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Last weekend I finished the 2007 cycling season by winning the GP Faucigny. The race was my last event on my calendar so it was good to finish the season with a bang. Going into the race I was very motivated to do a good ride if not myself, I wanted to help my team mate Fred Perriat who lives in the region and knows the roads very well. The previous weekend I had raced a three day, Tour de Gevaudan, and had not had very good sensations in my legs. On the second stage I managed to get into a very promising break away and with 15km to go my group had a minute and a half lead with a steep 6km to the finish. On the climb we tried to push out to hard a rhythm and soon the break lost its momentum, getting caught by the remnants of the peloton just before the finish. I was disappointed with this stage because it was a good opportunity wasted. Overall the Tour of Gevaudan didn’t offer to many rewards to neither my teammates or me. The following week I was very tired and took it easy, as my body felt better I started to get focused and motivated for GP Faucigny. I decided on the Friday before the race to drive down to Cluses, in the High Savoie, and have a look at the race circuit. This proved to be a good plan.

The race circuit features three laps round an undulating valley course near Morzine before turning off to tackle the steep col de Mont-Saxonnex, a hard 6km climb at 8% average gradient. It was on this hill where the race is won or lost. I arrived at the bottom in the peloton 30sec behind a small breakaway of 7guys. Right from the bottom fellow Brit Andrew Jackson (CG Orleans) made a big attack, knowing his skills as a climber I followed him up passing the breakaway and distancing ourselves from the other main challengers behind. Near the top of the hill I went it alone, I only had 10km to go and we had to take many risks on the decent but by the finish I managed to hold out. Jackson finished second and third was teammate Sander Maasing.

The win caps a good season for my team Charvieu Chavagneux with 20wins (17wins in Elite) with every Elite in team claiming a win. Now I will sit back and relax a bit as I winde down my training. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Dave Rayner fund very much for their continued support this season.