Winning in Harelbeke to kick off 2017
This weekend I went over to Belgium with three of the guys from OnForm. The program was to do two junior Belgian kermesses for race practice as it's early season.
The first race was in Harelbeke, one that I had won last year and so going into the race I was eager to do well and try and win it two years in a row.
For the other guys in my team it was their first experience of Belgian racing although there was a big group of British riders with John Barclay and so the field was practically a fifth English.
As you'd expect from Belgium at this time of year it was cold and wet and whilst warming up I made the decision to race without gloves, something I'd later regret.
The race kicked off and having not had a chance to look around the race route when the route took a sharp left where it had previously gone right I soon realised this years course was a lot harder than the rough square of last year. Fortunately, as the course twisted in and out of the houses of the town, I found myself and the bike working extremely well together, there was no fighting to hold the bike tight in corners or unwillingness in my legs to put power through the pedals. This gave me confidence in how the race was going to go. I knew if I pushed on at the front, the 90 strong peloton would be strung out and gaps would start to open, and sure enough (with the assistance of a few riders falling at a tight section of the circuit) they did.
A group of around 30 of us formed as the race continued with an exceptionally high pace, as this happened I started to realise I'd underdressed. I could feel the heat sapping from my fingers and my extremities were stiffening up. Thankfully, the layout of the course enabled to me to maintain a high bunch position.
It wasn't until a rider left a gap open to my wheel around 50km into the race, that I was able to properly push on and get a gap. I was then joined by four others and subsequently, 10km later three more. Much to my relief, the bunch was working and we were opening a gap to the main group and this trend continued until two to go. An attack was launched by one of the riders where he gained a sizeable gap however, it was neither growing or shrinking.
At this point my poor clothing choices started to take impact, I was unable to drink or use any of my fingers as the cold had seeped into my bones, and after a few missed gear changes and sloppy corners due to this I started to get concerned. I had to focus extremely hard on staying upright and saving energy so I could be in with a chance in the sprint.
It took until the bell for the group to properly start hunting the lone rider down. We caught him with half a lap to go, which is when the mind games started. Naturally people didn't want to slow down so much that we would be caught but, also they didn't want to do work, thus attacks started happening and the pace fluctuated up and down. Nothing was sticking, so it came to the penultimate straight for it all to kick off. The gauntlet was taken up by a rider 100 meters before going into the final bend, turning to face the line with 300 meters to go.
I was sat in an ideal fourth wheel. When the sprint opened, I felt fantastic and my legs were able to release all they had as the prospect of recovery and warmth beckoned. I rushed the gap and pushed to the line to get the win, an enormous relief.
I was barely able to process what was going on in the prize presentation and was incredibly satisfied to be in the car and regaining the feeling in my body. After the race and a pleasant evening with the OnForm guys, Sunday's race was the next focus.
A much lumpier course than the Saturday, with some vicious winds and a temperature of less than 5 degrees. I'd learnt from my mistakes of Saturday and decided to wear some more appropriate clothing.
As soon as the race had started my legs were feeling tired, so when the British National champion went up the road and no one wanted to work, I realised this was going to be a tough one.
Me and a few of the brits were trying to push the race on however, some of the Belgians seemed to be on their own agenda sitting up on the front and not pulling through, an exceptionally frustrating circumstance.
It was after a group of 5 riders went away and once again no one (bar one or two) helped the chase, my head started to drop and the fatigue of Saturday and pushing a huge amount on the front started to drag me down.
With every pedal revolution my legs became more and more leaden, I'd helped do serious damage to the group, whittling it down to no more than 25 riders, alas I was finished. As the race pushed on, I had no more to give I fought and fought to hold the wheels until the band snapped. I rolled in in a respectable 27th after a tough and unscrupulous race.
Overall, I came away from the weekend exactly how I'd hoped, successful yet still with a lot to put in to play. I was able to take away a lot from both races, and will be looking forward to putting them into play at the Guido Reybrouck UCI on March 18th. Big thanks to OnForm for helping with this opportunity and support this year.