U23 Update from Belgium

Keir Place reports on a Belgian kermesse that he and some of his team mates raced in on Monday April 5.

Easter Monday, Jamie Riggs, Michael Joanisse and I traveled to the Wallonian village of Hannut to participate in a kermesse. The race was part of a large celebration the town was putting on for the holiday weekend and thousands of people were milling about amongst a plethora of vendors and entertainers.

Again the permanence was in a smoke filled bar, but here the language spoken was distinctly French and our identification licenses from the Flemish federation were firmly rejected. We prepared for the race by the team van, pinning our numbers as various characters walked by. A quick massage, some oil for the legs, an apple pie, check of the bike and we were off to the start line alongside 250 or so other racers.

In the field were several European continental teams and the well supported Belgian squads. There was a bit of tension on the start line, everyone knows how important the first kilometers are. The circuit was 10km in length and our race distance 120k; the parcours, exposed with a couple sections through town and some vicious crosswinds.

As per usual, the race went from the gun, splitting and reshuffling several times in the wind. On this day, positioning would be vital. Finally after a few laps, a definitive split was made. I was frustrated to miss the front echelon by just a few spots as the line broke in front of me, some hesitation in forming a second wire and the selection was made.

Michael made the front group with a tremendous effort but unfortunately couldn’t hang on in the wind. The race continued to go hard for the duration and our day was focused on staying in the rotation and out of the gutter on the narrow roads. I finished at the front of the second group with 20 others, including Jamie who had been part of an impressive 60km chase to catch up with only 5 others. Michael ended a lap earlier.

On Tuesday we previewed De Ronde; we had some expert guidance with Dom Rollin joining us to lend advice after a great ride in the professional version.