Energiewacht Tour

The Energiewacht tour started today here in the Netherlands. The whole stage race consists of four road race stages, ranging from 80km to 118 km. I expect every stage will be similar to today…pretty darn flat and windy!

Today we raced for 108 km in a time of 2h40, averaging 40.8 km/h. The stage was two laps of around 45 km and then two finishing 7 km circuits.

The first lap was a fairly slow tempo to begin. There were a lot of crashes in this race. Anne-Marie from the team had a very unfortunate crash on the 1^st lap. I somehow narrowly avoided her wheel even though I was right behind her when it happened; unfortunately Joanie went down in the same crash. Both of them escaped okay for the most part, but the same can’t be said for Anne-Marie’s bike..

The second lap was a lot faster than the first. The pace picked up and the group got very strung out through the windiest section of the course. I was doing such a good job of staying at the front until this point, but still ended up just a bit too far back and got stuck in the second group that formed. It’s crazy how fast a gap can open on the windy sections when it’s all strung out.

The max gap between the first and second groups was around 1 minute. I didn’t think the groups would come back together, but we caught up with the front group going into the very last lap. The last circuit was pretty insane racing along the narrow roads. I finished up 20^th for the day and am now sitting in 3^rd for the U23 competition. Now it’s time for some much needed rest and recovery. The insanity will continue tomorrow..

Here’s where you can find results and event info: http://www.energiewachttour.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35&Itemid=31

Leah