong rider started to attack. I saw him winding up so I jumped on his wheel. Going up the hill it was clear to me that he was significantly stronger than me. We made it up to Lawson pretty quickly and lost sight of the pack within a few minutes. A few more riders joined us over the next lap until we were seven riders strong. Unfortunately, the break was very dysfunctional; it was almost as if the other riders didn’t want the break to succeed. At any given point there were at least 2 riders not taking pulls, just sitting at the back. There was also a surprising amount of yelling and shouting, it seemed they were always yelling at each other, at Lawson, or at me.

With 4 laps to go I began to have difficulty staying with the group. The lack of protection from the wind and the disorganization of the group made it hard to just sit in. On the downhill, just after seeing 3 laps to go, I was dropped. I chased for an entire lap, but the gap between the break and me kept growing. I sat up for a bit and saw the pack that had dwindled in numbers come up on me. I jumped into the front of the pack but going up the hill that time I could not keep up with the hard chase pace. I started going further and further back when I saw James with another rider. I tried to stay with him, but yet again I got dropped. A few minutes later I also saw Lawson coming backwards and realized he too had been dropped. We came across the line expecting one lap to go but instead were flagged off the course. After the race when we turned in out numbers they gave us our placing. It turned out that I got 26^th, Lawson got 27^th and James held on for 21^st. I was very surprised by this; the field of 75 guys, all who seemed very strong, shrank to less than 18 guys by the end of the race.

After the race I found the rest of the team and heard that Anders had bridged up to the breakaway in the last lap and took 7^th in the sprint. Alex B-W, who spent most of the race blocking for Lawson and me, broke his rear shifter and then flatted out of the race with three laps to go. After cleaning up and getting some food, we packed up and began the journey home, stopping briefly at a section of cobbles that was being renovated for next years Tour of Flanders. It was a really hard race but I felt good about being in the break for as long as I was; this was the hardest race I've done all year and the course had a lot of challenges that we don't face in the States.