Keir Place Gets His First Taste of Racing In Europe

Keir Place of Deep River, ON, is living and racing in Holland this season. Based out of Vlaardingen , on the outskirts of Rotterdam, Keir is racing for the Wilton-Care4Bikes-AA Drink Cycling Team . This is an elite amateur team supported by the UWTC de Volharding club of Utrecht.

On Sunday, March 7, Place raced in his first race of the season: the Omloop van de Houtse Linies.  This is an important event on the KNWU national calendar and Place was excited to test out his legs. The 160km race was held on a 15km circuit with small roads and some significant cobblestone sections.

Place took some time to tell us what it was like to race for the first time in Europe. “When I arrived it was immediately clear that this was an important race. There were already many fans milling about behind the barriers by the start/ finish area and sponsor logos were plastered everywhere. The team cars were lined up ready for the caravan and interested spectators were walking around checking out bikes and talking to riders.”

As expected, the circuit was tight, with lot of corners and changes of surface including a one kilometer section of cobbles. This was Place’s first experience racing on the cobbles. In typical European fashion, the race went from the gun, “it was like a bomb went off. 0 to 55 km/hour in seconds. For people back home, I would best compare it to the finale of a Mardis Lachine but on a road a quarter the width, full of obstacles and with real turns,” says Place.

The race quickly broke up after the first 5 km, “we came out of town, made a turn into a cross wind and the peleton was shattered. There was a front group of 15. Another 25 or so behind this first group and then my group of 20ish and about a hundred others behind. From then the racing remained pretty well full-gas with quite a fight to stay in the front rotation of the echelon and out of the gutter. For a good bit the front remained within reach but slowly and surely they  progressed out of sight. By the 100km point we had lost 3 minutes and our group was pulled. There were only 40 or so that finished.”

Place adds, “I got my first taste and loved it. Surely this was one of the coolest races I’ve done, the all out, no BS style of racing is just wicked and racing on the cobbles is incredible. I’m looking forward to next weekend. I will take what I learned here and aim to move up the results sheet. Step one, coffee before the start.”

In April, Place is racing with the U23 Canadian National Team for a project centered around a series of U23 Nation’s Cups in Europe . The U23 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, the ZLM Tour, and the Cote Picardie will be the primary aim. The team will be based in Belgium and will race a series of national calendar and kermesse races there. Place says, “It is a very exciting calendar put together by the CCA and I am proud to be a part of it.”