Göttingen: great race results in first podium

Göttingen - All the open questions have been answered. The German cyclo racing season finally got underway last Sunday in Göttingen with a splendid organisation in the Lower-Saxony university town. General conclusion: the expected - and for some - feared increase in quality level due to the influx of former Bundesliga and professional riders did not fully materialise. Personal conclusion: I am on the pace and scored my first podium (MS1). Overall, I finished 22nd in the sprint of the first group containing 33 riders.

After a long series of wet cyclotours and training rides during the past number of weeks, the sun finally greeted the 1800 cycling enthusiasts again. It was the fourth edition of the Tour d' Energie, but this year it was organised independently and not in the context of the LOTTO-Rundfahrt for pros, which got cancelled due to lack of sponsorship. The jedermann circuit in Germany is booming, while the pro scene has hit rock bottom.

Team Agapedia-Münsterland had based itself in Dransfeld at the foot of the last and major climbing difficulty of the race: Hoher Hagen. A 2km irregular and in parts steep hill, 20 km before the finish. As we already got together with the team on Saturday, I grabbed the opportunity to check out the Hoher Hagen climb in peace while a few others engaged themselves in the "prologue" time trial. (Team Agapedia scored the first win of the season straightaway with Julia in the women's time trial. Alexander came third in the men's). After a big plate of pasta on Saturday night we hit the sack and woke up under a blue sky and mild temperatures the following morning. The morale was high!

The first 3 km of the race through the city centre were neutralised, followed by a flying start. The pace increased and I positioned myself in the front of the peloton. The first big attack came after 12 km from my teammate Jürgen, a former professional rider. He took 25 seconds easily. Ingo and myself were playing the team card and were keeping an eye out for potential counter attacks. However, on a steep climb in a village Jürgen faded away, got caught and would no longer have a say in the debates at the front of the race.

Meanwhile, after 40km I still hardly felt the effort. I even took the lead as we entered the long climb to Bramswald. I trust my climbing ability and wanted to keep the pace sufficiently high, while awaiting the next attack from the likes of, for example, Nino Ackermann. A local rider accelerated instead and from that point on the race never fell silent again. We hit the top of the Bramwald hill with only a small group, and many would never return to us. After a rollercoaster ride of some 10-12 kilometres, we arrived in Dransfeld and at the Hoher Hagen Strasse. I entered the first steep section in about tenth place when Nino - as expected - made his move. He couldn't get away at all, but he did kill some dangerous sprinters, in particular the Strassacker guys. Hoher Hagen is suffering at maximum pulse rate, that is beyond doubt. But contrary to last year I did not lose touch with the front runners and found myself in the descent with some 20 riders around me. No Strassacker and, in fact, no Agapedia teammate neither. As usual, it was a bit of a struggle at first to get people working together to safeguard the breakaway. Still, only a few riders managed to come back to us after Hoher Hagen.

In the final five kilometres, several people attacked but no one got away. The wind blew quite strongly. I sat in the group knowing I don't have the explosivity for a finisher's move, so I bet my money on sneaking away with someone else or simply on a solid sprint. Neither of the two materialised as we were in the final straight before I realised it. Too far back, it was impossible to still make up a lot of ground and hence I didn't have a chance to get in the top 10 at the line.

The only minus point in what has otherwise been my best German race ever. Based on nettozeit, I did manage get on the podium, though. Insomma, there was no better way to kick off my season. Looking forward to the Henninger Turm next Thursday.

Link to Results

Amstel: good run stopped by tyre blast

VALKENBURG - Over 12, 000 riders took part in the Amstel Gold cyclotour last Saturday in the Southern Dutch province of Zuid-Limburg. The Amstel offers a great training opportunity before the cyclosportive racing season fully gets underway. Luckily, the weather was not too bad for a change: the rain only fell in the afternoon - bad luck for those who did the full 250km distance of course.

I had obtained a last-minute ticket thanks to a cancellation within the Agapedia team. It had been 3 years since I last did the Amstel, and I thought I could use the additional effort given the restricted training opportunities of late. On the agenda were 150km and 13 official climbs, but in reality the course constantly goes up and down. It is the same terrain as in the upcoming Shimano Fiets Challenge, which is held in Vaals in two weeks' time.

Morten left early for the desired 250 km, Guus was stuck in the traffic jam for the parking lot, so I took off with Henri, Ulli and Robert from Agapedia-Münsterland. Robert made sure we didn't fall back asleep with a solid pace, often touching the 40 km/h barrier. When Ulli suffered a puncture our run got interrupted but we were soon back up to speed. Passed the first official service point, at km 60, we hit the Loorberg, the third climb of the day: 1500 metres long and 5,5 % on average. Robert accelerated, but I took over and and went ahead full power. I wanted to use the Amstel to do some race simulation so I continued my effort after the hill.

