Tour of Alberta Stage 5

Today’s stage of the Tour of Alberta was a 204km stage from Edson to Spruce Grove. The weather for the day was 45 degrees and raining all day. The soigneurs had hot tea for us on the way over to the race start. Once again I covered my arms, chest, legs, and feet with Enzo’s Embro Stick. I also wore all the clothes I had with me. The goal for today was to get anyone into the break. With the course being a net downhill and a tailwind I thought the day was going to be relatively. All of our riders attempted at different times to get into the move of the day. The problem was the entire field wanted to get into the break. Also we were racing down a highway for the first 100km. That combination made for a tough first hour and 15 minutes of racing. I got into a good move with 3 Hincapie riders who drilled it super hard. That was the only match I had for this stage. Finally after 70kms of racing Trek let a move roll. Evan was just off the back of it and tried really hard to get into it. After Trek got off the front we realized just how cold it was outside. Without working hard we got very cold. About 90kms in Katusha drilled it in a crosswind where we missed the split. However, we all got back on by the feedzone about 100kms in. The soigneurs had some hot tea in the musette. That was a nice surprise. At this point we saw Evan back in the field again. There was an 8km dirt section around 120kms in. I got tailed off the group because my tires were slipping around, and I was a little nervous in the mud. After the sector I drafted some team cars to get back on. The pace in the peloton slowed again, and I got very cold. It became very mentally challenging to want to finish the stage. I told myself things like “at least you can breathe (unlike at 10,000+ feet at the Tour of Qinghai Lake)” and “at least you don’t have food poisoning” to keep myself going. There was another 5km dirt sector around 165km in and I missed the split again. Kyle was the only one of us to make the front group from here. There was another dirt sector of 2km 173km in, and I just stayed with my group. For the final 30kms we worked together just to stay warm. Normally it is wise to do zero work in the grupetto, but today was an exception. It was super cold out. There were supposed to be finishing circuits, but the race sent the peloton the wrong direction on the circuits. A Garmin rider took the stage win from a break. 21 riders abandoned the Tour of Alberta today, most likely due to the terrible/ epic weather conditions today. It was nice after the stage because we went into a hockey arena where there were hot showers. The staff had pizza, hot subs, and hot chocolate for us after the stage. That was super nice. The final stage tomorrow is 11 laps on an 11.3km hilly circuit for a total of 124.1km. Tomorrow’s stage starts at 12:50 mountain time. It should be a tough race! At least the forecast is for 62 degrees and cloudy. Apparently the link I have been giving for coverage is only streaming in Canada. Sorry about that. Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/386622888