Team Cyclingnews.com - 2005

Team Journal Entry - May 26, 2005, by Cam Jennings

Three hilly days in the Ardennes

Sven De Weerdt
Photo ©: Team CN

The final podium
Photo ©: Team CN

Cam Jennings
Photo ©: Team CN

On sunday the team finished Tryptique Ardennes and everything went well.

The team for this very tough three-day tour was Glen, Hamish, Tom, Kane, Henry, Sven and myself. Had a good bunch of staff along for the trip including my brother Warren, who came down to rub legs, fill bottles, hand out bottles, take photos and drink some beer at night with Daniel (DS) and the other soigneurs and mechanics.

Stage 1 - May 20: Libramont - Libramont, 155km

First stage started and finished at Libramont. Was important not too lose any time if possible today so we were given our orders to be in the breaks and race aggressively. All was going well early but a group did get away and at the 50km mark had a lead of about a minute. The team got on the front and rode good tempo up the longest climb of the day and gradually whittled the lead down. Over the top amongst all the attacks the group did come back and we were all still feeling good and racing at the front. Approaching the finish two riders slipped away and were let go thinking they will be back. Unfortunately they slipped a little further up the road than what the bunch expected and despite some good chasing by Kane and others and numerous attacks they ended up staying away by 47 seconds. We all finished safely in the bunch.

Results

Stage 2 - May 21: Sprimont - Sprimont, 71km

Split day today. 80km in the morning and 80km in the arvo [That's 'afternoon' for non-Australians - multi-lingual Ed]. A stage around Sprimont was on the cards this morning with a climb every 10 or so minutes. Tough little finish lap with a 2km climb that needed to be done three times. Glen was having a pearler and got away in a group on the last lap. I chased with a group of three and it looked like we might bridge across but VC Roubaix got us back. On the last climb a Euro Gifts rider attacked and crossed the line first and Glen sprinted the group home for second. Sven and I were in the next group a few seconds back.

Results

Stage 3 - May 21: Soumagne - Soumagne

The arvo stage saw the race head to Soumagne. Not us tough as the morning's stage with more Cat 2 climbs and fewer Cat 1 but still meant climbing every couple of minutes. Once again Glen was steaming and in pursuit of the KOM jersey. After a number of attacks he got away with two others; they dropped one and the other guy just ended up sitting on. I followed a move with two riders who chased Glen and after 10km made contact. Still had 40km to go around a 10km circuit and we were doing our best to keep the bunch at 40 seconds. Glen was picking up the points and I was swapping off as best I could keeping the pace high. In the end a group of 13 caught us and we finished 30 seconds ahead of the bunch. I placed eighth on the stage and picked up a watch for winning a special prime on the road and Glen had the KOM jersey. Two Rocky riders on the podium in Europe with our Ian Weigh caps on. Not bad!

Results

Stage 4 - May 22: Aywaille - Aywaille, 170km

The king stage starting and finishing in Aywaille. The 170km stage consisted of 16 climbs with six of them in the last 60km. Two of these hills were the famous wall, La Redoute. Daniel our DS, who was third in the 1979 edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege explained to us, "yes we do La Redoute twice... why, I don't know, but that is what we are doing."

Glen was up for a win only being 17 seconds behind the leader and I was well placed in 13th before the stage. Glen also needed to keep his KOM jersey so he had a busy day ahead.

First climb, 9km into the race Glen went for the points and blew nearly everyone away and found himself in a break with four others. Probably not ideal but he kept going with the break and secured his lead in the KOM comp. Coming into the finish laps after 110km, the group was still away but was caught at the bottom of the steep Chambral climb. I felt good as I went over Chambral with Glen, then still good over the 5km Cote de Niaster and still with the front over La Redoute. Glen was feeling good and my legs still felt like they could do something. The second time over Chambral I was just off the back but got back on. Niaster was good and then I kept the pace high before La Redoute setting it up for Glen. The yellow jersey attacked and Glen just missed the wheel. He finished 10 seconds back on him at the bottom in third and ended up equal fourth overall with the KOM jersey. I slipped back a bit on La Redoute but caught back up and then won the sprint for 15th, finishing 16th overall. After sheltering me and Glen for the three days, Tom, Kane, Sven, Henry and Hamish finished the stage in one of the later groups. Thanks for the help!

Well there we are. The team had a good showing at Tryptique, one of the hardest tours both at a professional and amateur level in Belgium. A few days easy and then some more good races coming up like Wavre-Rijneman next weekend.

Results

Till next time we meet,
Cameron