Triptyque de la Vallée de l'Ance

So this weekend just gone I had a 3 stage tour.

I knew it would be a gruelling tour looking at the profile before hand and the quality of the teams present.

Stage 1

5 laps with a hilly windy circuit with GPM points and sprint primes to make it even faster, this stage was much the same as the previous weekends stage 1, heaps of attacking from all the strong teams and coming back together. So a lot of energy could be wasted doing to much in breaks and trying to ride across gaps etc.

I knew after last weekend that i needed to ride a bit smarter when it came to breakaways and doing to much early on. I was still riding up front and following moves but didn't burn all the matches so to speak.

In the last few laps i was scared of the pace going super fast on the main climb and me getting dropped. So i followed moves before the climb to get a buffer. Nothing really eventuated from that.

The second to last time up the GPM climb, there was still a 8 man group clear with 50sec or so, then from what was left of the peloton a couple of the strong men attacked, i knew straight away this was going to be game over once they got across. So i followed in the end i tailed off towards the top and 2 guys managed to go across then win the Stage and the tour.

I finished in the main group @ 1.06min, couldn't get a clear sprint and rolled 22nd

Sunday

Stage 2 (9.30am) Eeekk!

Only 65km long but with nasty climbs, I got in the early break but nothing happened as the main group had the foot on the gas. Second time up the GPM climb I was tasting it, but hung in. Again really insane finishing km's and couldnt get through the bunch to get amongst the sprint.

Stage 3

Was pretty much controlled by the Yellow jerseys team and 2nd on GC's team, I had a couple of digs at getting up the rode but both teams were on me.

Eventually a couple of guys were allowed to escape, but was pretty much all bunch time at finish.

So that is about it really, pleased that the form is on the up.

Not exactly sure what's coming up. Dn2 coupe de France start of May so should be good.

KH