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The last week has been a blur, from waking in the middle of the  night to drag myself to the toilet to puke after a bout of the terrible gastro that seems to be going around, racing 1 lap of the acht van chaam and pulling out to puke, to getting my first top 20 in a Belgian classic and also winning my first race!

 My weeks started with the Trofee Von Vlandereen, This was a pseduo tour of flanders for juniors but did not include many of the famous cobbled section, although, as I have come to find, any cobbles is too many!

 We arrived hours before the start, (as you have to do in Belgium) so Mark (team manager) could go and sign us up and be included in the lottery for the car number in the convoy, luckily enough we were the 3rd car.

 Although it had been raining previously it had stopped and the sun had come out by the start. Excitement was all around, as a fight broke out on the start line in the bunch! Fighting is hilarious when the two combatants are wearing cleated shoes.

 The race started, 4kms neutral and then it was on from the gun, this race was one which I had raced nothing like it before, the wind, large number of riders, high speed and narrow roads made it one of the hardest races I have ever done. The trick to these races is to just ride hard at the front, as being in the front group and working is better than being 50 places back and getting dropped because you cannot get any protection from the side wind as the bunch is already in the gutter.

 We did 11 laps of an 11km circuit and then 4kms extra, totaling  125kms this race was set to be tough. After 1hr, only half the field remained with only 60 of the original 150 riders finishing. I through lack of experience ended up 48th overall but had teammates in 6th and 13th, we also claimed 3rd in the team classification.

The 5 days following I had planned to race 2 of the post tour crits but due to the aforementioned gastro bout, could do nothing but lie in bed and feel sorry for myself, Luckily I improved for the next weekends classic, the first running of the Johan Museuuw classic in his home town of Gistel, Johan was there at the start, the finish, and shook hands on the podium as you would expect someone to be when a classic is being held in your honour!!

 We were to complete a large round of 60kms and then 10 local rounds of 6kms each, the wind was not as bad today but a 4km section of cobbles in the large round was looming ominent. The start was much slower than the trofee von vlandereen and the bunch stayed together for the first 40kms, at which point we hit the cobbles. After 4kms of bumpy, horrible uneven cobbles the peleton was split in three, I was in the second group, a bunch of 40 were approximately 1 minute up the road and it would stay that way until the beginning of the local rounds.

 As soon as we turned back into Gistel to begin the second half of the race the pace surged, and rose, and before we knew it we were hurtling around the streets of Gistel at 50+km/h, the bunch in front were breaking up and there were riders going off the front of my bunch, there were groups of 3 or 4 riders at intervals between the leaders and my bunch.

 With 3 laps to go I was 110 down on the leaders, although I had started feeling bad I had managed to improve during the race and by that point was jumping out of my skin, I began jumping between groups of riders, and before I knew it I had the leaders in my sight. Sadly I could not manage to close the final gap and finished in 15th place 10 seconds back from the top group of 14, a result that earnt me 25 euros and was a sign that I am going forward rather than backwards. I was happy with 15th.

 But my day was still to come, as I woke on the morning of the 6th, I had travelled the night before to another rider from my team, Wouter Timmerman so I could go with him to the Drai Van De Kai in Roosendaal, this race was one of the bigger post tour crits and the professional race later in the evening included 2007 TDF winner Alberto Contadoor along with many other professionals including Theo Bos, world sprint champion and Michael boogerd, a world reknowned pro cyclist.

 The Junior race was set to start at 1230 and after some misinformation led us to the wrong place we arrived 40minutes before the start, slightly pushing it, we jumped out of the car, and I signed on as number 86, the last rider before the end of the sign on period.

 After a quick lap on the course Wouter and I were at the start line, right at the back, the worst place to be in a dutch criterium, the laps were 2.5kms long and we were to complete 22 laps, As with all dutch crits, the gun went and the riders went like their life depended on it! After a particularly inspiring morning of reading the Australians results in the junior world championships on the track I felt great, and was in the front group when the peleton split, in the first 20kms half the field were gone and a few 2nd and 3rd places in some primes, I still felt great when others were beginning to lag, with 9 laps to go the remaining contenders sprinted for the ‘Superprime’ a prime where the prizemoney is doubled and was worth about 30 euros, they sat up afterwards and I seized my opportunity, I got 5 seconds, then 10 seconds, I was able to see my progress each lap at the hairpin across the bridge at the far end of the course.

 Although I cannot speak much dutch I can get a fair idea of what the commentator is saying, and it took him until 3 laps to go, at which point the peleton was non existent and riders were strewn around the course in no sort of order, to realise that I was Australian and not English, My home town of Gloucester, which is shown on the sign on sheet is named after a town in England, so of course he made the false presumption that I was from England.

 With 1 lap to go I had 110 and was feeling great, as I rode around  the course for the last time the couple of thousand spectators that were already there despite the pro race not being for hours were cheering and screaming, I heard many dutch accents crying Go aussie, and I had plenty of time for a length victory salute at the end, Wouter finished 13th.

 I was interviewed, (in English thank god) and given a towel to wipe my face with and a cold coke, and sent to the podium, received my flowers, a bottle of champagne, a trophy that came up to my knee, and three kisses from the attractive podium girl, and the 2nd and 3rd place getters and myself were put in the back of a convertible and taken for a lap around the course with our flowers.

1 lap, and many cheers later I gave my flowers, champagne and trophy to Wouters father and rode back to the car, but the celebrations were not to be ended there, upon handing my number back in and receiving my money I found that I had won over 100 euros, including a couple of primes that must have happened when I was off the front and also the leaders prize, for the first across the line the most times.

 The next race I have is the 4 day tour of Antwerp, from the 9th through till the 11th. I cant wait! But hope like hell that there are not too many cobbled sections in it!!

Rubber side down

Joe