Geoff told us that today's race in Diegem would have some urban elements but I wasn't expecting quite what we had today. The race was literally right in the middle of the city of Diegem.
The tower in the middle of the race venue at Diegem
We found a spot to park amongst all the other pro team vans scattered across the parking area. The Superprestige at Diegem is a major race and all the top guys were in attendance Nys, Wellens, Vervecken, Boom, Stybar and Vantourenhout just to name a few. All the top teams were also at the race: Rabobank, Bouygues Telecom, Credit Agricole, AG2R, Fidea, Sunweb Projob; really pretty amazing to be warming up next to these guys.
Rabobank and Bouygues Telecom were just a few of the major pro teams in attendance
Geoff instructed us to all get out and pre-ride the course before we got on the trainers. The course at Diegem was probably the most fun I have ever ridden. From the start we made a hard right turn and shot down a steep wooden bridge about one hundred feet long. From here the course wound it's way through the streets and extremely tight back alleys of Diegem. On my second pre-ride lap I came into a corner way too hot and ate it on the pavement ripping my leg warmers and and jacket and not mentally preparing me for my race like I wanted. Luckily Els, the team Mom, was instantly on the scene to dress the wound so I could hop on the trainer and finish my warmup.
The bikes sit ready to go in the Team USA warmup area
So we all made our way up to staging where the announcer was booming in Flemish while the UCI officials were shouting in a variety of foreign languages. Every racer was supposed to get a call up to the start grid. For the first forty or so call ups everyone waited there turn to roll to the line. But then, as though it was planned, everyone just rolled to the line grabbing as high of a spot as they could while the UCI officials were still announcing call ups. I was totally unprepared for this and ended up at least eight rows back, a terrible start position.
The race went fairly well. I still don't know where I finished, I just know that I consistently passed people from my back of the pack starting spot through the majority of the race. I got a slow-leak flat about 3/4 of the way through the race and managed to nurse the bike into the pits. The rest of the race went fine, I had a minor altercation in the sand pit with another rider, but came out unscathed.
We got back to the USA house just in time to catch the elites racing on the same course we just did on television. It's kind of cool seeing Sven Nys and Lars Boom rip the same downhill you rode just a few hours ago.
Tomorrow is a rest day, Im planning just an easy two hour training ride. On Tuesday we will be racing at Loenhout, this is another major cross race in Belgium that is notorious for its whoop section.
Flandrian pride- the flag of Flanders was out in force in streets of Diegem
An action shot from today's U-23 race
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