We woke up today with some threatening clouds, and that seemed to lower the morale within the team. After all, who really wants to be racing in the rain at this point in the year? I even have my doubts that it would be possible to make it up the San Luca in the rain. We struggle as it is in the dry, throwing our bikes side to side, trying to squeez every once of power we have into the bike. If you take away some traction with the wet roads then we would have some problems. I would say the drive over to the start way “typica” Italian. Road construction everywhere and at one point they made everyone exit the highway and venture through random towns. Luckily our director, Valerio, knew the Italian system well enough to do a quick u-turn and we re-entered the highway just ahead of where they had it blocked off. It was smooth sailing the rest of the way, and of course we never saw any reason for the detour.  We were not very surprised when we were first to arrive at the start. A few teams were so late that the race even had to start fifteen minutes later than scheduled. You’ve just got to love Italy…

The race was full gas most of the day. The first 100 kilometers, through the fields of Lambrusco grapes, past in a quick two hours. A solid tempo was set as we entered the hills. Up and over two mountains and then things really started ramping up as we charged into Bologna. The thing I really like about a race like this is that if you are good and strong you will always be at the front.  If you are really strong, then you’ll be fighting for the win.  Tactics take a back seat and only the best of the best finish.

Today Tommy was our strong man. He rode a great race, and was there at every important moment. The climb didn’t seem to phase him too much. He was like a diesel engine, turning over the gears at 50rpm and always looking rock solid. He even put it in the big ring during the final 350 meters. Trust me, that is very impressive, but probaby was his downfall as two guys rolled by him by the line. To come out of this race with a 3rd is a great result for Tommy and the team. Coming into this week we didn’t know what to expect, now we know we have some good chances.  The moral is much higher now than in the morning, we even lucked out with the weather and only saw a few drops of rain.