Climb after climb went by, a.o. the Drielandenpunt, the border between Holland, Belgium and Germany. The legs felt quite good, I took a stop at the second ravitaillement to add some Isostar to my bidon, didn't see my teammates and continued. At km 110 we hit the Kruisberg, one of the more narrow and steeper climbs. The road surface in the descent was quite bad and somehow somewhere I must have hit something very hard, because suddenly there was a loud bang that caused my front tube to explode. I came to a standstill halfway the descent and was first glad to see that my new Campa Zonda wheel was not damaged. Not so much later two other guys stopped at the same spot, also with a flat tyre. Changing the inner tube took very long. My new wheel has a higher rim and my innertube has a standard valve. Not much space to attach the handpump. I hardly managed to get air in the new inner tube. Convinced it was the pump's fault I fooled around for quite some time, until I decided - upon recommendation from a local - to walk down the descent to the next village and ask for a footpump. I arrived at a farm and luckily the inhabitants were very understanding and helpful. Out comes the footpump, but to no avail. Then it hit me of course: the new innertube must have a hole already! Indeed. Quite amazing, though: this was a brand new Michelin innertube coming straight out of the box.

I always carry 2 spares for a long event, so I exchanged again and finally I was able to continue the tour. Obviously, the muscles were cold by now and didn't feel as comfy any longer. As the first raindrops began to fell, we had to set foot just before the Keutenberg - a short and steep climb 10km before the finish. As in Flanders, most people don't manage to climb up and crash down blocking the road. I waited a bit until a path became free, and climbed up the Keutenberg between dozens of walking riders :-) always a nice feeling. In pouring rain I approached Valkenburg and the famous Cauberg. I stated last week already that I consider the climb to be very much overrated and I proved it to myself by doing it on the 53x21 without a problem.

The Amstel is a nice event, but somehow the mass of riders is more disturbing than in Flanders. Is it because you are partially obliged to ride on cycling lanes next to the road? It's a minus point that the organisation erases, however, by providing great video (!) and photo material of each rider's day.

Morten had his share of problems and stuck to the 100 km in the end, so we were back home in Frankfurt around seven. It allowed me to join Lorenzo and Alex for the RTF in Gross-Gerau on Sunday morning. We did the very boring 115 km route at a convenient pace, ideal after the Amstel.

I am quite happy with my current form. Uphill I feel very good, but I haven't really been tested yet by others. That will certainly happen next weekend in Göttingen, my first genuine race of the season. Now that I got over my cold, I am looking forward to it. Göttingen is arguably my favourite German race and I have always done well there.

Next Spring Classic: Amstel Gold Race

After the E3 Velotour and the Ronde van Vlaanderen I managed to secure a last-minute ticket for another classic tour this weekend: the Amstel Gold Race in Valkenburg/Maastricht, Holland. It will be my third participation in the event after 2004 and 2005. I like the route as a perfect training opportunity. The most popular distance of 150 km has about 13 official hills with the Keutenberg at the end as the steepest and best known. The finish is also atop the Cauberg, but that hill is seriously overrated. The difference between Amstel and Flanders is the fact that there are no cobblestones and that the hills are on average slightly longer.

Unfortunately, there is (again) a considerable chance for wet conditions and I haven't fully recovered from my cold yet. But with the first real race around the corner in Göttingen next weekend, we need to put in some mileage now.

Real Flandrien

"Now you are a real Flandrien". Those words were addressed to me several times since last Saturday. I guess, with hindsight, having ridden the complete distance of the Tour of Flanders in bitterly cold and wet conditions does indeed not leave any space for 'yeah buts'. So today I am happy I came through with my chin up, even though for some time halfway through the ride I admit I was about to throw in the towel.

Horrific memories of the Oetztaler 2005 zoomed through my head, when after 65km the rain (and melting snow!) began to fall with increasing intensity. The temperature dropped to barely 3 degrees, my hands and body stiffened up and my teeth chattered non-stop. All the major climbs and cobblestones were yet to come and I was thinking the full route will be for another year. However, as it happens, the rain let up for a while then - at the right moment - so that my morale was up again by the time I reached the big food & beverage stop in Oudenaarde.

Morten, Michael and I got up at 4:00 a.m. We were at a hotel in Oudenaarde and had to make our way to Ninove to get on the shuttle bus that would bring us to the start in Bruges. Everything went smooth, we got on the bus and Michael drove the car back to Oudenaarde to pick up Gideon and Guus. The trio would do the 140 km tour starting later in the morning.

