20

stage 1

short and sweet.
70 miles
and possibilities of heavy wind coming off the coast:
not a good combo, b/c a team if they were so motivated
could drive it onthe front and put everyone inthe gutter,
and probably manage to do it for 70 miles, instead of 100+ . .
it was kind of nervous in the peleton, even in the neutral section
before km zero.
i was having flash back of Qatar.
the dude fresh home from beligum were riding like champs,
glad to be back in a familiar pack of riders..
covering every move and working well together.
late inthe race when some of the fighting calmed down
sayers said to me to be heads up for the next move
as the risk was lowered no only 40 km from the line ..
and as Taylor was coming from the team car and shooing up the right side,
i chashed after him trying to get a fresh bottle,
then on the front,
high road and a slipstream gave it a go,
astana dude closing the gap (i on his wheel),
i then look to my right and jump on the counter attack,
and like sayers said,
the move went.
we probably could have made it closer to the line,
but a jelly belly guy attacked the group with still 18 km to go (while were moving 50 km/hr, ie. meaning he'd have to go 56 km/hr to get away .. on his road bike, 18 km for the line.. not happening) out break's lead then went from 1 min + to 40 seconds.
and that was really it.
they gave me the most aggressive jersey, not for much inparticular. . ironic that my teammates did the bulk of the work.