Today was wet and long - starting with a hilly 100km road stage from Aberhonddu near Brecon, followed soon-after by a Team Time Trial of just over 17km.
The rain didn't stop. This made things a bit hairy in the bunch in the road stage but gave me extra determination to make back some time on the leaders.
The biggest climb of the day was a 2km climb which we ascended 3 times and peaked at 17%. This served to shell off a portion of the bunch on the first lap. With one on his own a minute down the road and being caught quickly, and 2 30 seconds ahead of the bunch, Alex and I saw our opportunity and bridged to the 2 ahead, picking them up on the way and before long we were a group of 5 with gap of 2:30 at its maximum.
By the time we hit 1km to go, there were 4 left and it was a sprint between Liam Stones of Team Corley Cycles Composite,, James Cartridge of Adeo Cadence RT, Alex Peters and Me. Alex out foxed me for the win and I came in at 3rd. The chasing bunch managed to gain a minute on us on the last lap and our advantage at the end was 1:28. Not bad.
Stage 4 - Team Time Trial
More was to come and having just about half-dried our clothes on the fence in between rain showers, we re-assembled for the Team Time Trial.
I was selected to lead out for the first 2km and by the time we'd hit the first corner, we were in 53x12 and had dropped our 4th man Jack Clark. This was half-expected, but didn't affect our will to drive home a quick time - as it was 3rd man over the line that was counted. Owen, Alex and I worked flat out to make sure that our 'man short' handicap didn't lose us too much time but inevitaably we were just trying to cut our losses. Other teams of 5 or 6 riders had an enviable advantage. In the end, we were 5th Team overall in the TTT in a time of 25:57, losing only 0:28 to Stage Winners East London Velo.
I have now moved up to 8th overall in the GC, down 1:14 from the leader Steve Calland f South Downs Bikes. Alex Peters, also of the BC Eastern Region Composite is up to 5th overall, down 0:53.
2 point-to-point Road Stages to come. Nothing to lose.
