GP DE BUXEROLLES (Its not always hard).

GP de Buxerolles is only the second French Cup of the year. As usual the stakes are high and tactical as usual.. The breaks are never allowed to be too big and the gap never more than five minutes before being reeled in.

It was unusually cold at the start of the race, but no one was really overdressed for the occasion as things were about to heat up quickly. The circuit was 16 km which we would complete 13 times. It offered everything; twisty roads, gutters and a real tough straight finish. As expected the break escaped quite quickly on the first lap. Everyone quite happy as it would be "easy" reeling them in later on.

Everyone fought quite hard to stay close to the front with all the twisty turns. The gutter section proved quite disappointing. As the stakes are high in these type of races the perfect combination has to be formed for anything to work. Unfortunately it regrouped after each gutter section as the combinations ahead never seemed to fit the criteria. This ultimately meant a big boxing match coming up as all the Teams tried to set up their leaders for the final corner 1km to go- which finished all the way uphill.

In the photo above you can see a section of the final 500meters. My Team mate Jules had great legs and finished 10th scoring some value points for the Team. I only manged 32nd after being boxed in on the final corners approach to the line. But WOW! Erwann Corbel (VC PAYS DE LOUDEAC) has phenomenal form, winning the race rather easy on the approach to the line.