New team and first races

My month started off with a 5 hour journey down from Lyon to Empuriabrava near Girona for a 9 day training camp with the team which ended with a French toute category race in Nimes. The week was amazing and other than it being a bit cold the weather was great and allowed us to get in a solid 28 hour week along with some power testing where I was able to set some new PB's which was a good moral boost after a winter of hard work. We also did some race simulation efforts with CC Etupes which was good fun as well as doing my longest ride ever of 210km. Then was the first race of the season which was a low category race but with teams like CC Etupes, AVC Aix and other DN1 teams it was definitely going to be tough. The course was very flat so was always going to be a bunch sprint however after being active all race, mainly just to stay out of trouble, I attacked about 2 hours with one other which then brought out of a group of around 20 guys which stayed away for a lap but sadly with no cooperation as most if the teams wanted the bunch sprint it all came back so then rolled in for 24th but overall not a bad start.

Then I had a 2 week gap with no racing which allowed me to get settled into my new accommodation and establish a bit of a routine as well as getting to know the local area. I am based on the northern outskirts of Lyon which gives me easy access to the nice country training routes which consist of endless rolling hills which has been great fun to explore and has made training feel easy. However just like that the break was over and it was time to go to Italy for my proper first races of the season.

The first race was Coppa San Geo near Lake Garda which is an Italian national race but with it being early season 9 conti teams showed up making for a race with a lot of control. We had Curtis in the days break which allowed us to just sit in and wait. Then on the lead in to the first time up the finish climb which had a narrow pave section at the start the speeds were mental and with the top 40 positions being taken up by organised teams with proper lead outs 6 men deep and with the Italians headbutting you as soon as you try to slot in it meant I was too far back and had expended loads of energy trying to stay in position it meant when it inevitably split up the climb I was just on the other side of it with 40 guys making it and me being in 48th position. Unfortunately I didn't have the legs to jump across and just like that the race was done as our group wasn't quick enough to cooperate so the gap ballooned out. On the final lap I attacked just to try feel like I could get something from the race getting away with 3 others where we held on to the end and at least I won out little bunch sprint so came away with 42nd and feeling disappointed but with a lot learned especially with not racing in Italy before and and am certainly hungry for more now!

Then the next day we had GP Misano 100 which was around a famous Moto GP circuit which was super cool. Of course it was super fast but again we got a rider in the break which we wanted to stay away as there was an intermediate sprint competition so was enjoying marking moves and hoping for a free ride up to the front. Came down to a bunch sprint and after my best efforts to get the train organised we moved up to where we wanted to be with 10km to go but somehow our sprinter was not there anymore so it all fell apart from there and I just stayed out of the final sprint coming in at 36th. Luckily Ren got a top 15 so not all was lost but certainly work to do.

Overall a great month of exploring, training and racing which I think with some fine tuning it will make March and the rest of the season very good and with us doing mainly French Elite Nationals now I hope to come away with some top results.