Classicas do Sotavento

The weekend was a tough one. Our aim, rather unusually was to make the races as hard as possible. But the fact that these were the first races with hot weather made them hard all by themselves. Our kamikaze attacks just made it even harder.

The first race was a circuit race in Tavira, which I took very easy. The course was extremely dangerous. The "calçada" or cobbles were lifted in places after a big storm a couple of days before, so I just went round and round, then when the time came to reel in the break away I did just that. I split the bunch into pieces and that was that. It was good not to break equipment, or break myself! We actually finished second, so that wasn't too bad.

The second race is a Classic called "Restaurante Alpendre". This did not go well for me. I did my job, but the race was a mess. It was stopped mid way round due to the break away going the wrong way. When I finished my role in this race I eased of the gas. At this point the peloton was full of cramp, although I was ok. No one was prepared for the 30ºC weather we got. I had belly ache due to having to ingest huge quantities of fluids. After this something strange happened, I usually guide myself well in a race and know  where I am in relation to the rest of the race. There are many tricks for this and simply using a watch and some visual cues you can figure out all you need to know. I eased of at 3:00hrs into the race and expected there to be about 30k's to the finish. Expect I never saw the landmark I was looking for, nor the 20k's to go sign till much, much later. And I wasn't going slowly, but at a fast cruise. So, baffled by this and rather annoyed I gave up, figuring that I got lost on the badly marked course. This race was won by Enrique Salgueiro, an amateur who was going very well.

The next day I felt much better. for some reason I like racing on consecutive days and feel much better a couple of days into a race. Again my job was straight forward: Make the race as hard as possible. And that is what I did. I attacked and controlled and attacked a bit more. I got in one excellent move with a great young rider from the amateur Liberty Seguros team but unbelievably we got stopped at a level crossing! Next I got in another move with a lot of the Loulé team, and then I got in another move with a team mate and two amateur which killed the team chasing. I really had to grit my teeth to stay in the bunch and felt like I was going to vomit. But I go through most of the hills and made all the selections bar the last one... This last one I attacked, a team mate dropping back said I should stop. It is arguable whether I should have, but I did. At this point there was a series of attacks and I could only hang on to the second group. This race was also won by Salgueiro.

"Classicas do Sotavento" this weekend.

I had a weekend off last weekend, the team was racing a series of circuit races just north of Lisbon. They are an excellent series of races, but just not my cup of tea, hence I had my first race out. Unfortunately nothing was won, but in the second race in Alenquer Samuel Caldeira came third. Barbot-Epafel won the first two, 1st with Raul Alarcon, then Sergio Ribeiro. The final race was won by Bruno Lima of Onda Boavista. It seems Barbot were absolutely stelar.

This weekend I'm racing though and I hope to spoil their party. The races are a circuit race in Tavira, which is exceptionally dangerous, then a Portuguese cup race in Vila Nova de Cacela, and finally just a short classic race in Tavira on Sunday. More info here

These weeks I have been training hard and have been quite stressed, so I'm just going to use this weekend to unwind and hopefully put in a good performance, hopefully on Saturday,

Find the detailed information on this weekend's races here. The second two are a bit in the middle of no where, but are tough and have some interesting climbs, although for Classica do Alpendre I recommend catching the final sprint in Cacela velha. Incidentally Restaurante o Alpendre is excellent. The circuit on Friday is mental... it's very dangerous, but kind of amusing. I will not race it if it's rainy; that would defiantly lead to some sort of injury. They have special spectator zones with big screens, but the main square near the finish will be the best place to catch, right near all the cafés too.