It may have taken us a while to get going this week, but we finally made up for our below average performance. Edvald’s final lead out was so fast that André Greipel was happy just to hold his wheel and give the team a 1-2 on the stage.  An awesome result considering the number of sprinters here.

It was another super long day that saw us pedaling for six hours and 250 kilometers.  Three riders dicided to try to defy the odds and went up the road with 220 kilometers still to cover.  The bunch easily managed the gap with many teams willing to work with us. A different rider has won each stage so far, so the dream is still alive for everyone here.  We closed out the race with more dangerous circuits and too many guys riding as if they have nothing to lose. Days like these are when I am very thankful I am not a sprinter.

Tomorrow will be a shock to everyone’s body as we will take on the mountains of Poland. It is still anyone’s race at this point, so I expect some very hard racing.

Another long 230 kilometers on the schedule for today.  We could see a repeat of the past two days as well. It’s flat again, so a field sprint should decide the finish. We are, however, going to change our tactics a bit. The past two days we have done most of the work and the two teams that have won so far have not done any work.  So we are going to play the waiting game a bit and sit back and watch the other teams and let them do some chasing.  It should be interesting as every team here seems to always look to us to do everything. With that confusion, it could open the door for a break to succeed and stay away until the finish.

Continue Reading »

Today we will cover 220 kilometers of polish countryside. There is a light drizzle outside at the moment so the morale is not as high as it could be.  I woke up with a little soreness in the legs, but that’s to be expected with the time I spent on the front yesterday and the fact that its my first race in six weeks.  My roomate for the week, Michael Albasini, and I made the mistake of leaving our window open last night to let in some fresh air. We woke up to hundreds if not thousands of these mosquitoe like bugs in our room. I am not sure how I could have slept through the night with these things all over the room.  Ignorance is bliss, eh?  

Continue Reading »

I woke up to sunny and clear skys again this morning.  Stage 1 is a very late start at four in the afternoon, so the team and I did a morning ride to check out the course, very flat and wide roads. On the way back to the hotel we made a stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for a coffee. A very cool building with glass flowing down the side as if it were a waterfall.  It would be something to see it in the rain.  The race organization is doing a great job so far, with setup, hotels and promoting. They even had volentiers handing out race flyers all over town, and about a hundred kids racing this morning.

This race itself was quiet boring to tell you the truth. I felt bad for the 75,000 fans that turned out to watch. Everyone knew it could only end in a field sprint. A few minutes into the race two guys rolled up the road and a few minutes after that the voice in my ear(Tristan) was telling me to start riding. Ride I did. For 16 kilometers alone before Saxo finally agreed to put two guys up there with me. They each did thirty seconds and flicked their elbow signaling me to come back to the front. Seriously? I just pulled for over twenty minutes, I might need more than a minute to recover…  Anyway, we continued through the motions and pulled it together for the finish. The only problem is we were 2nd today. A great result, but not exactly what we’re use to.

Somewhere between the Dauphine and the Tour of Poland I hit the reset button.  The feeling I have now is the same I have at the very begining of the year. My legs are fresh and more importantly my head is fresh.  On the ride today I was even out there like a junior doing sprints to open up for the days to come.

Poland is far from what I had expected. Green grass, clean streets and even some very nice food make this a very pleasant corner of the world.  Adam Hanson, Michael Albasini and I headed out for a short hour ride through the center of Warsaw.  It is basically the essance of a business center, which was nice as all the six lane roads through town were empty of cars since its Saturday. Tomorrow’s stage should be one for the sprinters, 108k and dead flat. We have André Gripel, so that means that I will be spending most of the day on the front keeping it together for him.  Tomorrow will not be the only chance for André as there are many flat days this week. Let’s go win some stages.