Its a wrap on the season

The last race of the season was the Münsterland Giro last Saturday, and it was the biggest race of the year for our team with a start list that included teams such as Columbia, Saxo Bank, Milram, Cervélo Test Team, Vacansoleil, Skil Shimano, among others. It was run on the windy but flat roads around the western German city of Münster.

I am somewhere in that mess with 5km to go

The defending champion from Columbia, Andre Greipel, was the clear favorite after his win in the points classification in the Vuelta and strong ride at the world championships the week before. The home team, Milram also had a strong sprinter in Gerald Ciolek. So everyone basically knew the game plan, someone would attack early, Columbia and Milram would set tempo and probably bring them back with a few km to go setting up a bunch sprint.

The action started from the gun, with my team mate Ricky attacking and getting into a small break, however a lot of teams weren't satisfied so they got brought back quickly. There were a bunch more attacks and I got into a decent group of 6 but then another small group came up with Greipel in tow so our group was doomed. I drifted back way too far after we got caught because my legs were still pretty loaded up from going so hard only 15minutes into the race and I found myself 70 riders back when the real break of 6 riders went. Ricky was also a bit back from his earlier efforts and my other 3 team mates were no where to be seen so we missed the break. So much for that.

We then settled in with Milram and Columbia setting tempo as expected. It was still very nervous in the peleton because the wind made the chance for a crosswind split quite high so everyone was battling to stay near the front. Still they kept it pretty mellow in the wind except for one time at about 80km to go which was one of the few times I found myself in the back half of the group. Milram successfully split the group but there were still about 50 riders and most of the favorites in the front so the rest of us had no problem getting back when they sat up. But sitting up really cost them dearly because when they started chasing again, the gap to the break didn't come down very quickly and they actually managed to stay away by a few seconds. Quite a shame we didn't have anyone in there, it would have been a great result for our team.

I tried to lead out a team mate in the closing kilometers but he couldn't hold the pace and drifted back. I still tried to stay near the front but I am not exactly a field sprinter and I didn't get very far. I ended up finishing in the middle of the front group which was reduced to about 80 riders at this point and sadly I was the first guy from our team. So the result wasn't great, but it was a good experience, because I learned that I can race with the big teams and be mildly competitive, I'm not dying just to stay in the peleton. It gives me good hope for the future.

I'm back in CA now and enjoying a nice break. Its been a long year and I definitely need it.