Lotenhulle & Drongen

Lotenhulle on Wednesday started out pretty quick like every race here. The course was very sweet with tons of people downtown and a lot of twists and turns with some good windy sections. The break went off the front but never got out of reach to catch by the finish so the racing behind stayed aggressive. I bridged up to a chase group which eventually had about 15 guys but four of us then got off the front to try and catch the front group. A few riders dropped off the front group which diminished to 2 and we then had 6 including some pretty good riders. The finish came too quick to catch the front group so we were sprinting for 3rd and I came out 6th. Not a bad day.
Thursday was an evening race which meant tons of people watching and more in the field which led to a fast race. The course was a cool figure eight with two overpasses as hills for a change from the dead flat. There were primes every lap and after the early break got brought back I managed to get a few Euro’s. Going into the last few laps, a field sprint seemed imminent but a group of 12 or so slipped off the front that I unfortunately missed. I had a good sprint to get 17th and top five in the bunch sprint.

(After one of the sprint primes)

Our next race is Sunday which is Memorial Ph. Van Coningsloo UCI 1.2 (http://www.memorial-vanconingsloo.be/index.php) . It is a pretty big race and I’m really excited going into it as I feel my form coming around and my knee getting better so I’m hoping for the best. Fortunately we have a good stretch of sunny weather here for our 2 easy days. We’re enjoying some awesome sunsets over the North Sea every night but the water is a touch cold to swim.