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The recent European weather has made it seem like summer has come already. The flowers are all in bloom, days are long and everywhere there seems to be flies buzzing around. Another reason it seems like summer is here already is because the stage races have now started. Normally this means the beginning of sore legs and ridiculous tan lines while bidding a sweet farewell to whatever it is that makes the early season so tough



This year the early season races failed to produce much of a harvest but instead a string of positive showings right from the off meant I kept coming back for more, motivated. After our team training camp in February the season has so far consisted of racing on the weekend and spending the week training. Fairly normal stuff and it is good to be able to race and train without the one disturbing the other. The racing is good because you can see progress, which motivates the following weeks training. In March I raced GP Vallee Bedat followed by the Rhone Alpes opener: GP de Mattias Nomblot, a hard test just north of Lyon. I finished 23rd there. The following week involved a two day through the roads around Bourg en Bresse with me finishing 15th helped by a hilly final stage through the hills of Bugey. A different affair waited me at Troyes Dijon with dry roads and no wind really levelling things. My 39th was a bit of a downer and gave me more respect for directional arrows rather than the trusting hells angels motorcycle marshals.




In April I had high hopes for success. March had gone better than expected and with some good races added to the mix the desire for success only grew stronger; Annemasse Bellegarde, a massive race in the shadow of Mont Blanc, got shot down though by a surprise attack of fever! I felt it coming on in the week as I tapered off the training and started to study the race route on a sketchy 1786 Michelin Map. The fever was coupled with flu, bad news for any athlete. I returned to racing over a week later for the GP de Vougy. A real nice event held in a small town, village maybe. The route covers a 12km circuit out into the farm lanes and back but includes a hill that is cursed more and more as the laps and heat build. I had good legs and made the most of it collecting some of the many prizes up for grabs along the route. My legs however didn’t quite hold out as long as my excitement and I was tailed off from the leading group before and ended up in a group far more eager than I was to finish 27th. The following week was a Bourgoine double header. Tour of Charolais followed by Dijon Auxonne Dijon. Two very different races. One hilly the other flat, one good the other bad, I crashed in Dijon Auxonne Dijon. As this race was just a few days before the UCI ranked Rhone Alpes Isere Tour (RAIT) I was please to only come away with only cuts and bruises. A visit to an osteopath left me in more pain but at least he straightened me out.


So we get to the present, stage race time. The crash suffered in Dijon Auxonne Dijon didn’t really change much. The Thursday following I started the RAIT. A great race held locally with teams from all over Europe. Consisting of four stages over hilly terrain the race is important for me and my team. I had hoped to do a good stage on day 3. I was however kept in my place the entire race. Apart from a brief 10km leg stretcher off the front of the peloton on stage 4 I spent the entire race in the peloton. Although I was pleased to have never been put into any difficulty I was disappointed to never have much freedom off the front and finished the race in a rather anonymous 36th overall. The only contribution I made to race was from a team point of view at the services of team mate Nicolas Inudi who recorded a 2nd place on the 2nd stage and a 5th on the final classification. Hats off to him.

Well like I said at the start this is stage racing time now. From now until the British National Championships in July I have a full programme of stage races. From the Hills of Chablais (famous for evian water) to the flat islands of the tour of Estonia (famous for a different kind of water). The greater concentration of racing/days means there is more chance of results, a constantly pursued rabbit. Thank you for reading my latest diary entry. The team I am riding for this year, Charvieu Chavagneux has gelled nicely and although we lack a victory we all share a collective motivation. This is for me the real start of the season.