Beauce 6 and final thoughts

Ahhhh...it's over! Beauce 2008 is in the legs and it's done.

THis year, I didn't just want to complete Beauce, I wanted to compete it. That being said, my plan from day one, was to try to go for GC day 1, if that was a no go, just save my bullets for the last day in Quebec city. It hs been a dream of mine for a long time to stand on the podium in Quebec city. Not exactly sure why I always think about it, maybe it's cause that's where I did my first Road Nationals and there's just something very European about this stage and circuit that makes you feel like you are racing in Europe. So I decided to put all the eggs in one basket and try and go for it. I knew even if I was feeling good, that wouldn't necessarily mean I would be in the winning break, cause you just never know what one will stick, well you know what ones won't, but it's just like rolling the dice sometimes.
So I was on the attack from the get go. I'm pretty sure the move that stuck was a little sneaky, you see if I remember, the guys started attacking around cones on the back side of the course and the road was jammed and I knew that on was the one, but I just get through the pack as the road was jammed with yellow and black. As this was supposed to be my day, I saw it roll off and I thought "ah man, don't let that roll off" as I had been involved in 70% of the attacks previous to that one. I kept my head on my shoulders, didn't panic...well maybe a little...but just waited behind the Symmetrics train and attacked at 120% into a head wind to get across to a chase group. It worked, they let me go, we rolled around trying to close a 45 second gap, the chase eventually swelled to like 12 guys, we were 6 seconds from the break...I could see them on the hill...they were so close, a German and a guy from TT1 went across on the hill, obviously I should have done the same, but I hesitated and it was a critical mistake, cause I ended up chasing all day with Charles Dionne and Matt Toulouse and a few others at random times, almost getting aught a few times, but I didn't give up and stayed away until the last lap.
I tried to position myself well for the last corner into the climb, but the efforts wore on me and I sat up and just dragged my carcass up the last climb.
In retrospect I beat myself up about hesitating on the climb when the break was so close...but looking at what I think was the power at that given moment, I think if I could have I would have.

So I'm still happy with the way I stuck to my plan and I had the confidence to try what I wanted to do, I know I can do it now, it's just a matter of time. Not too bad for a guy who trains 15 hours a week and still manges to keep a job as a professional.

A huge congratulations goes out to Kevin Fields, and Symmetrics for their phenomenal display of teamwork in finally winning the Tour with a full Canadian squad. I'm sure this will cement Tuft's Olympic spot and give Canada excellent chance at a great result.

I'm not sure if it's because I raced this tour at the front, but I actually learned a lot by watching the tactics of the S team. They basically let Teco's take the lead for the long hard windy hilly stages, then got the lead in the TT, then defended it on circuits where positionning was key and riding at the front was more likely economical then trying to jump out of corners. What they did to the field on the Nationals course was pretty impressive, boy that is gonna be one hard race for me. Other teams there had a lot of strong riders, but no team could rival the congruity of the S team.

Today was my first day back on the bike, after such a huge increase in intensity and volume Ken and I thought a few days off would be in order. 900km, 20 000kj of work and 26 hours later, I accomplished some of my objectives, safe and sound, smilling, 30 Euros richer and hopefully the form will roll over and I'll be able to rock it in a few weeks.