Beauce Finishes Early

For me, but not for everyone else. Rough day today. 2nd day of really crappy weather- cold and lots of rain. Yesterday`s stage 1 was a 160km trip through the pressure washer in which I struggled for the middle hundred kilometers and spent a lot of time in the deathline at the back of the group. But I started feeling good with about thirty kilometers to go and started riding more at the front. I finished very well with a ninth in the field sprint, but then I found out that there was a group of fourteen off the front for the last 60 kilometers, making me twenty fourth at the end of it all. All in all, not too bad, but I guess that move went off while I was at the back because I had no idea.

Okay, on to the bad news. Today was a 180km stage, temperatutes around 10 degrees, raining and windy with some climbing. A tougher stage than yesterday for sure. I decided to use the same wheels as the day before, a pair of deep section Mavic Cosmic Carbones, in spite of the climbing because of the many sections at high speed. Fair enough, a lot of other guys were riding them too. I was not feeling so good on the hills, but was never back in the caravan or on my own and was always able to come back no problem. I got into a good position for the second KOM climb, knowing that I would at least need to start at the front if I were to have a ny hope of going over the top in the group. Turns out I was staying near the front and riding well. Going over the top a group of about ten riders slipped away and I found myself to be much stronger than the other chasers so I jumped on it and got rolling to close the gap. I picked up Dominique Perras and a Symmetrics rider on the way and we were closing fast. So far so good. On to a very fast downhill and we are still closing, there is a strong crosswind picking up from the right of the road, no problem. Then, in the break ahead, I see Charles Dionne shoot off the left side of the road into the ditch and I`m thinking, OK this is a bad wind, so I move right and start to get ready but a have no chance as I get hit with a particularly stong gust that takes me from right to left and into the dith at around seventy kilometers per hour.

When it all becomes clear again I am on my back in a six foot deep ditch unable to mave and yelling as lound as I can. At this point I am most afraid of not being seen and left there. One of the Mavic motorcycles finds me, my team car comes along and I get inside after seeing my broken fork and broken front wheel.

The race doctor checked me out and everything is OK, just a lot of swelling on my face and a very stiff neck. I think that I landed really hard on my head, so I am lucky to not have any real problems right now. I am more disappointed than anything, because we were so close to that break and it ended up going all the way to the line and making big time on the shattered field behind. That`s racing.

That`ll be all from Tour de Beauce, see you in Ottawa soon.

GR