Today I raced Univest Grand Prix. The race profile suited me, and I was really motivated, as I feel that I have been going well lately and have had a really solid block of training on my power cranks. The race was 172km; a 110km loop on winding, undulating roads, before finishing on thirteen 5km circuits with a climb. Everyone who I spoke to who had done the race previously, said that the race is always won on the finishing circuits, and that a break never survives.

Today proved the exception to the rule, as a seven man break rolled off the front almost from the gun. Although not all the teams were represented, no one chased, and soon the break was out to 7mins with two groups of 3-4 chasers sitting in-between. It was a very negative race. Around 70km, there was a short, stiff climb, followed by some hard roads. Our manager rightly said that we had to start splitting things up on the climb and get a chase group going to bring back the initial break. I was feeling good and drilled it on the front over the top of the climb and for the next 5km, splintering the peleton in the process.

We ended up with a select group of about fifteen riders, and things were looking good until we were sent the wrong way! We rode about 1km down the wrong road, before being told, and had to backtrack and then catch up to all the riders we had just dropped! After that, the already negative race vibe became even worse, and no one wanted to race. In the end, I just set a tempo on the front for training, and we ended up being pulled from the race because the leaders had already completed a lap of the finishing circuit. All in all, it was an extremely annoying and frustrating day, as I felt good, knew I could win the race, but in the end, everything went wrong.