I’ve really enjoyed doing a few more road races this year. They’ve offered up a new challenge against a whole new set of very strong competitors which has made my training over summer much more motivating and rewarding. I’d never really had the chance to compete in Le Race due to my international race schedule but due to Covid-19 still causing issues around the world it meant I was still about this year. I figured since it was such an iconic event and had been on my bucket list for so long I’d better take to the start line!
Multiple National Champion and previous winner Michael Vink was the hot favourite for the event and he certainly showed why early on, setting a solid tempo up Dyers Pass and along the Summit Road. The two of us managed to open up a small gap down the Bastard/Gebbies descent and break away together. We were flying on the flat, averaging over 50kph and I had to burn a few matches there. Fair to say I was happier once we got to Little River.
Michael was absolutely ripping. I was feeling in pretty good nick still on the climb up to Hilltop but after losing Michael’s wheel while taking on a bottle and gel at the top of the hill it opened up a small gap between us, and he was simply stronger than I was and I started to fade a bit in the final 30mins of what ended up being a solo TT to the finish! I was happy to take 2nd place overall ahead of some very strong riders and also take home the King of the Mountains prize.
Hopefully I can make it back again in the near future!
Total time was 2hrs 31min 55sec, a 39.5kph average speed on a 100km course with almost 2000m climbing. A very solid day out.