Malta - Stage 2

Today, the second stage of the Tour Ta Malta, was a 100km road race in San Martin. We left the headquarters at 8:30 as a group for the 20km ride towards the start. Not really knowing what the circuit was like, just some rumours from other riders, I was expecting a 10km circuit with a hard 2-3km hill with the finish on top

Arriving on the circuit, it was a area I recognised from my 2 hour loosen which I had done on the first day. The hill that the race was going up 10 times was the one I had named “Windygap”. Not remembering what the decent was, and people telling me to be careful because of the bad surface, I went to check it out before the start and it wasn't as bad as imagined.

At 10 sharp, the race began with half a lap neutralised. When the car accelerated away the attacks begun. Sitting in around 10th place in the group was a prime position for the beginning of the first accent up “Windygap”. In the sharp, roughly surfaced right hand bend to the first part of the climb, I was still holding my position. After about 200 meters, a British rider from the “Chevin Bang & Olufsen” team, who was riding a few places ahead of me came acrop, not being able to swerve to avoid, I went straight into him, therefore taking a tumble. Quickly getting up, I grabbed my bottles and bike and I was off, but the peleton had already taking about 30 seconds.

Chasing as hard as I could, trying to get on as quickly as possible was the mission in hand. Half way up the climb I succeeded, overtaking quite a few riders in the process, but a rider from the head of the bunch attacked the moment I got on, lining out the field. As Ii was at the back, a few riders left some gaps and by the top of the hill, the group was about 15 seconds up the road, and with only one other rider with me. Luckily after a few kilometres on a piece of false flat, I managed to get back on, but with the legs not feeling at their best, I thought it would be the best to try get away before the 2nd accent of the climb.

Looking for the right moment to attack was important, as if I got caught then I would be stuffed for the climb. Luckily, half way down the decent I saw my chance and got away, trying to chase the two escapees 30 seconds up the road. By the time I reached the climb, there was a gap of about 40 seconds from me to the bunch, with about 15 seconds off the two up the road. Feeling the chase from the previous laps crash in my legs was the biggest problem, ending up getting caught by a group of 10, including the Red Leader, Francesco Pizzo, who was sitting on the front chasing the two away. Hanging onto the group was, at first, difficult, but as we hit the decent it turned easier with a short moment to recover. Hitting the climb for the 3rd time, Pizzo was still on the front, but this time putting the pressure on trying to split the group. With me hanging on the back of the group the splits began, which I wasn't able to close. At the top, a group of 6 Italians and a Brit joined me, which I managed to stay with for the rest of the race, all working well together.

With 4 laps to go, the legs started to feel good, and I started to do some big turns, but by this time the 8 riders up the road ended up having 3 minutes on us. With 2 laps to go, on the climb I thought I would give it a go to try and get 9th place and maybe close some time from the leaders. 2 other riders came with me, one a Italian, and the other a local Maltese rider. The Italian sat on the back, so we wouldn't catch time on the break as he had couple of his team mates in it(he had my number on his stem), while the rider from Malta wasn't giving it his best. Half way down the decent the rest of the group came back, and one of the riders from that group started abusing me in Italian. Not knowing a word he was saying I smiled at him, which made him abuse me even more.

Hitting the climb for the final time, but at a steady pace gave me time to recover from the little break. With 400meters to go, sitting in a prime position for the sprint, I saw the other riders change to their big ring, so I thought it would be a good idea to do the same. 200 meters to go the sprint started, but I ended up mistiming it, ending 3rd out of our group, 11th overall on the stage.

Back at the headquarters, the results where up, and surprisingly I was still 7th on GC, 3 minutes off podium and 6 minutes off the lead. At the hotel room, I took off my cycling shoes off and saw that there was only half of my left cleat left, which means that it broke in the crash on the first lap.

Tomorrow, is stage 3, the final stage of the tour, but this time on the island next to Malta, Gozo. With a planned leaving time of 5:30 in the morning to catch the boat, its not something i'm particularly looking forward to, but in the race I will be hoping for a good result and hopefully get onto the podium.