Last weekend I was at the Coupe des Nations de Saguenay – the only Nations Cup event outside of Europe and a very important race for Canadian U23s.  In recent years it has become significantly more important for us due to the way the UCI allocates start positions for World Championships.  Basically, we needed to do really well here to have more than 1 starter at Worlds, so the pressure was definitely on for a big race from everyone.

Photo: Jean-Marc Hecquet

With such importance our roles were pretty clear cut on the National Team and Antoine had the best hopes of a good finish on GC.  Before starting the goal was to help him win the overall classification and if things changed along the way then we would adapt from there.  Stage 1 started perfectly, with Ryan, Antoine and myself finding our way into the right move that would set up the GC battle for the weekend.  Along with the riders from the US, Ryan and I drove the break as hard as we could to make sure it would stick.

The attacks started coming with about 2 laps to go and our group of 21 slowly exploded to a select 11 guys.  Basically everyone who had been driving the pace all day was quickly jettisoned out the back to finish up at a crawling pace while anyone who had their eye on the overall classification now had to come up with the goods.  Thankfully Antoine did just that and made sure to finish in the same time as the winner to keep himself in contention over the next 2 days.  It was a solid day of racing from everyone and we certainly proved to have a team to be reckoned with.

Stage 2 was a cool and rainy day which was expected to be of little significance to the overall standings.  It was flat, and although fairly windy there weren’t many long stretches of crosswind where a team could do some real damage.  As expected, the early break was caught just before the finish and it would come down to a sprint.  Pierrick was our strongest sprinter and the plan was to set things up for him, since we can also score UCI points for stages results.  Unfortunately we all got pretty mixed up in the chaos of the final kilometres and Pierrick and I found ourselves alone with 3kms to go.  I did what I could to keep him positioned but with when you’re alone for a lead-out all you can really do is deliver your guy to another team and hope it goes well.  It certainly wasn’t ideal but it’s tough when we only race together a few times a year as the National Team.

Finally, the day we were waiting for arrived and as has been the case each time I’ve done this race it was another chilly, rainy day for the last stage.  This course is very tough where a lot could happen, and with Antoine only 12 seconds behind the yellow jersey we needed to throw everything we had at the French National team.  The race was aggressive from the start with everyone trying to chip away at the French.  A break finally slipped off the front but teams were still trying to keep the leader’s from simply riding their own tempo.  We attacked from everywhere and so did the other teams.  With only a few laps to go the yellow jersey was looking horrible and his teammates were going backwards each time up the climb…we had all done our jobs of making the race as tough as possible and now it was time for the GC guys to show their cards.  Despite the agony I was going through in the final laps it was pretty cool to watch the chess match that was going on as everyone inside the top 10 took stabs at the leader.  We can’t say we didn’t try but in the end it wasn’t to be – the race came down to a sprint finish and a Norwegian rider took the yellow jersey after collecting a time bonus for 2nd in the sprint.

I was pretty impressed how well Team Canada raced as a team since it was the first time we had all competed together.  The result wasn’t quite what we hoped, but we did score a few points so hopefully that will help towards an extra starter for Worlds in Florence, Italy.  Now that it’s over I’m just putting the finishing touches together for Nationals which starts next Thursday.  The legs are feeling good so hopefully I’ll have some exciting posts in just over a week!

The Tour of Ireland has been an incredible adventure – even days before the start it seemed Team Canada was doomed for an unfortunate race.  Alex and I both got our bikes and suitcases held hostage in the Brussels Airport by a union strike and had to spend days trying to get them back.  In the end it was no use and we resorted to begging, borrowing and stealing (okay, no actual stealing) as much as we could just before heading over to start the race.  It was certainly not ideal but thanks to all who chipped in to get us set up with bikes, riding kit, etc.

Having never done a race more than 6 days before, I was quite excited to see how the body would hold up over 8 days and 1200kms of hilly, windy, hard racing against teams from all over Europe.  I was also extremely excited to be back racing in a country where I had a lot of success the last time I was here.  Being greeted at the airport by all the same organization as the Junior version of the race was like seeing all kinds of old friends again.

With the length of the race and level of the field, I really had no aspirations of placing well on the overall classification.  I planned to be an opportunist and pick a few stages where I thought I could pull off a stage result.  The first chance came on day 3 where after a hard day of racing there was a lot of hesitation coming into the final 10kms.  I managed to open up a nice gap with a British friend of mine, Joe Kelly, as we both pounded each other into the ground as best we could.  With only a small gap I was surprised how long we dangled out front and even thought maybe we could pull off the seemingly impossible, but the pack was far to quick and we were eventually gobbled up.

I could tell the legs were good though and who knew how long that would last.  With one of the hardest day’s on tap for day 4 I set out to find the early break and see what happened.  When a group finally got away it was actually a huge split which could have been dangerous for the leader.  We were 23 guys off the front a few major threats.  For a while it looked like this would be where the race would play out, but with no Belgian riders in the break and a lot of disorganization between us we were eventually brought back.  This was however a good day for Canada – with Remi taking off over the last climbs to take 2nd on the stage and 5th in the overall classification.

After this we had a few objectives as a team – stages would still be good to pick up but we also had GC hopes and had to think about that.  My focus shifted a little from the breaks to keeping Remi in good position and conserving energy.  We tried hard many times but the UK Youth team proved really strong to defend yellow all the way to the finish near Dublin.

