YYC/CAG Steve's Stage 2 & 3 Race Report

[Lund]

Tuesday, April 22

We’re now halfway through the 2014 GiroSardegna, completing stage 2 yesterday and stage 3 today.

For me, yesterday’s stage was a write-off. Just 20 clicks into the 121 km course, my back cried uncle. Ten or so minutes of soft-pedalling got the pain back down to tolerable. By then I’d fallen in with a dozen or so riders, mostly Brits, and I stuck with them to the finish. Their pace was slow – excruciatingly so at times – but the countryside scenery was fantastic, and riding well below race pace allowed me to really enjoy the ride.

Of Tripleshot’s Sardinia Six, I was last to cross the finish line. And how’s this for crazy: after two days and more than nine hours of racing, Eric and I were tied in the GC – to the second: 9 hours, 13 minutes, 1 second. What are the chances!

Peter had a very respectable second day, as did Joe…despite crashing twice – once when a nincompoop in front of him decided to glance back and enjoy the vista (a rookie blunder than ended up taking down five riders), the other when he overcooked a corner on his home-stretch descent of Domas de Maria, careening straight into the eager embrace of a large rosemary bush in the ditch.

Today’s ride (Stage 3) was refreshingly short. The organizers made a last-minute decision to trim around 30 kilometres of “ruined asphalt” from the GranGiro route, deeming it unsafe. So we rode the same 92 km as the MedioGiro folks.

Joe and Peter again put in strong performances and are now battling it out for first place among the Tripleshotters. After three stages, Joe has just shy of a four-minute edge over Peter.

I fought off some early back pain and settled in with a decent group of around 20, as did Dave, and we kept a rolling paceline going through the so-called “Sard flats.” Dave dropped back shortly before the hilly 20 km of coastal road to the finish line, while I surged ahead with about half a dozen fellows. I finished strong (second in a group sprint), and Eric, Jen and Dave followed in quick succession soon afterward.

GC times and standings to date (after 3 stages)…

Name: Overall rank • age group rank • total time
Joe: 70 • (6) • 10:54:07
Peter: 78 • (18) • 10:58:18
Steve: 120 • (20) • 12:04:10
Jen: 9/14 (women) • 12:05:59
Eric: 121 • (21) • 12:11:25
Dave: 132 • (19) • 12:58:02

[JohnT]

Thanks for the news Steve. Shame about the pain. That decision to pass on the Medio and stick with the GranGiro: It takes about four years of riding with Triple Shot before Peter gets out of your head. I can't explain it, but I don't hear the bell anymore, at least not as often as I did.

Well done everyone.

JT