What a day at the races!
As you know I was not to enthused by this pinnacle of Alberta racing held in Bentley Alberta yesterday. I haven't raced in Alberta yet this year and normally the racing is rather dull and hard, but I must say this years one appearance on the ABA scene was well worth it.
The course was 126 km in length on rolling roads. Some of the rollers were quite long making up for their lack of gradient. Wind was a bit of a factor on the eastbound stretch of the 4 corner course, but otherwise the majority of the race was fast and smooth.
Bicisport was very well represented with J Sparls, Jesse James MD Collins, Bob Verbona Veroba and myself driving the big blue train. Bob put himself out of the contention for the win before the race stating; "I am so messed, Tanya told me to stay home, I shouldn't even be here, I want to go back to bed"....That was the last I heard of Bob for about 20 minutes as he went on a bit of an attack to ease the pressure early on. This was one of the themes of the day as Bob covered moves, bridged gaps and generally took care of business for the first half of the race. Early on I was marking the front as well and got on the right side of a couple solid splits, but other than shelling some filler these were fruitless efforts. Jamie and Jesse made a couple of appearances, but generally we were waiting to unleash the fury in the final hilly, windy 30 km.
The Bicisport plan was relatively simple. The strategy was to cover everything of importance early and if anything substantial established itself in the first half of the race to have two riders in the move. If we could keep the race in check until about 30 km to go the plan was to isolate the contenders by forcing them to chase as they would likely be alone at the that point with no teammates and keep the attacks flowing until we had a group with one of our riders as the clear strongest member of the successful break. The plan played out to perfection.
Bob had done his work and done it well. He patrolled and played a significant role in bringing back the only dangerous move of the day containing an unlucky Synergist and Mr. Bolstad. He had selflessly represented and his work was done. The rest of us were very fresh having been active, but never really exerted the entire day.
As we rounded the final corner with just under an hour to go I watched and waited. Up the first long climb I could hear an awful lot of panting, downshifting and could sense the nervousness in the remaining group. I waited until one of the stronger riders was on the back and another on the front, dove right and took a little test sample of what was left of the race. The objective of this move was to test the field. They bit hard, looking back the men I was hoping to tire were driving on the front to bring me back. To my surprise they were content to tow the entire field back, including me two fresh teammates. From that point on it was counter after counter as Jesse, Jamie and I took turns pelting the contenders. Finally after countless punishment a couple of riders rolled off the front and Jesse jumped taking one other with him and formed the winning move. The break of 4 contained a rider from all of the strongest teams in the race and our man was undoubtedly not only the strongest, but the smartest most experienced rider in that group. As the break rolled away the peleton slowed as ERTC made a weak attempt to chase and Jamie and I sat 3rd and 4th wheel in the gutter watching our man go clear. The break eventually gained about 2 minutes and was never in danger of getting caught so the race was on for 5th and I was not about to call it a day. Over the climbs the group kept getting smaller and smaller with a final selection of 8 including Jamie and I being made with steady tempo. In the final 15 km our group sped toward the finish with everyone being rather conservative spare for a few attacks from Webster, Heemskerk and myself in an effort to split the group. Going into the final ascent of the day we were still all together when Nick Friesen gave gas and powered away. I hesitated for a split second waiting for someone to chase it and get on their wheel, but that never happened and I went alone. The final couple of kilometers I spent about 10 seconds off Friesen with the group another 10 seconds behind. That is how it finished. I ended up 6th, Jamie 10th, which I was rather pleased with especially considering the outcome of the breakaway up the road.
Jesse James Collins, in true Bici form took the 2006 Alberta Provincial Road Race title with relative ease. He stayed calm up the climbs letting others break the wind and then used his speed and power to drive it to the line in the last 500m. It was a well deserved win after the top of the podium has eluded him for so many years. Jesse is one of the core members of our Cat 1/2 squad and it was an incredible day for the team to see our savvy finally pay off and a bonus to see Jesse be the one to deliver. Congrats to Jesse. We will have a nice white kit for him next year, I am thinking Bicisport screened champs jersey with white shorts and white booties.
Thanks for reading.
3 comments:
I would have to disagree with Jesse being undoutbably the strongest in the break. He was the smartest, no doubt (and the one with the best finishing speed). It is really hard for a cross country skier not to do work in a race (biking or not), you should try a ski race to see for yourself.
On the other hand, I have to agree that Bici played the game to perfection. With the firepower your team possesses, it was quite impressive. The blue train was rolling well, that was certain.
Sounds like a good race Per. Are you riding the hill climb this year?
Congrats to the entire Bici team for all their tactical teamwork this year at both Track and Road Provincials. You guys work well together and this should provide motivation/impetus to other Alberta teams to start communicating better and working on this aspect of their game.
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