Yesterday was my first time doing GP Gippingen and I found
it to be a fairly nice race. It was certainly a challenging circuit with a
solid 2km climb each of the 15 laps, which by the end was quite tiring! The
weather at the start was hot and humid, but that turned to some spotty showers
mid-race. For the finale though it had cleared and the majority of the circuit
was again dry. There was no neutral start for the race, so it was an anxious
start. I managed to get myself in the front of the field, so that helped calm
my nerves a little. I had intentions to follow the early moves and try to get
in the break, but as I went to jump with the first move of the day Laurent had
beaten me to the punch. I waited to see what would happen next and followed
some other small attacks attempting to bridge. Nothing really happened and
Laurent’s group was eventually caught. A small group of 3 guys counterattacked
and managed to get away for the day. I was happy at that point to stay in the
field and conserve as much energy as possible for the finale.
As the laps passed and the race wound down I contemplated a
late race attack with 4-5 laps to go. I knew it was a long shot and a long way
to race, but I thought perhaps catching the favorites off guard could be a good
opportunity. I decided 5 was too far and waited. Then with 4 to go some other
teams began to show interest in the chase and the tempo went up, so the moment
wasn’t right then either. With 3 to go the first major move happened and I went
with that. There was a group of maybe 20 at the top with the favorites
represented, but no one was really committed to driving it, so there was a big
regrouping from behind. I followed several other attacks and made a couple of
my own hoping something might stick. There was a moment when 4 of us had a
small gap, but the chase behind was too strong and we were reeled back in.
With 2 laps to go the pace up the climb was again strong,
but there was still just a general peloton and no select group forming. After
the descent I again followed a couple moves but nothing materialized for me. As
we approached one lap to go a larger group did actually form in front of the
field and we were not present. I knew we had Boy and Danny in the peloton still
and I had seen they looked good on the climb on the last couple laps, so I
decided that I should pull to keep the group close and give them the best
chance of staying in the group over the climb and into the finish because they
have good finishing speed and would be our best chance of winning. I pulled for
at least 5km and into the final climb at which point I pulled the plug as the
attacks started to fly. In the end Danny ended up 4th, narrowly
missing the podium and win. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have pulled and
just let the race develop as it would and try to make the final selection
myself, but I thought that final break was too big. Really I should’ve been in
that group, but I had followed a few moves before that and needed a small
recovery. C’est la vie in any case! It all worked out ok in the end and I was
happy with my feelings in the race. Now I’m looking forward to a good week of
racing in Switzerland. It is going to be a very hard race, but I’m ready for
the test. There’s some links below to follow the race. Thanks for reading!
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