Spring campaign: race overview

Just a quick round-up of my German spring campaign:

27.04.08 - Tour d' Energie, Göttingen - 80 km (1000Hm)
Rank 22 (1284 finishers); Time: 2:12:55

01.05.08 - Henninger Turm, Frankfurt - 102km (800Hm)
Rank 14 (1286 finishers); Time: 2:33:44

11.05.08 - Lohmar Challenge, Lohmar (Cologne) - 105km (1300 Hm)
Rank 19 (257 finishers); Time: 2:29:22

12.05.08 - Neuseen Classics, Zwenkau (Leipzig) - 130km (500 Hm)
Rank 30 (694 finishers); Time: 3:10:52

01.06.08 - Bayern Rundfahrt, Erlangen - 742km (800 Hm)
Rank 57 (429 finishers); Time: 1:56:32 *

* Involved in crash 150 metres before the finish line.

GP Schwarzwald in Triberg

The high mountain events are looming around the corner, which always makes the weekend in black forest town Triberg an attractive option. The Saturday jedermann race, including 3 ascents up the steep Geutsche, is no longer part of the German Cycling Cup (last year called T-Mobile Cycling Tour). I had survived the crash in Erlangen quite well, but pain in my left calf withheld me from doing any training during the week. The plan for Triberg was: see what happens in the race, and gain important mileage in the RTF on Sunday, which I would be riding with Rebecca and Guus.

Upon arrival in Triberg, it became clear that my bike’s headset was not in optimal condition. During warm-up I felt very uncomfortable. The bike was unstable, the steering was awkward and I was wondering whether I needed a proper check-up first, before doing another race with it. Thanks to Rebecca’s help in fine-tuning, I got more optimistic and joined the small field of participants (about 70 for the 69km and three-lap race) at the starting line. There I saw Alex, who had also made his way to the Black Forest.

There’s no time to get into rhythm in Triberg as the start is uphill and straight onto the Geutsche climb. I ran at the front initially, but after the steepest section - when the climb becomes more of a rollercoaster - I had to let the frontrunners go. I fell back to a second group, including also Alex. Basically, from then on I kept feeling uneasy riding my bike, especially in the fast descents, but as soon as the road went up I was able to hurt the other riders in the group. I went solo the second and third time over the Geutsche, but I didn’t manage to stay ahead in the subsequent descents. On the final lap, only five guys came back to me, though. I was confident of beating them in the sprint uphill to the finish, but a cramp decided otherwise and I had to let three guys go. In the end I finished 27th, which felt rather disappointing. My time was also nearly 2 minutes slower than in 2007...

Soit, it cannot be party every time, and in any case spending the whole weekend in Triberg was very pleasant indeed. The area is superb for cycling and the RTF, albeit expensive, is certainly worth the trouble. The three of us signed up for the 175km long Kandel-Runde, which offered the tough climb of the Kandel, and over 3400 altitude metres in total. The ride went very well and we kept a solid pace, too. As we progressed on the Kandel, it got more and more foggy so there was little scenery to enjoy. But reaching the top of the climb was a relief as we knew that the biggest difficulty was already behind us. I had tested myself on the Kandel, thinking of Les 3 Ballons already, and wasn’t unhappy about the pace I could do. The day went on smoothly (apart from Rebecca suffering a short crisis between km 110 and km 125), but unfortunately the sky gradually turned darker and darker until quite a fantastic thunderstorm broke out. That meant pouring rain and scary lightning for the final one-and-a-half hours of the RTF. Bit of a bummer, but the ride had definitely been a great training exercise!

Erlangen: crash spoils top 15 result

ERLANGEN - After spending 12 days in the Far East I played the jetlag to my advantage and took the start at the next German Cycling Cup in Erlangen (Bayern) only 15 hours after my landing in Frankfurt. The 72km race had always been on my schedule as a solid exercise to get back into the rhythm after the holiday, but being ranked 3rd overall and 1st in the AK slightly amended my perspective of course. The race, which was very well organised, went great but ended on a very sour note.

