Just 5 days left until Ironman 70.3 Antwerp and my only shot at a qualification spot to worlds in Clearwater this November. All work has been done and tapering has started last Sunday. All in all, preparation was great with a few wins earlier this season and a general improvement in every discipline.
As of right now the weather outlook for Antwerp looks perfect with a little rain and temperatures around 20c. Start will be on Sunday at 11am and as usual you can follow everything at ironman.com – Bib Number 207
Dienstag, 20. Juli 2010
Montag, 5. Juli 2010
Tour de Wendland 2010
Preparation for Antwerp couldn’t have been any better, with a 4th place finish at the Tour de Wendland last weekend. Special thanks goes to the organizers from IGAS Wendland who made this 3 Stage Road Race a unique and great experience. Tour started off with a 50 km, 25 lap Kriterium in the city of Lüchow. As this was my first Krit I took every advice from my coach and Horst to ride a successful, but safe race. Few laps into the race I felt good and took a chance with a rider from the Sakils Team for an escape, but this dint last long as the peloton kept us well in reach.
All in all, nobody had the guts or strength for a successful breakout. It came to a mass sprint where finished in 14. Place and a deficit of 6 seconds.
Second stage 140 km tour, 7 laps through the country side, along the Elbe, with two climbs per lap, a total of 14 ascents. However, it wasn’t the hills, more the weather that played a key role in this stage. 36c, blue sky and sun made this a dramatic heat battle and tough, very tough race on Saturday. It was my goal once again to stay in the peloton and keep my deficit at under 1 minute going into the time trial on Sunday. All worked out fine, going through 80 km I was still in the main peloton feeling fresh and confident. Coming to the last 50 km the heat got me and I had a tough time following the group, it was a real battle to get back in the peloton, after I lost them on pretty much every climb through the last two laps.
At the end, I got back into the lead group coming up to the final 1000m and final climb. I finished in 21st place, 7 seconds off the winner and stayed in 14th place overall, with an overall deficit of 8 seconds.
So, all called for a dramatic final stage as the top 20 riders were within 60 seconds after the second stage. The scene was set up for a 20 km Time Trial on this same course that we had to ride seven times on Saturday. Therefore, it wasn’t just an all out 20 km race, but also some tactic came into consideration, as you had two climbs at the 12 km and 19 km mark. They had the riders go off every 60 seconds, so I felt very confident as I managed to pass two guys half way through the race, as I knew they have started 1 and 2 minutes ahead of me. However, riding into the wind on the rolling terrain I wish I could’ve stroked another, just one harder gear. Coming into the hills, I felt strong and managed to push a good gear up the climbs. At the end I managed a 28:57, 8th fastest time of the day, which moved me into 4th place overall.
All in all, great organized event for any road racer and triathlete. This was a great motivational boost coming down to the last 3 weeks of preparation for Ironman 70.3 Antwerp.
http://www.igaswendland.de/2010/tdwgesamt10.html
All in all, nobody had the guts or strength for a successful breakout. It came to a mass sprint where finished in 14. Place and a deficit of 6 seconds.
Second stage 140 km tour, 7 laps through the country side, along the Elbe, with two climbs per lap, a total of 14 ascents. However, it wasn’t the hills, more the weather that played a key role in this stage. 36c, blue sky and sun made this a dramatic heat battle and tough, very tough race on Saturday. It was my goal once again to stay in the peloton and keep my deficit at under 1 minute going into the time trial on Sunday. All worked out fine, going through 80 km I was still in the main peloton feeling fresh and confident. Coming to the last 50 km the heat got me and I had a tough time following the group, it was a real battle to get back in the peloton, after I lost them on pretty much every climb through the last two laps.
At the end, I got back into the lead group coming up to the final 1000m and final climb. I finished in 21st place, 7 seconds off the winner and stayed in 14th place overall, with an overall deficit of 8 seconds.
So, all called for a dramatic final stage as the top 20 riders were within 60 seconds after the second stage. The scene was set up for a 20 km Time Trial on this same course that we had to ride seven times on Saturday. Therefore, it wasn’t just an all out 20 km race, but also some tactic came into consideration, as you had two climbs at the 12 km and 19 km mark. They had the riders go off every 60 seconds, so I felt very confident as I managed to pass two guys half way through the race, as I knew they have started 1 and 2 minutes ahead of me. However, riding into the wind on the rolling terrain I wish I could’ve stroked another, just one harder gear. Coming into the hills, I felt strong and managed to push a good gear up the climbs. At the end I managed a 28:57, 8th fastest time of the day, which moved me into 4th place overall.
All in all, great organized event for any road racer and triathlete. This was a great motivational boost coming down to the last 3 weeks of preparation for Ironman 70.3 Antwerp.
http://www.igaswendland.de/2010/tdwgesamt10.html
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