This weekend I did the second round of the Italian Cup in Nalles, Sud Tirol. It was also the final weekend of the Cape Epic down in South Africa, so all the rest of my team were there. The boys managed to win the race, so happy for them.. I now how tough that race is !!
Anyway, that meant I had the chance to invite a couple of good friends who live in the area to come and support me. So it was super to catch up with Soren and Camilla and they also helped me heaps with many things, so that worked out great. Here's a little photo of us.. actually sitting in the Bianchi team tent, as we of course didn't have any team setup.
My feelings before the race were super. I am at the end of a really hard period of training and also sleeping at high altitude in my CAT tent. I even had the tent with me, so it was a real test to see how the body would react.
Off the line I had one of my best starts considering the length of the road climb. Its not something I'm very good at, so I was happy to enter the first single track in 6th place. After settling into the pace I tried to bridge the gap to the leaders on the second lap. But it was then that I started to realise I was struggling to breath and I just didn't have the power. So instead of catching the front group, the group behind caught me... then dropped me! I kept on fighting, but I just kept getting worse, eventually getting caught by many more riders. Finally I had to laugh.. it was almost my worst race in many years.. so bad, its nothing I should let bother me..
Camilla was taking lots of great photos... including this funny one, which may not be of me, but it's certainly how I felt during the race... like a big ass ! (but hey, respect to this guy who raced the entire race like this to the entertainment of the crowd :)
Anyway, that meant I had the chance to invite a couple of good friends who live in the area to come and support me. So it was super to catch up with Soren and Camilla and they also helped me heaps with many things, so that worked out great. Here's a little photo of us.. actually sitting in the Bianchi team tent, as we of course didn't have any team setup.
My feelings before the race were super. I am at the end of a really hard period of training and also sleeping at high altitude in my CAT tent. I even had the tent with me, so it was a real test to see how the body would react.
Off the line I had one of my best starts considering the length of the road climb. Its not something I'm very good at, so I was happy to enter the first single track in 6th place. After settling into the pace I tried to bridge the gap to the leaders on the second lap. But it was then that I started to realise I was struggling to breath and I just didn't have the power. So instead of catching the front group, the group behind caught me... then dropped me! I kept on fighting, but I just kept getting worse, eventually getting caught by many more riders. Finally I had to laugh.. it was almost my worst race in many years.. so bad, its nothing I should let bother me..
Camilla was taking lots of great photos... including this funny one, which may not be of me, but it's certainly how I felt during the race... like a big ass ! (but hey, respect to this guy who raced the entire race like this to the entertainment of the crowd :)
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