Last week was the final round of the 2021 British National Series at the prestigious Junior Tour of Wales. Based around Abergevenny, it was a 3-day stage race in which multiple world and Olympic champions have raced at before giving the event a huge amount of respect as winning here seems to be simultaneous with going onto cycle at the very highest level. (race graduates include Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, an Martin, Tom Pidcock, Ethan Hayter, Simon Yates, Matt Walls)
Stage 1 (TT)
The race followed the routes of previous years with the exception of one or two changes. For example, the TT route above had been modified to a slightly shorter route but with the major change being that no TT bikes could be ridden.
With it being a TT, I went into it with no expectations. The nature of the course suited me slightly better than a pan-flat route so I knew all being well I shouldn't lose too much time. I was off 4th to last on the night and went into it with the plan of keeping my power relatively consistent so I wouldn't blow on the final climb. In the end I was satisfied with my ride and happy to finish 24th and within 1 minute of the overall lead.
24th on Stage, 24th GC
Stage 2 (Crit)
On day 2 we faced a double day of racing with only 2.5 hours of recovery between stages. In the morning it was 25 laps of Pembrey's cycle specific track. I was eager to get stuck into this one as I enjoy fast tracks like these with lots of twists and turns; I think that they keep the racing exciting and provide the most fun. With it only being an hour, fatigue was not a worry even despite the slight bump in the circuit each lap, due to this I took the opportunity to rinse and repeat lots of attacks. In the initial part of the race my most promising move was a solo attack - gaining an advantage of around 15 seconds before the race had to become temporarilystopped. After the restart I kept trying to get away as I knew a small group working cooperatively would be near impossible to bring back. As a result, with 5 laps to go I got into a 3-man breakaway that would inevitably stay away with fellow first year juniors Will Smith and Griff Lewis. Our gap extended to 25 seconds with 1 lap to go but as we started sand bagging for the finish this ultimately came down to a smaller margin. I timed my sprint to perfection and gap rushed Smith but with roughly 50m to go Lewis came past me taking the win. I had mixed emotions about this as I really wanted the win after so many 2nds and 3rds throughout the year but had to be satisfied as I was beaten by the faster man at the line.
2nd on Stage, 21st on GC
Stage 3
After the brief rest and top up of food/water we set off for the 3rd stage; a mostly flat 100km road race. It started with a ceremonial lap around Pembrey's country park before we headed out on to the road for the racing to begin. My teammates Tyler Hannay and Matthew Cooil were active in the early part of the race with Hannay mopping up the KOM points up the only KOM of the day and Cooil getting in the days break. I attempted a few digs to get in the break but was marked quite heavily; at each sprint there were bonus seconds on offer so I wanted to try and get these but was mindful of the fatigue I had created in the previous stage. At half distance the race came back together and from there to the finish the pace was high with lots of action. I started to get more and more involved in the final hour - getting into a few moves and animating the race. On the final lap I managed to get a sizeable gap over the peloton with 2 other riders but from potentially doing too much throughout the day I no longer had the legs and couldn't stay with the pace. I was pretty disappointed by this as 1 of the riders managed to hold onto 2nd on the stage but with my legs locking up there was nothing I could do. When I got caught by the bunch I was in a lot of pain so focused on recovering in the short period before the final sprint and then went onto to try and squeeze whatever I had left out of me.
22nd Stage, 20th GC
Stage 4 (Summit Finish)
The final stage featured the infamous "tumble" climb; a 15 minute climb averaging 8.5% but with sections a lot steeper than that. Going into this I was fairly confident that I could gain some places on the general classification after feeling good up the climbs at the Tour of Mendips.
Surprisingly I woke up feeling relatively fresh so figured I could potentially try something before the tumble. I had plenty of attacks before the first KOM of the day but was marked by both the yellow and white jersey contenders. Up the first KOM we tapped at a steady rhythm, my teammate Tyler took the opportunity to sneak off the front and ultimately we would never see him again as he went on to finish 2nd on the stage and in the process win the overall classification. Over the next 40km a few more big names got up the road relatively easily;I found this particularly frustrating as any attacks I made seemed to be shut down almost immediately. From the final decent we went along fast main roads/ dual carriageways until we hit the tumble. After so many attacks I finally got off the front with 1 other rider with 10km to the foot of the final climb, however the problem we faced was a larger 8 man break already being 3 minutes and the knowledge that a charging peloton would fly comparatively up the final climb. With this in mind we settled into a 2-up TT to the finish which worked really well. Up the tumble we caught some stragglers from the original break and held our own against the peleton. With 2km left to climb the 3 fastest people from the peloton caught us and from there to the finish it was a case of hanging on.
11th on Stage.
In the end this left me with 11th Overall, 2nd in the youth classification and my local team 3rd in the team classification. I am proud of how I ridden throughout the tour and think I can be satisfied with my end result - my highlight being 2nd on stage 2. I would've like to have placed a little higher on GC and have won the youth classification but struggled after being regularly chased down. There is also an element of luck as to whether your move will be the one to stay away and unfortunately that wasn't on my side on the final day.
Moving on I have a few more races that I hope to compete in for the remainder of the 2021 season but so far am really happy with how this year has gone. I remember before the start of the season I was worried about whether I would be fast enough to just stay in the peloton, now I'm confident in my ability and go into each race with the mindset of winning.
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