Life on the road

After starting the season so well in Portugal, the transition to Italian racing was always going to be an interesting one. From my experience last year, the races in Italy, despite being contested by amateurs and in some cases only under 23s, unlike Portugal, and are incredible competitive and I was apprehensive to see how many results would compare.
After a lengthy drive from the Algarve to the Zappi's base in Italy, on the Adriatic coast just north of Rimini, our first race was the prestigious Piccolo San Remo. The race followed a common theme for many of the races I've done well in Italy this year and last year, a repeated climb every lap reduced the group significantly and put some pain in the legs. Before the race exploded on the last lap with a furious speed set up the climb, it ends up being a case of gritting your teeth as the strongest boys put the hammer down and hanging on for dear life. Over the top comes some minor relief but before long it's time for the sprint and being a bit on the light side this isn't exactly my forte and on this occasion I managed to get 10th from a group of 25.
The next weekend was the first big target of the year for me, the hilly UCI 1.2U Trofeo PIVA, a race packed with the very best under 23 riders in the world. Following the same pattern, the race gradually shed riders up the repeated climb every lap, my legs felt good and I sat in waiting for the end. I had a small tumble when the bunch ground to a halt on one lap but barring that it was a controlled race. Disaster struck approaching two laps to go when I swung around the outside of a Lotto Soudal development team rider as he attempted to take a last minute bottle, his soigner quickly tried to pass it to him but I was caught in the middle and the full bottle smashed me square on the nose at about 25 mph. What happened next is a bit of a blur, I pulled up on the side of the road, blood dripping from my nose and everything having gone black for a few seconds. After realising I was okay and having my brother Jonny and Flavio to pace me back in, I managed to rejoin the group with just over a lap to go. The last lap instead went twice over a longer harder climb and here, predictably the race kicked off. I was unfortunately at the back of the group starting the climb the first time. I watched as the big hitters made their move over the climb and I thought my race was over, thankfully the second group I was in caught them on the descent and as we started the final climb there was only 50 of us left. I managed to pass a lot of guys on the climb and as I crested the summit I was part of a little group just behind the leaders, over the top we worked hard and soon there was the final group of 15 of us, the riders alongside me were some of the best under 23 riders at the moment and I was excited to just have made it there. In the end a couple of boys clipped away on the run in and I sprinted to a solid 8th, a result which I'm really proud of.
Since then my form has dipped slightly, I had a mechanical the next day at the Giro Del Belvedere, then the following weekend at the Trofeo Edil C, I pulled out on the last lap as my legs gave way and a sore back hindered me. Thankfully after this it was time for a well earned two weeks at home to recovery and head back to Italy fresher and in a better state of mind. The first race back was a kermesse like race round Rome city centre, were the break in racing really caught me out and a another DNF was on the cards.
Putting that rough spell behind me, last weekend thankfully went well, at the UCI 1.2U GP San Vendiamo, I managed to grovel over the last climb in the 3rd group as the 3 leaders raced clear and when the rest of the groups combined sprinted to 12th, which was a great boost for my confidence.
Thanks for reading,
James