On Sunday it was time for my first taste of Belgian crit racing. It should be noted that I was all set up to ride the pro race in Sint Pieters Leeuw on Saturday, but a late rule change dictating that foreign riders without continental team licenses or Belgian licenses cannot race in pro events in Belgium prevented that. I was really pumped to ride on Saturday as I finished in 63rd the last time I rolled to the line with wome of the top pros in Belgium, but now I know to get a Belgian license for next year...
Anyways after the pro race was out the window Tino got me a spot in a local Elite crit. Here the crits are limited to 40 riders and all riders must be invited by the organizer. If you sign an official contract to do the race you even get up to 25 Euros just to start. With some quick cell phone wirk Tino got me a start, but no start money, so I had to get a result to keep the cash flow up.
It was a nice little circuit of 48 laps to cover 70 km and after a break finally went clear the group I was in split apart with about 10 laps to go with me being in the front 6. It was a bit of a crazy finale... First off a kid ran onto the course, brushed my leg and ended up getting plowed by the rider on my wheel. I looked back saw the kid go one way and the rider sailing through the air over his bars. The mihap happened on a really fast section along the top of the course, it was a bit of a shocker to have such a close call with disaster. Both individuals ended up being ok, although the riders bike could have been better off. Back to the racing all was going well with my group just turning and keeping the pace high. Finally we came around for the final lap, the announcer made the last lap call and the cat and mouse games began. I came out of the last corner in good position and ended up winning the spint by about half a wheel only to hear the last lap being called again!? After all the places I have given away in the last few races in sprints I was not happy as this would have landed me 11th place. In the second finale I ended up in 14th. Still not bad, but not the same ring as 11th. I earned some solid cash, rode home and then went for another hour to get the lactic acid out of the legs for tommorows race.
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