STAGE 1 by Osmond "Os" Bakker
Stage 1 of the Mississippi Mills Stage race takes place in the quaint town of Pakenham, ON. Historically this stage is done at night under rainy conditions. Thankfully the rain held off this year.
130 riders started the stage and it was going to be aggressive with so many teams wanting to gain time ahead of the team trial. Our game plan was to follow the moves and get into the winning break. The first circuit of 5 was aggressive with attack after attack occurring. I was active in most moves, but was starting to feel the affects of so many efforts. Finally on the start of lap 3 a move went that I was able to get across to. We were 9 riders with most teams represented. I had faith in the knowledge my teammates would be patrolling the front to keep any possible moves from getting back to us.
It did not take long for us 9 riders to get an advantage of 3 minutes with 2 circuits left. Unfortunately the time gap started to come down and I figured we would have about 1:30 by the time the race finished. I rode as smooth as I could, kept eating to keep my energy up and wait for the enevitable. That being Ryan Roth would attack and solo in for the win as he has done so many times this year. As expected he went and I clawed my way back to him, rotated and then had to claw my way back to him again after another attack. Cross eyed and less one tooth, I held on to him and rotated again to establish a move. He went back, took a rest and attacked again taking 2 others.
We brought back the 2 others and I finished 4th on the day 20 sec behind Ryan whom soled once again for the win. I used up some big energy for this stage, but was happy with my efforts. My teammates rolled in with the main field about 1:32 behind me, with Pete getting an 11th overall on the stage.
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| Start of the Stage 2 TTT at the Mississipi Mills GP. Photo courtesy of Bayden Pritchard. |
STAGE 2 by Brian "The Seal" Trafford
The Stage 2 Team Time Trial of the Mississippi Mills GP saw the heavens open and make the team race of truth a wet and cold one indeed. With 13 teams and a 36 km flat/rolling it gave everyone a make or break chance at securing a good gc spot for not only themselves but their team mates as well.
With only 5 riders on the start list the Octto-Cervelo squad consisting of Bayden Pritchard, Peter Morse, Osmond Bakker (-1 front tooth after his weekly bear wrestling training), David Byer and (myself) Brian Trafford had the task of limiting the potential time losses for their best placed GC man Osmond to the bigger teams such as Silber Pro Cycling and the host team Ride With Rendall. Both of which had advantages in the form of a stacked team and overwhelming numbers respectively.
After a solid 30km team warm up we took to the start line. Starting 2nd to last was an advantage in our minds as it meant starting in the 2nd wave of riders and thus 30 minutes of that sweet pre-race bed time before leaving for the start area. The team rode extremely well together with all riders taking solid smooth pulls. Unfortunately it became clear that the time gaps to the team ahead were growing each time we reached the turn around points. After Dave Byer committing the ultimate sacrifice and the unthinkable prospect of Osmond cracking it was up to Bayden, Peter and Brian to finish off the final 7km as best they could.
When all the smoke had cleared Octto-Cervelo had ridden to a 10th place finish. Not bad but not stellar. There is always room for improvement. We rode as best we could given the day and looked amazing while doing it. As you know, looking good is half the battle. So at least we get points for that.
Third stage criterium, raining hard. The course has nine corners with drops and climbs in elevation making it very tricky to ride. Tired legs on most riders and fear of crashing left motivation in the peloton low. One rider with no lack of gumption was Matteo DalCin. He lapped the field with another guy and then took off the front again. Winning the stage also won him the leader’s jersey and the sprinter’s jersey. All this while guys were trying to just hang on, myself included. Osmond did well to finish up front and stay in a high GC position. I ran out of gas three laps to go and limped to the line. Byer, Trafford and Bayden did the minimum 10 laps and wisely pulled out to save energy for tomorrow’s road race.
There were a lot of spectators for this one in the picturesque town. People whod never seen racing were enjoying the show. It was a great August night despite the weather, tomorrow the sun will come out for us.
STAGE 4 by Bayden "Rocket Man" Pritchard
The final and longest (175km) stage was on tap and finally with some sun to go along with it. The crit the night before was more of a swim than a bike race and it was good to be able to both see straight and ride at the same time again.
Tired legs make the prospect of racing 175km very interesting, but with everyone in the same boat we just jumped right into it like any other race with plans to attack and throw everything at it. This was my third time doing this race and every year its a bit different, and the last day is always a tough one, no matter what.
The stage started faster than it ever has, with attacks right off the gun and non-stop for at least 20km. Silber seemed to be chasing everything down no matter how big or small, and whenever one of them got off the front it was someone else riding it down, so while lots of interest, there just wasn't the chemistry for the right break that early. I kept it in monitor mode just watching everything get shut down, not wanting to burn too many matches so early (many were still wet I think from the days before anyway...).
Then finally two riders were let loose, went up the road and the peloton settled into cruise mode. Osmond of none other than Octto-Cervélo was one of the riders and soon they were out of sight. As good a situation as we could ask for, with the rest of us just watching for other moves while Silber and a few other riders just tapped away at the front. This went on for the next 70km or so until they were gradually brought back about 100km into stage.
Knowing the catch was coming, and the race getting basically reset, we had to get another guy up the road and if that break lasted the next 70km, we'd have it made. And right on queue after the catch, a few riders finally jumped and I followed a wheel right, out of the pack. We charged hard but were brought back. There was a huge lull in the pace, with everyone just caught soft pedaling on the front, so I went again hoping they would stall any chasers, bringing out another rider.
We forged a gap slowly but surely, until the pack was out of sight and pushed ourselves north of a minute lead. The plan was going well so far, and about 135km in, we had a chase group of two bridge up, including Yuri from one of the composite teams. The help was welcome, except soon my original breakaway partner burned off and one of the bridge-ees started cramping so stopped pulling through. We were now down to just two riders again working in this break.
I was definitely feeling the burn at this point, and was going to give it everything to make this stick, when finally even more reinforcements came up around 145km in, with Brayden Bourne from Stevens along with Brian Trafford, who also just happens to be a teammate of mine. The odds were looking good with solid riders to roll with, and we flew into the final dirt section hoping to keep out of sight. Unfortunately, with so many other attacks coming from the pack, we couldn't hold it out there and got absorbed by first a 10 man group, then the pack shortly after, 155km in.
The swirl of attacks continued off the front until the end, with two riders getting a small gap at the finish and Peter bringing in the sprint for 7th. I rolled in off the back with a few others, paying the price for rolling the dice this time around. That capped off another great weekend of racing with the team at this really fun race. A few more good ones to come.
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