Devon GP

I was able to race the Devon GP the following weekend which consisted of 4 stages with an overall GC.

First stage was a short 2km prologue through the town of Devon. It rained earlier in the day so the roads were somewhat slick. I pushed it on the straights but played it relatively safe in the corners finishing 4th in Cat4.

Second stage was a 16km TT & was able to take the win. It was a relatively flat course with pretty balanced wind conditions. Not too much of a tail wind nor head wind. Starting to realize that the Time Trial can be a strength for me & I need to be riding the TT bike more.

This gave me the lead in GC which created some nervous energy. Crashing in the Velocity Road Race with GC lead was still somewhat fresh in the mind. Had to shake the nerves.

Third stage was a crit in the town of Devon which had a few time bonus prems during the race. I decided to compete for the prems knowing that this was probably eliminating my chances of the final sprint win. Ended up 6th place & kept GC.

My legs were not feeling great at all for the beginning of the fourth stage which was a 90km road race. The hamstrings were really tight so I knew I didn't want to gamble on a sprint. Early in the race was at the front feeling the presence of riders waiting for the chance to mark GC leaders. I eased up when a few riders went off the front as I was in the mood for some strong accelerations throughout the race. before the 30km mark I attacked the group approx half a dozen times trying to bridge to the 3 man breakaway. I was successful but by the time I got there the group was cooked. The peloton came back together shortly after. A few riders surged on a downhill section into the valley & I tried going with them to see if any separation would occur. Peloton stayed together & we all ended up climbing out of the valley in a large pack. A few good rollers were up ahead before the turn around & there were already 2 riders that had attacked up ahead. Patrick an Independent rider attacked to bridge & I went with him as we rode up to the 2 riders. We caught the break which were Isa & Dave H & we had a 4 man break at the turn around. Patrick & myself immediately took up the pace making as we saw the peloton was strung out at the turn around. In doing so Dave H played his team tactics of shutting me down in the race by disrupting our 4 man paceline. With this disruption 4 other riders caught us which brought the break away to 8. I attacked a few more times to see if we could get some separation but the break stayed together. The hill back out of the valley dropped Lance Adamson with Juventus, Dave H & Isa with PRW & we were down to 5 riders. I sensed a bit of fatigue from Chris H so I launched another half a dozen attacks once our 5 man selection was made. I was hoping he would get popped & his other teammate would be inclined to pace his GC man back up. Was almost successful but the group ended up staying together until the end. With all the attacks throughout the day I didn't have an enormous sprint but enough to take 2nd place & 1st in GC.

The GC win this weekend felt really good as I worked tremendously hard trying to force a break in the RR & it finally played out that way. Isolating riders in a break is something I feel will be a strength in the future.

Coach AKA Big Boss Man Jack VanDyk is putting me into another build phase before the upcoming Tour De Bowness stage race late July & Jason Lapierre race first week of August.

Congrats to all other racers this weekend & thanks to the Volunteers & town of Devon for hosting a great race.