Tough start to the season!

Well it’s been a tough start to the season. 

After winning my very first u16 race, with 3mins 28secs on the second guy, I probably expected too much but even in my next race I started well and was feeling comfortable. It was the St Geni Pouilly race. During the race I was jumping from wheel to wheel, and keeping my place in the front group. Before I knew it we had done 60km and I heard the bell ring and it was already the last lap!! I was amazed, it went past so quickly! On the last corner I was behind this guy from Besancon. We were flying! We flew round the roundaboult with 200m to go.  It came down to a sprint and I came 5^th!!     I was so Happy!

Before the first race of the challenge Zambon ( Overall champion after 10 big races in Haute Savoie ). I was really nervous. We started off very fast. We were 2 laps in the race coming up the hill when suddenly my handle bars got locked with another riders bar and down I went. It hurt like hell but I realised I hadn’t broken anything but had removed quite a lot of skin from various places on my body. My bike was tangled and the paramedics insisted I got treatment. By the time they had patched me up I felt ok so I rejoined the race. Of course by then I was 1 lap behind but I did manage to join up with the leaders and finished in the sprint. The next race was the next day and I learned another valuable lesson. I was feeling nervous so I didn’t eat much breakfast. So even though I had a couple of gels I ran totally out of energy. It was a particularly hard course so I thought maybe it was just tiredness, or a reaction to my crash the day before, but I think I just ran out of fuel.

I had been looking forward to the race in Divonne. It is a very easy course around a beautiful lake; 3km and flat – 22 laps. It was a really fast race with attack after attack. After 5 laps Aurelien managed to get a break with Maxim, Loann and Sacha. So the peleton followed but the teams of Cluses, Annemasse and Evian wouldn’t chase so it was mostly me doing the work. Incredibly I got a break with a few guys and we caught the escapees. There were 10 of us in the final sprint and I felt really good, I went for it, really killed myself, and then got cramp 100m from the finish just as I thought I had it!! 4^th................... really cross!! Missed the podium by one place!

The best bike of 2012 is the CANNONDALE EVO, with SRAM RED 2.

And I HAVE ONE!!! WHAT A BIKE, beautiful and incredibly light. I am now sponsored by CANNONDALE, with the support of CULTUREVELO in THONON-LES-BAINS.

I have been selected to be part of the Good Fight Team.

http://www.thegoodfighters.com/GoodFighters/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cannondale-Good-Fighters/115749715165255

This is a fantastic opportunity for me to ride the best bike and receive great support.

Massive thanks to Laurent Sillon at Club La Santa! Merci mille fois Laurent.

Already the help and advice I’ve had from the shop CULTUREVELO has been invaluable, and their attitude has really encouraged me. Just knowing my bike is in great shape and tuned perfectly is hugely positive and makes me feel I want to repay them with good results.

The 1^st race I had the chance to use my new weapon was the departmental championship race at Samoens. I was the most nervous I’ve ever been. Almost immediately after the start Cedric and Arthur got a break and disappeared into the distance. Again I was frustrated because that meant Cluses and Evian wouldn’t chase. It’s a massive disadvantage not having any teammates to help and I couldn’t get any other teams like Passy, Annecy or Annemasse to chase. So the gap grew to over a minute and I thought we would never catch them. Then Aurelien attacked which I should have expected but it seemed too late. We were flying!!  He got a small gap on me on the last big hill but not too much, then, as I changed to my big ring, my chain came off and got stuck. I had to jump off and fix it, by which time I was back in 7^th or 8^th. I think I had a real chance of a podium but probably hadn’t got used to SRAM properly as I’ve always used Shimano before. I went to CULTUREVELO and the mechanic adjusted the front mech correctly. My fault as I had changed wheels for the race and not thoroughly checked the tuning. 

Next race, Passy.  A tough course but I liked it as it had everything. Long flat bits, a fast descent, a punchy climb, but no twisty corners and the last 2km was fast and downhill. I was disappointed to come 8^th but, as dad said, it was always going to end up between the powerful guys and I need to remember that I’m up against guys much older and stronger than me – watch out though ‘cos I’ll win it next year!

