Vlaamse Ardennen: Stage 1

Today I finally got a taste of European racing at Vlaamse Ardennen, which is a three day, four stage, stage race. The majority of the stages consist short circuits of about 10kilometers that are done ten or so times. The course today started in the town of Mikelbeke and automatically hit a 1.5 kilometer climb that took us to a plateau. At the top there was a long fast flat section that shot us into a screaming decent. From the bottom of the decent to the finish we weaved through narrow city streets with plenty of road furniture. For a better picture of the course you can take a look at the race booklet: http://uitslagen.kbwb-rlvb.com/index_bestanden/pdf/STERVLARDENNENInfo.pdf

Over here in Europe positioning is half the battle. If you get lazy and drift to the back of the peloton you may easily never see the front of the race again. In some cases you can even get shot out the back of the group and pulled by the commissaire, so from the beginning I made sure that I was towards the front. The first few laps I tried to stay protected and feel things out because I had no idea how my fitness was going to compare. Fortunately I felt strong and comfortable going up the climb.

A little ways past half way a large group of about 25 riders escaped up the road with Eamon Lucas from the USA. It was nice having him in the break because we didn't have to chase, however the situation changed. Eamon came back with a mechanical so we had to get on the front and try to close the 25 second gap. Paul Lynch and myself got on the front and were able to bring back about 15 seconds so Anders Newberry could bridge across. For the rest of the race I tried to play it safe and save some matches for the following races. Fortunately, in the last kilometer the two groups came back together and we all finished with the same time.

Tomorrow morning at 10:39 I start my 8kilometer time trial, so I will try to kill it!!!

Until tomorrow,

-B Swed