Well, this was once again a great weekend for La Pomme. Our club organised the Jean Mass event on Saturday and we had a little bit of pressure, but clinching the first 3 positions as well as 6th and 9th wasnt too bad, I think.
An early break of 20 riders went clear at about 20km of the 125km race. It was a tough route, containing four really hard climbs ranging between 5km and 12km.
We had the upper hand with 6 La Pommes in the breakaway. I was told to help the team as it was not a race that suited me. I had to sprint for the hotspots and only won one because the break was up the road.
At about 75km Team AIX-Haribo got organised with 7 guys on the front. Their guys in the break got dropped, so they were in serious trouble. They had difficulty bringing things back and closer to the line it was just getting harder as we caught more riders who were dropped from the break.
The last 20km went up a hard climb with the last 1km very steep (39X 23). Five of us got clear in pursuit of the front group. It was way too late for us to catch them, but I ended up winning the sprint for 9th - not a big result but I’m happy with the way I’m climbing and sprinting at the moment.
We are racing Les Montes du Luberon next week on 6 March, then Bordeaux-Saintes (13 March) and Classic Loire Atlantique (18 May) - all 1.2 races.
So, Im hoping to put in some good results in these races. Montes du Luberon is very hilly, but the other two races suite me a lot better, and hopefully it won’t turn out like Menton-Savona.
I was scheduled to race on Sunday, but because I had a slight cold after Jean Mass the team said I should take it easy and wait for the upcoming races.
Good luck to everyone riding in SA championships.
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