Tour of Thailand 2011.
Prologue 3.7km
The opening event for this year’s tour of Thailand involved completing a 3.7km circuit around a small coastal town south of Pattaya. The circuit was very technical with a small climb toward the final aspect of the time trial.
The boys had completed several laps of the circuit as a warm up. Here we scrutinized every corner, ascent and descent in order to better our chances of a top ten placing. Hugging the apex of corners, not free-wheeling through corners, reducing braking into corners and timing your efforts were all part of our comprehensive race plan.
First off was myself. Trying to go out hard was an effort in and of itself. Racing a 3.7km TT is a difficult one to grow acquainted to when longer TT’s are the norm. Still I went out hard and had my HR at threshold within the first 40seconds. After I maneuvered around a hairpin I was on the longer straight that culminated in a 40m climb and a technical descent.
I hit the climb with good speed and emptied myself up the ascent, upon cresting the top my power dropped as my body tried to recover, however I was quick to keep the cranks turning as from here there was only 1.5km’s to the finish.
Into another technical hairpin, which was the only point in the race where a handful of brake was needed (for more experienced riders). From here on it was a gentle downhill to the finish. I poured everything into keeping my power up and head down low. With 300meters remaining a blind right hander greeted the riders before some slight bends to the finish line.
The right hander was taken with perhaps too much brake as the road opened out after the apex to accommodate the rider with speed. From here I accelerated hard to the line and through to the finish.
As the premier rider for today’s stage I was able to use my experience of racing through the course to advise Logan and Mike V of where time could be made up and lost over the circuit. It became apparent to me that I probably lost most of my time to my rivals in the first 2km’s prior the climb. A 3.7km circuit doesn’t allow for much lag in attaining a top end speed. I had crossed the line with an average HR above my threshold, but still felt as though I could have made up more time before the climb.
This message was relayed to Mike and Logan with the end result being Logan coming in 6 seconds faster and Mike 2 seconds faster than myself. This placed the team riders in 7th, 13th and 18th overall on general classification with the team resting in 3rd overall on team classification. Carlo and Nathan had also completed the course in the first 50 riders, which was a great outcome as there are many bonus seconds to be made in intermediate sprints and finishing sprints: the race could still be decided in these sprints making Carlo a viable option for general classification. A fantastic effort from the riders.
Tomorrow will see Logan, Mike and I try and get up the road in a move that could further consolidate the general classification. Intermediate sprints are vital during this race as the course has small climbs and could stay together for a good part of the tour to come. We have Carlo well poised as our sprinter and four riders eagerly wanting to work for him. Exciting times: stay tuned!
Thanks for reading. Brad.