Gent-Wevelgem was a big bunch sprint so actual placings don't mean too much if you were not in the top places. My picks finished satisfactorily.
Curiosity pick: Borut Bozic finished a respectable 27th
Top pick: Mark Cavendish finished a decent 17th
2nd pick: Martin Elmiger finished 47th but was aggressive and tried attacking 18km from the finish. His five-man escape was caught 1800m from the line.
3rd pick: Tomas Vaitkus played a cruel trick on me and did not start
Speaking of not starting, I had no desire to start last night's US Army Tues Nite World Domination Crit after the spanking I received two weeks ago. I really felt that my wishes were going to come true as storm clouds came rolling in around 3:30. But, when I looked at radar, a cruel hoax was being played on me. There was no rain in the immediate future. Nevertheless, I must have walked outside 10 times to look at the sky for signs of rain or to look at the pavement for signs of raindrops.
By 5pm I resigned myself to the fact that I had to race or admit to being a total slug. The dark clouds must have scared many folks away. There must have been no more than 25-30 people in the A race. Smaller fields often make for a tougher race and the strong southerly winds were not going to make things any easier.
On top of that, Justin showed up which meant the race was likely to start like a bat out of hell. And, it did start fast but I learned my lesson from the last race and made sure I was in the top 10 for most of the first lap. The crosswind sent the pack into the gutter on the home stretch and strung out the pack. This went on for about 3 or 4 laps before the inevitable split occurred as a decent sized group pulled away while a larger group with some pretty good riders was left behind. Our group was lapped by the leaders about halfway through the race and then was caught a second time with three(?) laps to go. Those guys were flying.
Despite the split in the pack, I did much better this week. I rode with some aggression and went off the front of our group about 5 times. The longest of the efforts was about three laps with Rory and a Mesa junior. My last effort ended as we approached three laps to go. I was a little too well done after that and was sent off the back. I did two more laps and pulled off to watch the pack finish.
As much as I didn't want to race, afterward I was glad to have gone.
Curiosity pick: Borut Bozic finished a respectable 27th
Top pick: Mark Cavendish finished a decent 17th
2nd pick: Martin Elmiger finished 47th but was aggressive and tried attacking 18km from the finish. His five-man escape was caught 1800m from the line.
3rd pick: Tomas Vaitkus played a cruel trick on me and did not start
Speaking of not starting, I had no desire to start last night's US Army Tues Nite World Domination Crit after the spanking I received two weeks ago. I really felt that my wishes were going to come true as storm clouds came rolling in around 3:30. But, when I looked at radar, a cruel hoax was being played on me. There was no rain in the immediate future. Nevertheless, I must have walked outside 10 times to look at the sky for signs of rain or to look at the pavement for signs of raindrops.
By 5pm I resigned myself to the fact that I had to race or admit to being a total slug. The dark clouds must have scared many folks away. There must have been no more than 25-30 people in the A race. Smaller fields often make for a tougher race and the strong southerly winds were not going to make things any easier.
On top of that, Justin showed up which meant the race was likely to start like a bat out of hell. And, it did start fast but I learned my lesson from the last race and made sure I was in the top 10 for most of the first lap. The crosswind sent the pack into the gutter on the home stretch and strung out the pack. This went on for about 3 or 4 laps before the inevitable split occurred as a decent sized group pulled away while a larger group with some pretty good riders was left behind. Our group was lapped by the leaders about halfway through the race and then was caught a second time with three(?) laps to go. Those guys were flying.
Despite the split in the pack, I did much better this week. I rode with some aggression and went off the front of our group about 5 times. The longest of the efforts was about three laps with Rory and a Mesa junior. My last effort ended as we approached three laps to go. I was a little too well done after that and was sent off the back. I did two more laps and pulled off to watch the pack finish.
As much as I didn't want to race, afterward I was glad to have gone.
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