Six laps of 12 km containing an irregular climb that felt different each time we hit it. The first lap went smooth, the second was downright painful and another lap later it was as if it were nothing. Choosing a gear was not easy. The legs felt good and apart from the climb on lap 5, when the pace increased due to several attacks, I had little difficulty staying up front. Eventually we were heading towards the finish line on the final lap with a group of about 35 riders. Michael McManus, second in the standings, made a superb attack and managed to bring his advantage home for a stunning solo victory. A double win, as McManus also grabbed the German Cycling Cup's leader's jersey! The defending leader, Andreas Bollessen, unfortunately got entangled in a spectacular crash 150 metres before the line that also took me down hard. In full sprint, a Strassacker-rider collided with someone causing both to go down. Bollessen, myself and another guy or two had nowhere to escape and flew over them. As the dust settled, it appeared that nobody got seriously hurt apart from bumps and bruises and bike parts that require checking or substituting. I was groggy for a minute but crossed the line three minutes later and got ranked 57th, which at least still gave me some good points. I am still fourth in the overall, and held on to my lead in the AK by 2 points.

For a day or two I had pain in my left calf muscle and the bump on the left side of my hip is quite impressive, but all in all I can consider myself lucky. Rebecca, Britta and other people who saw it happening all said the crash looked scary. My Red Bull racebike seems to have survived the shock relatively well. It does not look as if any part needs to be written off. So, the biggest consequence of the experience is that I will need to participate in Bochum on 3 August as well. Otherwise retaining a top five position in the final GCC ranking at the end of the season is unlikely.

It was a hot and humid day in Erlangen, which left Rebecca chanceless as her asthma prevented her from scoring a good result. My teammate Alexander Nikolopoulos on the other hand had a solid race and crossed the line in 22nd spot.

RESULT:
1. Michael McManus
2. Thomas Kapuste
3. Nico Wernicke

GCC Ranking:
1. M. McManus 1237 pts
2. A. Bollessen 1187 pts
3. N. Wernicke 1162 pts
4. K. Van de Velde 1145 pts
5. H. Barkmann 1088 pts

Le Nove Colli : Always a must

CESENATICO - My second participation in the biggest Italian granfondo of the season, Le Nove Colli, confirmed the good vibes I felt four years ago. This event is highly recommended, especially in conjunction with a week of holidays/training camp. I wrote a report on the Nove Colli for Challenge Magazin, which you can read following the link below.

Nove Colli - Report (in German) on Challenge magazin June 2008

Hürth, Lohmar, Leipzig

The long Whit weekend was by all accounts an intense experience. Racing-wise, I had no fewer than three appointments on the agenda: Huerth, Lohmar and Zwenkau. The first two in the Cologne area, the latter in Saxony, the East. The tricky thing was that, actually, Zwenkau was the most significant event of the trio, given my high ranking in the German Cycling Cup (fifth overall, first in the M1 age category). But Lohmar offered a course better suited to my cycling capabilities.

First was Huerth, though. Wolfgang Schaaf, chief editor of the immensely popular Challenge Magazin.com, organised a criterium of 35 laps on a 1km circuit containing a slope of up to 6%. Participation was upon invitation and in total some 25 men and 15 women turned up on a warm Saturday afternoon in the outskirts of Cologne. Team Agapedia-Muensterland was represented by Joerg, Ingo, Britta, Simona and myself.

Criterium-racing is a particular form of racing very common in my native region in Flanders. A solid cornering technique is required as well as the ability to accelerate out of the saddle hundreds of times. I used to be quite good in it during the mid-nineties, before I focussed more on long-distance events. In Huerth, my ‘race of champions’ did not take long, as expected. I started towards the back of the group and as the Lexxi and Siemens guys set a blistering pace from the gun I was immediately chasing the facts. A few guys left gaps on the slope, I bridged them two, three times with an extra effort but then I let go. No excuses, I was in the red straightaway and I really wasn’t going to blow myself up with two big races coming up. Once I found my own rhythm, I still did 25 laps as “vorbelastung” for Lohmar and Leipzig. The criterium was dominated by Alex Bauer and Nino Ackermann, who crossed the finish line in that order. Team Lexxi’s tactics for Sunday’s Lohmar race were therefore obvious: Bauer would help the better climber Ackermann to win that one.

