Vlaamse Witloof Veldrit, Tervuren, Bel (C2)

Bet you can't say that without a double take.
Today was the final bit of preparation before my bid to win the World Cup in Roubaix in two weeks. Haha. No seriously, it was the last race of our mini Euro race training camp. I mean you can train anywhere, but you can only get this kind of racing here. Obviously the goal was for a few top spots for Tasha, in which 13th at Nommay World Cup, 5th in Luxembourg and 9th today was a fair showing considering her illness and not being 100%. She could have probably trained a little less and had slightly better results, but she would have paid for that doubly at Worlds.

Today's course was super fast F1 style frozen, bone dry, twisty turny course with some some wide open sections to lay same power down and lots of blind 90 degree crit turns that looped their way through some crazy frozen ruts, a wide open power section, some pretty coarse sand and then a roller coaster of power hills.

Natasha had a respectable ride coming 9th in a pretty solid field. She still wasn't a 100% cause I know that other than being totally frozen, the course really suited her riding style. She tried to make up time on the power sections and then was a little too gassed on the technical sections and bobbled some things here and there that were not a problem in warm up. She wasn't totally content with her performance today, but the last couple of races have just been training to get the speed back and get some juice back in legs. She now has two weeks until Roubaix WC in which she can focus on training and preparation and we can work out a few little things in training and be well prepared for this round of the World Cup.

Wendy had another mechanical today and was pretty bummed, while Helen rode well to finish 3rd in her 1st Belgian podium this year.

Men's race. I was a little tired going into today and I knew that it was critical to be ready when the race went off as these races in which seem more like a criterium with some mountain biking thrown in here and there, you just can't make up any time. I had a descent start, but I was a little blown and faded back. Luckily I did as not 15 seconds later someone crashed hard on the fast and furious frozen ruts. Man this guy was out, I didn't stop to see if he was ok, I actually jumped over him, but he was down. It was kind of funny to be running on this flat frozen ground, but it was so bumpy I knew if I jumped back on right away I would go down.

So I was right behind the group of guys just out of the top twenty. I was trying to catch them and I overcooked the sand then bobbled and dropped my chain and they were gone. I fought back in forth with some dudes and dropped them in the crit corners.
I was on the last lap when Roger Hammond (former World Champion) was 8 seconds away.
I dug and dug and railed some corners and came about 1 mm from running into the leg of a barricade about ten times to catch him, but I finally did. I got on his wheel and was preparing myself for a full out sprint, I set up a good exit line around the last corner and popped out on the pavement with some good speed. I hit the pedals a few times and he sat up. I guess for a guy like that he would rather just sit up as opposed to possibly loose in front of his hometown crowd. Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily saying I would have taken it, but it would have been nice to see how I measured up today. Not that it really matters cause it was for 29th place, but for me it's a great result, 1st top 30 in Belgium!

So Tasha and I are pretty happy to have the day off tomorrow and to be done this little bit. We got to race everything from super muddy in Nommay, to sand pit downhills in Zolder, frozen ruts in Loenhout, a night race on sketchy gravel paths shooting through peoples backyards and through an alley, a frigin hill/mountain that has the Toronto day 2 course looking flat as a pancake and descents that had your arms numb after, to todays fast course with ice underneath frozen ruts.

Above is a pick from todays course...

DSJ