Josh stayed the night and on Saturday evening we cycled to Hohenems to pick up our race packs.
Today we got up slightly before 4 am and cycled to the start of the race. The ride there was quite nice. It was a clear morning and the race started just before sunrise, at 6am.
We arrived 20 minutes before the start and it looked like most people were already lined up. I went to the back whereas Josh did the smart thing and snuck in somewhere further towards the front. The start was supposed to be neutralised but as usual it wasn’t really. I spent the first 10km to the Bödele climb cycling past people. The climb to Bödele was ok and I passed many people there too. The descent was nice and fast and fun.
I had a good group on the flat to the Hochtannberg Pass climb. I started to slow down on the climb and many people passed me. I just felt like I didn’t have any energy. Oh well. Another fun descent from the pass to Warth where I stopped at the refreshment station. I felt a little better after that and rode at the front of a group to Lech along the enjoyable winding road.
I was a bit slow on the climb up to Flexenpass and a fair few people passed me again. The descent from Flexenpass was neutralised. We had to take at least 18 minutes to descend. I stopped just after crossing the line in the neutralised zone and ate a bit thinking that would free up some time for the descent. The descent was a nice roll. I was worried I was a bit too fast and might be disqualified but apparently I wasn’t.
Once back in the race I chased onto a bigger bunch with some guys and stuck with the bunch until the end. They were good. There were some strong guys who seemed to be ok with doing all the work! I sat on and did very little. I wasn’t feeling that great. I had been sick during the week and perhaps I wasn’t completely ok. As we passed the turn off to the Highlander I was happy that I’d made the right decision. A lot of the rest of the Rund um Vorarlberg course is flat and we had a good pace. There were two more small climbs and I made sure I rode to the front of the bunch so as not to fall off the back. I was happy that my legs were ok, maybe from the long rest during the descent.
We neared the finish line and I tried to position myself in a good place in the bunch for a sprint. One guy tried to ride off the front too early and I sat on his wheel for a bit until he ran out of steam. It wasn’t far before the finish so I changed down twice and gave it everything. I put a good distance back to the bunch except for one guy who crossed the line possibly before me. Not that it matters as the whole race is on transponder time and none of us were going to win. It’s nice to put in a good finish sprint though.
Rund um Vorarlberg 2019 Time: 4:52:51 Place overall men: 107/367 Place Category: 61/226
