Under 23 National Team Report #4

by Mike Wolf, May 2004

Hey, it’s been a good while since I last wrote and a lot of racing has gone by since then. Much of the racing I’ve done this past month has been in France, and most of it has been pretty hilly. The first race was Circuit des Ardennes in France. The French Ardennes is a very hilly region, and the race consisted of many short climbs of about 1-4 km. Circuit des Ardennes is a pretty 
prestigious race and it attracted a very strong field. Past podium finishers of the race include Americans Greg Lemond and Davis Phinney. The first day was one I’d rather forget, as it was marred by 40 degree temperatures, rain, large amounts of hale, and a crash 80km into the 170km stage that left me on the pavement and in a small chase group for the next 90km trying to make the time cut. The 2nd stage didn’t go well either, as with less than 20km to go the crosswinds finally got me and I was split off into a little group. The third stage had the most difficult profile of all the stages, with 5 climbs of 3-5 km, then a 2km fairly steep climb with 30km to go. The field seemed to realize the difficulty of the day though, and let the Russian team ride tempo on the front all day till the final climb where everything was blown to bits. Over the last climb there were several groups, which after some unbelievably fast riding after the climb eventually became two groups. My group of about 10 riders over the climb was the first group to miss the front split after coming within seconds of it after 10 of the fastest kilometers of my life courtesy of 4 of the 6 Credit Agricole riders being in that group. With 5km to go our group had swelled to over 25 riders when Matt Crane and I took off with 3 others. We held it until the finished and just popped the top fifty. My teammate Shawn Milne had a very good ride that day, sticking it out in the front group to finish 6th on the day. The next day was a double day with a time trial in the morning and a road race in the afternoon. The TT course was the same as the one in Criterium International and was about 8.5 km. I had a 
rather good ride considering the strength of the field and ended up 29th on the day. The road race that afternoon was very fast, as it was only 80km. With lots of short steep climbs in the last 20km, it was a very hard finale. According to the race profile the last 5km were downhill. I have learned that organizers tend to leave some things out, and in this case they left out 3 pretty hard power climbs. The field was blown to bits on the narrow road to the finish and I ended up somewhere mid pack, but I finished the race and my form was coming along quite well. The next Wednesday was an espoir world cup called La Cote Picardie. I was 
hoping to take advantage of my good form, but only 10km in a passing motorcycle clipped a sign on the side of the road and it came flying down right in front of me. I crashed pretty badly and there was no way I could get back on my bike to chase. I wasn’t the only one to go down that day though. About 50km or so into the race a crash of magnificent proportion occurred, taking out over half the field, no joke. Everybody I talked to said it was by far the biggest crash they’d ever seen. Of our seven riders left only three escaped the carnage. My crash reduced me to short easy rides for the next few days. I race that Sunday at Zellik- Galmaarden, but had nothing when the hammer went down. Only 20 riders actually finished the race. 

My next race was Circuit Sant-et-Loire in France. Throughout the race I felt my legs getting better and better. Going into the final and most difficult stage I knew that I would have good legs. I slipped on the good shoe covers and got ready to suffer. All of the races in France have neutral starts of a couple kilometers, then stop the field and then have the official start. In these neutral sections you can get a idea of what the stage will be like just be seeing how other riders behave. In the neutral section on the last day I could feel the anxiousness radiating from the field. It was very windy and everybody wanted a spot at the front. I tried to get to the front, but the best I could manage was mid pack. Right from the gun the field was strung out, flying through the French countryside, the wind driving against our sides. All around me gaps were opening. I gradually moved up through the field, making 
split after split. After only 20 km’s of racing the field had been blown to pieces, with 15 in the front group, 20 in my group, and many behind. For over 30km the race was on full gas, our second group desperately trying to catch the front group. At about 40km in the two groups finally came together. Several riders who had been dropped rejoined as the tempo decreased. The field of 
about 60 cruised along at tempo until about 70km in when we hit the first climb. I went into the climb thinking about attacking, but as I saw people begin to fly off the front of the pack I realized I’d be lucky if I hung on. Over the 3km climb the pack was shattered. I was somewhere near the middle, but off the back off the front group of about 30 or so. At first I didn’t think we’d catch up as it was only 4 of us chasing, but after a couple km of hard chasing a group of ten caught up to us and we soon rejoined. Things came back together and going into the next climb there were about fifty of us left. The next climb was more of the same, with people attacking into the base of the climb like it was a sprint for the finish. I had to take things a bit more steady, and by the top I had lost a lot of ground on a front group of about 15 or 20 riders. The front group was gone and I knew it, and after several km’s of chasing, I was in the second group of twenty. We rode hard tempo for the next 10km, but gradually the pace slowed. Soon an attack of three went off the front, with the best young rider in it. No body reacted quickly and they soon had a good gap. The tempo picked up a bit, then slowed again, and a German took off solo. Again no one reacted, and soon he was out of sight on 
the twisty roads. I started to set tempo on the front up a hill, and soon had someone telling me piano. I pulled off the front drifted back a little, then attacked in an attempt to bridge to the several riders way up the road. After a couple km’s I hit a 3km climbs and over the top of it I caught up to the German, struggling on the steep slopes. We worked well together and I soon heard from Noel that we had 45 seconds on the group, which was now chasing. We soon hit the 2nd to last climb with about 50km to go. This one was tough. It was heavily wooded with several switchbacks. As we climbed I looked down the switchbacks to see several riders on the early slopes of the climbs. That was the last I saw of the chase group. We rode hard and as we hit the base of the final climb we caught the best young rider, who had been dropped by the other two. We rode in together and I took the uphill sprint finish. That was a good boost after having had such a bad week and a half before. It was also a good sign for the upcoming espoir Liege-Bastogne-Liege. 

LBL was the next Sunday and I was really excited just to get to start it. It was 180km with all the same climbs as the pro race, with 60km of flat cut out. Saul Raisin was on loan from Credit Agricole for the day and we raced for him. At about 80 km in Saul came on the radio saying he had a flat. I was close to him, so I gave my wheel up. I was able to chase back on right before the next 
climb, but was popped on the climb. I then chased back on again, but was then dropped for good only 100km in. Saul, however, put in a great performance, attacking on the St. Nicholas and riding into the velodrome (it ends 5km after the pro LBL does) to take 5th place. Now I am nearing the end of my time over here, and am excited about heading back home. I leave May 25th. Hopefully I can pull something off before then. 

Later, 
Mike Wolf