racing time

Since Haut Vaur I have raced tour of Murcia the first 2 rounds of the British Premier Calender road race series and the Duncan MacGregor super 6 in Fife. 

I went into tour of Murcia knowing I had a couple of good races in my legs the Tour of the Med and Haut Vaur

My Endura racing team had a great week at the Tour of the Med and we came away with the sprints jersey with Blain and a few top 10s on stages. We all started to gel together pretty well towards the end of the week as a team and we successfully defended the sprints jersey right through the week from stage 1. I felt much better myself in this race too and was much more comfortable than in the previous 2 and was able to cover moves and go away with groups. 

Next for me was a recovery week at home after a big month away racing and training.

The next race on the cards for the endura team was the first round of the Premiers the Tour of the Reservoir. This was going be the first time we had come up against all the other British teams for 2010 so everyone was looking forward to seeing if all the racing away had helped our new Endura racing team prepare for it. We got off to a great start and we had 5 riders in the 17 man break, Sigma had 3 and Sproket 3 so we had the best numbers but that also meant it was up to us to do a lot of the work. I continued to roll through and kept it going when riders were missing turns but there was 2 many riders just sitting on the back so some attacking started. The break split into 2 groups ,9 in the front and 8 in the 2nd. We had 3 riders in the front group Wilko, Jack and Scott but I was in the 2nd group but doing my team duty for the day it was up to me to patrol that group and to prevent any more riders getting across to the bunch, well without me anyway. We also still had few riders left in the main peloton Rob P, James and Mossy and they were doing a great job of policing that and covering all the moves going from the teams that had mist the crucial break.

In the end we did not end up winning the race but we had 4 in the top 10 with Wilko being the best placed in 2nd with myself taking the 10th spot so it showed we had some real strength in depth within the team and the camp in Nice had prepared us well along with the great equipment and clothing we have this year.

Next up was the new Tour Doon Hame premier this was a new race to replace the Girvan and it still consisted of 3 road stages but there was no longer a criterium on the Sat night. No one knew what to expect but from looking at the profiles the climbs didn't look that bad and were all cat 3s. We went to the race fielding a strong team and we were hoping to come away with the Endura Racing win. On stage 1 there was lots of attacking but everything was being brought back then after the last hot spot sprint of the day I carried on over the top and got a bit of a gap. I was quickly joined by Newton and one of the Dutch riders and the 3 of us stayed away by a small margin of 4 seconds and I ended up 2nd to Newton in the sprint. That was a little annoying as it would have been good to win the first ever stage of the new race and also in my home country. There was also time bonuses on the stage for the first 3 so I grabbed another useful 6 seconds there meaning I was going to start stage 2, 4 seconds behind Newton. We also had another 3 riders finish inside the top 10 on the stage so once again we had lots guys still up there in contention for the overall.

Stage 2 and the attacking was on again eventually a group got away and we had Wilko in that we were happy with that as he was the highest placed rider on GC in the move so we wernt going to chase. Somehow the group were brought back a few miles from the finish and I found myself off the front again with Newton but this time I wasn't going to ride there was no point on me going with him I needed to be away in a move without him so I could jump over him on GC. In the end the stage finished in a group sprint with around 40 riders and I was 7th. We had 5 riders in the front group so we were still in a very good position for attacking on the final stage. We unfortunately lost Blain who was Dq for taking assistance from the team car while he was having the spare bike set up to get back up to the peloton. I don't think that was the correct decision but also the commisaires wernt aware he had crashed and was getting the spare bike set up, but they pulled him out during the stage instead of letting him finish the stage then finding out the problem and making a decision. That was a bit of a loss to us as he had been 4th the previous day and I think he would have stood a good chance of winning the stage.

We went into day 3 with a good plan but the weather was horrendous it was very wet ,windy and cold making it very grim for racing. It was all going to plan for us though and we had Newtons Rapha team having to ride hard to chase moves as we were trying to tire them out so we could isolate him later in the stage as myself and wilko were now lying joint 2nd overall because of the time bonuses available along the way on each of the stages. We had Jack away with around 25 miles to go on his own and once he got the wind behind him he was absolutely flying the whole Rapha team blew apart trying to catch him and 1 by 1 they were dropped from the group. It was looking perfect for us and it was looking like Jack was going to win the race overall as well as the stage but then another team started to help Newton when he was left on his own for no real apparent reason which was a bit annoying for us. It was still touch and go when we crossed the line but one thing for sure was Jack had won the stage in a well deserved manner. He was rewarded with 2nd overall for his efforts on the day with myself and wilko slipping to 4th and 5th respectively on GC. That also meant we were the winning team so it was a good weekend for the team and shows that we are the strongest team on the road and once we get to know each other a little better an gel together we will hopefully be unbeatable. 

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There was also a lot of crashes and punctures during the race and I hope everyone involved in the crashes is and have a speedy recovery. I fortunately managed to avoid them all and got away without any punctures.

Today I raced the Duncan MacGregor Memorial race in Fife which was the 2nd round of the Super 6 series. We had 6 riders racing for the Endura racing team so something would be wrong if we didn't come away with the win. Myself and James rode across from Edinburgh in the morning giving us a good 2hrs in the saddle before the race started as preparation for the long races next weekend in France which are both around the 200km mark. It was a beautiful sunny warm and relatively calm day for the race and an early break went away with 11 riders in it and then myself and James got across to it making it 13 with all 6 Endura riders present. I continued to ride through even though quite a few riders were sitting on and missing turns as I wanted to get a good ride in my legs to prepare for next week. In the end the team ended up taking the top 4 places with Callum winning from Gary then myself and Ross. Davie came in 6th and James 10th so a good day out in the sun and a good 5.5hrs in the saddle for me. 

Next week I will report on my next races in France.