Triptyque Ardennais

May 26, 2003 Finally some nice weather in Belgium. The Ardennes was a tough challenge I am pleased but yet upset with my performance. I was able to finish this year’s race but seemed to always be a little behind when it mattered most. Since steep climbs used to be my specialty and they are where I suffered most during this race I feel very disappointed. I felt very strong the whole race and was able to accomplish my goal of finishing.
Triptyque Ardennais started on Friday with a 159 km stage. This year’s first stage was a far cry from the hard charging race from the year before. It seemed like we were waiting for someone to take charge all day and riders were doing crazy things to get to the front of the pack. On thin finishing circuit the race finally started breaking up. I was unfortunately at the back because I didn’t feel like risking my life to hold my position. I was not able to close all the gaps that opened in front of me. By the top of the hill a 200-meter gap had opened between my group and the front 66 riders and no one seemed to want to chase. it was a very uneventful ride to the finish for me.
Stage 2 started in the rain and I was very nervous because after the dangerous riding I had seen the day before I was sure there would be a lot of crashes in the rain. The 102 km course was an eventful race with short steep climbs throughout the course and sprint and climbing points available every 10 km or so. I tried to stay near the front to avoid the same mistake that had taken me out of the overall race contention the day before. I stayed in the top r\twenty for most of the day except for the final sprint where I decided to save my energy for the afternoon individual time trial.
Stage 3 was a 13 km individual time trial it was also raining for my ride. the team had given me the full Time trial kit consisting of aero bike, aero helmet and long sleeve skin suit. I started the time trial fast but soon realized the bike was to small and I broke the handlebars when my knees slammed them while standing to sprint out of the turns. it was a neat experience to race such a technical course with such nice equipment but I felt I had not prepared correctly and hopefully in the future I will not make such mistakes.
Stage 4 the final stage, was the toughest day of racing with a very tough and long course. Triptyque Ardennais overall classification is always decided on the final stage because it is so tough. I felt good and tried to stay near the front but it was hard, everyone wanted to finish knew that it was important to stay at the front. the race went up some twisting accents that I rode very well and then down some wicked decent that pushed our handling skills to the limit on the narrow roads. I hit a top speed of 105 km/h on one of the decent. every thing was going well until we hit a climb that the race was to go over twice and was located just 8 km from the finish. I rode the steep part of the climb well but the 2 km gradual climb to the top cracked me and I was chasing the rest of the way but I was able to finish.
The race was perfect training and I feel very strong now ready to tackle anything.