European Campaign 2007

 

Hello everyone,

 

I’ll try to be brief with this recap of the team trip to Belgium and France. It was, on the whole, one of the best trips we have ever had as a team. We were short handed this trip since Nick Bax was finishing his school and unable to miss two weeks. Danny Estevez was unable to secure his travel documents in time to go so we were left with four riders while most teams we faced had six.

 

Ben King was the team leader as the only eighteen year old and the only one who had raced in Europe before. Simon Lambert-Lemay, Alder Marts and Alex Coelho rounded out the team. Sherri and I did all of the driving, cleaning, cooling, basically everything else other than race for the team.

 

In past years we had stayed at Jonathan Page’s house, but JP and Cori had just had their second child, Milo, so staying there was not going to work. We found a hotel in the same town as JP, the Hof Ter Kammen right on the Koppenberg climb of the Tour of Flanders. Hilde and Christian De Clearcq run the hotel. They are both very big cycling fans and made getting information and directions very easy.

 

We raced the first weekend in two Kermesse races near the town just to open the legs and get the travel out. The guys did well. Simon was in the big winning move but flatted out and with it, our chances on the day.

 

 On Monday we were off to Lemans France for a big single day classic called the Tour De La Communaute. What I found out in the directors meeting was that it was a single day stage race. There was a twelve and a half kilometer time trial in the morning and a road race in the afternoon. We had no time trial equipment so we were going to have to do what we could without it. Ben was seventh and Simon twelfth place in the time trial with Alder and Alex a minute back. We knew that Ben and Simon had the best form on the team so Alder and Alex know they were riding for them. The road race was hard and fast and the field split into several groups due mostly to Ben and Simon’s attacking all of the hills. The break, minus the race leader formed with about forty kilometers to go. At that point they had three minutes on the next group. At that point Simon, who had been driving it for Ben, broke his chain. After several minutes of repair, Simon was back riding, but no longer a factor in the race. Once in the circuits, Ben split the group again trying to drop the two guys that were in the group with him but ahead of him in the general classification. He got away with three others all lower then him on GC, so it was a good move for us. On the last lap Ben began positioning for the finish and the break began going slow. Franky, our mechanic saw this, jumped out of the team car and began yelling to Ben to “drive it, don’t worry about the stage, just try to win the overall.” Ben did that and almost won the stage. He missed winning by just a little, but won the overall. He also won the climber’s jersey and the points jersey. So, we were off to the next race in France with three new jerseys, six trophies and two chickens.

 

We drove the remaining three hours to our new home for the week at the Hotel Le Bretagne in Locmine France. This is our sixth time doing this race and now the biggest race for juniors in France. We had not done well in this race the last two years and I wanted to make sure we had a good showing this time. This race is three stages, a road race, time trial and a final road race. The first stage is the hardest, most important stage of the race. In the last five years the winner of the race overall comes from the break on the first day. Ben was our big hope since his win four days before had injected the team with new confidence. Unfortunately for us, Ben broke his chain in the first ten kilometers of the stage. We quickly gave him the spare bike, but the saddle was set for out shortest guy and way too low for him. Franky and I cut the course, repaired Ben’s chain and had his bike waiting on a corner ready to do a cyclo-cross exchange. It was an ugly change, but Ben got his bike back and was quickly up at the front. While he was struggling with the short bike, a group of six had gotten up the road for a minute.

 

There were multiple attacks and counter moves as we got to the finishing circuits in the finishing town and Ben had made it to the lead group of six. Ben was on fire attacking every hill and hurting all in the race. He was unable to get away from his group and finished last of the six in the sprint. Simon was fourth in the field sprint placing him tenth overall. Alder finished mid field and Alex dropped out. He was recovering from sickness and was coughing so badly he had to stop. Not a bad start to a very hard race but we needed to learn from our mistakes and do better if we wanted to win.

 

The time trial was very bad for us. It was fast and we were slow with no time trial equipment and bad legs. We time trailed poorly compared to last years race, but only dropped two places in the overall. I guess it was hard for all of the top guys.

 

The last stage was very hard, but we were going to try to win or go down in flames. We were all tired, but feeling like they had one more good race in them. The race was very hard and the field split again in the finishing circuits but Ben had made the lead group. He attached every time on the big hill and caused the winning split, but he did not make it. He attacked again on the last lap getting a gap on the field, but not catching the leaders. I think he finished tenth on the stage and seventh overall. In this race, we made the race. We were in every move and at the front of the field. We re-earned the respect of the French racing fans and the race itself. During the awards, we were awarded with a special trophy for how we have raced for the last six years and they said we were now part of their racing family.

 

After a little rest we were off on the return trip to Belgium and one more race. We arrived back at the hotel with two days to recover before the Flanders Europe Classic, one of the biggest, most prestigious races in Belgium. The guys rode some of the course and recovered and did their school work. The weather was looking like it was going to be classic rain and wind with the Muur and the Bosberg cobbled climbs. By the start, the weather had cleared and we were off. We new that being at the front was critical since crashes on narrow, cobbled roads was not an if but a when. They pegged it on the first open road after the neutral section and Ben and Alex got a gap on the field. The break was short lived, but it let them know that they were feeling good. A group of sixteen rolled off the front and we had Simon in it for us. Normally, one in sixteen is not great, but Simon was feeling good and we had only four guys while all of the other thirty teams had six. So, there were a lot of teams that missed the move completely.

 

As I passed the field to go up to the break that was now three minutes up the road, I say Alex in the middle of the front of the bunch. I did not see Ben or Alder. As I raced to the break I saw that there was a second group over a minute off the front of the field, but still a bit from making contact with the leaders. Ben was driving the second group with Alder holding on to the back of the break. I was very happy with this development. Not only were we in a good position in the race, the other guys on the team were learning to race their bikes. They were in the break in one of the biggest junior races in Belgium. This was why we go to all the effort to come her, so they learn and grow.

 

When I got to Simon’s group he was sitting comfortably in the group taking his turn at the front but not doing too much. He crossed the Muur, one of the most famous cobbled climbs in Belgium, in fourth place looking very much in control. When we got the finishing circuits the race was blowing up. It was very hard for me to tell via the Flemish race radio what was happening. I found out that several riders caught Simon’s group and that Ben was moving from group to group towards the front with help from Alex and Alder. When we got to the finish an excited Sherri told me that Ben finished fifth jest a couple of seconds from third.

 

We returned to the hotel to find that we were invited to a big party that Hilde and Christian were having for one of their sons. All in all, this was one of the most successful, fun, productive trips we have ever taken. I can’t wait to see how the first year guys develop this season and their eagerness for next year’s trip.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Toby