Well today was the last day of the TdK and we had our work cut out for us. We had a lot to loose today and not so much to gain. With JY still having the Yellow Jersey, Sprinter Jersey, and Best Young Rider Jersey we had a lot to cover. Luckily the race was only 48K and flat.
I made sure to stay up towards the front to stay out of trouble and avoid anything crazy. A lot of random people showed up since it was a Sunday and it was near Seoul. That is the interesting part of the amateur race is there is no cut and you can take a day off and show up the next day. It played into my favor with having to work, but it also brings some un experienced people to the start line that have no business being up in front on the final day.
With about 15K to go the 2nd place guy in GC started attacking. It was a pretty smart move on his part as he was attacking through this set of tunnels we had to go through. There was a small break of 5 guys up the road and he attacked and I just sat on his wheel. It was hard work as he is super strong but I never felt like I was going to get dropped. It was quite funny when we caught the break as he just went flying right by them and I just stuck with him. At about 5K to go you go from one freeway to another one with an on ramp. We were all back together at this point and I was up front just trying to keep things under control.
At this point there was only one thing left to do. At 1.5K out there was a very sketchy chicane that had some metal rails sticking up. We had all talked about it and stated that it was very dangerous and that if you weren't sitting in the top 15 wheels you my as well just sit up and just soak in the last 1K. We had enough guys up in the top 15 that I just took it easy. This has been the plan the last couple days as I have no reason to be sprinting for position due to not being in the individual GC. The risk to reward just isn't worth it, it is to early in the season to be getting taken out in a field sprint. If you have been following the blog you know there has been numerous accidents. Our team alone had 1 broken femur, 2 collar bones, a sore kneck, and 2 jacked up bikes.
So our guys did a great job today and JY kept the Yellow and defended the sprint line and kept some points. Today was a very emotional day for the team as we started this race not 8 days ago, but over 3 months ago. We all sat down and came up with one goal, and that was to get JY the Win. He is a very strong rider, but to win a Stage race it takes more than just 1 strong rider, it takes a team of strong riders. This year we had that and we worked very well as a team and accomplished our goal.
Next week I will be taking the weekend off but then the following 3 weekends will be packed with racing. I am looking forward to getting some solid 1 day races in and looking for some good results. Thanks again for all of the support, this was a huge race for the team this year and to see everyone come together and work as one was an amazing thing.
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/7542298
Stage 8 Placing: 109th out of 168 (Time Gap: :19) -Stage 8 Individual Results
Stage 8 Team Placing: 2nd (Time Gap: 0:00)- Stage 8 Team ResultsHere are some of my favorite pictures from the week!
No comments:
Post a Comment