The first half of May brought me near to the end of my first half of the road season, with only the East Midlands road championships left before a break in June. This month I have competed on the road and grass, firstly in the hilly 2nd round of the u23 national road series in Yorkshire and then taking to the grass track the week after in the Ashwell Spring Grass Track Meet.

After the opening round in the flat lands of Leicestershire, the u23 series moved northward to the Huddersfield area for a very different parcours 2nd time around. I felt that this was a course that suited me far more, with a 10 minute climb being the main feature of the lap. Although my run up to the race was far from ideal, having had blocked sinuses in the week, my legs were feeling good, and I was ready to race. It started fast, aided by the winding descent we were released onto after the roll out, and a small break went away early on, before the first climb, including my ever-present teammate Jacques Coates. I tried to be active in the potential bridging moves, jumping across to groups that looked to be going away on the steeper parts of the climb. However, I did too much of this, and when eventual winner Jenson Young made his move around halfway I missed the split in the bunch by a matter of metres, having the right position but finding myself unable to stay in the front 12 in the last 50-100m of the climb, and being blown backward in the crosswinds over the top.

All hope was not lost however, and I went clear with 1 and a half laps remaining with 7 others, putting me in the fight for a top 20 placing, which would mean series points. But, the long day and the rising temperature did not aid my legs come the final, and I was not one of the strongest in the group. Despite being tactical in the amount of work I did in the group, saving energy where I could, I succumbed to the tempo of the other guys on the final steep slopes with around 1km to go, and held on for 24th place on the day.

A nice result, but I was gutted to have not made the top 20 knowing that courses like this don’t come round often, having wanted to get a strong result on the day. I’m still happy with my shape, but once again I need to be more selective in my efforts.

Fast forward a week, to one of my favourite competitions of the year, Eurovision! Just kidding, it’s actually the Ashwell Spring Grass Track, where I was keen to set out my stall in the 8k and omnium events, ahead of the 8K national champs in July. The track at Ashwell is one I know well, having ridden there for many years as a youth. The hard climb and a fast off camber corner are it’s main features, meaning you have to be good technically as well as physically.

First, it was the sprints, a perfect opportunity to get my eye in at race speed on the tricky corner. A smooth run through qualification saw me into the final of the National Short Distance League, a race which consisted of the current national champion in the guise of Tom White and 3 former national champions over the 400m and 800m events. It would be tough, and I was immediately gapped off of the start line, but rode to a solid 4th place, putting me off to a good start in the omnium with the endurance events to come, where I could distance the sprinters significantly. The elimination and reverse win and out both went to plan, with me winning both, putting me into the omnium lead with only the 8k remaining, which is my favourite event, but as always, I faced strong competition from national champ Dave Mitchinson, amongst others.

The race started fast, accomapanied by commentary from GCN/Eurosport’s very own Jez Cox, and I looked to whittle down the large field as quick as I could, without doing too much. However, as usual, Dave made the first acceleration with 7k to go, which I followed and continued to ride to pull a small group clear from the sprinters, and soon we were down to 6. Another few laps went down, and by the halfway mark my hard pulls had put 3 of us in front. Myself, Dave, and Sam Daniels of CC Ashwell. I began to start the attacks with 3k to go, knowing the other two are very quick in the finish, and I could see I was putting them under pressure, so I continued to attack and slow until 2 laps (666m) to go, where I hit the front to lead out the sprint, giving myself the best chance of taking the win. I wound it up, only beginning to sprint fully with 200m to go on the back straight, driving hard to the line, taking the victory by a bike length and a half. A successful day out.

Now time for some training, before the East Midlands regionals on the road in June and the rest of the season in July, August and September.

Ciao for now, Nathan

On Easter Sunday, whilst most were sat eating chocolate, I was out racing the 152km Tim James Memorial National B. It was set to be a strong field out there, with many saying it was closer to a National A strength than a Nat B. The lap is largely flat, but punchy climbs punctuate the parcours, with multiple 200-500m climbs at 6-10% en route. A fast but testing course was to make it a tough race.

