Hey again,
Well, we have just finished today and things could not have turned out better. We jumped Karl into a podium position after we got him into a late break on the 5th and last big road stage. He took 55sec from 3rd and the yellow and moved into 3rd. Only a crit to go so there wont be much chance to take the overall but we will try for a stage victory. The day wasn't without its dramas, Karl dropped his chain with about 6km to go up the big climb and Jai and I had to wait for him. We waited and started to drive it up and over the hill. With all the hitters in the front group it was going to be tough. It took about 40km with the 3 of us pulling hard turns but we finally rejoined and it was awesome. We kept the heat and pressure on them and he finally got away in that late break. I also moved up the general classification into 24th, in the money.
Today we had the crit and the rider in 4th was determined to get away. Our whole team rode the front and controlled the race with marco polo and we wouldn't let anyone get any further than 10 seconds to threaten our podium. We muffed up the final sprint and only managed 4th for the stage, but we took 3rd in the GC and I moved up into 23rd to finish up.
I'm wrapped with that, especially due to the severity of some of the climbing that this tour had. Nothing like the track. I was worried I would be completely out classed, but the team and myself are extremely happy with the job I did and where I finished. Only 18 mins down, after riding hard and on the front for a lot of the race and chasing for Karl.
Certainly one of the most valuable racing experiences I've had yet.
We now have about 4 days in Korea, for a bit of recovery and then we fly out to Nevada (USA) to race another tour. We are all confident with how we have performed that we can make an impression on the US circuit.
I'll let you know how we fare in the US when we get there. Stay safe everyone.
Later.
Richard