A long trip east for the squadra this weekend as Hefin, Tank and I set off in search of victories at the above race, based in Kent. The format of the race was a 10mile TT on the Saturday morning, a crit in the afternoon followed by a 75 mile hilly RR on the Sunday and a 65 mile rolling RR on the Monday.
Arriving at a cold and wet country park to contest the TT my morale was very low. Tired after a tough week and long trip the night before I never really got going for my TT, which are never my strong points anyway. Hefin caught me for a minute and by then my head had fallen off completely so I rolled in. Tank came in about 30 secs behind Hefin so going into the afternoons crit Hefin was 10th overall and Tank about 14th.
The crit was held on a twisty and windy course, making for some very 'interesting' bunch riding intially. Hefin and I made and followed a flurry of attacks and with the elastic at breaking point after a good effort by Hefin Tank and 7 others got away. From then on Hefin and I just patrolled the bunch and up front Tank did his thing, keeping the break at about 30 - 40 seconds and delivering the Squadra's first win of the season! Naturally we were all chuffed with him and we retired to Frankie and Bennys for a celebratory pasta and ice cream.
The second day dawned cold and overcast, but with a wearing, hilly course, it had Disco written all over it. However I was conscious I was on domestique duties today first and foremost so when Hefin punctured 5 minutes after we rolled out from the HQ I did the honourable thing and waited. Knowing he was 12th overall and a mere 15 seconds off Tank he was clearly still in with a shout. Worst case scenario we have a bit of a chase behind a car and get back on with a bit of a warm up. However after what felt like the world's longest wheel change I heard a revving of an engine and saw the service car taking off after the bunch at 50mph with Hefin well and truly off the back of the car. Left stranded we set about the daunting task of trying to get back up to the bunch which by now were well out of sight. Heads down we buried otherselfs for 20 minutes before hitting a big section of dual carriageway and no sign of the bunch, we gave up and decided that we should just wait for the bunch to come round again and jump in. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally it we began to realise that maybe we had missed a turn. Sure enough after riding the 10miles back the way we came we found the world's worst marshall, sat in his car drinking coffee and reading the paper. "Oh yeah boys, I saw you go past but you were going so fast I didn't have time to call to you about the turn" hesaid, indicating a small lane turning off the main road. Utterly pissed off Hefin and I jumped back in the bunch as it passed, having missed 3 laps. Seeing poor old Tank had missed a decisive break we set about driving the reaminder of the bunch for what was left of the race with Disco finally splitting it to bits and dragging Tank to a bunch sprint win, but unfortunaltey 2 minutes behind the break of 15.
An apologetic comissaire agreed to let us ride the next day but by now Hefin's race was over and we were all left to rue what could have been.
Stage 3 - anohter gloomy day but slightly warmer. With Tank high up on GC and Hefin and I well and truly out of the picture we set about tagging moves and riding at the front of the bunch all day, keeping Tank protected and [b]sheltered so he could deliver the goods later on. It worked a treat, with a PTWCC jersey either on the front or off it, with Tank resting in the bunch. Come the finish a fast downhill and small rise meant it was made for the 100kgs man from Cwmavon and sure enough he shot off with 200m to go, leaving the bunch blown away by the sheer velocity, taking his 2nd stage win and a celebrating Disco and Hefin in the bunch.
All in all a weekend of highs and lows, but the highs far surpassing the lows for the squadra. Turns out RR wins are like buses, you wait ages for one and then two come at once...
Til next time....
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The Force is strong in this one...
The Force is strong in this one...
