The last part of the season is well under way now! but in Belgium there are still many more Kermesses and Interclubs to go!
On the 15th of August i raced in Tielt-Winge, this was a local race for me so i knew the roads pretty well. I was feeling really strong during the race staying within the first few riders straight from the start, trying to make a break go and this payed off. After 4 laps the winning move went and luckily i was in it but for the whole race we never got more than 40 seconds on the chasing groups. Coming into the last few laps of the race i went for a few attacks but the group wasn't willing to give anyone any space so it came down to a small group sprint. Going into the final sprint i messed my positioning up slightly so i had to come from 7th wheel in the sprint and i could only managed 3rd place in the end. If this was at the start of year i would have been happy with that result but i knew that i was capable of the win tonight. But it was nice having my family coming over to watch the race!
A few days later i raced again on the Monday in Geetbets, i was really motivated for the win tonight after knowing i had the legs in the last race. Two dangerous riders attacked on the first lap i managed to jump across with a few others and that was the winning move for the race. The peleton wasn't able to pull us back, so it was a long 120km chain gang until the last 2 laps when the attacks started. Having another teammate in the break with me meant we could start counter attacking to try and get clear from the rest but they pulled us back every time. Going into the last lap my teammate attacked over the top of the climb getting away with one other rider they pulled out a 20 second gap, thats when i decided to solo across. I caught them with 2 km to go and as soon as i got onto the back i attacked straight away, i thought that it was the winning but i was closed down with 300m to go to the finish, which meant i finished in 3rd place again.
I also raced on the Tuesday in Booischot, this was another local race for me being only 10km away from where im staying. 3 riders attacked after 3 laps and they managed to stay away for the whole race. Half way through the race a 20 man spilt got away which i was in so we pushed on to try and close the gap to the leaders but they was long gone at that point. On the last lap i knew that i wasn't able to win the group sprint for 4th place so i had to go for a solo attempt which i did with 2 km to go but unfortunately some riders caught me in the last few meters before the line and in the end i finished in 10th place.
The last few races have gone well for me, after a few days of hard training and couple days of rest im now ready for the last few Interclubs of the season which are on the 28th of August, 1st September and 4th of september, im super motivated for these races and im very much looking forward to getting stuck in!
On the 28th of August i raced in Oudenburg which was a IC1 (Interclub). The course was flat but had a lot of narrow roads and was very exposed to cross winds on some sections. I was well positioned towards the front of the peleton for the first few laps getting into moves but nothing was going. About 50km into the race the group spilt with 30 riders in the first group luckily i made the spilt but it all came back together. Then after 70km a group of 16 riders got away which i was in and this ended up being the winning move, going into the last lap 6 riders attacked on the narrow section and got away, we chased hard to try and get back to them but our group wasn't working well together. So in the last 1km i attacked from the 2nd group to cross the line for 8th. I was really happy with this result as its my best result so far in an inter-club!
A huge thank you to everyone that has supported me this season! None of this would be possible without you all so im very grateful thank you!