I did get one last shot at glory on the last day.  With the legs heavy and my sights more on a rest day than the final stage, I was just looking to get through the 145kms to finish up the Tour.  After about 15 or 20kms I found myself coming into a short climb carrying a lot more speed than the pack and just carried it over the little riser.  A small Scottish rider came with me and soon enough we were hammering away off the front.  I can’t say I was too happy about the prospect of spending the next 120kms off the front in a break of two, but with both of us well behind on GC there was a hope of us being granted stage honours.  About halfway through we were joined by two others and then by one more as we came closer to the finish.  I think the last guy to join us had a fresh set of legs installed the night before as he basically sat on the front for the next 40kms, turning around every now and then as if unable to understand why on earth we were all suffering and unable to pull through.  On his own he brought our gap from 45 seconds to around 2 minutes with 3 teams chasing all out behind.  In the end even he was starting to fade though and we were soon eaten up and quickly spit out the back of the chasing group.  I finished up the last lap with teammate Kris and a few other friends from the week and crossed the line to the cheers of a huge crowd.  I didn’t ever get the stage result I was looking for but still had a great time racing here and it was nice to contribute to Remi’s 5th place overall.  Once again the organization at the Tour of Ireland was top notch and I’d like to send out a huge thanks to Cycling Canada and Global Relay for getting me here and also sorting out equipment at the last minute!

As I write this I’m sitting in a small corner of the NY LaGuardia airport, with only a very small shred of hope left that I might in fact get a few minutes sleep tonight.  In the last 20 hours I have sat in a car, on a plane, and in an airport and not much else.  At some point in the next 8 hours I will finish sitting on planes and finally end up at home.  Most people have been asking me which home since I have mainly been a traveling gypsy this year – well this time I’m actually going home home to New Brunswick for a few days before a stint in Europe with the National Team.

So where am I coming from to take so long you ask?  That would be the metropolis of Silver City, NM – host of the Tour of the Gila, which finished up on Sunday.  Having spent a good chunk of time preparing for this race I was very motivated for the 5-day stage race featuring some taxing climbs, a solid time trial and the top teams from around North America.

Stage 1 basically consists of a long, flat parade to the base of a fairly long finishing climb to the ghost town of Mogollon.  As expected and early break went and gained a huge advantage as we took pea breaks and spun along easily.  Despite it being very nice to chill out for a few hours, in the back of your mind all you can think of when it’s going so easy is how much more it’s going to hurt when the racing finally does start.  This point came about 30kms from the finish where cross winds ripped into the peloton causing a bit of chaos as riders suddenly started jockeying for position.  Thankfully for us, we had a few guys who have done this stage before and were able to get us in great position leading into the final climb.  Staz actually brought Jon and I into the base of the climb sitting third wheel, having just jumped both the UHC and Jamis Pro Cycling teams at the last minute.  At that point it was just a 15 minute time trial to the top of the climb.  I made the first selection as the pack whittled down to around 40 guys, but from there the pace was just a bit much for me to hang on.  I rolled in a few minutes behind the winner, a little disappointed with it but overall it was not a bad final climb either.

The next day was more of a rolling course with a few smaller KOMs and lot’s of fun, twisty roads.  Again an early break went but at this point in the race I was mostly trying to conserve as much as possible for the coming stages and was quite content to sit easily in the pack, getting through the stage without spending too much energy.

For stage 3 we tackled an intense time trial that was probably more of a mental test than physical.  It consisted of a couple long climbs on wide roads with wind that just made you feel stuck in your tracks.  Staying focused would be the biggest test over the 26km course.  I was fairly pleased with my TT – the legs were feeling good and I put in a decent ride.  It may have been well of the mark of winner Tom Zirbel but I was pleased to see some progress from my last time trials.

Saturday mostly consisted of sitting around and waiting for the afternoon crit.  Days are typically quite hectic during a stage race, so to have only a 90 minute race starting in the late afternoon gives riders a nice mental break to relax for a while.  When the crit finally did start it was more of the same in terms of just trying to conserve energy as much as possible.  With UHC simply dominating the race for the stage win there was not much else to do but sit tight and save the matches until Sunday’s queen stage.

Finally, Sunday morning did come and this was the day that all those watts had been saved for.  The last day to put it all out there and go big before going home.  I was quite intent on making the early break, but apparently so was everyone else.  Things were going well early, and although it was full gas and nothing was going, I could tell the legs were there when the selection would finally be made.  Just as things were starting to look like the break would go soon (ie. It was getting really, really hard) I heard my rear tire explode and I was suddenly skidding around with very little control.  This was possibly the absolute worst point of the entire stage race to have a flat, and after eventually getting a new wheel the race was long gone.  With a slight hope that the break would go and the pack would ease up, I hammered as hard as I could for about 100kms.  As I would find out later it was in fact full gas the whole day since the overall classification was so tight.  Having been out of food and water for a while I was starting to come unglued and the legs becoming more and more unhappy.  On my own I had a long time to think and initially I was intent on finishing, but our team manager Alan convinced me that it was really just going to dig myself into a hole for nothing.  With a big block of racing coming up I reluctantly got into the van to get my recovery started a little early.  Needless to say that after a week of being patient for this day, I was incredibly disappointed to miss out on seeing what I could do.  This is racing though and the wheel always turns – for every misfortune comes a success and I was happy with where my form is.

I’m now really excited to get back to sea level to see how this month at altitude will pay off for me.  I’d like to thank my hosts in Boulder, Dawn and Randy, for giving me the chance to get acclimated to the thin air before going into this race.  Also a huge thanks to the Hagens Berman team and all it’s sponsors, plus the Global Relay Bridge the Gap fund for making this last month possible for me.  Gila may have ended on a downer but I’m certainly coming out of it stronger and with a little experience about the race for next year.