The two days between GP Marseillaise and Etoile de Besseges
were nice. We’d get a good night’s sleep, then have a solid breakfast from the
hotel (enhanced by the soigneurs’ grocery runs for condiments and other
miscellaneous desirables). Then we’d get out for a ride by late morning and
enjoy the nice weather while it lasted. After the ride: lunch, massages, and
general relaxation until dinner. It’s a
hard life, but somebody’s got to do it.
Etoile de Besseges is a 5-stage race: 4 road races, each in the neighborhood of
154km/95mi, capped off by an 11km time trial that finishes with a tough climb.
The road races traditionally finished in reduced field sprints because the
courses were challenging. In our arsenal, we had John Degenkolb and Tobias
Ludvigsson, dangerous in reduced field sprints and climbs/TT’s, respectively.
So we had a legitimate chance of winning every stage and the GC. The rest of
the crew was well-rounded with me, Tom Stamsnijder, Dries Devenys, Albert
Timmer, Jonas Ahlstrand, and team captain Roy Curvers.
I was much less anxious before the race start than just a
few days earlier. It’s surprising what just getting the first race out of the
way will do for your mentality. It had rained overnight and there was still
standing water on the roads, but we were unsure if we would get more rain. That
question was answered while waiting at the start line. The spectators were
amused that we were crowding under the protection of their umbrellas while
waiting for the start, considering what we were about to do.
Shortly after the race started, Tobias had a small crash
during a sidewalk adventure, but escaped with some minor scrapes and
bruises. The break of the day escaped
early, and we all relaxed for a bit as we continued to get soaked through. We
weren’t cold while racing, but the coast-off to give the break some leash
changed things quickly. We all went back to the car to get our rain jackets—we
were already soaked, but the jackets would at least help us retain heat.
The stage was rather uninteresting, aside from puddles so
large that we were joking at the dinner table that some of the smaller riders
needed snorkels. There was one ‘climb’ that we did twice for KOM points. It was
about 2 minutes at 15% grade. The first time we climbed it, I wondered if we
were racing up somebody’s driveway, it was so narrow and potholed. The field
strung out along the top and especially down the backside. The second time over the top, we made doubly sure
to be close to the front. Sure enough, the field split into multiple groups on
the backside, and we managed to get our whole team in the front group.
Then things turned sour for us. John realized that his rear
tire was going soft. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but the field was
spread out into multiple groups and the cars were all behind the rearmost
group, not even in sight. We waited as long as possible to see if the cars
would get to us, but after about 10 minutes (only 40km remained in the race),
it was clear that we would have to settle this ourselves. I was chosen to bite
the bullet for John, as I was the least experienced with the leadouts. So I
pulled him to the front of the field, where we immediately swung off and came
to a quick stop. I gave him my rear wheel and a push, and then a few of the
guys paced him back up to the group. I picked up my bike and waited for a new
wheel, then did a bit of motorpacing to get to the chase group that had been
holding the cars up. The group didn’t have the legs or motivation to get back
to the leaders, so we cruised into the finish. Up ahead, the break had managed
to stay away by just 20 seconds, with John winning the field sprint for 7th.
It was hard not to think how things might have been had John not flatted, as I
would have been able to help with the chase.
The sun came out for stage 2 and we enjoyed a nice ride once
the break got away. Before that happened, though, things were chaotic. We
didn’t want to be in the break, but we had to make sure that other teams with
sprinters weren’t in it, either. Constant attacks went for half an hour before
the right combination of riders finally got clear. Tom joined in the pace-setting
at the front, as the leader’s team was obviously not very experienced. Rather
than set a steady pace all day, they would go hard on the climbs and take it
easy on the downhills. Under Tom’s guidance, things were better.
The race would end with laps of a 7k finishing circuit that
featured a 5-minute power climb. The break still had a couple of minutes at
this point, so John asked me to give Tom some backup. Over those laps, our pace
continued to accelerate as the time gaps started falling. On the penultimate
lap, the break was finally within shouting distance, and a few riders from the
field attacked. We couldn’t risk letting fresh legs get far up the road, so we
increased our pace further. I had the
satisfaction of ending the chase with a downhill pull over 70kph towards the
end of the lap. Then the front was swarmed with leadout trains fighting for
position going into the hill for the final time. I sat up and rode to the
finish. John was barely outkicked at the line, finishing second.
The rain came back for stage 3, which would be very similar
in nature to the GP Marseillaise…tough all day. We would do 3 laps of a big
loop that included 1 big climb and 3 smaller climbs. The big climb started just
a couple of minutes into the race. We didn’t even go hard for the first portion
of it, and I still averaged 400 watts for 12 minutes—those last 5 minutes at
460 is where the race really exploded. Then we stayed strung out down the
twisting, wet descent and through the next town, all the way to the next climb,
where the pace never relented until finally a small group got away.