So, today.................... Bourg En Bresse.............. 2^nd place!! Very happy. It was a 2.7 km course that we did 20 times. A total of 54km. It started very slowly. But then with 10 laps to go I looked behind and there were 8 or 9 of us! I knew that I was feeling good! With 4 laps to go I decided to go for it up the hill. I killed myself! And at the top I looked and there was still 5 guys with me! So told myself to stay in the wheels and wait for the sprint. With one km to go I got on the guy who I thought was the best in the group. Stayed on his wheel all the way until 150 meters to the line and tried to get past him but unfortunately had to settle for 2^nd place!

I have a busy weekend coming up and next week a track race at Aigle, then some big events in June.

I also will be taking a week off to go to my uncle’s wedding in Cornwall.

Now I’m going to go and clean my CANNONDALE EVO! 

A good start to the season!

Hi guys

Ok...  Well I don’t really know what to start with.

It was the beginning of the track season. I thought that I was really going to struggle to keep up with the best guys in France, but actually I was alright.

On the first manche of the Haute-Savoie track championship, I suffered. We did a points race and a scratch. In the points race I came 4^th and in the scratch I came 4^th as well. I was pretty pleased with that because I am racing against the some best guys in France who are nearly two whole years older than me. So 4^th was fine.

On the second manche, we had a 500m standing start. I went up to the line and they counted me down...  3, 2, 1 Go!  And my pedal unclipped so I had to clip it back in and continued my race. I did my 1^st lap as fast as I could by killing myself. And then they told me to stop and start again. That really annoyed me. So, I started again, but of course by then I had used most of my energy up. So there we go... In the end I did it in 38.5 secs (remember this is a 166m track). The second race I did was Madison training. And me and my partner came second.

On the third manche, we had a points race and a death race. On the points race I got 3^rd and I was pleased with that. On the death race I got 2^nd and I was delighted with that.

On the 4^th manche, we had a 2.5km time trial and Madison training. In the time trial I came second and it was very satisfying. Considering that I am the smallest and youngest guy there by a long way and the guy who came 1^st is the oldest and strongest guy in France I thing I did very well. Well anyway... I did it in 3min17sec. Then in the Madison training I came 2^nd.

On the last manche there was a points race and a death race. On this manche I was ill but I knew I had to do it to get a podium. So... I got 4^th on the points and 4^th on the death race. So I got a podium for the whole season. 3^rd!!!  And now I have kind of finished the track season although there are few races coming up in Aigle and Lyon which I’m really looking forward to.

So...  Now we are in club La Santa!!! 

I had the best cycling holiday of my life. In three weeks I did 1400km in total with a new personal best up Tabayesco of 29min51sec. My time trial was more than 10% faster than last year and I found I had no problem keeping up with group 1 , and my recovery was very fast too.

Today I did my first race of the season and I WON!!!!!!   I could not have won if I didn’t go to club la Santa. There were some very strong guys so I decided to stay with the front group and try and win the sprint because I know that my sprint is very good at the moment. But... I felt so good that on the second lap over three I attacked and I got a gap and I time trialled for the rest of the race. And in the end I won by 3min 28sec.

Well, I was so excited about the 6 Day of Grenoble win that I forgot to mention 2 very important races I did recently. Here in France the end of the road race season means the start of the cross and “Contre le montre”  - time trial - season. And one of the biggest races in the region takes place in our nearest town and is named after the local Tour hero Patrice Halgand. This year Patrice and 2 current Tour riders took part, and 200 other racers. The main route is 15.8km which is a fraction under 10m with a couple of tricky turns and 1km 4% hill. Dad did 21:20 but the winner was 18:52. The youth route was slightly shorter at 8km and pretty flat. I did 10:22 and won it.

Then 2 weeks later dad and I entered the father/son race at Scientrier. At 15.3 km and very flat we were hoping for a fast time, and we trained hard too, but we didn’t expect a time of 19.51, and we won too (we were only 1 minute exactly behind Jerome Coppel and Florian Moine). There was a big supper afterwards which loads of riders and families attended, and all the committee members too, so that was great to get a trophy in front of all those people; except dad couldn’t stay as he had to go to work that evening.

I also won the Criterium de Montreux.

