Hruška: Tour de l'Ain - Stage 2
I have survived day 2 in decent form. The rain stayed away thankfully, and the field was a bit smaller than yesterday. As expected, totally hectic from the start today....we would have been close to 42k in the first hour except for a "cote" that broke up the pan-flatness. It also broke up the field and I could not stay at the front. Regrouped with less than inspired riders - no one really wanted to keep the pace up except for me and another guy...finally some others caught up making a group of 20-30 and paced to finish. I attacked on a hill approx 5k from finish and broke up the group...10 or so left toward a fast downhill, and nasty uphill last 500 meters....I attacked again and won from this gruppeto, though a small consolation as we were pretty far behind. 135k in 4 hours, approx 34 kph....first finishers around 3:18!!!! (...and the pros finished today at 3:02, so they can feel safe that I will not challenge them).
Observations.....very very very important to stay with main peloton as long as possible, though much easier said than done. Very easy to fall back, very difficult to move up. And if you are on the back it's much more difficult than front or mid pack....constantly fighting to stay on. But if you can manage, it's like a free ride, just getting pulled along....I have been pretty good this season on climbing and endurance, but definitely not enough speed and power for races like yesterday and today. Plus I'm missing some fearlessness - at the back with a small gap you can react and potentially avoid crashes, and I've seen some bad ones.
Tomorrow: longest day, 165k and 5 short to medium climbs, all coming after halfway which will make them more difficult of course...profile attached. And I imagine another first hour close to 40k!
Send fitness and mechanical karma,
MP
Observations.....very very very important to stay with main peloton as long as possible, though much easier said than done. Very easy to fall back, very difficult to move up. And if you are on the back it's much more difficult than front or mid pack....constantly fighting to stay on. But if you can manage, it's like a free ride, just getting pulled along....I have been pretty good this season on climbing and endurance, but definitely not enough speed and power for races like yesterday and today. Plus I'm missing some fearlessness - at the back with a small gap you can react and potentially avoid crashes, and I've seen some bad ones.
Tomorrow: longest day, 165k and 5 short to medium climbs, all coming after halfway which will make them more difficult of course...profile attached. And I imagine another first hour close to 40k!
Send fitness and mechanical karma,
MP
0 komentář:
Okomentovat