Tour de Delta Road Race

Yesterday we rode the Tour de Delta 1.2 road race. We did 12 laps over a 13 km rolling and technical circuit that featured two climbs that were not very long nor very steep. The race started off fast from the gun. Since the course was not too difficult my plan for the day was to let the course take its toll on riders over time. This ended up being an error as I sat at the back of the race for roughly half of the race saving energy. At the front of the race Evan, Oliver, and Jonah covered moves to put Evan into a roughly 20 rider front group where he sat on and made Rally and the other teams drive the move. The break was always really close to the peloton throughout the entire race. 6 laps into the race I followed a move over one of the hills and tried to make the junction to the front. The big reshuffle came with 3 laps to go when the groups came together on one of the hills but then split again over the top of the hill. I saw this happening but was about 20 riders too far back to make the split and thought the group would stay together. With 2 laps to go the field brought Evan's group back, but there were still riders off the front. The final time up the largest hill on the course I attacked over the top with a couple riders and Oliver was able to counter me. However, we were unable to make a selection happen. Going into the finale Oliver was leading out Evan, and I came by Oliver to shield him from the wind. Ryan Roth of Silber ended up taking the win, and Evan came home in 16th place. I was very disappointed with how I raced the race because I had preconceived notions of how the race would play out and I stuck to them. I had good legs but did not use them at the back for the first half, and when the split happened with 3 to go I also had the same thoughts. It is good to have ideas of how races will play out, but it is smarter to adapt those ideas as a race progresses. We resume racing on Wednesday with the Gastown Grand Prix. I look forward to having a great race there.