Stage 3 - Alfold
I really like this circuit Back again after helping team ACC to a 1-2 in the first race of the season i was determined to give a good account of myself today. It was nice and dry at the start and even warm enough to leave the knee warmers in the car After planning to be up front right from the start i somehow found myself mid-pack as we took the sharp left hander into the tight twisty lanes (need to work more on my positioning me thinks) and before i knew it there were about 6 riders off the front quickly getting a good gap. Managed to move myself up through the bunch by the time we came down the hill and took the left hander (Dunsfold finish) and tried to jump across to the break at least 4 times over the course of the next half a lap, although bizarrely was chased down by the Yellow Jersey each time (he obviously didn't know i was ~1hr down on GC ). Decided to drop back a bit and bide my time for a while and the break got caught on the 2nd lap, when i managed to get into a break of 4 + 1 dynamo sitting on. Stayed away for about half a lap before we were dragged back. Was feeling good though and dropped back to recover before trying again.
With one lone guy still out front (not sure if he was from the original break or not) I overheard the Yellow Jersey give the order to reel him in. Six Dynamo's went straight to the front and gobbled up his lead within minutes, they're much more organised than normal. As soon as we were all back together I countered with a guy from Bayeaux Landscapes(?). This was with about a lap and a half to go (~22km) and we had another Dynamo for company, who although he wasn't sitting on purposefully he wasn't strong enough to do more than about 2 turns. We ended up dropping him on the short climb up through Alfold village and were working really well together with no sign of the bunch behind. Into the last 5km up the last few draggy bits and i thought we were in with a real chance of making it to the finish, i was feeling really strong and starting to put in the longer turns. 2km to go and I could just see the bunch in the distance, probably 20secs back so dug in for one last push, not wanting to leave anything in the tank i came through and just floored it after getting a great cheer from Serge , lungs burning, legs screaming but still hopeful of making it to the line ahead of the pack. 1km to go and i'd dropped my companion but the bunch was almost on top of me, and they finally caught me with about 700m to go I tried getting the wheel of the first few who came past but couldn't hold it and was quickly out the back, which wasn't a bad thing as a few seconds afterwards someone clipped an oncoming car and about 8 people went down hard Stopped to help a few up before pootling across the line.
Pleased with my effort and how the legs felt, and at least i managed to finish today. Was good to see Keith & Michelle at the finish and managed a chat with Sylv back at HQ (chapeau Sir )
Looking forward to Chilham now and working hard for hopefully another ACC win.