By the time we bottomed out on the next descent, the time
gaps were quickly going up. We didn’t have the luxury of playing the poker game
of seeing which team would work on the front all day, as the breakaway was not
the usual tactical composition—it was one filled with really strong riders who
could very well go all the way to the line if we weren’t careful. Roy made the
call to start riding quickly so that we could limit the damage. Albert and Tom
were selected to set the pace, while the rest of us saved our energy for later in
the race. Those two were absolute motors, I was thoroughly impressed. On lap 2,
Lotto-Belisol contributed a rider to the chase, and the gaps stayed steady at a
few minutes.
The feed zone was just before the final lap started, and I
took a musette so that Tom and Albert could continue setting the pace
undisturbed. I pulled everything out as quickly as I could, while getting
pushed back in the group as everyone fought for position. With my pockets
stuffed, I made my way back to the front where I refueled the workers. When we
reached the steep part, the attacks started flying and I quickly learned that
my legs were nowhere to be found. I fought as hard as I could and managed to
get over the top just off the tail end of the main group. Good thing I’m
comfortable with wet descents by this point! I was on the back of the lead
group by the bottom, and enjoyed the more calm pace set on the next climb after
the team had regained control of the front. By the bottom of the next descent,
I was back to the front.
Tom had been dropped on the big climb, so now I was in the
rotation at the front as we slowly reeled in the break. On the final climb of the day, I had to sag
climb while attacks were going, and hang on to the back of the group again. Then
on the descent I once again made my way back to the front and jumped back in
the rotation.
We got to the finishing circuits just a couple of minutes
behind the break, and the pace was ratched up to 50+kph on the flats. More
teams had pitched in with the chase, and now we had about 8 guys on the front
going full gas. With about 8k remaining, I finally ran out of steam. I thought
that was the end for me, but I managed to hang on to the tail end until an
easier section of the circuit. “I’ve got one more effort in me” was the phrase
of the day, so I took the hot route around the outside in the double left turn
after the finish line and ended up next to Roy and John. With the field strung
out, I kept them out of the wind, then on command hauled them back up to the
front before the fight for position began. With that, I was truly done. John
got 3rd. We were so close every day, we knew that eventually it had
to all come together for us.
Stage 4 would be our last chance for a field sprint, and of
course it was raining. I was ready to go when the flag dropped and jumped on
the first move of the day when several riders from big teams were in it. We
immediately got the gap up to 30 seconds on the gradual climb, but it was
obvious that somebody was giving chase behind, and it wasn’t Giant-Shimano. So
that was good. We continued to push the pace up the climb, but the gaps weren’t
growing much. That was partly to do with the poor rotation in our group. One
rider in particular was feeling good and would accelerate hard every time he
reached the front, and the rest of us spent our energy closing gaps that he
caused (rather than driving the group ourselves). We reached the top of the
climb after averaging over 400W for 14 minutes, and I willingly took the front
on the descent. It’s just so much fun. We reached the bottom, and once again
our rotation was spoiled by Mr. Fresh-legs. Our time gap started to drop after another hard
15 minutes, and finally he surged so hard on a small climb that he split the group
while I was at the back. My legs were zapped, and I ended up going back to the
field with a couple other riders. This put our team in a bad position, but FDJ
had already taken up the chase and were getting help from the Colombian team,
so we didn’t have to help.
The finish circuits featured a steep 500m climb that ruined
what was left of my legs. I managed to get to the front when it was a bit
calmer and help keep our leadout train in position, but as soon as the pace
picked up I was more help by getting out of the way. John took 2nd
in the brutal uphill sprint. Having racked up several 2nd places
myself at the start of last season, I could definitely feel for him. But I know
he’s going to be ripping legs off soon and the wins will start coming in. I’ll
be glad to be a part of it!
The time trial would be held under beautiful weather, and we
were all looking forward to finishing the race strong. There was absolutely no
pressure on me, but the course suited me perfectly. The question was: were my
legs up to it? I gave it my best, but that was only good enough for 37th
on the day. After taking a thorough beating this week, my legs just need a bit
of rest and I’ll be flying later this spring.
The real news was with Tobias and John. Tobias, who had laid
low for the most part through all of the other stages while staying close on GC,
was finally being let out of his cage for the time trial. And boy did he shred
it! He won the stage by enough of a margin to also take the GC, and in the
process put an end to all of the ‘almosts’ we’d experienced in the first 4
stages. John, to his credit, put in an equally impressive ride to take 6th
on the stage and 3rd in GC. To cap it off, he also took the Sprint
Jersey, and we won the Team GC.
After a week of hearing about the Dubai squad
winning every sprint, and the incredibly dominant women’s squad in Qatar, we
could not be happier than to have our hard work and sacrifices pay off with a
big win for the Besseges squad!
It’s shaping up to be a very good year for Team
Giant-Shimano—I can’t wait for the next race!
