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Tour de Beauce
Magnetism.
Where North attracts or repels south and vice versa. True in two cases. Firstly
with Astellas Oncology Cycling Team and the weather. We raced in California,
Arkansas, Alabama in the rain when we thought we were due sun. Secondly with
the latest race we just completed. Astellas is based in the USA and the Tour de
Beauce is in the Quebec region in Canada. The North attracted the South to
their race, and it rained!
The
first 2 stages in Canada were completed in the rain. Both stages were around 160km
and both were rather tough weather wise, 50 degrees and rain. You freeze on the
super fast 60mph+ descents and nearly warm up on the ascents. Emphasis on
nearly. It’s a dangerous mix and all riders start these kinds races hoping they
can fight off any sickness that may creep up. Sickness and crashes are the two
toughest elements of stage racing, and bad weather just makes even harder. At
the end of the first stage we lost Jake and Cortlan in a freak crash where a
rider who was in front of them lost traction and he fell taking our riders out.
Cortlan finished the stage relatively unharmed. He was just sore and with a few
cuts and grazes. Jake managed to finish with a broken collarbone and 3 broken
ribs but would not start stage 2. Fortunately, stage 2 proved to better for the
team with Max managing to pull things together on an equally tough stage taking
a fine 13th place in
the peloton sprint at the finish.
The sun
made an appearance on stage 3 but there were already ominous signs of a few of
our riders starting to get sick. Matt finished a decent way from the front
group and his tour would end a day later after the Time Trial on stage 4
succumbing to sickness. Rewinding back to the 3rd stage where Cortlan and Coulton were
our best finishers on the day just a few spots back from the front group on the
mountain top finish averaging an 8% gradient that made the final 30 minutes of
the race agony. Matt may have had to quit stage 4 but Max did not. He didn't
win but did set an early best time for the time trial, bolstering his moral for
the tour.
The
final 2 stages were loops around 2 cities. Saturday was around Quebec and Sunday around
Saint-Georges, the home of the Tour de Beauce. Ryan caught the same sickness as
Matt along with Anthony and both of those riders too, had to pull out of the
race. The final day of Tour de Beauce is one of the toughest races on the bike
racing calendar. Coulton was our best finisher on the day that saw one of the
toughest fought overall finishes of the race that had Nate Brown of the Bontrager
Cycling Team taking the overall victory.
The
weather and heavy race calendar had taken its toll on our guys but the race and
organization eased it slightly with great food, brilliant accommodation, and
all the great things the region of Quebec had to offer. It was tough, but we'll
be back.
