Another day of great weather. Today’s stage was the Dach der Tour an 80 km jaunt with approximately 2000 vertical metres. I arrived at the start late and was stuck at the back for the first neutralised section. They had announced a new rule – no overtaking while neutralised. This was a bit of a pain as when the race started I had to ride hard to pass a bunch of people, wait while everyone squeezed past a truck parked on the other side of the road, etc. etc. But anyway my legs were tired so riding in a slower group wouldn’t be so bad I thought.
After the first set of hills I was in a group of perhaps 10. We could see the next group in the distance but we weren’t getting much closer. At some point one rider attacked and as he passed me at the front of the bunch signaled that I should follow. I sprinted onto his wheel and we rode like crazy leaving the group behind and bridging over to the next group in about 10 minutes.
I stuck with Martin in the next group until the next hill where the bunch broke up. I was with the main group at the front and we climbed to the highest point before beginning a hair razing descent on poorly sealed road. The guy I had attacked with earlier rode far too fast into a corner, locked his back wheel up and slid into the side barrier breaking his bike frame but not hurting himself. We rounded the next bend to see another guy staggering across the road after apparently riding into another barrier. We rode a little more carefully for the rest of the descent.
Martin and I were the first to reach the bottom of the descent from our group and we ended up riding with about 5 others to the bass of the last climb. I couldn’t keep up the pace for this climb and rode at my own snail’s pace in the hot sun to the top.
A very nice stage.
Leonie and I lazed around at the camp ground in the afternoon.