With the Belgium Tour completed, I had just one race left in
the first half of my season. I had the best form of the whole season so far and
was really excited for my second WorldTour race, the Criterium du Dauphine.
Used as preparation for many of the Tour de France contenders, it would
definitely be a tough race. We were taking a young team to hunt stage wins
primarily, but Daan and I would also have the opportunity to give the GC a
shot.
I was under no delusions, however, that I would be a true GC
contender like Froome or Contador, but I was hopeful that I could perhaps make
a top-15 or top-20 result. It all
depended on which legs I brought to the race—whether my good form would
continue to build after California and Belgium.
The first stage was a 10km TT that featured a short climb
and very technical descent in the middle. The beginning and end were flat with
a handful of fast corners. Seeing as my best TT results are in short time
trials, I was especially excited for this one. I was able to get 2 laps in
before my race and planned my pacing around the climb in the middle. Basically,
the top of the climb was nearly a finish line in itself, as the descent would
provide at least a minute of recovery. I started off just as planned, averaging
450W for the first 6 minutes to the top of the climb (including 2 minutes on
the climb at 500W). I was pretty well gassed at the top but knew that recovery
was on the way, and was only 8 seconds behind Nibali at the time check.
I took the descent as fast as I could, but I’m just not very
comfortable descending on the TT bike. I never understood, while watching races
on TV, when the commentators said that handling these bikes at speed can be
awkward. I told myself that when I became a pro, I would show everybody how to
rail corners with a TT bike. Now that I’m here…let me say that I can corner
very well on flat ground, but when pointed downhill, things become awkward. The
forward position on the bike, the very low handlebars, and brakes that behave
differently than on my road bike all combine to make for an awkward descent.
All that to say that I was only average on the descent. To
go really fast you had to take real risks, so I’m sure I lost a little time to
some, but I made it to the bottom safely and ready to put the power down to the
finish. But it seems I left my legs at the top of the hill, as I struggled to
make it to the finish. I wasn’t helped by the headwind that had been building
all day, which was much stronger for the final riders than those who started in
the morning. But even without the headwind, I failed to average even 400W for
the final 6 minutes.
It seems that I had not done quite enough in the way of
openers before the race and my legs didn’t want to make a second effort. I had
taken a pretty easy week after Belgium, and at this point in the season my body
thought that meant it was time to go into recovery mode. My effort in the TT
was good enough for top-50, 30 seconds behind Froome’s winning time. Had my
legs performed as expected, I would have been 15 seconds faster in that last 6
minutes. Oh well, nothing to do but move forward onto the next stage.
Not much of interest happened on stage 2 until the final
climb. The breakaway got clear immediately, as the field wanted a relaxed stage
until the end, when they knew that Sky would bring it back so the GC riders
could have it out. The day was really hot, though. I was going through bottles
faster than all of my teammates but still felt like I was playing catch-up with
hydration the whole day. I was comfortable on all the climbs throughout the
stage, so I was hopeful for a good finish. I was proud of myself for how well I
was holding position at the front before the climb, but then it fell apart for
me right at the most crucial moment, and I entered the climb mid-pack.
I was immediately in difficulty, and trying to decide how
long to hold on. I know that I can’t climb with the big guys all the way up, so
it’s always a question of when to drop off the pace. If I fight for too long, I
could do more harm than good if I have to back off to recover. But dropping off
immediately, if it’s a fast climb, means I’m wasting energy in the wind. I
ended up holding on to the leaders’ pace for 9 minutes at 400W, still going a
bit too deep and having to slow down and recover in the middle of the climb.
Again, my legs were disappointing as I went on to finish nearly 5 minutes down
from Froome after averaging just 360W for the 40-minute climb. The heat may
have contributed, as Daan also fell apart. Once again, nothing to do but look
towards the remaining stages.
