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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
How's it goin' - Back again after what can only be described as a hectic week.
La Fleche Wallone 12April Hors Categorie 205km
The dreaded Mur de Huy is the centerpiece of this race and I have only seen it on T.V. Last night we stayed in a hotel just outside Brussels and had an early rise this morning (6.30) to eat. I slept well last night, not really nervous, just anxious to get on with the job in hand. The races this week including LBL are known as the Ardennes Classics and are particularly popular with the Italian teams because of the terrain and the lack of cobbles, which is sometimes rare for Belgium. Gerard comes to me at breakfast and asks if I have an interest in riding Veenendaal-Veenendaal tomorrow, what ????.One of the guys has fallen ill and he needs to fill the gap. I agree to ride as it is a really big race and good for experience.
Again there are thousands at the start in Charleroi, this race along with LBL is run by the societe du Tour De France so organization is second to none. The race itself is fast right from the start and here is a huge crash after 50kms. The guy in front of me crashes and the guy behind runs into me, but I don't fall. Get going again and catch the peleton after a hard chase just before Huy. We turn onto the hill I have never seen anything like this before it really is a wall. Last night the mechanic came to me and asked if I would like a 23 sprocket for the climb, I laughed at him saying you could ride up the side of a house on a 23. He said "I'll put it on anyway and if you don't use it you don't use it". How wrong I was the 23 was engaged long before the top. Over the climb and now it's the wind and the speed another 80 kms and the Mur again this time it's too much and I am dropped. Michel Van Haecke was sitting good in the first peleton but fell, breaking his wrist and is out for 5 weeks. Morale is a little low. 1st Fancesco Casagrande,2nd Rik Verbrugghe,3rd Laurent Jalabert.
Veenendaal-Veenendaal (Holland) 13April 1.2 215kms
On the road at 6am this morning as it is a three hour drive to the start in Veenendaal (not far from the city of Aarnhem for anyone clued in on their Dutch geography). This is regarded as a savage race with big open roads followed by the ascent of the Achterberg 3 times and a host of other short steep climbs. The day dawns miserable, heavy rain, wind and even a little snow and hail. It is the first race I have ever started in a rain cape and I have raced many wet days before. Today there is no choice, 215kms and the perogative is to stay warm. The Banesto team are looking miserable in full length leg warmers and Goretex jackets "they wont be here long" I say to myself. I want to do a good ride today. Race starts very fast and my legs are protesting a bit from the efforts of yesterday. That soon passes and I start to come around. I make the first echelon as it blows to pieces behind. My hands are starting to freeze and the rain is pelting down. "Only 5 more hours to go" I try to convince myself. An hour later and I cant feel my right hand, cant brake, change gear, or take the bidon from the cage. I have to do everything with my left hand including change the right hand gear lever.
The team car comes up and gives me a bidon of hot tea and honey, I drink it in one go. My hand stays numb for 100 more kilometers but I am not the only one, guys from Lotto, Rabobank and the rest are banging their hands on the bars to try to get life into them. On the descent off one of the climbs I see a guy from Telekom go straight on in the corner because he could not brake. This is hard, real hard. We pass the feed zone I drop my bag, the car comes up with it. more hot tea I start to come around. We pass the finish and onto the 40km finishing circuit. The group splits and I am in the second half. 31 finishers I finish 24th, 5hrs 20mins of real hell. 1st De Jongh (Rabobank) 2nd Van Bondt (Farm Frites),3rd Servais Knaven (Farm Frites)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege 16April World Cup 264kms
"La Doyenne" When I thought of LBL I thought of only one hill "La Redoute" but it was only today that I realize there are 30 more climbs included in this race and it's 264kms parcours. We stayed in a hotel in Liege last night , there is a huge atmosphere in the city. The team was presented to the public in the same way as the Tour de France at a big reception in a Castle in the center. We are a little under strength with the loss of Michel but we'll fight to the end. Meet Sean (Kelly) and Dermot Healy at the start. David Duffield comes over and asks me to do an interview with Sean, but it's more like a chat with a mate. I can see the people gathering as I talk with him they are still in awe of this man and treat him as their own. Now this race as I say is 264km so surely they will take it easy for the first 50kms ---- Not a chance!!!!!!, we cover 49km in the first hour and over some very rolly terrain including a 6km climb out of Liege, a climb that doesn't even bear a category and so is not on the small race map I have in my pocket. I sit about half way down the long line that is a Pro. peleton in full flight. Michael Boogerd is just in front of me and I can't get over the tiny gear he is spinning. I am in the 11 and he is in something like a 15 or 16. The first climb the 'Cote de Saint Roche" is brutal 39*21/23 I struggle over and 20 guys are already gone out the back. My teammate Tom Desmet is in the break so the pressure is off me. Through Bastogne and the first feed, it is impossible to take the bag, nobody does, the speed is just too high. Struggle on but ultimately my legs give in, David Millar catches me and we talk as we wait for the "Voiture de Balai" (Broom wagon). I have completed 165kms with the peleton, the leaders have another 100kms to go. We get into the bus and to our surprise we are the only guys in it. I turn to the driver and ask if we are the first to pack. He has a good laugh at my innocent remark and says "look behind, you guys are the second shift", as I see a second bus packed to the hilt with more sorry souls. Millar attacks the cookies and drinks the driver has been kind enough to bring on board for his despondent passengers like a man possessed and empties about 3 packs before telling me how cracked he is and falling asleep. I just think of the day I am going to give as good as I get and savor the experience. If I was with Mapei or Rabobank I would be waiting in line years to do some of the races I am doing, now I have that experience as a neo Pro. and hopefully I will make good use of it.
1st Bettini, 2nd Etxebarreia, 3rd Rebellin.
My program for the next month is
Wed 19 April Scheldeprijs 1.1 (Belgium)
Tues. 24 April Paris - Camembert 1.2 (France)
Saturday 29 April Cologne-Bonn 1.4 (Germany)
Monday 1 May GP Frankfurt 1.1 (Germany)
Sunday 7 May Classico Alcobendas 1.4 (Spain)
Tuesday 9 - Sunday 14 Vuelta a Asturias 2.2 (Spain)
Thanks for all the e-mails everybody and those of you with questions I hope the answers were OK.
Catch ya later,
Morgan.
IrishCycling.Com: Would like to thank Morgan for allowing us to share his diary
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