Another ‘short’ day was on the cards for today, as we would race from Bardo to Gluszyca, 56km and 2400m, in the Sudety MTB Challenge. The hotel that Ant White (Cannondale/Mt Zoom) and I stayed in was quite a nice one last night. Dinner was great, wifi was in the rooms, the rooms were large with no funny smells – and there was even muesli at breakfast. And pancakes, eggs, fruit, breads, yoghurts, cake, coffee, juice… I ended up over eating. The dinners are served from 4-6pm – ideal post stage, but I wake up ravenous.
As the sun climbed, the temperature matched it. People were in the start chute ditching undershirts and vests, and Ant even took his compression tights off! The pace off the gun wasn’t too crazy. As we moved out of town, the few short climbs started to sort things out. One of the Polish teams close to Ant and I on GC were up there, until one of the team mates wasn’t. Chewed up and spat out by the pace. The Russian Merida team were also chewing the stem a bit. Ant was lagging a little, but found his legs and we cracked on.
On the way to the infamous viaduct bridge (no railing, and pretty high), we passed Tim Wynants of Milka Trek. He had needed to fix two punctures, as Bart Brentjens managed to double flat on the previous descent. Skills. The descent right after the viaduct was nasty, and I was pretty much looking for somewhere to bin it when I realised Ant had taken my spot. Somehow I made it through and dismounted in time for the eroded creek crossing, and mud hike a bike out of it.
This stage is just about the same as the one in 2009, when I was racing with MarathonMTB.com team mate Graeme Arnott. The distance defies the difficulty. We climbed to an old fort, and rode along some narrow singletrack on the now forested moat wall. Then it was unrelenting ridge top rolling bergs, littered with rocks, and lattice like roots. Speeds were low, and a strong will was essential. We rode consistently with a strong Czech team. They saw I was from Australia and just said ‘Crocodile Trophy!’. Maybe they have been? I’m not sure. But that race is the main thing associated with Australia for European Mountain Bikers.
We finally topped out on the climb, and gapped the Czechs on the descent. A long road then forest road climb greeted us. Near the top – they were back, and motoring. They’re not small guys, but they are super strong. More of the same followed, and we thought we had them as we hit a super-scranus climb with about 9km to go. But it eased off over the top and they monstored back. The final descent was pretty straight forward, and they got in about 5 seconds ahead of us.
Mel Alexander and Mark Spratt are still leading the mixed pairs, despite a race deviation today. That happens. Their competition is tough too – as their closest rivals are using a tow rope. Some find this a dangerous practice. Others think it is blatant cheating. They have 9mins, so their lead into the final stage should hold.
Jelmer Pietersma took the stage in the Solo category, helping share out the victories amongst the Milka-Trek team. Perhaps that will help secure his ride in the Crocodile Trophy? Time will tell.
Full results for stages and the General Classification can be found here.
It was another high tempo day, Ant found it like doing two XC races back to back. The last stage is tomorrow, then it’s time for the after party. Some Polish dance classics will be spun we are sure.