NRS Sam Miranda Tour of King Valley Race Report

 

Squad

• Rob Redpath
• Peter Ritskes
• Danny Roberts-Clarke
• Jesse Coyle
• DS: Daniel Van Der Laan

We went into this race with high hopes for Jesse Coyle in the first stage TT, and then in the bunch races with just one aim to get our jersey out there in the breakaway and we achieved our goals.

 

Day 1 – ITT, 9km
This was just flat out frothing at the nostrils stuff. Danny got his early excuse in early, coming into this weekend sick, but let’s be honest we all saw that coming with Grechy sick last week. He was our first man off, aiming to do a bit of course recon for Jesse to let him know about wind direction, the uphill and any pot holes. He came back with some very valuable info.

Rob and Pete were off next and despite having minimal aero equipment they both put in great TT performances to finish solidly in the middle of an NRS field.

Last up was Jesse. He shot out of the gates, hitting over 50km/h within 100m. He was on for a great ride. On the slightly longer, slightly uphill outwards leg of the course he flew and drew close to his 30sec man. On the way back, into a solid headwind, it was a bit more difficult, but Jesse squeezed everything he had out and rolled over the line in 21st place, a minute behind the winner but only just over 30 seconds behind second place. Not bad for his first NRS race!

The crit that was planned for the afternoon was thankfully cancelled. No-one wanted to see 140 riders go around a 1km crit course in the rain. So the boys went home showered and started to prepare for Day 2.

 

Day 2 – Strada Nero Road Race, 112km
The key word for today was “dirt”, which of course means punctures. There was about 20km of dirt roads, including a 5km uphill section affectionately known as ‘Strada Nero’. The rain turned the dirt to mud and made it very thick, heavy and difficult to ride. It was a day of the impossible for us. The pace was on as soon as the gun went. Despite all the equipment chat and concern about the dirt roads, Rob managed to flat on the sealed road before the first sprint point! Despite tirelessly chasing for around 20km until the first KOM, he never made it back to the peloton and unfortunately found himself in the grupetto with all the riders who had been dropped on the first climb.

The peleton really lit it up, led by Avanti Isowhey on the Strada Nero climb, and it blew the race to pieces with riders everywhere. Both Jesse and Pete rode out of their skins to cross the top in the second bunch of about 20 riders, with another 20 riders up the road. This is when Pete made a rookie mistake. On a fast descent that didn’t need any braking, Pete sat up to try and get mud out of his eyes and looked back up to see a 100m gap to the group that he has been in. He tried to shut it down, but, with the group working well to catch the leaders, it was a lost cause. It was a tough lesson to learn for him and he was eventually swallowed up by group 3, the NSWIS group.

Upfront it was a cross headwind and the 2 groups came together, leaving about 40 riders in the race, and Avanti and MAAP worked hard to keep it this way. Jesse knew he had no sprint, but was faced with the impossible task of trying to get off the front of a 40-man select NRS group. Common sense meant he stayed put but still found himself moving up to 17th on GC at the end of the day. Good day all round for the team.

 

Day 3 – Road Race, 96km
Today had 3 KOMs and they would prove to be the pinch points where teams tried to drop NSWIS, who appeared to have the strongest sprinter and lead out train. It was a nervous start for the peleton with a surprising amount of flats, and our boys tried to stay out of trouble and find the break of the day. The peleton wasn’t letting anything go though and in the nervousness there was a big crash just after the first sprint point. Luckily our boys escaped injury, but Pete was held up and Danny earned his excuse for the day with someone falling on the back of his bike and pushing the brake onto the wheel. Unaware of the brake rub, Danny and Pete chased back onto the peleton just in time for the climb to start. Danny started going backwards with a few others and only then realised his brake was rubbing on the wheel. He tried loosening it on the move, but ended up having to get off and fix it, which meant his day was done.

On a climb that didn’t look too difficult on paper the peleton blew to pieces with groups everywhere. Jesse found himself up front, with Pete and Rob not far behind and chasing hard. With the team car moving up to the front group to support our best placed rider, a badly timed puncture meant the end of the day for Rob, who managed to be the unluckiest guy in the peleton as he had to hitch-hike his way to the finish. Pete rejoined Jesse at the front to continue his eventful day. A second big crash found Pete laying in the tall grass on the side of the road with a fellow rider attempting to have a cuddle with him. Pete rejected his advances, got back on his bike and again chased back on, getting back just in time for the second KOM. Again the peleton lit it up, and again Jesse went with the front bunch, cresting the climb with the Avanti, MAAP and Mobius boys at the front.

Unfortunately Pete ended up in a big group that was unhitched and this was one chase too many for him. Up the road Jesse attacked the bunch on the back of the sprint point getting off the front with the ever present Kauffman and a Satalyst-Verve rider. It looked like they would be let go until Pat’s Veg sent their team to the front to protect their 35th spot on GC. This kept the break in check and coming into the 3rd KOM the peleton again flew up the climb, closing the break down and splitting the group. NSWIS found themselves in the second group but shut down the gap to the first group and Jesse again found himself securely in the front bunch in the run-in to the finish. However, with a fast run in to a sprint finish Jesse couldn’t get off the front and had to resign himself to a bunch finish to cap off a great weekend, finishing in 16th on GC!

The boys really did the club proud this weekend putting the jersey on display and really showing themselves as NRS riders. With the new found confidence we are looking forward to the next race where we really believe we can show up the big teams and get a big result. Bring on National Capital Tour.

Special thanks to the one-man DS, soigneur & masseuse that is Dan The Man!

_{Thanks Dan for the race report!}