It was cold and a bit drippy in the morning but the weather improved rapidly so that by the time we finished the race the sun was shining.
The route was pretty nice with some exciting descents and plenty of scenic bits. I went ok until around 70 km where my legs fell to pieces. I rode very slowly up the last major climb and then worked with three guys on the descent until we hit another hill and they rode away. I rode slowly to the finish line. At some point a guy caught me up on a hill and we took turns for a bit until his legs died. I seem to die on the hills first and still be able to zoom on the flat for a bit. Maybe fatness is the problem. Anyway, I rode leisurely to the finish line so as not to drop the other guy.
I felt much much better crossing the line compared with last year. I guess it was much hotter last time but I remember sitting there feeling awful. The stage was longer this year at 120 km.
Anyway, the most annoying about the day was that although I was in start block B on the starter list yesterday evening when I got to the start line I had mysteriously appeared on the C list.
The race started with a 10 km neutralised section. Usually the racing starts at the base of the first hill and I go zoom. This year this might have happened too but nobody told the motorcyclists at the front of block C and they held us back for a long long time. When they finally let us go we were well behind and I had to first pass the back of the B bunch and then more and more people to get a not so good bunch. Really pretty annoying but despite this my legs would have still given in at 70km. I might have had a faster time though.
Anyway, tomorrow according to the evening’s starter list I am to start in B so let’s see what happens.
