Today we nearly all of the "Fuji Test Team" u23 riders, some were stuck at school (suckers), lined up to race GP Waregem, 130km with 234 amateur riders all under the age of 23 it seemed like the perfect chance to test the old upsidedown number 13 myth.
The start was MANIC, riders pushing their way to the front of the grid brakes screeching everywhere, wheels locking up, but despite the chaos i found myself sitting about 40-50th position in the bunch, not free from all the hustle and bussle but far enough forward to avaid all the early spiils, which claimed 2 team mates early on. I was sticking as close as possible to our teams rider who had a good shot at taking out the race after showing his good form with a 3rd place at sundays UCI 1.12, and i have to say, i was quite amazed at how easy he made hurtling down the road within centermeters of hundereds of other riders all bumping and bouncing off eachother, slamming the breaks on whenever a whistle is heard ( meaning there is an obstickle on the road) look.
one section of the course had an epic series of traffic islands which formed almost a maze which the bunch had to negotiate and having had enough of the squeezing on previous tight spots opted to buny hop over the two that were in my way, which meant i could gain a few posi's leading into the section of roadworks. one lane of the road had been dug up and with a small group of 4 dangling just off the front i decided a group of 5 would be better than a group of 200 and bridged across.
It was short lived (and Hurt) which meant soon i would be fighting for position in the bunch again. slipping back the bunch hit the first real crosswind section for the day and about 20 riders infront of me, trent and onother team mate Teemu (nat u23 tt champ of finland) found myself stck behind a pile of twisted bodies and bikes. The chase begun, and it wasnt long before we hit the first of the days climbs almost on the tail of the bunch, and at a false flat during the climb the small group rejoined the main field. Soon after i found myself in difficulty sliding off the back, and with no team cars being allowed to follow was on my own.
I managed to catch a small group containing teemu, and then opted to chase a bit harder to cotch some riders further up the road over the cobbled climbs before joing trent an another belgian, who seemed pretty keen to take a shortcut, and dissappeared shortly after mentioning his alternate route. It was clear our race was over so trent and I rolled back to the team bus.
So judge for yourself, upside down number 13 myth, Busted or Confirmed
bild
4 years ago
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