Yesterdays stage was comprised of 4 laps for a total of 105 miles. It was rolling all day with some hard punchy kickers that lead to lots of dropped riders. Everyone took the race to the Real Cyclist team and the first hour we were lined out single file until a large group got up the road and the leader had no more teammates. Unfortunately we lost Stephen to a crash early on, he was fine but his bike didnt fare so well. The day ended with the groups rejoining and a small group of 4 getting up the road for the win.
Sleece's view
Yesterday didn't go well for me. About 20 miles into the stage, I was right behind a crash that happened as we rode into a slight crosswind section. Riders were moving up in the wind on the left and hooking right, a Realcyclist rider ended up going pushed off the road and then someone else in the group went down and I was caught in it. I tucked and rolled and ended up pretty far away from my bike. Unfortunately, my bike was thrashed and the SRAM neutral had to change pedals to get me on a neutral bike. By the time I was riding, the caravan was long gone and I was minutes behind a charging peleton. My race was over. This is bike racing and that's how it goes sometimes, I'm just bummed/angry that I'm missing the chance to get results when I'm on good form.
Hubby's View
The struggle continued for me yesterday. It didn't start to bad as I was sitting comfy in the field that was flying along for the first hour in single file. I made the first real selection of the day with danny but the mix of riders was wrong and we started to coast along until the rest of the field came back to us after ten kilometers of riding super slow. It was good to make to start making the selections again. From here it went downhill though, when I started missing feeds and not looking after myself I went out the back door on the last lap. Disappointed for making a dumb mistake and not giving myself a chance. Crit today hopefully mix it up and continue improving towards where I was six weeks ago.
Danny's View
I started the day with some heavy legs! I wouldn't have minded extending he neutral for about 20 miles. Everyone knew that the leaders team wasn't the strongest so the attacks started flying as soon as we hit the first climb and a group got up the road that was bigger than the team chasing. This lead to us being strung out for the whole first lap and I barely missed the crash that harshly took out Sleece, coming to a stop about an inch from him. When we finally caught the break the race leader Mancebo had no more teammates left an groups kept rolling off the front that it seemed we would never see again. Then some completely random teams starting working the front, someone must have struck a deal! The race regrouped right before the last feedzone climb and splintered over the top but i felt fairly comfortable making the lead group. The attacks were flying and a group of 4 snuck of the front that we would only see again from a distance with about km to go. I lined up for the field sprint and ended up 17th on the day. My best result in an NRC race so far this year. Still plenty to improve upon though! Also I have snuck into the bottom end of the GC money score! Looking forward to the crit this afternoon.
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