Hruška: Tour de l'Ain - Stage 3

Apologies - super quick update because I must sleep! Boy, profi cyclists have no idea how good it is to have logistics and all covered....it's been a real challenge to plan each day, get to start, get back to hotel, etc etc. I got a somewhat central hotel location but still must drive at least 1:30 for tomorrow's stage, and it starts at 8:30!

So today, another decent finish, though decent for me at this race is farther down in the order than other races - more on that in a minute. Today was 160k (after 10k "fictif" start....wow, this is real TdF type racing!!). For those of you racers, it felt like 80km of criterium immediately followed by 80k road race (with 5 categorized climbs - if you saw the profile, 3rd climb was brutal steep)...heavy stuff. We covered first 80k in 2:15 or so, and today I stayed with the main peloton until then. Things blew up as expected on the climbs, and I fell back even though feeling surprisingly good today. My whole body is sore, especially legs, neck, and back, but I can still go fast and climb well according to my ability. My body is holding up ok...and few if any cramps, which is a pleasant surprise. Oh, I finished in 5:24 or so, down in the field, and as seems to be usual now after 3 days, 40-45 minutes behind the leaders. A guy my age won the stage today!!
Observations....this is clearly an event for top level amateurs etc. I met a local french guy who explained...not the typical cyclosportif of grand fondo with a wide variety of levels. Here the guys are using this as something to be seen or if not, they are high level preparation (like some former pros getting back to fitness). So if you miss or lose the peloton here you're really stuffed - there's not much left to group with! I hope this is not self-serving...typically I'm good for top half of my age group or sometimes better and my training is pretty good, but I'm just not at the level of many here and it's discouraging at times to see my name so low! Anyway, all good though, my main goal has been to finish a heavy 4 day event, and I'm still on course!
Tomorrow - the queen stage. Serious climbing - profile attached. Goal is to finish in good form and try to get a good rhythm on the climbs....though the guy today told me that first parts of the big climb are 18%...yikes.
Send good weather and continued good mechanical karma....and thanks to all that have written - I will respond when finished and sane.
Til tomorrow,
MP