Race 15 – XXXIV Gran Premo San Antonio

After a 2 weeks rest, it was time to get back to racing, this time a 4-5 hour drive up to Valle De Mena (Burgos) in the Basque country for the XXXIV Gran Premo San Antonio, a 131Km Elite Sub23 road race, with high stakes for the major teams.The race had short/medium climbs, and it suited the all-round type of rider.
 
During the neutralised zone at the start of the race, there were two crashes already, one which unfortunately damaged my team mate’s ankle. I thought it was broken, but luckily it was just a sprain, but he’s going to have to rest for a while as it does look pretty serious.
 
I thought I was in good shape during the first 2 hours of the race, but my body was full of surprises with the shock of the huge efforts, so I was suffering a lot, and I was trying to hang on to the peloton. I had a good mentality, but my legs didn’t want to play. I was constantly taking gel packs and energy bars to keep it going.
After halfway through the race, on the main climb, I was losing contact with the peloton, and I quickly became fatigued, so I stayed in a small group off the back, to finish the race. I was surprised and frustrated, and I contemplated why I didn’t go well.
 
The peloton of 108 riders finished at the same time, with four of my team mates finishing in that main bunch. I finished in 121st position, in a smaller group at 6.45secs.
 
I guess my legs needed to wake up big-time after the two week break, and hopefully they will be in shape again for the two races coming up next weekend. The race on Saturday will be in Madrid, then on Sunday it’s the long drive up to Country Basque again!
 
Cao!
 
 
Results & Classification >>

https://twitter.com/SpcaTeam/status/742268210175741952