Sunday, July 7, 2013

Last Day in Austria

Good morning. It's the morning of the final stage of Austria. It's been a nice week of racing here in Austria. The team has been great, and the race was again well organized. Stage 6 was a sprint as expected, and I did everything I could to stay out of trouble, narrowly avoiding the crash in the closing kilometers of the wet finale. That meant it was up to the individual test against the clock on stage 7 to determine my fate. The course was the same as usual, a pancake flat 24km with only 3 or 4 corners. It's been the same course all the years I've done the race, and I've never been particularly fond of it because of how flat it is. It definitely suits the specialists, such as our very own Fabian Cancellara. He delivered the stage win for us yesterday, while I gave it what I had to finish 32nd, slipping to 7th overall. It is certainly disappointing for me because I really hoped I could snag a top 5 or maybe even podium; nonetheless, it was a great week in Austria as far as racing goes and for team spirit. Today's stage should simply be ceremonial, but anything is possible I suppose. I'm back to Girona this evening, then back to the USA on Wednesday to begin preparations for Utah and Colorado. Thanks for checking in!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've been turning in some solid top-10 finishes. That's incredible consistency. We know you'll do more of the same in UT and CO!

Anonymous said...

Does that mean you're not going to ride a Major Tour again this year? I was hoping you'll ride the Vuelta at least so US can at least be represented in Radioshack team. Oh well I guess I'll just go chear with whoever's on the Radioshack squad.

Anonymous said...

Matthew,
Have followed you for the past few years, and it has been great to watch your success!! I am located in Decorah, and ride with many of the people you know very well. I work at a large downtown business and was wondering if there was a way to get some autographed items from you to hang in my office. With your ties to the community I think it would be great to display these items of you and your successes. You can email me at gidoiowa@gmail.com and I will let you know what business, and give you more info. Wish youall the best in your upcoming events!! Didn't know how else to get a hold of you for this.

Anonymous said...

Will there be another pre-Tour of Utah Busche Fondo this year?

Charity said...

This is fantastic!