Stage 3 looked to be the most likely stage for a sprint
finish, so we were all-in for Nikias and Reinardt. Just as the day before, a
break of 3 rolled away immediately. It was another hot day, and we would have a
headwind all-day. The break was struggling the whole day, so we were going
excruciatingly slow behind. By the 3 hour point, we had only covered 90km of
the nearly 200km day. Sky was riding the front easily and the gap was barely
increasing. Eventually Trek and FDJ contributed riders to the chase, as they
wanted a field sprint, but they were going too fast. The gap plummeted to 3
minutes with 90km still left to race. We were asked to contribute a rider to
the chase, but there was simply no reason with a gap so small.
We wound our way through a valley with rolling climbs and
descents on small roads that were literally melting in the sun. They were
freshly chip-sealed and the tar was sticky, causing us to fling gravel
everywhere with our tires. With the last climb of the day nearing, we wanted to
get the team together so Nikias and Reini could start it at the front. On one
fast downhill section, there was a hole in the road on the slick melted tarmac.
The rider in front of me panicked to avoid the hole and got into the rider next
to him, coming back
into me. I had to slam on the brakes while I bounced off of
them, and was consequently slammed by the rider behind me. I got tossed forward
but managed to stay on my bike, but I heard the unmistakable sound a huge
pileup behind me. We knew that Reinardt had at least been held up by the crash,
but weren’t certain that he’d gone down. We later found out that on the melted
road surface, his front wheel washed out as soon as he touched the brakes.
Thankfully he only suffered some road rash and was able to chase back after the
final climb with the help of Dries and Thierry.
Up ahead, we were doing our only real effort of the day on
the last climb. I averaged 380W for 11 minutes, but it was hot enough that it
felt like a lot more. After the descent, the last 40km were dead flat and
straight, so the field regrouped. The original break was nearly caught, and
while teams decided who should control the front, more riders attacked. At one
point there were 8 riders getting away, with less than 20km remaining. We put
Thomas and Daan in the chase while the rest of us stayed together further back
and waited for the right moment.
Since we didn’t have a team for a proper leadout, our plan
would be to take control around 3km to go. Ideally, we would stay in control
until 1km to go, at which point there were several corners. Then, Nikias and
Reini could move onto another team’s leadout. We just had to keep them in front
until that point. Once the break had been pulled back, we started moving up on
the right side. The road had periodic roundabouts that we had to navigate, but
was fairly wide and straight. We stayed patient, and always hard right on the
road so that we only had to defend our position from one side. Finally we
arrived at the front with 7 riders, taking control at 4k to go. A bit earlier
than planned, but not a bad decision it turned out. I knew that I was to get
them inside 2k to go, so Dries and I traded pulls for a bit until it was time
to start winding it up. Dries had an awesome pull to get to 2k, so I just had
to keep the pace high as long as I could manage. We reached a narrow section
with road construction that made us glad to be on the front, as there had been
no mention of it in the race manual. I finally swung off at 1.5k to go. Thierry
and then Johannes kept the guys in position until 1k as planned, where they
entered the final turn in 10th position. In the long sprint, it
ended up being Nikias who came out
fastest and held on to win by inches with Reinardt rounding out the podium for
3rd. We were all incredibly excited to have taken a stage—we now had
a result to hang our hats on for the week! Although it was a long stage and was
fast at the end, I averaged only 195W for 5.5 hours.
Stage 4 would finish with the famous descent into Gap—you know,
the one where Lance rode across the field after Beloki’s crash. The stage was
set up perfectly for a breakaway to survive. Sky would let a break that didn’t
pose a GC threat get away, then they could ride at a comfortable pace and not
take risks on the descent to the finish. With that in mind, I wanted to be in
the break. There’s only one way to win with that finish, and it’s solo. Attack
over the top of the climb, rail the descent, post up. That’s what I had in mind…me
and 160 other guys.
Even though we expected a big fight for the breakaway, I was
still hopeful that it would get away quickly, so I made sure to be at the front
following moves from KM0. That’s when I learned that a ‘big fight’ for the
breakaway in a WorldTour Race is a very different thing than at other races
like Tour of California. It seems that when you remove the Continental Teams
and add in a dozen more ProTour teams, the effort required to make the break
goes up as well. Who knew?