With this being the longest ever race I’d done, I decided to keep my powder dry in the first hour, but still managed to slot into a few big groups just to make sure the team was represented but not making any moves as such. Various splits slipped away, but it was too early for cooperation to begin.

After 1hr 30 of tentative moves, full blooded attacks began, and consequently the bunch split through the finish line climb, and a group of 15-20 riders went up the road, with the majority of teams represented. Fortunately, I had one teammate up there already in the shape of George Peden so was in the lucky position of waiting for others to make their move.

The gap was held at 30s for quite a while, with a lot of fire power still remaining in the bunch, but slowly group 2 syndrome crept into the peloton. With most teams represented, the gap went out to a minute at the 2hr mark.

With around 65k to go, over the top of Witham Hill the pace heated up, and I followed the front riders, resulting in me sneaking into a strong group of 8 riders, and after 45 long kilometres of organised chasing, we bridged the gap to the main body of the breakaway.

Once there I was just holding on to the group as I was cooked getting across, but I also thought I could do a decent finish in the sprint, so I surfed the wheels and saved energy, occasionally marking moves for George, who had done a fuga de la fuga (Literally break from the break – those who’ve watched the Movistar documentary will know!) and had gone clear once more. I waited again, and was feeling okay. However, once the sprint opened up, I began to go backwards, despite doing 500w the whole way up the finish climb!

Ultimately, I placed 26th, but I was in the front bunch and amongst a lot of strong riders at this level so happy with it. Probably my hardest earned 26th place ever too!

This month it was finally time to start my season on the road, kicking things off with the 134km Jock Wadley National B race in Essex. Located on Abberton Reservoir, the wind is often a factor, as there are many exposed sections, and there are a few short, sharp climbs to put a dent in the legs of many. The start list was strong, with full squads from St Piran, Richardson’s Trek-DAS and Embark-Spirit BSS present.
For us at Team PB Performance (https://www.pb-coaching.com/team-pb-performance/) it would be James Dent and Tom Charles that I lined up with.

As expected, it was a frantic pace as the race rolled out from the HQ(even in the neutral!). The race is released into the bottom of a short, steep kicker of a climb, and with that the first attacks went. The pace was high, and from what I could see, moves were mostly being covered over the country lanes on the first half of the course. However, once we turned onto the reservoir, it became apparent that there were more riders off the front than I realised!

A few groups went away on the first lap of 12, but I thought it was better to save my matches a bit, and try to get across later. There was little representation from big teams (ed. if I’d seen the exact riders that were away, I probably would have panicked!) in what turned out to be a 15 rider split so I didn’t feel the need to panic at such an early stage.
On the 2nd lap I attacked with a rider from St Piran and Richardsons, and we started to combine forces. We remained off the front in a trio for 10k before being caught by another group of 5 or 6, and we stayed at 20-30s behind the first group for almost an hour, and the gap started increasing again. St Piran started launching their riders across to the front, and I tried to go with one, but got completely guttered by him at 50kph and was dropped after a minute or so. He was the last to get across to the front, so it was worth the candle to attempt to stay with it, however there wasn’t exactly much I could do.

Eventually, the 15 rider “bunch” came up to us, and the last 50k were a get round mission, and then seeing what I could do in the final 5k or so, racing for whatever places were left. In my group, competing for the top 30, there were a flurry of late attacks, with a quartet darting off the front at 2k to go. I decided to wait for the final sprint, but we didn’t catch them. I took 3rd in the sprint from my group, finishing 35th overall.
All in all, it was an extremely long race, having to work in groups from almost the off. Maybe the result didn’t show my shape the best, but I still felt that I had good legs coming into the April race block. I think I would still play the race the same way if I did it again, but hopefully I can grow at some point, which would help see who’s going up the road.

2023 is my first year as a senior, and what better way to kick off a senior career than the National Track Championships! Having had a bit of track time over the winter through Loughborough uni, I decided to have a go at the nationals. Although I had been doing a lot of individual and team pursuit efforts at these sessions, bunch racing was very thin on the ground, having only appeared twice at the local track league in Derby. For context, my last indoor race was in 2021, at the national junior championships — a little while ago!

