Yesterday’s stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a tough one. It was 203 km, and we went over 3 climbs. We only climbed about 1500 meters in 203 kms, so it did not look like it would be that bad. The goal of the day was to get Thomas in a break to get KOM points. From the gun Thomas went in a move. The rest of the team would get in and cover moves that Thomas was not in. It was full gas, and nothing was getting away. Finally on the first non-categorized climb a move got away, but it had 4th place in GC in it. Thomas got into that one, but it was just too fast. He came back to the group. It was really fast over that non-categorized climb, and full gas over the next climb and on the downhill to bring that move back. Finally before the final climb it was all back together again. Since it was back together moves went again, and it was full gas over the final climb. Thomas attacked a couple times on the final climb, but it was like he had a bungee chord attached to him. The leader’s team would not let him get a gap. However, he got some KOM points. Kyle flatted at the base of the final climb. It was terrible timing. After the climbs the pace was fast to the line. I learned with about 20km to go that my handlebars were broken, most likely from my crash yesterday. With 10km to go Nick launched a solo effort and was caught at 3 kms to go. All of us but Kyle (since he got that flat) rolled in with the group for same time. Kyle rolled in with the grupetto. All of us made it to the rest day in good shape. A few of us crashed, but all the wounds are superficial. Mike now has food poisoning though. I hope it can go away in a day.
Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/345147813
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