It was the first edition of the Lohmar Challenge, hoping to set an annual tradition. About 600 participants on the two courses of 50 and 100km enjoyed perfect weather conditions and a truly interesting course. A little similar to Goettingen, but more irregular. The organisers deserve credit, they did a splendid job for this first edition.

During the first phase of the race, the pace was kept high by several Lexxi-attacks and by Iron Man Alexander Nikolopoulos, my teammate who couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. He was doing his first genuine race of the season and he put the hammer down quite rapidly. Despite the many attempts of riders, everything stayed together during the first of the two laps. Still, only some 30 riders remained in the leading group. As we hit the longest climb at the start of lap 2, the pace increased and Nino Ackermann managed to create a gap together with Torsten Roell of Team Siemens. I didn’t see them leaving myself, but I doubt whether I could have followed at that point. Going up and down, up and down was demanding! In any case, the race was over because after the top of this 5km rollercoaster, Lexxi and Siemens controlled us totally. In particular Bauer, who had been nervous and aggressive the whole race already, was pushing it very far in protecting Nino’s breakaway. Nevertheless, both local teams did an excellent job and they got their leaders up front. In the jedermann circuit that is not as evident as it sounds. Team Lexxi proved their supremacy by taking first, third and fourth place. Ackermann outsprinted Roell and took his first victory of the season. I came home with the first group of 24 riders and finished 19th.

I still had a good feeling in the legs so I wasn’t too pessimistic as I drove to Leipzig for the long race (130km) on Whit Monday.

The sun was greeting us also in Zwenkau for the Neuseen Classics, as the race is called. People said the course was pancake-flat, so my ambition was simply to stick to the front and hope for a good placing in the almost inevitable bunch sprint at the end. With a bit of luck I could even challenge Andreas Bollessen for the leader’s jersey in the German Cycling Cup. Team Strassacker’s Nico Wernicke was also present, though, and the former professional is a very strong sprinter, as he proved last season with wins in Rund um Koeln and Muensterlandgiro. Allegedly, Wernicke is aiming for the overall win in the GCC Series this year.

As expected, the race started in nervous fashion with a couple of crashes on the often narrow roads as a result. I luckily did not get involved in them, also by riding way up front in the group and in the leading slot quite often. The legs felt very comfortable for the first 90 minutes in fact. But then it became gradually clear that the course modifications the organisers had introduced this year meant that there were some altitude metres to be covered! That’s normally to my advantage of course, but here I could have done without. My legs started to feel the efforts of Lohmar and between km 80 and km 100 I was struggling hard to keep up with the pace of the first group that contained about 50 riders. I succeeded in hanging on with them, but did not contest the sprint finish. Wernicke had just suffered a puncture and as I counted only about 40 riders around me, I thought of the Cup points and of staying out of trouble. The final hectometres were quite dangerous, too, and I satisfied myself with 30th place. It was insufficient to grab the lead in the overall standings, but I did improve to 3rd place while retaining the top spot in my age category. Thomas Kapuste beat Sebastian Denke and Christian Schroth in the sprint for victory. My main competitors in the GCC, Andreas Bollessen finished 11th, and Michael McManus 18th.

It was a great race for Team Agapedia in general. Ingo, Holm and Elmar delivered excellent performances and together we won the teamwertung over 130 km!

GERMAN CYCLING CUP TOP 5:

Bollesen 943 points
McManus 915 points
Van de Velde, 911 points
Barkmann, 886 points
Borst, 880 points

Link to GCC

The next event is Erlangen on 1 June.