Although my focus was on the bunch races, I also wanted to do a timed event, and upon deciding this in mid-December, I felt the shorter event of the two, the Kilo would be easier to put together in a short space of time. For this, I had to go through Thursday’s qualification session, and if I made the standard of 1:06.00, I would be able to ride in Saturday’s final. Unfortunately, but as I expected, I did not quite get there, but still took a big chunk of time off of my previous PB, so I could not be disappointed with the ride, and I could take some confidence in my legs going into the weekend.

Saturday brought around the points race, my least preferred of the two bunch titles on offer that weekend. And with only enough riders to fill 2 heats, both were going to be difficult to qualify from. Eagerness and inexperience would prove to be my undoing over the following 60 laps, and having missed both lap-taking groups, I stood no chance of qualifying by the time the last couple of sprints came around. Mistakes were made, and lessons were learnt, but tactically I could only improve for the day after.

Sunday morning brought the Scratch race, my favourite race to do on the track. The lineup of the final was to be decided over 40 laps, across 3 heats of 16-17 riders, with the top 8 going through from each heat. As often the case with Scratch heats, it started out as a cagey affair, with short lived moves off of the front but all coming back together quickly. I was cautious with joining these moves, going in a few but never pulling harder than the bunch. Ultimately, in the last 10 laps it became apparent it would come down to a bunch sprint. I positioned myself on the inside, 3rd rider back, which was not a great position to be in at 4 laps to go. Luckily, the pace started to wind up, and no rider could move around the outside of the field. Just as I thought things would be okay, I suddenly got nervous. The rider in front of me started to lose contact with the front of the string, but luckily I could force a gap open above me, and move around to be 2nd on the inside, a marginally better position, proving to keep me safe enough to ride to 5th place, and more importantly qualify for the final.

I was nervous, but excited to be part of a National final. With a top class field present, it was going to be fast. I did everything I could during the day, to stay fresh and fuelled for the 80 laps, and felt that I could hold my own at this level. Then the race started. It was tough, and with the first 15 laps being run at over 53kph, I could quickly feel my legs filling with lactic. And things only got harder, and after only 25 laps I was off the back and out of the race. Ouch.

Maybe I would have hoped for more in the championships, but overall I was happy with the outcome. Making it into a final was an achievement in itself, and something I could be happy with. For next year, I can work on doing something in the final, but for now, the focus turns to the road season (or at least what’s left of it).

Ciao, for now

Nathan

It’s been a while since I last wrote anything on here, but with good reason. Life’s been busy. I have now completed my first term at university, changed teams and ridden a few thousand kilometres.

First some team news. In 2023 I am pleased to say that I’ll be riding with Team PB Performance, an Elite Development Team (EDT) here in the UK. My season will be focusing on the Tour Series and the hillier of the National A races (prems). I’d like to thank Tofauti Everyone Active for the last 2 seasons, giving me many opportunities to race some of the biggest junior races in the world, and giving me the support I needed.

At the start of October, I packed my bags and went off to Loughborough University, to study Natural Sciences, specialising in geography and physics. This has been a big, but enjoyable shift. Not only has it burst the bubble of being a full time bike rider after finishing A-Levels in June, but it has also meant I now need to do so much more, like my own washing and cooking. However, moving away from home has made me a more focused and well-rounded athlete (aside from freshers…). Since starting I have had to take on the role of being my own nutritionist and cleaner, alongside being my own coach, social media manager and rider agent. Did I mention I’m studying a degree?

So, why come to a small East Midlands town? I chose Loughborough because of how the course was set up, and the surrounding area of Leicestershire is great for riding, with it’s stunning scenery and quiet lanes. It also isn’t too far from home, only being a 90 minute drive up the M1. It was convenient that there were lots of good cyclists here, and that a strong setup exists around the uni. I can’t say it didn’t influence my decision to study here, but equally it was not the deciding factor. There are plenty of great non cycling things that drew me to Loughborough, like the on-site weather station and the high standard of teaching.

