July

July has been full of kermesse racing! For those who don't know, a kermesse is essentially a criterium, but often with longer laps — anywhere from 5 to about 10km per lap. It's usually flat out from the gun and super difficult to read.

My first race of the month was in Sinaai, just down the road from where I'm currently staying. Unfortunately, I took a tumble on the first lap and missed the initial breakaway again. I was soon back in the peloton, where I attacked and joined a few other riders to try to bridge across. Unlike last time, we didn't make it, but I took the win in the sprint out of my group to finish 9th.

I had a better time in Zemst the following weekend and actually made the break successfully for the first time — it seemed I'd learnt from recent races, which is another massive advantage of racing so often in these kermesses. We worked well together, and with 2km to go I followed the attack of another rider, and the group of 7 was suddenly just the 3 of us going into the final moments of the race. I sprinted as hard as I could, but in the end the better man came out on top and took the win. I had to settle for 2nd — as painful as it was, I was still pleased to get on the podium.

Trofeo Van Vlaanderen was next, renowned for being a tough UCI race — 130km through the fields of Flanders, featuring narrow roads and crosswinds. What's not to love? After realising the early break wasn't coming back, because the race wasn't as attritional as I'd expected, I rolled off the front in an attempt to bridge across. I joined a couple of other riders up the road and we lasted to the finish. Unfortunately, I didn't have a great sprint after the effort, but I still felt satisfied with 7th on the day.

That's been it for the month of July! Pretty fun racing, and I'm starting to notice some big improvements in my ability to read races and in my race craft in general.