FBD Insurance Rás 2005 - part 1

Rás so far

Short story is not having a whole lot of luck so far...

Stage 1 (82 miles):
as usual race starts off very fast (you'd think the race was 7 miles long not 700 miles long). and after about 8 miles there was big crash with around 25 riders going down, including one team mate taken to hospital with a knee injury. avoided the crash but then punctured about 3 miles later. normally puncture is not a major drama - get a quick wheel change and on your way in 10-15 seconds and relatively easy to catch up the peloton. but because all the team cars were helping people at the crash I had to wait couple of minutes for a wheel. so had long ride - in persistent torrential rain and hailstorms - to finish in small group some 30 mins down.

Stage 2 (100 miles):
legs not too great this day. Got dropped on the biggest climb, but regained the peloton on the descent. Got dropped again on the next climb but again struggled back. Then hammer went down with 30 miles to go and got dropped again, probably for good. But managed to latch onto the back of a Czech professional who was chasing back after a puncture. On verge of making it making to the peloton when a team car tries to overtake on a narrow road and clips the Czech guy knocking him and another guy off, and clattered into a wall trying to avoid both. No serious injury to me or bike, and eventually roll in 10 mins down

Stage 3 (100 miles):
had good legs and all going fine. Early part of stage on big wide flat roads making it a relaxed day sitting in the middle of the bunch. Turning onto narrower roads approaching the climb situated at 8 miles to go, meant lots of riders trying to move up to the front and about 1 mile before the start of the climb I came down in big crash involving around 40 riders (including all 4 of our remaining team riders). Only 33 riders out of 200 rider field weren't involved in or delayed by the mayhem. Took a while to untangle my bike and find a replacement to my damaged rear wheel, eventually crossing the line 6 mins after the winner. 1 kilometre from the finish our team car broke down. Add to add insult to injury the tow truck taking it to the garage also broke down...