I averaged 425W for the first 5 minutes, jumping into
several moves. Then I did my best to recover for a few minutes before we reached
a low-grade, uncategorized climb. Certain that the field would not want to
chase full-gas on the climb, I started jumping in moves again… With 2K still to
go on the climb, I was just trying to hang on, averaging 417W for 11min. We got
over the top and the attacks continued. By the time I was recovered and able to
get back to the front 10 minutes later, a large break had finally gotten away
without any of us in it. The highest-placed rider in the move was only a couple
of minutes down, so Sky started riding immediately to keep the gap small.
Nothing else happened until the final climb, where I decided
to see if I could stay with the leaders over the top. The gap was still small
and there was a chance that the break would come back, so I wanted to be there.
The other guys would save their energy for the coming stages, but agreed to
help me start the climb at the front. The fight was on a really fast, wide
downhill, a high-speed washing machine. Reinardt and I were doing a good job of
staying together at the front, but got screwed by a rider that chose the long
way around a key roundabout. We had already slowed down to take the short way
through when he suddenly swung left, pushing us out. At that point we were
nearly at the climb and the road had narrowed, so I was forced to start the
climb pretty far back. As soon as the road pitched up, dozens of guys sat up
for the grupetto and I as faced with a 50m gap to the main field. Unsure if I should
pull the plug, I decided to calmly give chase and see what happened. I rode a
hard pace for a couple of minutes and managed to regain the field. They were
climbing at a hard pace, but I was even comfortable at times. It was here that
I wished I had some of my matches back from earlier in the stage—Hesjedal and
Van Garderen attacked and I didn’t quite have the legs to follow. Most of the
breakaway stayed away, and the winner was solo, of course. Even though the
leaders didn’t go full gas over the climb, it was good for my head to make the
front group.
I wanted to be in the break again on stage 5. But the break
had succeeded the day before, so now the fight was even harder now that guys
really believed in it. Ever the optimist, I still burned matches following
moves in the first 5 minutes, averaging 445W before I had to ease off. After
recovering a bit, I was trying to get back to the front when the huge pileup
occurred, blocking the road. In my effort to avoid piling on top, I ended up
riding off the road along with many other guys. While I was hiking back to the
pavement, Reinardt, Johannes, and Thierry were assessing their injuries.
Thankfully all were able to continue.
With so many guys down and the break still not gone, the
field self-neutralized for a while. Then the attacks started again. I knew I
needed to be up there, but my legs were feeling a bit empty after the previous
day’s efforts. Nikias and Dries were doing a ton of work to be in the move and
couldn’t last forever. I finally was able to cover one big move before Dries
was able to escape with several others. At this point we were 50km into the
race and were running out of water quickly. The field eased up until Europcar,
who had missed the move, put their team on the front and chased full gas up the
category 2 climb, causing the field to explode into several groups. We finally
eased up once we reached the bottom on the other side. The break was now close
to 20 riders, and again Sky had to keep it on a short leash. In the end, Nikias
was our top finisher on the day after Dries cracked after a really tough day
out front. The rest of us cruised in ready to fight another day.
Stage 6 was another perfect stage for a breakaway. This time
I tried to be a bit smarter about which moves I was following. My legs felt
better but I didn’t want to waste a bunch of energy needlessly. I still
averaged 420W for 8 minutes at one point. We were doing a really good job as a
team of making sure to have somebody in every move, and finally Thomas got away
with another big group and the field relaxed. The race went by quickly as Sky
couldn’t give the break much time. Thomas would go on to finish 13th
when the break made it to the finish while the rest of us enjoyed a stress-free
ride to the finish.
Not that morale was hurting, but it certainly received a
boost when I found a piano waiting for me at our hotel. I finally had a chance to show my new team
what I can do!
