ToF Stage 2

ToF Stage 2 Today's stage ended up as what I had predicted, lots of people trying their luck but ending in a bunch sprint. But the route to the end of the stage wasn't quite what I had wanted and expected. Right from the start, I was going through a hard time getting my chain up to the big ring. The front derailluer was obviously not working. It gave me a huge scare really as I was thinking whether to stop and manually change it myself. But after 5mins of attempting, somehow it managed to move up finally. And I didn't dared touch it from then on. After sorting my chain out, i had a sudden urge to pee. This time I really had to stop. By the time I finished peeing, the whole convoy was gone and the road was open to traffic again. I had to chase hard and zig zag across the vehicles before finally getting back to the bunch. After the rolling start, there were many attacks and the pace went up and down. After much attempts, a group of 6 managed to get away and the pack settled into a steady pace.

It pretty much was for the remaining race until the 90km mark when the break was eventually caught. Throughout the race I kept reminding myself to hydrate and eat. The weather in Thailand was really hot up to 38deg celcius. I am hoping this would be a slight advantage for me over the rest of the pack, that is made up of mostly Caucasians, in the next few days. Team DirectAsia.com, Mavericks, Cannasia and Specialized were the teams doing most of the work today. After the break was caught, the pack came to life again as many attacks started happening. These were tense moments as the group was swinging from every direction, even using up the lanes which were open to traffic. Fredrick of Thanyapura managed to get away solo amidst the chaos. He was very active earlier on too. He looked very strong for a small guy and is lying 15th in GC after a good time trial on first stage! He would eventually be caught in the last 10km but good try from him. I would be watching out for him in the hills as I'm sure he can climb very well.

Then in the last 15km, disaster for me as I went down hard after hitting a bump while drinking from the bottle. I slided on the hot tarmac for a good 5m at around 43km/h before coming to a halt. My jersey and bib were torn and I had some nasty road rashes. But I really felt sorry for the guy who went down with me as he broke his collarbone. It could have been really worse for me too. I quickly got up, checked myself and my bike, had quick words with the guy and then jumped on my bike. The chase was really tough as the pack, which was cruising at a high speed by now, had opened up a huge gap on me. A support vehicle which was stucked earlier, accelerated pass me as I flagged for it to slow down. I was disgusted really. I thought these guys would be passionate about bike racing and would be willing to help riders get back to the bunch. Unfortunately, not vehicle number 6. Then a police bike came round me to check if I'm okay. I told him to go in front of me but I think he didn't quite get me. I went to the back of his bike anyway and then he get the idea. But clearly he hasn't done motor pacing before. Either his pace was super fast I was struggling, or super slow I had to come round him. After about 5-8km of mad chasing I managed to reach the tail end of the convoy. I slowly moved up vehicle by vehicle and to my relief I was back in the pack. I really didn't want to lose any more time, especially on a stage like this.

Last few hundred metres

I was thinking of a podium at first but was really just content with finishing in the pack now. I quickly recovered a little. In the last 5km it was utter chaos again. Lots of fighting for positions against the strong headwind. Then a crash happened in the middle of the pack. It took out quite a number of riders. I was glad I wasn't involved again this time as going down again would really put a huge knock on my morale. I tried to hang on and sprinted in the last 300m. I was about 5th then but I went out too early against the wind. In the last 100m, few riders overtook me and I finished 12th eventually. I could only imagine what I could achieve if I hadn't crash and timed my sprint a little better.

Crossing the line

Tomorrow is the all important stage. It is sad that I had to race it in pain. But I will try my best to stick with the best and hopefully gain a few GC spots. On a side note, Raymond is having his usual room service supper. Tonight he is having Tom yam soup and basil rice. Smells delicious! But I do not want to lower my power to weight ratio.. :P