In Bruges we quickly put our bikes together and Morten started fearing the worst for the day as his bike came off the bus with a flat tyre! He would not face any similar issues later, though. Slightly more than 3000 people (out of 17 000 total participants) came together at the Grote Markt in Bruges for the départ of a very long day in the saddle. I noticed the pre-announced Japanese team and a surprising number of British cyclists. After about 45 minutes of riding we came onto a 'celebrity group' and attached our waggon. I immediately spotted Ludo Dierckxsens, and soon after I was sitting in the wheel of Eric Vanderaerden. Nico Mattan, Jo Planckaert, Peter van Petegem, Serge Baguet, Olympic judo champion Ulla Werbrouck and last-but-not-least Johan Museeuw were also present. Their purpose was to accompany the finalists of the Miss Sports Belgium contest on the ride. The girls apparently had to do an abridged version of the tour of 198km. There were several Italians in this group as well, four of which wore jerseys with "Michele Bartoli" printed on it - but I cannot say whether Bartoli himself was riding along. In any case, there were a few guys from the big granfondo teams Salieri (Negrini) and Park Pre (Rumsas, David Jones). The Giro delle Fiandre is becoming a highlight for Italians as well it seems.

The pace in this group wasn't high, but we were accompanied by cars and the roads were kept free for us, which made for comfortable riding. I stayed with them until the Kluisberg. It had been raining already for a while (Museeuw had even fled to the bus) and I wanted to go my own pace. But conditions got worse and worse as described above. The Nokereberg was new to me and didn't impress me. Up next was a very bad 1.6 km stretch of cobblestones: Doorn. A lot of mud made for tricky and slippery riding. Afterwards I was approached by a German who turned about to be living in Frankfurt and a triathlon-colleague of my Agapedia-teammate Alexander. The world can be small. On the way to the Paddestraat (2.4km of cobbles) the rain stopped temporarily. On the Paddestraat I nearly crashed into two riders who collided and slipped just before me. It was really a balancing act at times. After the Paddestraat we entered the traditional course of the Ronde and the start of the long series of climbs, 17 in total. The first one of these is the short but steep and treacherous Molenberg. I discovered to my surprise that despite everything the legs still had juice. Shortly after the Molenberg we hit the fearsome cobbles of Kerkgate in Mater (3 km). My pace was faster than anyone around me and I continued my run on the Wolvenberg. And so we arrived in Oudenaarde with even a short spell of sunshine. This encouraged me to a gamble and take off my soaked-through legpieces. I have always found covered knees a nuissance to ride with. After stocking-up on Isostar and eating a piece of honeycake I got back on the bike and headed for the big trilogy: Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg and Koppenberg. Last week in the E3 I had a rough time against the wind on the Kwaremont, but this time I cycled up with a solid pace. Unfortunately, the skies got dark again and opened the hatches for a terrible shower including sleet and windburts. What a way to hit the ultra steep Paterberg! Chaos reigned on the Pater of course, with nearly everyone falling down or getting off the bike and walking up. The path was blocked and when the guy in front of me had to get off, I couldn't avoid him and I had to set foot as well. Much to my resentment the same happened on the Koppenberg..

As I climbed the hellingen ony by one, showers came and went. But the legs were still strong enough to maintain a solid pace. The experience shows that if you take it easy in the beginning, you don't need to have trained 200 km before you do a 260 km event. In fact, on the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen, 18km from the finish, I had one of my best runs ever - which was much appreciated by the many spectators there, too. Then there was still the Bosberg and the remaining 11km to the finish in Meerbeke-Ninove.

It was close to 7 p.m. when Morten and I got back at the starting area, it had surely been a long day. Interestingly, on our certificate it says 277 km instead of the officially announced 260 km. Morten confirmed that his bike computer also showed 277 km, so the cyclotour seems to be longer than the pro race.

I am happy I did it, but my feeling is I won't do the full distance again. The weather did not help this year, but the first 120-130km are not exactly thrilling. Yet, I put it on my record alongside Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and in so doing I reached my first objective of the 2008 season!

The tension mounts...

Saturday is the first big day of my 2008 cycling season. The Ronde van Vlaanderen may not be a race, but the distance and the nature of the cyclotour at this early part of the year make it a genuine challenge. I only realised last week again in the E3 tour how hard riding in Flanders can be. This weekend will be the 10th time I participate in the cyclotour, but the first time I am aiming for the entire route of 260 km, from Bruges to Meerbeke. 260 km: that's a distance I seldom ride, and if, only in summer when in best-shape. Now it's the first weekend of April, and weather conditions have not allowed for extensive training recently. The plan will be simple: take it easy. I cannot afford to be 'shot' already on the Koppenberg, because then the Tour of Flanders becomes hell. The weather forecast is cold and windy, but with a bit of luck we won't get too wet.