All set for Ardennes opener
The countdown to the Ardennes Classics is officially underway here in Maastricht and I plan to complete my preparation for Amstel Gold with a training ride over the final 50 kilometres which I expect will decide Sunday’s winner.
I have regained my condition having caught a flu just after Catalunya but I’m still a bit off my best heading into the race.
Spending Easter recouperating at home in Donegal really helped but returning to action at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe was a bit of a shock to the system.
I really suffered on the first day but after that I could feel myself getting better, athough my 10th place in the final stage was more by accident than design. I was helping Xavier Florencio go for the sprint but he crashed going into the last corner and I came through to get that result.
I had a great week after Sarthe and really enjoyed some great training rides during another four days at home. It was great to catch up with the lads at the Four Masters Cycling Club and to join them for the annual Knockalla Leisure Tour on such a cracking day.
It was back to business on Wednesday with the Brabantse Phil in Belgium which was ideal preparation for Amstel. The course is very similar with small roads, plenty of sharp twists and turns and 31 of those sort of short, explosive climbs. I wasn’t an easy ride and with only 51 riders finishing you could see it was a hard race.
We see an osteopath maybe a dozen times a year and he just happened to be around at the race so we all went to see him. We all suffered in the race because of it.
The osteopath works to straighten your back, pelvis and hips, knees and ankles up and getting treatment like that the day before the race was too severe. Looking back we should have done that three or four days earlier.
The team did a one hour training ride today (Thursday) and I felt fine. We will ride the last 50 kilometres of the course tomorrow, which is important when you consider the climbs like the Fromberg, Keutenberg and the uphill finish on the Cauberg.
A race like Amstel with 31 climbs over 257 kilometres is a wearing down process. I don’t think I have the condition to be really up with the favourites in the final kilometres and it is going to be about who can survive best.
It’s a similar course to Mendrisio with the climbs. At the Worlds it was not that hard to ride when the tempo was steady. The peloton was like elastic on the climbs, you could drift back and come back. Amstel also has narrow roads and short climbs but you need to stay in the top 40 or 50 riders.
Everyone knows how dangerous it is and how much street furniture you have to negotiate. You have to stay alert and keep your wits about you and the level of concentration required is draining, although it is probably no more dangerous than the average race.
Right now I plan to just see on the day what happens and to play it by ear. I’m feeling a lot better but it will come down to that crucial moment in the last 40 kilometres when everyone wants to be at or near the front.
