Tour de Beauce: Stage 5

Tour de Beauce: Stage 4

Tour de Beauce: Stage 3

Tour de Beauce: Stage 2

Tour de Beauce: Étape 1

TL; DR: BRENDAN SOLO FOR THE WIN, TYLER THREEPEATS!!!! The greatest road race course in America lived up to hype. What an incredible day and team performance to be a part of.

I woke up this morning truly ecstatic to race a bike. Most of the time, I have to deal with an apprehensive nervous energy that sits somewhere between crippling anxiety and panicked excitement, but today it was pure joy. Sunset Loop is my favorite road race course in the country. It has some of my favorite corners to bomb, always provides hard racing, and is one of those courses that makes just finishing the thing feel like an accomplishment. 

We approached the day with one singular objective: get Tyler the GC win. Anything after that would be a bonus. With a heap of riders within 1:30 of Tyler, the overall was by no means a gimme, and we had a lot of work we had to do in order to keep risky moves in check. We had determined we were willing to sacrifice the stage to ensure the overall, meaning we were willing to let a variety of riders go up the road if the combination was appropriate. 

Our plan was simple, though daunting: we would ride the front with as many as we could for as long as we could at a tempo easy enough such that we could all sustain it for the duration of the circuits, but hard enough to disincentivize any attacking. From the start, the pace was high, with sprint points up for grabs at the end of the three laps of the short-course crit circuit. Once we exited, we would be climbing through the start of the Sunset circuit to the first KOM sprint point. An original move got up the road consisting of Eder Frayre (WR Devo), Miles Hubbard (Voler Factory Racing), and Allan Schroeder (CS Velo). We rode our tempo and kept them within check at around 1:00-1:30. 

Over the ensuing 9 laps, some attacks would fly, but we would be able to reel them back in over the course of the circuit. The price one has to pay to get up the road on this course if there is a pace already being set is pretty steep, and despite some moves amassing 30 seconds on the course of the climb, through the technical downhill sections and the follow climb, we were able to ride them back into the group. 

Going into 3 laps to go we caught the break, and immediately Torbjorn Roed (Above and Beyond Cancer), an extremely strong climber who was only 1:16 down on GC put in a dig on the earliest and steepest part of the climb. Tyler, however, who, up to that point had had an extremely straightforward and hassle free run on the stage, was able to tag the move immediately and sit on the wheel. We in the train would fade back as the rest of the pack followed the acceleration and we would keep riding our tempo, but we would eventually ease ourselves back on as the group settled down and sat up, making our way back to the front to continue the tempo. 

This would happen every lap for the last three remaining laps of the circuit, and it was a hilarious visual every time. Torbjorn would attack, Tyler would tag it, the pack would follow, we would get dropped, the pack would sit up, we'd ride back on, and get to the front. Rinse and repeat. By the end of the final rep up the circuit climb, we knew, barring disaster, we had secured the GC win, so now it was time to race. 

We bombed down the descent that would deposit us back on the long-course crit circuit, where we would complete 5 laps. Because the race had been hard, but survivable, the largest group I can remember entered the circuits, including Scott, Brendan, Tyler, and me, Laurent and Ethan having done their jobs perfectly and pulled off within the last couple of laps on the circuit. Scott, Brendan, and I would have a couple digs on the descent itself, but the real racing would start on the crit circuits. Brendan put in a monster attack and was tagged by Dillon Geary (iSpeed - Felt) and Cole Davis (Ribble Rebellion). Behind, Gavin Hlady (Aevolo), who had been riding strong all day, put in a huge attack himself to get away from the group. I latched onto his wheel, and going into 4 laps to go, it was Brendan about 5 seconds ahead of me and Gavin, who had about 10 seconds on the pack behind. 

With Brendan up the road, Gavin knew I wasn't going to work, so he drove the pace to make the junction. I knew Brendan would be sitting on waiting for the right move to strike. As soon as Gaving made the bridge on the straightaway going int 3 laps to go, I attacked as hard as I could up the straightaway, hoping to go solo. Cole Davis was able to sprint to get onto my wheel, which was probably the next best option. Cole was clearly on good form, having won stage 2, and in the selection of the five riders up the road from the peloton now, he was probably the one I was most concerned about. However, having attacked hard to bridge to me, I knew I could sit on with Brendan behind. Cole's only cards to play would be to either drive the pace and tire himself out while I was in the draft, or give up on trying to stay away from the chasing three and race after the re-group. With me up the road, Brendan didn't have to work, and was relying on Gavin and Dillon to drag their trio back up to me and Cole. Sure enough, they did just that, and on the straight away going into 2 to go, Brendan launched a devastating counter. The other three riders sat up and looked and each other, as I proceeded to take the most egregiously inefficient line through turn one to ensure Brendan's gap would grow, and grow it did. 

Brendan would stick it to the line to win his 2nd sunset loop, 6 years after his first, and I would roll in for 4th across the line, Tyler closely in tow. He would make history as the only rider to have every won the race 3 years in a row. 

What a friggin' week. 

Photos Courtesy of Kai Caddy
- 
- @kaicaddy on IG

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Sam Boardman

Redlands Bicycle Classic: Stage 5 - Sunset Circuit

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Tour de Beauce: Stage 5

Tour de Beauce: Stage 4

Tour de Beauce: Stage 3

Tour de Beauce: Stage 2

Tour de Beauce: Étape 1

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