This was different road race course to the 2012 edition of the TopSport Stage Race and the racing conditions were as different as the course. This year was 8 loops around a nice lake just north of Oakdale CA. Most of the road was closed to traffic with just a short section on 26 Mile Road that had a yellow line rule. The course was almost completely flat with little other than the wind to make any kind of selection. The race started at 9:00 AM and the first lap was really mellow as we basically toured the course. Things picked up on the second and 3rd laps with small attacks and a break going up the road. Although most of the teams were represented it obviously wasn't the right mix as it was brought back after a lap or two and never got too big a gap.
Once this break came back there were a few more attacks but nothing seemed to stick. But after a lap another break seemed to just sneak away with 6 guys in it. The big team that missed out was Sierra Nevada Brewing. It seem that they were the only ones with the horsepower to chase as a team. They had 6 guys and put 5 of them on the front in a solid rotation to bring the break back. They worked hard for 3 laps and with one to go they had brought the gap down to 30 seconds. With half a lap to go 2 of the 6 guys ended up back in the field leaving 4 guys dangling a few hundred yards ahead.
At this point Adam, who was racing with DODOcase, made a solo attack and was in no mans land for a couple of K's. The field caught him and he stayed in the bunch to recover. As we got to the 3K to go sign the break of 4 seemed to have opened the gap up a little.
With 1K to go the sprint was really winding up and people were bouncing off each other. I was holding my position in the top 20 looking for gaps ahead and moving into them. One of the Sierra Nevada guys swerved just in front of me and bounced off the guy to his right, as this happened he came unclipped from his left pedal and with one leg stuck out 90 degrees from his bike was veering right at high speed. I went left and avoided him but there were a few guys behind me that he took out. I heard there was a crash but didn't see it and didn't look back. I needed to move up. With 300 meters to go there was a 90 degree left turn that I negotiated on the outside and found another opening to move into before the sprint started. With 200 meters to go we were flat out and the road went uphill a little at about 100 meters. Some guys who went early we're starting to fade and I managed to finish in the top 20 overall and 13th Cat 2.
Amazingly the break didn't get caught and the 4 guys held on for the top 4 places with Kurt Wolfgang taking the win.
Next up is the individual time trial. We're starting in reverse order to our Road Race finish positions so I'm off at 08:18:30. This means I have to get up at 4:30 AM to get there in time to warm up and be ready to race. After the TT we'll have 4 hours before the circuit race starts.
Link to the Time Trial Start Times.
http://www.topsportcycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/TimeTrialStartSheet.pdf
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