Getting involved with the Uni’s cycling squad (LCA) has been a relatively quick process, and soon enough, at the beginning of November, I was 2nd in the British University (BUCS) Hill Climb, which I was pleased with, as this was my first BUCS event and I was the youngest rider in the top 15. The climb used was Terrace Hill, near Belvoir Castle, a fairly short climb at roughly 2.5 minutes but it contains some steep pinches of over 10%. We were also the best team on the day, meaning I came away with 2 medals.

Only a week after the hill climb, it was time for the first Loughborough Performance Coaching training weekend. This is a very strong training group and setup based in Loughborough, headed by Phill Maddocks. Many of the UK’s strongest u23’s were present here, meaning it was going to be a tough weekend. In total, it was a 200 mile weekend, covered in 10 hours, safe to say I was done for after this. Both days were based out of Loughborough, so it’s convenient to have home training camps. The first day was 4.5 hours including sprint leadouts, and the second was 180k with a 15 minute chaingang every hour. Grim. I managed to hack round, just.

There is something about doing a big ride and coming back in to then revise for a few hours. It’s hard work, but I feel it is beneficial toward cycling and cycling is beneficial towards academia. It’s no different from A-Levels, yet it feels like a step up due to an increase in volume of both.

So what now? My next race will be the National Track Championships at the end of January, where I will ride the Scratch, Points and Kilo. Working with LCA closely on the track has been a big benefit already, so I hope to be able to put in strong performances in all 3 of the races.

I’d also like to thank Pedal Potential for continuing to support me into 2023. Their support makes a huge difference to myself and many others.

See you on the road! (Or track)

Following a slightly under par performance at the tour of mendips I was keen to go better in the junior tour of wales the following weekend. The race began with a short 8km time trial, which was uphill, on the far side of the infamous tumble climb that has characterised this race for a long period of time. This course suited me a bit better than the flat, technical circuit of Odd Down. However, despite doing a good performance for myself, it was only good enough for the 27th fastest time. Not where I had wanted to be after this stage, but I could take something from being in the top 6 fastest riders on the steep finish climb to the line, also earning me a point in the kom classification.

The 2nd day saw the introduction of a new stage, which was a hilly day through Powys with a summit finish on The black mountain. This was a day that a rider like me had marked before the race, with an eye on a potential stage win. There were also lots of points on offer for the KOM classification, with 3 cat 2 climbs and the cat 1 finish. I had one eye on taking a few points if I could, whilst keeping my powder relatively dry for the final.
At the top of the day, there was a big fight to be in the breakaway, but I thought the win would come from the bunch, given the amount of wide, fast roads on the race route. Just before the first categorised climb of the day, a small group had started to break clear. I went with this move, sat on the group, to try and get the points before going back to the bunch. However, the big names in the bunch were also interested in the points and I had to go a little harder than anticipated to take the points ahead of riders like Josh Tarling and Noah Hobbs.
A group of 8 established itself after 25k, but they would never take more than a minutes advantage on the peloton, dangling out there for much of the day. 2 riders, including teammate Mark Lightfoot, bridged across to make it 10 with just over an hour remaining in the stage. 20k later, attacks had started to fly from the front of the bunch, just before a gentle winding descent, a perfect road to breakaway on. Riders chipped off in ones and twos, so I knew that this could be dangerous. I went clear with another rider, and once the ones and twos had come together, I found myself in a 10 man group. We managed to get up to the front of the race over the next 20k, arriving around 10k before the foot of the finish climb, making there 20 riders in the front.
By the final kilometre, there were 6 of us left in contention for the stage win, with the bunch now almost 3 minutes behind. Noah Hobbs led the sprint from the front, winning, whilst I came in 5 seconds down in 4th, narrowly missing out on a podium spot. I was happy with this performance, but at the same time it was gutting to get so close and miss out on the stage win.
However, this result saw me gain 23 places on gc, and earnt me a stage in the KOM jersey at the infamous Pembrey Country Park circuit, so I was very pleased with my result.

