Couldn't complain with the start to the season for Kelly Benefit Strategies, 3 races, 3 wins, but Jeff Cup is the first real race of the year. 80 miles of rolling terrain outside of Charlottesville would certainly lead to a hard race. USAC race predictor had us going 1-4, even after last week I don't think any of us were considering that, but we were sure planning on getting the win. Hope was to make it hard and get numbers in a break and let it work its way out from there. Sadly things don't always go as planned.
Chris Jones got in the only early break at mile -0.3 but was eventually brought back a lap and a half later. By the time he got brought back my race was already essentially over. After having changed cables and housing on Wednesday I decided not to go back and cinch the front derailleur cable. A lap and half in to the race I was stuck in the little chainring up front. Frustrating because it was totally my fault, I should really stop working on my own bike or just get better at it. I did my best to fix it but to no avail. I even got a multitool from our Director via a water bottle exchange in the feed zone, waited for the race to settle, stopped put cable back in and tightened it. No luck still, it wasn't tight enough to shift the chain. It happens, but it is dumb and inexcusable. Lesson learned. I had no trouble staying in the group but could do little to cover big moves or attack myself so I was essentially a lame duck on the peloton.
After Chris's break got brought back the racing settle for a brief moment before a flurry of new moves started. Lucky for Chris he was in the next break of the day, because who wouldn't want to ride the break for all 80 miles of this hard race. Chris really enjoyed himself, he felt so good he kept looking over at Curtis asking "how are you doing?", Curtis clearly with death face on. Seriously though Chris rode a killer race and this break stayed away. Curtis was in the break and we had three as Andrew Seitz made the bridge across.
The break had ~12 people in it with all the big teams represented and was sure to succeed if we and the other teams let it. In retrospect we should have brought it back with mediocre odds and knowing Chris had been smashing it all day. Of course that decision is easy now, at the time I think we were overly confidence based on previous races that if we were there we would win. The field shut down and along they went until the attacks started in the breakaway group. Eventually Chris and Curtis got our newly designated A guy, Seitz, and two others away from the breakaway group up the road. Unfortunately Battley got one of their best sprinters with him and at the end of the day Seitz couldn't close the deal but still came away with a solid 2nd place. Good confidence boost for Seitz but the team felt like we could have made some better decisions to improve on the results. Regardless Seitz, Curtis, and Chris all rode one heck of a race.
With the break gone and a half lap to go the remaining Kelly riders made our way to the front to set up for a leadout. We always want to pick up any scraps left over from the break and an opportunity to practice a lead out is never something to miss. PTS drove the field from the second to last turn and we stayed close and in position, with about 3Km to go I went to the front to control the field until 1K where our remaining riders would begin winding it up further for the final run in to the line. The leadout worked perfectly as Ben Fredericka and Ben Fogle went 1-2 in the field sprint. Definitely some work to be done to perfect the leadout process but it was a good start and great practice. Definitely not ideal doing the leadout in the little chainring but we made it work no problem.
It may not have been a perfect day but we ended up 2nd, 4th, and 7th while going 1-2 in the field sprint. Not all is lost but I think it is a good reminder about how much losing sucks. Battley rode a great race and got the better of us this weekend so props to them, but I think this race just got us more antsy for the next races.
Keep those pedals spinning,
BSlow
It may not have been a perfect day but we ended up 2nd, 4th, and 7th while going 1-2 in the field sprint. Not all is lost but I think it is a good reminder about how much losing sucks. Battley rode a great race and got the better of us this weekend so props to them, but I think this race just got us more antsy for the next races.
Keep those pedals spinning,
BSlow