Italian Racing

First Italian race
So last weekend was my first big one of the season being the first one in Italy.  The race was called Montecassiano. The race was set to be 165KM starting off with 6 smaller laps of around 10KM each which would finish on a 1KM or so climb up into Montecassiano (the finish town) then it would go onto 5 bigger laps which would also include the smaller circuits but with the added loop of a similar distance also with a steep 1KM climb into the town (so the course was a figure of 8 shape). The neutral started, sketchy as expected, once the flag dropped it was a fast start as the race got underway. The pace then settled down a few attacks went on the smaller laps but were all reeled in, the most significant break including team mate, Nick. We then made the transition onto the bigger laps, the race had already started to whittle down the bunch lap by lap but now it was quicker as there was now another climb which was fairly steep. Coming into the second lap I took a bottle which then caused me to have a tangle and have a quick lie down on the floor. I was quickly able to get back up and off after finding my Garmin haha! Unfortunately this broke my shoe dial so after getting back onto the bunch I had to go back to the cars where Calum had some tape for me to do a mid race fix…. was pretty impressed with this one ;). I then got back into the bunch and moved back up before the next climb. Lap by lap the race was getting whittled down until on the final lap the bunch only contained around 40 riders. This is where it then began to split up with some groups splintering off the front. Coming into the final climb the pace was kept on with me starting to cramp in my left hamstring, with the legs still feeling pretty good I managed to get round a fair few to finish in 21st. A good way to kick off the racing here in Italy.  I was pretty pleased with the result considering the bad luck with the crash. Onto the next one! Thanks to Pedal Potential for the support.