Stages 3 and 4 are relatively flat, which is not my forte, so I knew it would be a day of suffering and hanging on to what I could on the GC. Stage 3 at Pembrey is known for crashes and incidents, so being in the front is necessary for this race. I safely navigated the 25 laps of the mile long circuit, seeing me drop one place in the overall, albeit to TT world champion Josh Tarling, so I wasn’t too put out. I also was no longer wearing the KOM jersey come the afternoon, but winning that classification wasn’t on my list of aims directly.
Stage 4 starts with a big climb away from the sea, before dropping onto a fairly flat and straightforward circuit, and would be almost exactly 100km. Unfortunately, on a fast main road in the first 20 minutes, there was a crash involving a lot of riders, almost a third of the bunch. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of racing on open roads, that avoiding crashes becomes harder as the bunch is only spread across one lane of traffic, and although this is only the 3rd crash I’ve seen on open roads, I do feel that in open-road races, coming off is a lot more dangerous. There is also a risk of riders crashing into the other lane or trying to avoid one and crossing the white line, to be greeted by an oncoming car, although fortunately I have never seen this. Due to the sheer number of different groups of riders spread across the course, and the lack of medical cover, the race had to be stopped, and neutralised to allow the peloton to get to the circuit safely and the riders requiring hospital attention could receive it.
Therefore, the race was essentially now a 50km kermesse race, and would be seriously fast. Upon restarting, attacks flew, with a mixture of gc threats and stage hunters. Eventually, the right combination went, a group of roughly 15 went away. This group would take the stage, causing the gc to be shuffled around once more before the tumble summit finish.

The last day started fast, as the race begun on a downhill dual carriageway, but the first 90k of the race was relatively easy in the wheels. Although the course was rolling, a plethora of fast descents made sure that the bunch stuck together for most of the day. Once the race was within 15k of the tumble, the attacks started to fly, and it was like the start of the stage once again, only this time groups were allowed to go. Myself and two teammates launched clear as part of a group of 6, around 10k from the bottom of the final climb, and we were joined at the front later to make a lead group of 10-15 riders with 5k to go. Once we were on the climb, the group was blown apart by natural selection, with everyone wanting to ride their own tempo on the fearsome 10% gradients. I paced my effort well, and was riding in 4th place for much of the climb, but I was overhauled by a trio from the bunch 100m from the line, putting me in 7th place on the day, and 7th on the final GC.

I also want to say a massive thank you to Pedal Potential for supporting me this year, as they have been a huge help in enabling me to race on the continent this year, gain invaluable experiences and some results I can be proud of.

The Junior Tour of Mendips is one of the bigger races that we have in the UK, and the final stage has what is likely the toughest parcours of any Junior National Series race. With a time trial, flat stage and a hill stage on offer it was set to be a hard-fought weekend with opportunities present for all types of riders. Having been up there as a first year in 2021, I had high hopes for this race, despite coming off the back of a reasonable hiatus from racing after suffering from fatigue in the first half of the season.

The race begun on the Friday, with a 7 mile TT around the Odd Down traffic free facility in Bath, making for a tight, technical race. This time trial did not go as planned for me, and although I felt okay with my effort, I was a little further down the results sheet than I may have liked, in 30th place, over a minute down on the race leader Noah Hobbs.

The second day brought the first road stage of this race, a 108km race around a 13km circuit (there was a preamble to the circuit before anyone says 13 doesn’t go in to 108) and with a very flat course the race was always going to be fast, and with crosswind sections on the course, the pace remained high with various attempts to split the group up coming back together into the last lap, where a lone rider had attacked and was chased by a small group, which had riders high up on the GC, and with myself further back in the classification I sat tight and hoped others would bring it back for the sprint, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I’m not a big fan of mass sprints, mainly through fear of crashing and having better chances on hillier stages, but I gave this one a go. I got caught on the wrong side of the head-cross wind sprint, and had to open up in the wind, which was challenging. I think I launched too early also, not anticipating the strain that 108km puts into the legs compared to shorter track races that I have been sprinting in lately. 21st on the day, and 13th from the bunch saw me into 24th overall due to some riders being distanced late on in the stage.

