2008 News Archive
2007 News Archive
Motivated for next year - Simon Richardson's final Tour of Britain blog entry
19th September 2007
The day after the end of the Tour of Britain, and I'm was feeling a strange mixture of fatigue and motivation. It's a kind of deep, deep tiredness that becomes apparent every time I stop doing anything, but yet at the same time I feel quite prepared to get on my bike and smash it for four hours. I'm anticipating that it will take about 10 days to return to normality so in the mean time I'll be just ticking over and if I do touch the bike it will be to potter to a café.
The penultimate stage was relatively relaxed as the team of the new yellow jersey were comparatively fresh and able to control the stage quite comfortably. The race only really wound up to speed in the last 30km, the previous 130 being a case of sheltering from the wind as much as possible. When building up to the final climax, the increase in tension among the riders is palpable, as position in the peleton becomes ever more crucial and everyone wants to be in the first 20 riders. Two of my team mates were able to drag me into a prime position for the last couple of climbs which makes my life so much easier.
Unfortunately a mechanical problem meant I lost touch with the lead group at pretty much the worst time and was left chasing a depleted front group until the finish, a deeply frustrating experience.
The final day was never going to be easy as once again the overall contenders had everything to play for, and the exposed route meant for tough conditions. I was still motivated to really show myself and so made every effort to go with the attacks, and at several times the race really looked like splitting up terminally. Whenever the pace eased off I started feeling rubbish but the speed was there if necessary, kind of how I feel at the moment actually.
A few hairy crosswind sections caused some real damage but I made it through with the leaders and only lost contact in the final few kms as riders in front of me gave up when in sight of the finish and rolled in. I hadn't finished racing though and gave chase to the 30 riders who were contending the sprint for the minor placings.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way things panned out. I can see plenty of areas for improvement though and I'm really motivated for a full assault next year.
In response to the question about the neutralisation of the race, most of the riders just took it in their stride. When it became clear that the break would be allowed a head start, everyone just enjoyed the time off in what would otherwise have been a seriously fast race. A lot of races abroad have issues too, usually not as high profile but when racing on roads I think the majority of riders expect the unexpected.
Some of the route was perhaps a touch risky but I think that the risks of busy roads and limited closures was worth it for stage finishes in prominent locations.
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