Ultima Dia

Starting the last day of the Vuelta gave some perspective on how I felt, everyone had the same tired, worn out, and beaten look to them. This sort of made me feel a little better than how mentally and physically I actually felt. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night still battling some stomach illness and had a few fun adventures in the morning as well. It seemed no matter how much Imodium I took, my stomach was not agreeing with me. Regardless I was going to finish the last stage and see if I could give it a go in the end.

After a much needed coffee and breakfast, the remaining three riders got kitted up and rolled to the start. Our bottle supply was virtually nothing, so we pretty much had to conserve for feeds and make sure to drink what we needed. Once we got our bearings, a few other teams joined us for the 20km ride to the stage start. Thankfully the day was just a circuit race and only 121km, which included a nice hill back up from the coast every lap. It was not going to be an easy day by any means, especially with teams still hungry for a stage win.

As the race started, it seemed by lap 3 or 4 the main break was solidified for the day. Most teams seemed content with the break being away and the gap grew to about 2:10 before anyone had interest in chasing. At this time in the race while bunny-hopping a manhole cover at breakneck speed, I donated a bottle to the course and had to be really conscious about my fluid intake.

As the laps counted down till about 5 to go the Dominican National Team made some alliances and for the next two laps it was very fast. Coming up the hill with 4 to go, the field split and it seemed that we started to shed riders left and right. Finally with 3 to go Spidertech took control, their man in the break had fallen out and they were looking to assert some dominance on the field.

It was nice that they controlled things quiet well to add some organization to the crazy finishes. As we crested the hill the final time the full out sprint started. Coming into the last corner there was about 1.5 km to go and I made sure to stay at the front. The sprint was full of blown up riders and I seemed to have to navigate through them. I was glad to cross the line in the top 15 to 20 and have another solid finish in the Vuelta.

After a calm ride back to the hotel and a halfway decent shower, we are looking forward to some rest and maybe exploring some of the beaches tomorrow, as most of us rewarded ourselves with a “vacation day” I am very happy to have finished the race and more so to have a decent result on the last day. With racing there is always ups and downs, so it makes it even more important to enjoy the small victories because they will get you through all of the setbacks you get along the way.

Thanks for reading….