The third and final day was the infamous hill stage, made up of one (two if you count the neutral) of the 6 minute Rhoydate climb, with an average gradient in the double figures, and a maximum of 25%, and then 4 times up Harptree Hill, a 4-5 minute steep climb with a long false flat plateau over the top before the descent. It is a stage that even the strongest riders would suffer on. Being relatively low down overall heading into the day, at 1:18 to the race leader, I decided to head into the early breakaway, which was let go the previous year on this circuit, in the hope that the real GC climbers wouldn’t be allowed into the move, and it would come down to a small group burn-up on the small circuits. Around 10k before the first climb of the day, a group of 10 riders got clear of the peloton, which I was in, thankfully. It was mixture of rouleurs and climbers, so I was happy to roll through with this group, despite it containing two in the GC top 10. We quickly established a 30-40 second gap on the bunch before the ascent of Rhoydate, so the situation was looking good. However, the GC threat prompted a reaction from the bunch, forcing national champion Zac Walker to bridge across with 3 others to neutraslise the threat. This strengthening of the group allowed the gap to increase to over 2 minutes by the first lap of the small circuit. Riders lost contact quickly on the first ascent, and the group halved. The group would again halve the second time up, and I lost contact with what would be the front 4 with another rider, Ralf Holden. We worked to try and close in on other riders that had been dropped later on up the climb, but as we were closing the gap a non-race vehicle was allowed into the 30m gap between us and the pair ahead. This vehicle decided to repeatedly brake check us, and we were not able to close on those in front before the last 2 climbs. Over the top of the climb on the last lap, we were caught by the remains of the bunch. By the final kilometre, I had blown up from my earlier efforts, and could only manage 20th on the day, but I was happy to have given it a go for the stage win, despite the race not turning out in favour of the “stage hunters” like me.

I ended 19th in the overall classification, and 13th in the Climbers GC, not what I came for but still a National top 20 in this company is nothing to be sniffed at. We go again today at the Junior Tour of Wales, in which I hopefully can show myself more in across the 5 stages.

The month started by taking a couple of weeks off of the bike, allowing me to recover from a very active first half of the year and refocus before the biggest goals in August.
Since the break, I’ve felt far better than I did at any point from May onwards, so things are looking up for me. With only one race in this month, it is quite easy to define the level success during July.

The Bath RC National Junior Series road race was something I’d been looking forward to for a long time, as the race takes in some of my training roads, and is as close as I’ll get to a ‘home’ race. It’s a relatively flat course, but is seriously grippy, and with a couple of steep ramps it makes for a very attritional and attacking race.
The conditions on the day added to the attrition rate, with temperatures above 30 degrees by the end of the race.

As usual, the start of the race was fast up the first long drag, with many trying to get away, and after 10k a small group had established a lead of just over 30 seconds. However, the bunch controlled the move and it came back 15k later, kicking off the attacks again. I made a move solo, hoping others would join to make it a small group, but it was a couple minutes before 2 others started to bridge across the 20 second gap. We worked for 10k or so, before being joined by a 12 man group that had come from the bunch. This would prove to be the winning split, and the group managed to maintain some cohesion, and prized itself away from the bunch, before splitting on the finish line climb. I made the front split of 5, and we took a lead which extended to 45 seconds on the chasers. Two others bridged up to us with around 30k to go, helping to keep the pace in a slowing break. On the last of the 20k loops, another group joined us as the front began to finesse, bringing the group size to 10 riders with 10k to go. It was evident the winner would come from this, with the next nearest rider 90 seconds back, and the group started to attack itself. I held back, and saved it for the sprint on the final incline, but unfortunately when the time came I did not have the sprint I’d hoped for, taking 7th place.

However, I’m happy with the result and the way I rode, National top 10’s are proving to be hard to come by this year, and I’m feeling far stronger than I did a few months ago.

Next on the schedule is the Andrews Trophy National B, before going to the Junior Tour Of Mendips and Tour of Wales, and then finishing the season at the GP Ruebliland in Switzerland.

Until next time,

Nathan

What a month! It’s been very hectic recently, balancing sitting A-Level exams and racing often but it really has flown by. This month, I’ve so far raced in the National Championships, The Tour of the North West, and the fabled CiCLE Classic.