National Piste des Jeunes 2011 - Champion

Since qualifying in early September my mind, and my training, has been focused on the 6 jours de Grenoble. I’m actually glad I didn’t know how big the event would be otherwise I wouldn’t have slept at all. After the Annecy road race – which I won – the season finished with 3 cyclocross races which I really enjoyed despite having to finish two of them on foot thanks to punctures on one of them I had to do 1 whole lap on foot because of a front tyre puncture. I didn’t win any of them but fortunately scored enough points to win the 2011 Challenge Cup which is for the best placed rider over the whole season. It was a great day by the lake in Passy with the Mont Blanc in the background and not a cloud in the sky. By the end of September the velodrome in Geneva had reopened so dad and I went as often as possible to train. I also spent loads of time on my turbo trainer trying to get my legs revving as much as possible. My flying lap time is now 11.06, compared to 16.55 secs or something a year ago.
I got my school report last week which wasn’t as good as thought it would be as I have tried to work hard but I guess maybe my school work has suffered a bit. But we’ll see the principal tomorrow and he should be pretty impressed. They’ve never had a champion at school before.
Anyway the 6 days started on Thursday and I was racing on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Because I qualified in 1st place I had number 21 and started at the back for the 1st race. There were lots of spectators and the noise was something else. I got a good cheer when I was presented which I thought was surprising. The other boys came from all over France but my main competitor was Anthony Girollet from Pontcharra near Grenoble so he got a huge cheer. The points race started so well. I won the 1st sprint with ease then I came 2nd in the 2nd sprint. But in the last sprint I just was too overconfident and messed it up by going for the win too early and ended up coming 5th. 
By the 3rd night all the family was a bit tired. It’s 2 hours drive each way and we weren’t getting home until midnight. I knew I still had a chance and decided that I would keep attacking and try to wear out the others. Dad always says my biggest strength is my ability to recover quickly and go again so at least I would go down fighting. I listened to Eminem’s track with the line 1 chance 1 opportunity. ( lose yourself )
At the start I saw a friend near the start line and spoke to him and that let me start at the back which is risky but suited my tactics. What I wanted to do is go 3 laps in, Dad and I had a good talk about it. But if that didn’t work I would try and come 5th in the 1st sprint and attack from behind. I did exactly that but Anthony was just behind so when he attacked after the first sprint that suited me a lot so I just jumped on his wheel and we got a lap with two other good guys. As soon as we got back to the back of the pack all I had to do is beat the three other guys that were with me. The only person that I was worried about was Anthony. The 2nd and 4th sprint I won them both and then the 3rd and 5th sprint I was in front of all three guys. So as soon as I crossed that finish line I knew I won the race.  As soon as I got off my bike one of the managers came other to me and congratulated me for winning the race. Then I asked him if I had won the overall title and he said YES I HAD WON THE TITLE!!!!!! I was in shock!! It was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever had. Soon afterwards, a newspaper reporter came and talked to me. I got on my rollers and this guy just started asking questions and I was answering them like if it was a test! It was very funny. Finally I called dad and told him I won the overall and he just didn’t believe me!!
So that just means I am the national piste des jeunes champion of 2011!!!!!!! 

The perfect summer!!!!

Hi guys.

This summer has been the most amazing summer of my life!!

I have been doing so many amazing races, in every single race I have done I have come top 3 except when I came over to England to do the British National Road race in Bradford. Sadly I had a technical problem so instead of trying to come top 10 in Britain I came 25. But I had to start from the back of a field of 92 riders, got to the front, but then after a few laps I had to screw my crank bolt back in whilst still trying to race – I dropped back to the 2^nd group but won that little battle.

When I came back I did a good race in St Julien en Genevoie. I came 1^st with 3minutes on the 2^nd and 3^rd guys. And I lapped all the others.

This week end was better than I could have ever dreamed. On the Saturday I went to Grenoble and tried to qualify for the 6 jours de Grenoble which is basically the French National Track Trophy. There was a scratch race and a points race. Overall at the end I was the 1^st qualifier which also meant I had beaten several guys for the 1^st time. Especially Anthony Girollet who is so strong that I didn’t think I could beat him but I just gave it 100% and actually beat him in 3 sprints!!

So that turned out very well.

The next day I had a race in Annecy. There was a standing sprint and a race. In the sprint I came 7^th and I am not a standing start sprinter. I don’t know why although I did skid and wobble a bit.

What I really wanted to do was win the road race. And I did, I won it with nearly 1 lap on the 3^rd guy. There was me and another rider in the front and by far. But I won the last sprint easily.

So I am a long way in front in the general classification.