Is it over yet?

I was looking forward to the Ras for like six months, now I am so totally happy that it is over!

Last update ended on a high note as I had just ridden a super tactical breakaway resulting in a top ten on stage 4 and GC.

And then it got ugly.

Stage 5 was long and I came totally unglued over the last climb and following 25km of wind and rollers. Finished in the group, but I needed some help from Fabian to keep me near the front and out of the wind. Lost two places on GC due to a 150km breakaway containing two riders close behind me. TIAA-CREF and Ireland were content to limit the gap to 2-3 minutes to pretect their GC, but it was too much time to keep me secure in 9th. Florian was up the road in that move too, so we weren't too worried.

So, the notorious split stage - 24km TTT in the AM, 83km road stage in the PM. The night before was really rough. Not a lot of sleep, bad stomach problems. I'll spare you the details. Couldn't eat breakfast and my legs felt horrible. Noodled my way through the 24km, when I really should be the strongest time triallist on the team. Got schooled to the tune of 4 minutes by Recycling.co.uk, and lost more places on GC (down to 14th now, I think). Drifted in and out of sleep in the intervening hours between stages.

It was going to be critical to be near the front in the road stage because of some particularly hideous crosswinds. Problem was, I was so stoned I couldn't get anywhere close to the front. Didn't help that we hit the ground running at 65kph either. Every. Freaking. Day. So I missed the front group (obviously), got dropped out of the chase group (crap), dropped out of the third group (double crap) and finally found a place with some other stragglers. So it turns out our DS told my guys in the group ahead to wait up for me, we caught their group and then they went to the front and rode tempo, just the two of them, with me in third wheel for the last 55km or so. Felt pretty pro, but too bad it was cause I was feeling so crap. Anyways, limited the damage and came home in 20th place on GC. Not the worst outcome on the day, for sure.

Next two days were run with a tailwind under the power of Recycling trying to keep in control of the GC lead, with the hired help of the Polish team. Just tried to stay out of the wind and near the front. Not too many problems with that, except for the three wheel changes I had to get. Total for the week - 8. Somehow made up one GC place on the last day. Weird.

19th on GC
19th stage 2
9th stage 4

That's it till I get home in a week.
Next stop - Tour de Beauce.
GReain

1/2

Stage 4, 2006 FBD Insurance Ras - done & done

Pulled a daring raid on the peloton today with Ciaran Power. The racing was super-intense, just tons of attacks going off all over the place and I was sick of doing the 35kph-53kph-35kph thing, so I rode off the front on a descent where Power and I proceeded to bridge to the early 5 man break, drive it for the next 90km, and blow shit up on the Cat 1 KOM climb. Snagged thrid on that (who said I couldn't climb?), but then Pate threw down with a massive attack on a wall shortly thereafter and I was too blown to do anything. After the dust settled, I was 9th on the stage and catapulted myself into 9th on GC. Can't sleep tomorrow though, there's like 9 guys within a minute and half behind me on GC, but I have all the boys riding for me so hopefully I won't have to ride much for the 173km.

I'll do a better stage-by-stage sometime, but so far I've had four wheel changes. Two on the first day, and that sucked because shit was really starting to go off and I spent 15km in the caravan (in a headwind, with bad caravan drivers) to get back, only to flat again as soon as I got there. Another 5km in the caravan for that one. Schiesse. Lost a minute in the last km cause I was so blown from chasing. Yesterday and today the changes were a lot smoother.

Racing is very unpredictable here, with only 5-man teams it is hard for any one team to control the race, so every day is a run-off like a one day race. Attacks, more attacks, big groups riding away that shouldn't, etc. Here's hoping guys are too tired to attack from here on in.

Shitty weather too, oh my god.

Apologies for not e-mailing anyone personally on this, but this is the first internet I have seen sine Germany, and I am going straight to bed when I am done writing this.

Ze Germans are Coming

Yes, that's right. The mighty Stevens racing team aus Deutschland is going to Ireland tomorrow for the UCI 2.2 FBD Insurance Ras, a.k.a. the Tour of Ireland.

Needless to say, I should be packing right now but this is also important. So. Since I don't know what the internet access scenario will be there, it is quite possible that I won't be able to update you myself on how things are going. You should be able to find results/reports/etc. on the following sites:

www.fbdinsuranceras.com
www.cyclingnews.com
www.canadiancyclist.com

Form is good, the bike is locked down tight, just need some good tactics and a bit of luck.

GReain

Paging Martin Gilbert...

...you have offically made it big in Europe! Sadly it was your crash at track World's that made it onto the Eurosport Watts clip show, but we don't see too many Canadians on the TV over here. Congrats!

In the latest GReain news, I returned to racing last weekend with a not-too-shabby 2nd place sprinting out of the breakaway group. Good confirmation that my form is right on target for Ireland. Capped off a big week last week, and this one will be even bigger, finishing with a 160km road race in the mountains on Sunday. I'll be sure to let you know how I handle the half-hour climbs.

The 'very strong' Stevens Racing Team has been confirmed for the FBD Insurance Ras (Tour of Ireland, UCI 2.2) May 21-28. www.fbdinsuranceras.com

I have also been confirmed on the Canadian National selection for the Tour de Beauce, June 13-18, UCI 2.2. Looks like a strong team this year with Ryan Roth (gearsracing.com), Dominique Rollin (velo club roubaix), Charles Dionne (saunier duval - prodir), Bruno Langlois (AEG Toshiba - JetNetwork) and Dustin MacBurnie (Targetraining) completing the roster. Three cheers to staying on the pavement this year! www.tourdebeauce.com