SEASON UPDATE: FROM THE FRENCH RIVIERA TO COBBLES

It’s been a busy couple of weeks to say the least. I’ve been on the road most of the past 5 weeks and as I’m typing this I’m enjoying a couple of days at home before I head over to Amstel Gold Race.

Where I’ve been these last 5 weeks: Paris Nice, Tour de Langkawi, De Ronde van Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs, Paris Roubaix and Brabantse Pijl.

That’s quite a mix. From freezing my arse off at Paris Nice to overheating at Tour de Langkawi with only days seperating the two. Then straight to arguably the hardest and craziest one-day races on the calender, the Classics.

Paris Nice

I arrived not being 100% recovered from my illness I picked up after Algarve, but I was eager and motivated to start my first ‘Race to the Sun’. Stage one was already miserable, luckily short. Pouring rain, cold (The Beast from the East was hitting Europe) and a super high speed all day. My job was to look after TJ Slagter this week as we were aiming for a good GC with him.

My performance wasn’t special this week. I managed to do my daily designated job by protecting the guys and keeping them out of trouble as much as possible, but failed to do so deep in to the finales. My lingering illness kept coming back which was frustrating as I knew more was possible. Racing in the freezing rain probably doesn’t help either. I stopped on stage 7. Abandoning a race is never a good feeling even if you know deep down it’s the right decision. I wasn’t recovering and felt ill and with a long-haul flight coming up two days after it was best to try and recover completely.

Tour de Langkawi

After a quick 1,5 day layover at home after Paris Nice to do some washing and repack, I kissed my wife goodbye to start my trip to Malaysia. I was looking forward to this trip. The thought of warm weather sold me. After 24 hrs of traveling we arrived at Langkawi with a super fun team and staff. Everyone was keen and excited to try and keep the yellow jersey in the team. FYI, the team has won this race the past 3 editions! No pressure.

It took about a week to get used to the time zone change and heat. This was the complete opposite as to a week ago where I was wearing minimum 4 layers. Now even mesh felt too thick.

Seven out of the eight stages were sprint stages with one hilltop finish to settle GC on Cameron Highlands. We didn’t have an outright sprinter which made racing tricky. Luckily, we had Gino as our DS, who had plenty of tricks up his sleeve to try outsmart other teams. Unfortunately, we lost Mekseb on stage 4 after a nasty crash. He was our fastest sprinter and designated rider to go for GC. This made the racing even more complicated.

The last two stages brought the most action. Stage 7 was a 222km stage. The race shattered to pieces as attacks flew left, right and center. Groups would form with the wrong combination of riders. Then regroup and start all over again. Eventually, after a really tough stage, Jaco and I were in a 10 man group of which the stage winner would come. With 1,8km to go I launched my final attack. I got a gap as they hesitated from behind. I could see the finish line. I honestly thought I had the win until they came sprinting past me with less than 50m to go. Fuck.

We didn’t win Langkawi this year, but we tried until the final kilometer. Amanual put in an impressive ride the final stage going all in for the win. We ended with a 4th on GC and 3rd in the team comp.

Classics

Our team has suffered some misfurtune this season. Most of our Classics-horsepower riders are out with injury or illness. This meant I got a ticket to Belgium just a couple of days after arriving home from Lamgkawi. Still jetlagged I once again did the ritual of swopping mesh for thermals and headed over to Brussels.

De Ronde was the first one. It was actually me second time starting this Monument, the first time back in 2014 I crashed out after 18km so didn’t even touch a cobble. This year, I passed my 18km milestone while trying to jump in to the break. It was a shock to the system. Classic-riders are mental to say the least. I did more efforts in the 9km neutral zone than the entire Langkawi probably. I didn’t make the break and once we hit the Haaghoek after 150km the repetitive efforts already took its toll on my legs. Adios. I rode to Oudenaarde with a couple of other riders and sulked on the bus while watching the race finish.

Scheldeprisj was next. The wind was hauling and with the new route everyone knew the race was going to split early. I was so happy and relieved to be in a 8-man break soon after the start. Atleast I was out of the chaos at the back. We didn’t get much of a gap as the tension was high in the peloton. After 20km teams already tried splitting the bunch and soon the first echelon caught us and soon after that everything came back together. It would yo-yo like that for a while until about mid-way when a crash and then a railway crossing messed things up. Most of us were caught behind the first echelon and as the race hit its most critical moment the lights started flashing signalling a train is coming soon. The rule is as soon as it starts flashing even if the barrier haven’t started dropping that you have to stop. Some of us stopped, some didn’t. This led to a massive confusion with some groups being disqualified a couple of kilometers later while we waved at the passing passengers on the train. Lets just leave it at that.

Paris-Roubaix. I was super excited to be able to start this one. This is a legendary Monument and one I’ve always wanted to do. The days leading up to Roubaix we did recon of the last 20 sectors. The cobbles are insane. Nothing like I’ve ridden before. The day after recon my wrists and knuckles were swollen and found aches in my body I didn’t have before. Race day came and I was extremely nervous and scared. I tried again to be in the break. Came close, but wasn’t meant to be. The stress leading in to the first sector was high. Crashes everywhere. I was at the back soon. My thought process was to rather stay upright and try fix whatever happens on the first sector afterwards than try enter the sector mid pack and hit the deck. As expected, there was chaos. Mud made it slippery and a crash split the field. For about 20-40km I was in a group trying to get Julian back to the front. Every sector adding more chaos to the previous. I did what they say you should do at Roubaix- ‘Always keep riding.’ I was very happy and tired when I reached the velodrome. Finished my first Roubaix.

Brabantse Pijl. After two recovery days I pinned another number to my back. The Ardennes are about to start and Brabant is the warmup for those prepping for Amstel, Fleche and Liege. Mentally I did not recover after Roubaix so found it hard to push myself beyond my screaming legs once we hit the local circuit.

This weekend I’m called in to race Amstel. I’m not sure how I’ll go after these last couple of weeks. I’ve done Amstel twice before and both times in the break. That will be my goal this Sunday again.

Wish me luck!