Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 10

Today’s stage was a fast and flat 100km circuit race. This morning the inevitable happened. The pollution got to me and my left nostril was clogged. Thanks to Mike I got some cough drops and some breathe rite strips and felt awesome for the stage. The goal of the day was either to put me, or Mike, or Matt in the break or to get Evan up there in the sprint. On the first lap I covered everything, and it was apparent that Adria wanted to keep it together. They would put 2-3 guys in a move and not work. They did this for the first two sprint points. After the second sprint point halfway through Mike launched me up the road, but still we couldn’t roll. Then a big group rolled with Mike. Adria signaled to a Lampre rider that he could roll off, so I followed. As soon as I got to the front group an attack went that was the break of the day, but I was completely toast from bridging. Then Adria and Amore e Vita set pace to reel the break back in. With 3km to go Mike, Thomas, and Mattieu had Evan up at the front. With 2 kilometers to go Rusvelo took over, and Gavazzi from Amore e Vita took the stage win. We all finished safely in the bunch and live to fight the 240km stage tomorrow.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/346333234

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 9

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

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 8

Today’s stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was 126 km long. The first 30km were rolling. Then we went over a mountain until 45 km in. Then the stage was rolling again and downhill into town after 90 kilometers. At the start of the race it was raining, so a lot of guys thought they could get into the break. The pace was fast, and after about 15-20 km the break rolled. The terrain was very sketchy as there was a lot of mud and deep spots of water. Kyle crashed right in front of me, so we both went down. We got back into the peloton about halfway up the KOM climb. As we were going up the climb boulders were falling off the mountain, and one almost hit our team mechanic. During the rolling part Amore e Vita began setting pace for an inevitable sprint finish. I flatted about 70 km in and almost regained with the caravan but just did not. I time trialed in to make time cut. Up in the group Mattieu made an attempt at a solo move with 5 kilometers to go but was caught. Amore e Vita took the stage win and our guys finished safely in the group. Tomorrow's stage is 203 km with some climbs. Then we have a rest day.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/344193686