The National Championships this year took place in Yorkshire, on a rolling course which featured a steep climb and a very fast descent. It was a nice route, taking in some stunning countryside, not that we had time to look. I’d been targeting this race for a while, and was feeling good coming into it, and I felt I showed this being in the front 8 or 10 up the Bulmer Bank climb for the first 2 ascents. However, as we crested for the 2nd time, rain started to fall, making the roads very slippery suddenly. As I entered a tight s bend, I felt that I was carrying too much speed, so braked slightly, but unfortunately I went over a manhole cover whilst braking, causing my back wheel to lose all traction and I slid out, scraping all up the side of my leg from my knee to my hip. It was a very painful crash, as I had fallen on gravel and this had stuck into me as well, making for a very sore trip home.

The Junior Tour of The North West was a very hard race for me, having to revise in the evenings around the racing as I had three important exams the next few days.
It kicked off with a short TT, with times in the 8 to 10 minute range, set to produce a few time gaps before the road racing kicked off in the afternoon. It was an ok result for me, finishing 16th, a little lower down than what I’d hoped for but at only a handful of seconds down on the main protagonists I was not concerned. The second stage that afternoon was fairly rolling and twisty, and had potential to thin the bunch down, but a group sprint was likely to fight out the stage victory. With the stage only being 70k, it was a hot pace from the off, with attacks flying on the climbs. As I was a little bit down on the GC, I was active in these, but never managed to take a real gap on the group. The only move that stuck was Josh Tarling riding away from everyone, taking 2 minutes and essentially sealing the GC. The pace was still high behind him, but it was still a group of 40 sprinting it out for 2nd. I didn’t have good legs at any point, but I was hoping to ride into the race, and come good on the last stage, which had a significant climb, so appeared to suit me. I tried to get in the early break again, but I wasn’t allowed, and was repeatedly chased while others were allowed to go. However, I had terrible legs that day and ground to a halt after 45 mins of racing. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but I had felt fairly laboured coming into it despite not doing much in the week.

Next up, after a weekend away from racing, was the legendary CiCLE Classic, which I actually enjoyed this year, after last years failed get round mission. I was in good positions coming into the technical sections, and managed to stay in the front when the race split, making the lead group of 25 or so with over 60k to go. I managed to survive on the back of the group to the final kms, where the pace suddenly slowed and I launched a late attack with 5k to go, getting caught just before the town, eventually finishing 16th. I was satisfied with this result, and being in the front group with the UK’s top riders showed me that I was where I needed to be.

However, by this point of the year I have been feeling pretty tired recently, having targeted a couple of races earlier in the season, then hitting a peak at Nationals, although I couldn’t show that form unfortunately.

I went off to Acht Van Bladel UCI 2.1 with some hopes with the Tofauti boys that we could get a few results between us. However, these were quickly dashed on the first stage on Friday night when we all had a very tough evening for various reasons with none of us making the top 40 riders. Things were off to a better start the next day, but after the first 30 mins I was swinging badly on the back of the bunch. Eventually, after around 100k, my legs started to slow, and I very quickly found myself grinding to a halt. I was swiftly passed by the broomwagon and out of the race.

I think the high level of fatigue has been slowing me down a lot, and it’s not the first time this month that I’ve ground to a halt, so I’ll be having some time off the bike, to rest up and recover before the real big targets in August.

Over the course of a season, there are always ups and downs, lows and highs, but unfortunately for me this year so far there have been more low points than high ones. This year has been one marred by crashes, and looking at huge inconsistencies in my results. Of my 11 races this year so far, I have been in the top 10 4 times out of 7 finishes. Unfortunately this means that I have now DNF’d at 4 races, for 2 different teams. Yesterday, as I write this, at Liège Bastogne Liège after 79k exactly, 1 kilometre away from the bottom of the first decisive climb, there was a compression in the bunch, leading to a touch of wheels 2 or 3 guys in front and to the right of me, but unfortunately their bikes came left and threw me off balance, going head first off the roadside into a valley at 50kph. After sliding for a fair way, I came to an abrupt stop by going shoulder first into a tree. I got up and managed to get back to the road, but I assumed I’d broke my collarbone as my shoulder hurt and the shock was too great to continue. Once I popped it back in it actually felt ok, and the xray was all clear thankfully. 

