Day Twelve

This was the final race of De Ronde Van Oost Vlaanderen. Unlike the previous days Team USA got to the start early and shared the front row with the guys in the leaders jerseys. They had 5k neutral start which was perhaps the sketchiest thing I have ever done. Everyone wants to be upfront, but the pace wasn’t fast enough to keep the pack safely strung out. At the end of the neutral start I was right at the back again.
The course was very flat; what I’ve noticed here is the courses are normally very easy, but the riders make them hard. The race was 6 laps of 10k. For half of the course there was a large crack in the middle of the road, which could easily take someone out. This combined with narrow roads and traffic islands possibly made this the most technical course I have ever ridden.
I’ve learnt a few tricks to staying upfront the past couple days and have really started to engage my brain a lot more. Here the fastest guy doesn’t always win. Luck is a larger factor than back home, but a good racing brain is the main determining factor.
As soon as the race started and I started to move up; I even surprised myself by staying in the top 30-40 riders for most of the race.
The laps ticked by quickly, because the pace was not nearly as hard as the first to days. I think the Belgians have a tendency to push high gears, despite their amazing ability to spin very quickly. I’m guessing this took the sting out of their enormous legs for the last stage.
With one lap to go I was sitting 40 riders back. It was time to move up. 5k into the lap I narrowly avoided a crash by riding off into someone’s driveway, narrowly avoiding their house, and somehow getting back on the road. Who knows how I stayed up, but at least I moved up 20 places or so. About 5k later there was another crash right behind me, which split the field. With 3K to go I was sitting behind James 15 riders back. We’re both good sprinters and if we had some luck with the traffic island we might have had a shot at the win. But we never got to find out. At that very moment some rider who took a trip onto the dirt bunny hopped erratically back onto the road. Some guy in-front of James went down. James fell and I flipped over his bike. I was really lucky, a 28 mile an hour crash and all I had to show was a tiny scratch on the hip and deep gouge on my left shoe.
I rode easy to the finish aware that I had no chance of catching the field and that I would get the same time as the field due to the 3k rule.
The team had, in my opinion, a good day. Anders finished 23rd, not bad for someone who is a climber. He also finished 29th on GC. Anders and Lawson were also in a break for about half the race which was at times 30 seconds up the road. They even got a bit of TV time. Alex had some trouble with the Avia team director. They have been in control of the race since the first day. They are a really strong team but I am under the impression they are disliked on the Belgian racing circuit. They all have very nice equipment compared to the other riders and are not the friendliest in the bunch. Unfortunately, their team leader didn’t get the chance to defend the jersey because he crashed about a K from the finish. I guess they’re blaming Alex for the crash or something.
At the finish the Belgian national champion won the stage and took the overall leaders Jersey by attacking the lead group a K out to win by more than 50m.