What a day!

First of all: Guadeloupe is absolutely crazy about cycling.

The number of people watching us on the roadside, cheering us on, and coming to the starts and finishes is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It goes far beyond what I expected. The final climb today was a wall of sound that actually hurt my ears. Hats off to all the locals here. They are turning this race into an unforgettable experience.

Then, the stage itself. On paper it wasn’t the hardest stage, but it did feature the first uphill finish: 4.5 km at around 5%, getting progressively steeper towards the line. After two days of racing, a proper GC is starting to take shape, which completely changes the race dynamics. During breakaway formation it is no longer just riders trying to get away. The GC riders start marking each other and their teams as well.

The result was almost 40 kilometres of full-on war for a breakaway that never really went anywhere. Every time a bigger group formed, it was neutralised by one of the GC teams closing it down, or by the GC riders themselves jumping across because nobody wanted to miss a decisive move. Same for me. I knew exactly who to watch and wasn’t going to let any of them or one of their teammates ride away.

After about 40km, a three-man break finally got clear and everybody seemed happy with that. The peloton spread across the road and within no time they had three minutes. From that point onwards Aarco, the yellow jersey’s team, started controlling the race. Personally, I never really got into trouble. I was always somewhere around the first thirty riders and closed a few potentially dangerous moves. Once things settled down, my teammates did a great job regrouping around me and keeping me in position for the remainder of the stage. A big thanks to all of them!

They kept me at the front, well cooled and well hydrated all the way to the final climb. Honestly, the section between kilometre 45 and 130 wasn’t particularly exciting. The quarrels between teams (including us!) in front when it comes to positioning are likely the most amusing. Everyone has his little ego that is stepped on so quickly. My only objective was to stay out of trouble and arrive at the climb as fresh as possible.

The final 15 kilometres before the climb were a completely different story. Everybody was fighting for position. Again, my teammates did an excellent job keeping me near the front. That turned out to be even more important because around 10 km from the finish there was a crash just to my right, which unfortunately also involved the yellow jersey. Luckily he wasn’t badly hurt and actually managed to make it back before the foot of the climb. Naturally, his teammates became rather upset with anyone still riding at the front, but once the finale has started and there are still two riders up the road, it’s no longer the moment to wait.

Just before the climb I was exactly where I wanted to be, around tenth wheel. The final corner before the climb was a tricky one though. A few riders in front of me misjudged it, forcing me to brake and costing me all my momentum. I had to do a bit of catching up, but nothing too dramatic.

From there Vorarlberg completely took control. They still had four riders left and set a brutal pace from the bottom all the way to the top. My legs were screaming, but somehow the crowd managed to scream even louder. I’ve honestly never experienced anything like it, apart from watching the Tour de France on television. My ears literally hurt riding through the final kilometre.

I managed to hang on until about 500 metres from the finish, when the first seven riders accelerated again. I had to let them go and eventually lost 13 seconds.
Still, it turned into a great day. I moved up to second in the general classification, now sitting 20 seconds behind the leader after the previous number two struggled on the climb.

So all in all: a great day, and another great team performance. We still have everything to fight for over the coming days!