A better weekend came right at the start of the month, racing the E3 Harelbeke, a Belgian Kermesse and Ixworth 234 in the same weekend. I want to say a huge thanks to Team Backstedt for taking me out to Belgium that weekend, and also for bringing me back. 

E3 was a hectic race, with riders even overtaking the neutral car to hold position before the race began. It was a long neutral zone, but thankfully once the race got underway things calmed down slightly. With 40k to the first climb, the Cote de Trieu, no one wanted to take it up so early on. As we approached the first sectors of cobbles, and the “mountain chain”, the pace ramped up, and with many guys wanting to be at the front there were quite a few crashes that had occurred, and for once I had avoided them. Through the next hour I sat in the bunch, surfing the wheels as the bunch started to slowly break apart, but up the Paterberg the race went extremely hard, and with everyone only riding the left hand gutter, it quickly got very full, and I made the mistake of joining the queue, rather than powering up the completely empty crown of the road. This caused me to lose around 30 seconds to the front 30/40 guys, and then I couldn’t come back from that on the Oude Kwaremont. Coming back to Harelbeke, I was in a small group of 5 that got very close to the back of the bunch, maybe 50m, but then a climb started and there was traffic coming out the back meaning that we never made it to the group. 

On the Sunday, we travelled over to Duisberg, near Brussels, for a Kermesse race. These are a staple of Belgian bike racing, and always hotly contested, so a fast pace was to be expected. Right from the off, a small group started to go, and I just happened to be on the wheels of the boys that made a move, dragging me clear with them. Fellow Brit and Backstedt rider Dylan Hicks latched on, and we soon had a force of 6 driving the pace, with over 80kms to go. However, the other riders were not strong, and Dylan and I rode away from them almost by accident. However, we were not going hard as we were expecting others to bridge up. However, we continued for a lap at a strong pace, and suddenly the car comes up to us and shouts “een minuten jongens” catching us both by surprise. We had not planned for this, but we were almost forced into continuing such was the gap. Another 10 km went by, and the commissaire, rather excitedly, gave us “een minuten en viertigvijf seconden”. At this point, we really pressed on, hoping to make the bunch sit up, but the gap started to close, and we got news of 6 lads at a minute. Still, too big of a gap to wait. We were caught at 20k to go, after the chasers had chased for at least 30 mins. I saved some energy, and secured the KOM prize, but over the top of the sprint, one guy went, and I could not hold the wheel. We never saw him again. With 1k to go, the bunch came back to the group for 2nd place. Mattie Dodd, another Brit joined us at the front ready in the leadout train to get Dylan on the podium. We did a great job of the leadout, getting a 2-3-4 and top 3 in the front group, but we couldn’t catch the winner. 

A swift transfer to the UK and on the Monday it was back in the car for the famous Ixworth Crit. Although only a Regional A class race, it is always fast and furious on the 800m village loop. With 4 team riders present, we all went in with a plan to light up the race, and that’s what we did. For the whole 50 minutes, there was always one of us on the attack. After half an hour, I was really feeling the hot pace after my exertions over the weekend, and was getting distanced from the leading group, but then the pace slowed and I came with some momentum straight over the top of the group, legs absolutely screaming with lactate and heart rate far too high, and went all in to try and gain a gap, in the process setting a new 1 minute seated power PB. After 90s, I was caught, much to my relief almost, and my teammate Joseph Smith went straight over the top and created a race winning gap, which he held to the line. Callum Laborde and Mark Lightfoot filled out the podium spots and I placed 6th. It was great to have gone in with a plan and finished it off, I think all 4 of us celebrated through the line!

Hopefully things will get better soon, and I can write something with happiness next month. Thanks to everyone for their continued support, and at some point, I’ll be back at the front end of the bike race.