Today was a good day.
I was back in the B block at the start. In the neutralised section at the beginning I rode up near the front close to the motor bikes. A cyclist a few riders in front went down and was trying to pick himself up in front of me. I dodged his drink bottle and amongst the confusion we joined the back of the A block. This was a good thing for getting a nice bunch and meant I was in a good position for the first hill after the race started.
I decided there would be plenty more hills and I should refrain a little but despite this got a very nice bunch that towed me until the first major climb. It was so good that my heart rate went down to 120 bpm in some parts despite a nice pace on the flat. Gooood.
My legs were fresh for the climb but I suspected that I’d get dropped anyway. But no, no no no, although I slid to the back for a while I managed to claw my way back to the front and got to the top first with two other guys. One of them was Jerome from RIG Freiburg. We had a delicious fast descent and then a bunch of maybe 6 people formed. We rotated through for a while until the rest caught us up.
The second major climb started after a while and my legs were ok to start with and I rode near the front. Eventually they gave out though and I lost the main bunch. By the drinks station I was riding with just a few other guys. We had a 1km section of gravel to navigate and we had reached the top. We had another fast descent. On one of the hairpin bends the guy in front of me misjudged the corner locked his breaks and slid into a patch of grass near the barrier.
I dropped the others on the descent. I was trying to conserve energy for the last climb which is normally leg destroying but this year we were approaching from a different direction. Suddenly I recognised the road we were joining. We were already a good way up the last climb. This was perfect. Usually I loose a lot of places on this climb. I rode as hard as I could, grunting away. The 1 km sign was suddenly there, then 500 m, then 200 m. I put in a little sprint up the last steep bit to the finish.
A very nice stage. Really nice views out to snow capped mountains in Slovenia(?), and green meadows a little closer. Perfect weather.
I sat and waited for Leonie for a while before we cruised back to the Ossiacher See.
Tour de Kaernten 2017 Stage 3 Lokalrunde Time: Dst: 98 km Avg: Max: Ascent: