Kitzbühel Take Four

Unfortunately my fourth ascent of the Kitzbüheler's Horn was not my lucky one. I gave it my best, but it wasn't good enough to keep pace with the front guys. Astana put on a clinic basically, placing 1 through 3 on the stage. The stage was real easy up until the final 30km before the climb and the 8km climb itself. The team did a great job of helping me to be in a good position before the climb so I didn't have to waste energy to make up ground at the bottom. I was with the lead group for about half the climb but there were just a few too many accelerations for me. Honestly, I felt strong, so it is difficult to lose time and positions like I did today. I don't want to say I was conservative/tentative but I tried to be smart about the climb because it is so steep that if you go into the red zone, there is no chance to recover. In this case, it can be better to go at your own rhythm. I guess my rhythm just wasn't fast enough?!?! There's still a lot of racing to go so plenty can still change. I hope I will continue to feel strong and maybe move back up a few gc positions. Thanks for checking in.