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Email 8 June 2004 (kindly forwarded by Kevin Young)
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Chris Young's Race Report
Le Cheylard, France
6th June 2004
Classique de Alpes, round of
the Junior U19's World Cup, 1.8 event
A
day in the Alps!
A beautiful sunny week
in Le Cheylard and I was tapering off my training as the event on the
weekend was a world cup event for Juniors, in the alps at Chambery, North
East France. The course would be extremely mountainous, starting off with a
neutral stage of 4km, 5km of flat, then straight straight up for 16km,
followed by a 5km decent before hitting constant undulation until the last
climb, a monstrous mountain 18km into the sky above. The only concelation
was knowing there would be a 20km decent followed by 5km flat to the finish
line. We arrived at the start and it was truly amazing. 200 plus police
motorbikes, all roads were blocked off and the Pro's were lined up and ready
to roll out for their event. They started and finished at the same place as
us. Since we were in the Credit Agricole team we got to meet the senior
Credit Agricole Team and had a quick look on their team bus. Wow, it was
great, then we had a quick chat with the CA Team members and then got ready
for our races. There were 210 starters in our race with 30 teams from all
over Europe including the Belgium, Netherlands, Saeco, Quick - Step Davitom
and all the top French teams. We lined up in our teams and were rolled out,
then called up to the stage as we were announced and signed on for the race.
In the start area, each team was given their final race instructions. Mine
was to make sure Guilliume, our teams best climber was looked after in the
neutral zone then once the race started, attack to try and split up the
field before the first climb so that Guilliume wouldn't be caught down the
back of the bunch. The race got started, riders surrounding the Commissaires
car. The pace getting faster and faster (and this was only the neutral
zone!). The road was completely blocked off so we had full use of it, but
this meant you had to watch out for the islands in the middle of the road.
4km down the road and still in the neutral zone, a rider clipped a metal
poll surrounding an island and down went 15 or so riders. Fortunately I was
on the opposite side of the road, lucky! as all I could see was broken bikes
and injured bodies. Finally the race started
with the checkered flag being waved by the car infront. Instantly two riders
went up the road but were caught after a short chase, then a move went down
the right hand side which I quickly jumped onto. There were five of us and
we went as hard as we could opening up a small gap on the peleton. We came
to the first climb which was about 10% at the bottom, we all stayed in the
big chainring putting all our force onto the pedals. The group was working
well we were working well, none of us daring to miss a turn. Around 4km into
the climb a group of 25 or so riders bridged the gap. I was spent and felt I
had little left. Held onto the group for another km or so before losing
contact. Fortunately the next group was about 20 seconds behind As they
caught me I saw my team mate (Guilliume) was on the front and no one was
pulling turns. I knew what my job was but I had already given everything in
the breakaway, now he was 20 seconds down and needed to be in the front
group. I looked at my
legs and said "lets go" I sat on the front of the group of thirty and chased
like a greyhound trying to catch a rabbit. There was a motorbike that was
giving us time splits to the front group. Gradually I was bringing them
back. It seemed like eternity, then just as I was about to blow, Guilliume
indicated to me they are just around the corner. Down a cog and it was do or
die. Out of the seat jumping on each turn of the pedal and within another km
I was just off the front group. Giulliume saw that it was the right time to
jump across to the front group without taking too many riders with him. I
tried to get on the bunch I had just paced up but I had absolutely nothing
left. Best thing to do was get into my own rhythm and climb the last 3km by
myself. Once at the top it was down hill for a
while. I caught a few riders, then a group of 25 riders caught us. We worked
together over the undulation until we hit the final climb. Another of my
teammates was in the group and as we hit the climb he and three others
attacked. I just got into my rhythm and sat on the front of the group. The
climb was really steep hitting 16% in places. The sun was beaming down on us
and I could sense everyone was hurting as much as I was. The crowd was
awesome near the top, screaming out only 2km to go. I gave it everything I
had just to get over the top. Once I went past the K.O.M banner it was
downhill, great I thought!. The first corner was a sharp right hander and as
soon as I turned there was this HUGE sign in front of me saying seven
kilometers to the summit. Well, my jaw
dropped and everyone around me could not believe their eyes. The last 7km
were the steepest of the day. The group I was leading broke up into little
groups of three. I kept plugging away until reaching the summit. It was
heaven! I changed into the big ring and flew down the hill, the first one
and a half kilometers was straight down. The rider with me said we were
going 104km/h. The decent felt like it only took a couple of minutes, then
onto the flat for the final 5km. The two guys I was with just wanted to sit
on, coming through for the occasional turn. As we went under the 1km to go
banner they just sat on. I thought great, they don't want to sprint, but
then with 400m to go one of them attacked. I wasn't about to let anybody
beat me in a sprint after the work I had done on those climbs, so down went
the head and I gave it everything to the line, winning the group sprint and
putting
30m into them in the last 100m metres. I crossed the line and went to the
team car saw Giulliume. He gave me a big thankyou for all the work I did at
the start for him. He came through with the goods finishing 17th which was a
fantastic result at this level. I came in 103rd which I was very pleased
with. After 10 minutes or so and a change of clothes the Pro's arrived for
their finish, enormous crowds going absolutely berserk. What a buzz this
whole day and this whole experience has been! Time to head home for dinner.
I had lost 2kilos during the race, and slept for a solid 12 hours on
Saturday night.
Coming up this week I will be
watching the Dauphiné Libéré which is in my region and then on Saturday I
have an invite to meet all the riders organised by Jacky, our Sportiff
Director who set the course for this years event. Can't wait to see them
time trial up Mont Ventoux at the end of the week.
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