Today was 202km and again fairly flat. There were plenty of attacks, and I tried to pick out the ones that potentially could go to the line. Finally around 40km, a 12 man break went up the road that I knew would stay away. Unfortunately I was boxed in when it went, and by the time I was able to get clear, it was too late to jump across.

Having a team mate in the break, it wasn’t up to us to chase. Toyota United and DFL Cyclingnews tried to bring it back, but were unable to do so, and son gave up the chase. After that, the bunch just sat up and we rode really easy for a while. Fortunately DFL and some other guys got on the front and set a tempo to the finish, otherwise it would have been a long, long day.  I just sat in, saving my legs and trying to stay out of trouble. As it was, there were a couple of unnecessary crashes.

We finished on two laps of a 3.5km circuit, and a large crowd had turned out to watch us. This must have enticed some riders, as the pace really picked up in the peleton (even though we were 15min down!), and guys ended up sprinting for 13th place.

I’m glad that there are some longer stages here, as it’s good preparation for Worlds. I’ll give it a go in the TT tomorrow, then should have an opportunity to try to get into some good breaks in the stages after that.