After the tough racing yesterday we still had two more stages for today before we finish the event. I had a very good rest last night and I felt super exctited about today in deed. Got up early enough and after a good breakfast we were on our way to the start/finish area that was in a different location this time The place was very close to the town, so it was only 2 minutes drive before we got there.
Quick check
on the stages and some preparation and I was all good to go for today's
stages. The goal was to gain some time and get better position in GC. I
have started today from the 11th position in overall.
Stage 3 (Sunday)
This stage was possibly the hardest one so far. It was 27 km long and it was all about pure streinght and speed. The savage fire road climb kicked in right after the start. The pace was insane from the beginning so the peloton got broken within couple of minutes. I was able to get away in the second group but after few kilometers the speed was a bit too fast. This was the first time I actually started to feel the tiredness from yesterday... I knew I have the time trial still ahead of us, so I did not try to keep up with the pace of this group. I did ride about half of the stage on my own but I was able to manage a nice and fast, steady pace through the mix of long fire road climbs, steep technical decends, extremely muddy sectors and super fast fire road downhills and I came 10th on the stage.
This stage was successful for me because with my result I came up to the 9th position on GC. After I crossed the finish line I got back to the van and started the short rest and some mental preparation for the last test of the strenght: the time trial.
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| Graph of the Stage 3 |
Photos:
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| In the hall of the hotel |
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| Somewhere on the fire road climb |
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| After the stage |
Stage 4 (Sunday)
The last stage was really special for me because I never raced any off-road time trial before. I could get good rest and I was recovered in time before this stage. Of course I felt a bit of a pain here and there from the previous three stages but I still had a good bit of energy left to get this stage done on the proper way.
The stage was a 6 km long time trial that run on the well known NPS course, and it was full of heavy and technical climbs and even more technical decends. Two riders been started in the same time as a pair and there was a 30 sec time gap between each pairs. This made everything even more exciting I think.
The profile of the course suited me very well because of the climbs so I started to ride very hard from the start. I could loose my "partner" right after we started and I even managed to catch one more rider who started before me. I really felt good on this stage and I did give everything I could to gain as much time as possible.
After the super fast stage I finished 8th place and I crossed the finish line for the last time during this race.
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| Graph of the Stage 4 |
Photos:
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Ready for the last stage |
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| After the start of the time trial stage |
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| Close to the finish |
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| Crossing the finish line |
It's done! I finished my first stage race and I have to say it was the BEST race I have done since I'm racing. With 3:46:04 overall time I finished 9th in GC out of 68 riders so I am very happy and satisfied. When I started the race my goal was to finish in the first 15 and because I did get better position my goal was accomplished and it was even more sweet. :)
The event was very well run and organized. It was brilliant to taking part of a such a fantastic race, thank you!
It was a new experience for me to race over stages but it was surly a great experience. I really liked it and I am sure I will be here again next year! :)
I would like to say thank you for John at ThinkBike for supporting my journey and for the van for the whole weekend, it was very important.
And the biggest thank you for my very good friend Csaba for the brilliant shots and the incredible amount of help over the 2 days, he made everything so much easier! :)
My race in numbers:
2 days, 4 stages, 72 km total distance, 1857 m total climb, 2498 kcal burned, 53 km/h max speed, 1 puncture
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