Stage 7 was going to be a kick in the pants no matter which
way you sliced it. The stage had over 4000m of climbing (14000 feet) on 5 tough
climbs. I gambled that, with such a tough stage, the break would go before the
first climb. So I was in just about every move before that first climb,
averaging 390W (417NP) for the first 20 minutes of the race. Then we reached
the climb and the attacks continued—my gamble had backfired.
What I also didn’t anticipate is that my left Achilles was
sore from the start. It’s a problem I used to have frequently years ago, but
now it usually pops up once a year and I can predict the type of race that will
cause it. With massage, stretching, and tape, I’ll be fine, but that’s not
possible during the stage. This time, it caught me by surprise. After going so
hard at the start, it became really sore on the climb. I was gassed and in
pain, and getting dropped. I pushed to average 340W for the 30-minute climb and
then had some chasing to do.
I was really struggling mentally at that point. I was
intimidated by the thought of all the climbs still to come if I was already in
pain, and learned that Thierry had crashed and abandoned the race along with
Reini, who had finally pulled the plug after 2 hard crashes earlier in the
week. I really wanted to quit, but thanks to Christian for the encouragement
and a bit of motorpacing, I was back to the field when they stopped for a pee
break. After a visit to the medic’s car for some numbing spray and ibuprofen, I
decided to push on and see how the rest of the stage went.
Thankfully the stage was relaxed over the next two climbs
and I was able to sit in without too much discomfort. Then on the penultimate
HC climb I immediately joined the grupetto and took it as easy as possible to
the finish. As my reward for finishing, we got to descend the final climb,
which was a lot of fun. As an added bonus, I had finally cracked 5000kJ for the
first time all year after coming so close many times.
This time, I did need a morale boost, and I found it in
another piano at our last hotel. With the late start of the final stage, I was
able to get in nice practice session after dinner and breakfast, which put me
in good mood for sure.
The final stage was a short one at only 130km, but it was
not going to be a parade. Thanks to massage, stretching, and some tape, my
Achilles felt great. I was excited to finish the race strong, wearing myself
out before my summer break.
We got started with a
10k descent, straight into a cat 2 climb. Johannes managed to slip away with
the group that split off on the descent, but I was biding my time. As the
descent flattened out, I worked my way to the front. When we reached the base,
I was in the top 10 and ready to go. Things went crazy immediately with a lot
of big names attacking. I felt good but still did not have the legs to go on
the attack there. I just wanted to hang on and save my matches for later, so I
slotted in behind the TInkoff team, expecting that they would pull things back
together. I averaged 410W for 12 minutes just to stay in the front group as the
field exploded, so it was clear that the break was filled with really strong
riders.
By the time the road flattened out at the top, there was a
big group off the front with the likes of Talansky and Van Garderen, etc.
Then I made the tragic mistake of failing to consider that
it was the last stage and that it was a war out there. I didn’t even try to be
at the front for the next climb, expecting that Tinkoff would just set a fast
pace until the base of the penultimate climb, at which point everybody would go
as fast as they could. So I was nowhere near a position to follow when Sky
attacked at the base of the climb, taking Contador with them.
I got to the front as quickly as I could. I still felt
really good and was climbing comfortably. My only hope was that Contador’s team
(most of whom were back in the main field) would be able to chase back the
attacking group so that they could help him. They chased for a long time, but
it would never come back together and we just cruised to the finish. It was a
really exciting race--made even more so when the rain started—and I felt good,
but I wasted my opportunity with a moment of inattentiveness.
So while I left the week without a result personally, we did
win a stage. And while my legs were never quite what I was hoping for, I felt
best on the last day, which is a long way from how Catalunya went for me. On
top of that, Dauphine was harder than Catalunya by the numbers. All things
considered, I’m very encouraged with the form I was able to carry through
California, Belgium, and Dauphine, and I think it bodes well for the rest of my
season that I was able to reach my summer break without being physically ruined,
something that has never happened before.
Now I get to kick back and relax for a few weeks. I sure hope I can find a way to enjoy Tuscany in the summer....
