I have just returned from another week in Spain but before all that I had alot of other stuff going on. I was back doing some races for the Cinelli team which was the Denain race. After seeing our friends Luke and Sarah off on the Monday, Tuesday I had to myself and then Wednesday I was at the Booischot house cleaning and fixing wheels from Drenthe before leaving to Denain. Once at the hotel for the race, there was more work to be done with bikes to check over and a new bike for Vdb to be built as well as one for Bert. There was two guys from Cinelli so it was important the bikes looked good [like fresh bar tape fitted, white looks crap when its dirty]and all in order. Dinner that night was about 9pm for about 15 minutes then it was back on the tools to finish up an hour or so later. As for the race, not much happened that I can remember. Then I also did the Duren [Germany] race with the team a few days later, but this time I gave the car role over to Wim and I did the feedzone. It was just one of those days where I wasn't up to sitting in a car, plus I did the race the previous two years.
Monday had come around again already and Lindsay's Dad was arriving for a two week visit. He had to tag along the first week as Linds and I had arranged appointments. I had set myself up as a freelance mechanic but now it was time to make it official, so we had appointments with the local doctor, the tax man, then had to go to the town hall for some letter I needed to take with me to the chamber of commerce to register as a indpendant [freelancer], then i was able to finally open a business bank account. All this took two days, and on top off all that I had driving lessons [for a dutch licence], and I was running around getting a few things for my next trip. Then I was off to Spain with Rock Racing again. I went over to Geraardsbergen to stay the night at a BnB just down the road from Rudy's as I was picking up Willy and Wilfred at 6am. This is the third time I've driven across France in like a month, Im getting to know the road well now.
We arrived in Oyon-oion at our hotel around 7pm, after a good 13 hours of driving in a car that was packed to the limits of bags, my tools and bidons. We had even filled up the spare tyre compartment with bidons. We were hungry but couldn't sit down to eat until 9, the door to the resturant was locked until then, thats Spain.
I was here for a one day race called Vuelta a la Rioja. Jose arrived with the truck mid morning, so then it was time to prepare some bikes. Race day was a shocker, that rain that just drizzels all day. Not fun to work in when your loading and unloading the car. As for the race it wasn't too bad with Oscar in the main move but just starting his sprint a little too far back and came in 4th. David Vitoria also finished well in 6th I think. Then it was time to leave the finish in Logrono and head up and along the coast 450km to Gijon for the Vuelta Asturias tour. David [soigneur, there's too many David's on this team] and I arrived just in time for dinner around 9, so it was eat and then off to bed.
I had a day to prepare the bikes that had to be all washed from Rioja still, then some needed new cables and I gave them all new chains, so it turned out to be a full days work. The tour started well for us with Chady in a two man break and winning the stage by around 3 minutes, this gap would eventually fall as the big climbs were to come.
Nice location for cleaning the bikes after stage 1!
But it was a great start for the team, and then Oscar gets in a break and wins stage two beating Olympic champion Sanchez in the sprint. Chady was left to defend for himself, and although we lost yellow the cards were looking good.
Stage 3a was a short mornings road stage that was another day of that light rain all day. After mornings stage Jose cleaned the road bikes while I made ready the TT bikes. Jose worked in the rain where as I managed to find just enough space in the back of the truck, but then I had to load all the road bikes onto the cars so I ended up wet anyway. By the end of the day Chady had lost some time but was still in 2nd place. It was still good for us as we had Oscar and Paco [Mancebo] also in the top 10, the only team with more than one rider to do so. Stage 4 was the best stage, the tatics by Laurenzo worked out perfectly. After a few early attacks Paco and Tanner made the correct break, Tanner was to drive that break as hard and as long as he could which he did. The first climb was a steep one and Tanner's job was done, the gap was set and it was now up to the yellow jersey team to bring it back. But the break was too strong and the leaders team not strong enough. Paco was now the new leader on the road with only two guys he had to watch, but Paco was strong and has the experince from the big tours so he rode smart and won the stage as well as yellow.
Some of the nice hills the guys rode up...
The last stage we had to defend the jersey. The team had control until the first climb which was a cat 3. The attacks were coming from everywhere and a split on the climb had formed. My job as mechanic in the car is also to record the numbers in the break and quickly point out any rider that is of danger, in this case it was Sanchez. He was still down a little on time but we did not have our full team at the front. Only Oscar, Paco and a very clever Freddy were there to cover the attacks. But this team is strong. Laurenzo ordered the others to get it together and chase, they made a mistake and now they had to work harder than ever to make it right. So after the climb Chady [getting tired], Tanner [sick], Kemps [first race since TDU], Pena [just a driver anyway] and Velasco got on the front and they chased and chased. Velasco had flatted in all the confusion but they made it back and regained control of the race til the last moment. Even Kemps was seen at the back struggling but did another 20k on the front when asked to do so. Tanner and Velasco still finished after been told they could take the broom wagon, no, 30mins down but they finished. The team was strong and deserved the win.
Paco and his Yellow.
We had another one day race before heading back, but it was an easy day. If they felt ok and were in the move then they could go for it, but it was a mountian top finish and most guys were tired. Paco, Oscar, Pena and Vitoria were the ones to finish. At the top I had a quick chat to Simon Clarke who seemed to be enjoying been based more in Europe now. He said he was in Spain with not his best form but he still rode well, especially on the decents rejoing the peloton 3 times.
It's a long way from Glenvale on a Sunday morning. Keep at it all you youngsters, this may be you in a few years.
Then it was back to the hotel where we would very quickly pack everything and start the trip back. From the hotel in Gijon it was 300 or so to Valladolid airport to drop off Chady and Laurenzo, then Damien and I drove another 600 something to Bordauex so he could catch his 1am train. But a funny story is that we stopped at this random petrol station, Damien took a wiz around the back and saw the camper [which Willy and Wilfred were driving back] parked there. With all the stations along the way, we stopped at the same one Willy and Wilfred had stopped at to sleep for the night. So we played a trick and gaffa taped up the doors, just enough for them to say "What the f$#@" when they got up for breakfast. Then we drove on making Damien's train with 15 minutes to spare. I drove for about another hour before finding a hotel at 2am. Thats another trip done.
Next Im off to Ireland for the RAS with Cinelli.
Stay cool,
Funky
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