Although the race started on Friday, being from the Isle of Man meant my preparation for the event started on the Wednesday. This included an easy ride with my Mum, cleaning my bike, packing my bag and preparing food for the weekend. Baking and cooking is something I've gotten into lots over the last year so for these stage races I like to make some lunch for the first few days and also bake some goods for the weekend. For lunch this ranges from wraps to rice and pasta dishes and the baked goods are usually some variation of a flapjacks or oatbar.
On Thursday I then left my house at 6am to catch the ferry across to Liverpool. This arrives at around 10am and from here it was a Southerly drive down to Bristol area. We made the decision to do our pre race ride before we checked in at the hotel, and as the courses were in close proximity, we were able to ride all of the roads of stage 2 and 3 during this in just under 50km. Personally, I always like to do a decent spin the day before the race which is usually just over 1.5hrs and is mostly easy riding with the exception of some opener efforts. Once this was completed we went to our hotel in Bristol City Centre
arriving at 5.30pm leaving us sufficient time to get showered and chill out before the tour started.
Friday was a 10lap 9mile TT around a small circuit with a few sharp turns. As you might expect this caused major problems with multiple riders taking advantage of the small circuit and drafting each other. I looked forward to this Time Trial as it wasn't a typical time trial however quickly lost my head in the early stages of the TT when seeing a group of about 6 riders all drafting each other just 15 seconds behind me. The gap neither grew or shrunk throughout the Time Trial but I knew I was using a lot more energy than them and it wouldn't be reflected in my result. Due to this, I didn't produce the power I can typically produce and with the amount of cheating I was way down the leader board.
46th on stage. 46th on GC.
On Saturday we completed a 65mile flat road race. I made the decision early on to take the first few laps easy and then try to get into a move later in the race when everyone else would be more depleted. After about an hour I started to try and force some moves and get myself in a breakaway. I got into a few promising moves but ultimately when the days break went I missed the move. My first thought was thinking of the soonest opportunity to bridge across the gap but a quick look up the road made me see it was a large group all working collaboratively so a solo bridge would not be possible. From here I was feeling frustrated as I had missed the opportunity to win the stage and would ultimately have to wait patiently in the peloton and pray that the gap somehow would come down. I also knew the next days terrain was very challenging so the best thing I could do now was conserve energy for it. Despite this I saw an opportunity with just under 10km to go up a rise in the road to try and regain some time on the peloton. I attacked strong and hard and 3 others were able to follow. From here we settled into a TTT to maximise our gains/ minimise our losses. In the end we brought back the gap to the break away to just over 30seconds and gained a further 30 seconds on the peloton. This was definitely worth it as it helped remove my deficit on GC and put me back into a decent position for the final day.
14th on stage. 21st on GC.
A tough 70mile road race with multiple climbs around the 5minute mark faced us on Sunday. My plan going into the stage was to try and get in an early break as this seemed like the only way I would be able to win GC. I also predicted that the bunch would take it relatively easy for the first part of the stage as they would know what was to come. I attacked a few times but soon found out I was being marked and would not be let up the road. After about 10 minutes a non threatening break away was allowed up the road containing my team mate Tyler Hannay. As he was there I didn't attempt to try and jump across in fear that I could potentially bring the peloton with me. Just as I had predicted the peloton went really steady for the majority of the stage with the gap to the break away exceeding 5 minutes. We tackled 5 main climbs; I consistently made the front split which would typically contain 4-8 riders but various groups would come back together over the top of the climbs and on the descents.
Unfortunately the pace would be too easy in the lead up and up the initial phase of the climbs for the race to really split up. This was a huge shame as I felt I had great legs but couldn't necessarily show it as any attacks of mine would be quickly shut down. In the end the reminiscence of the break stayed away leaving a bunch gallop up the final climb. The finish line seemed to come up a lot closer than on previous laps due to it not being right at the top of the climb; this caught me and a few other riders out as we only started really ramping it up with 150m to go. I finished about 4th in what was left of the bunch; around 10 riders with the rest all being dropped up the climbs.
8th on Stage. 14th on GC
To recap, my overall feeling of the weekend was a bit disappointing/frustrating. In the TT I feel I was unfairly low down the results sheet due to the sheer amount of drafting which was detrimental to my GC ambitions. On the remaining stages I was heavily marked and given almost no lee way, this meant I rarely got the opportunity to go full gas and show my capabilities.
Looking forward I'm happy with how my legs felt during the weekend and hence look forward to the upcoming Junior Tour of Wales. I will however have to rethink some strategies to get off the front as I've become a more heavily marked rider.
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