A lot has been happening in the last few weeks since my last update.
After GP Nogent. I was training well to prepare for Triptyque and then ramping up the following weekend in Oudenaarde for the first Nations Cup which is u23 Flanders.
Triptyque was a real good Tour for me 3 hard days racing and time in the bunch to get familiarised with bunch aggression.
I am not going to lie I spent most of the tour sitting right at the back. Just because there were so many guys that wanted to die to be at the front of the bunch. When the pace went in the gutter it was hard but i just moved up, and made it hard for myself.
I had no major results to write in about, just top 50 finishes and some good race K's in the legs.
u23 Flanders
This was the big one that I have been looking forward to ever since I got the tick against my name around a month ago.
I came straight into the BikeNZ accom after Triptyque, which is the old Drapac team base in Oudenaarde. It was good to see some familiar faces. The week leading in consisted of recon missions of the local finishing circuits and also the 120km big lap.
*The Big lap had a lot of hard pinchy climbs but nothing to serious only a couple of cobbled sections. So basically the hard racing would start on the 25km local lap which was to be completed twice (including the 3 cobbled climbs per lap including the taainberg, and Eikenberg) (Totaling 170km)
After a lot of sitting around spinning yarns and talking a bit of smack in the last few days leading in. It was finally time to 'kit up' and head down to the centrum for a quick team preso and team brief and then into it....
The race started rather nervously as they do, I stayed near the front and out of trouble, some how a frenchman slipped clear, and then all the other major country looked at each other. The time gap blew out to nearly 7mins.
The Belgies didn't seemed worried, so we just sat there and waited for the first major hurdle in the parcour which was the Valkenberg followed by the the short and nasty Molenberg.(90km mark)
The lead into the Molenberg was super dodgy, guys were bombing in from all over the show. I hit the bottom in 30th wheel or something and luckily there wasn't any crashes or unclipping in front of me.
So from there it was still a pretty big group that entered the finish circuit. I was feeling really good at this point and decided to have a bit of a nudge off the front. It was covered by a few other guys but then bought back fairly quickly. The counter attack over the top of this move went clear and that had Vink in there so the rest of us could chill in the group. As we hit the first cobbled sector though everything kicked into life again and the break was soon bought back in.
Over a few more cobbled bergs and onto the bell lap....
The last lap nothing much happened a few guys tried to get off the front but nothing was sticking. Myself and Josh got caught behind a US guy that rear ended another guy up the smooth edge of the Taainenberg. I had to dig pretty deep to get back in contact on the next climb.
With 2km out, I felt a drop in the speed and momentum of the group. So I hit it, knowing that I am not a good enough sprinter to finish on the podium. I was soon joined by Jasper Stuyven who is 1 of the strong guys for Belgium thats when I thought we could be going to the line. But with 500m from the line we got reeled in. I tucked back into the line and tried to hold a place as best I could. 21st
So thats it, really amazing experience racing on such famous roads and such a prestigious race with good teammates. I have no regrets, or what ifs with how i rode. Just looking forward to next weekend at ZLM Tour (13th April Nations Cup).
Cheers
Kieran
* I would also like to take the time to thank Sports nelson tasman trust for helping me out this season. It really does make life a lot less stressful
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