Rotation

Unfortunately, I have gotten out of the practice of saving my work often. With the advent of the cloud and online platforms, I am usually dependent on the autosave function. Because of this, the beautiful description of my love for stage racing and some of the events of the early part of the race will be left to do the same thing that George Washington had hoped that his “faults of incompetent abilities” would end up doing, as my words have been “consigned to oblivion.” (G. Washington 1796) Now to return to trying to recreate what I had originally planned to say when I began the endeavor of sharing with you all my experiences in Sicily.

 

Throughout the entirety of the trip, we traveled over a good portion of the island. The first day was down the north coast. On the second and third days, we got to see the mountains and grasslands of the interior and the south coast. On the final day, we climbed a large portion of what is probably the most prominent feature of the island, Mount Etna. This trip was one that I was really looking forward to throughout the early part of the season. This would be my first time in Italy and my first stage race of the year.

 

As I mentioned before, I really enjoy stage racing. There is preparation in getting to know each individual stage beforehand and getting to study maps. Then there is waking up the morning after morning knowing a little more about how the field behaves and getting to use the new skills that you learned in the previous stage. Finally, there is an amazing sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a race that covers hundreds of miles in just a few days.

 

Since we arrived fairly close to race time, there was not a lot of time to experience the area prior to starting the first stage.  We did, however, have a beautiful drive down the coast at sunset to take in some of the area’s beauty. The first stage was the flattest of all. It traversed the north coast of the island on roads that were mostly flat to rolling. If there was a day that any team would try to ride for a pure sprinter, this was the one. This basically means that a team that knew they had a good rider for a bunch sprint at the end would hope to keep the bunch together for the finish. Normally when in this position, the team that feels strongest, will allow a small group of riders to go up the road and develop a small gap to discourage others from trying to jump across to the group. This situation makes the field easy to keep at a stable pace. At the end of the day, the pace will normally ramp up, the break will be caught, and a bunch sprint will occur.

 

Stage one followed this pattern closely. For most of the day, we just tried to ride efficiently in the group as we rolled down the coast. As we approached the final few rolling hills, we all moved into a better position. So that as the group stretched and contracted, we would not have to put out more energy over the top of hills or through the tighter turns. As the sprint came, I did my best to aid our best sprinters in being in an advantageous position, but things were not perfect for us and we ended up getting split up. Pier ended up in 8th for the day. It was not a bad result at all, but he knew he had better in him.

 

After the first stage, we had a long transfer to get to the hotel for the next few nights. As with most stage races in Europe, we were met with a very standard pasta dinner. Since it is so easy to cook for large groups, this tends to be about the only dinner that is offered at these races. Sometimes there will be rice and any type of vegetables, but I cannot remember the last race I went to where pasta was not the primary option.

 Sprintcycling

The next two stages took place on the southern coast of the island. Generally, they stuck to a similar format. The course would follow the coast for a few miles out of a small town before turning up into the hills and finishing in a small town on top of a highway climb.

 

In the second stage, Stephen ended up making the early break. The rest of us just did our best to maintain a safe position in the bunch and be ready when each climb hit. For a variety of reasons, on the main climb of the day, six of us ended up having to chase back into main group. The chase started out a bit sloppy, but after a few kilometers, we found our rhythm and made it back to the bunch before the final climb. Unfortunately, we just were not able to do much more from there. August crashed out of the group at the beginning of the climb and Pier and I just did not quite have the legs to make it over with the leaders that day.

 

Sprint Cycling

On the third day, the wind was dramatically stronger than before, and it blew from the North East which resulted in a headwind most of the day. This made for a really long a tedious stage. With about 20 kilometers to go, we turned into a tailwind and eventually made another turn that would make the final few kilometers of the race crosswind. Most of this stretch was on elevated viaducts that climbed towards the finish. The field quickly crumbled, but Pier made it into the front group and was the best sprinter on the day. Only one person from the initial breakaway made it to the line, so Pier ended up getting second on the stage. It was pretty amazing to be a part of that day.

 

Mount Etna

The final day’s stage circled Mount Etna before ascending over 5000 feet of the mountain. Since most knew that the day would be won by a climber, most were eager to try to do something before the main climb hit so the day would not be without value. Within 10 kilometers of the start, the field split for a brief period of time and within the first 30 kilometers, I found myself in a break with about 15 other riders. The group pushed hard to try and put time on the peloton, but Astana did not seem satisfied with the breakaway being up the road, so they quickly tried to pull it back. After being caught, I did my best to eat and drink and help other guys on the team get what they needed, but the rest of the stage was more a race of survival and an effort to finish the race.

 Sprintcycling

I ended up with a group of about 15 riders who had been left behind by the peloton and climbed with them for a while. Eventually, I could not hold that pace, so I climbed by myself for a bit before being joined by a few fellow Cyclo-cross athletes. The first was a rider from the EF Nippo development team. We did not have a chance to talk a lot, but he did manage to ask me why Bart Simpson was not on this bike. It gave me a good laugh that someone remembered that small item in my cycling career. Later we caught up to Corné van Kessel whom I have raced and been beaten by many times on the cyclocross bike. I enjoyed getting to talk with him and hear about his season. Despite being pretty exhausted, it was a cool experience.

 

That night we drove down the mountain and hopped into a taxi that took us back across the island to Palermo. While there, we got a chance to get a pizza to celebrate the completion of the race.

 

My next race will be the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. I am excited to go race a few more days in northern France soon. After that, I race Tro-Bro Leon. I am really excited to compete in that event because of its abundance of dirt.

Reference

Washington, G., Washington's Farewell Address32 (1900). Washington, DC; G.P.O.