NC road - check✅

The first National Championship of the week is done. And more importantly: We took the jersey. After a three-and-a-half-hour drive to the north of the Netherlands, we arrived at the start line with 13 riders. By far the biggest team in the race.

As we discussed the pre-race tactics, the plan was simple. Make sure we’re represented in every important move and avoid ending up in a situation where we’re forced to chase.

The ideal scenario is always the same: Have somebody in the break. Have a sprinter in the peloton. Let somebody do the work.

The race itself was exactly what you’d expect from a flat National Championship. Lots of attacks, lots of riders afraid to miss the winning move, and very few groups actually getting away. I must admit these are exactly the type of races I don't like too much. The course was completely flat, there was enough wind to make everyone nervous, but not quite enough to actually split the race. Which means you spend the full race avoiding ending up in the gutter, constantly moving up, constantly expecting echelons to form.

And then the bottles: My bottle catch rate was far <50%. At one point I was already slightly dehydrated and very much looking forward to a bottle. Then the teammate in front of me somehow managed to knock three bottles out of the hands of our soigneurs in a single pass. An impressive achievement. He didn’t take a bottle himself. The soigneurs didn’t have enough time to grab replacements. And because I was directly behind him, I missed out as well. “Personally, I’d much rather have a proper climb. If only because I can get a bottle when I want it.”

For almost 100km, nothing really stuck. Until a break of four riders finally went clear. Two of them were ours. One of them happened to be our designated sprinter.

At that point the situation looked pretty good. The break quickly built a gap while the rest of us focused on slowing things down behind. For a while it genuinely looked like they might stay away.
Then, with around 15km to go, the other favorites started committing to the chase themselves. As the pace went up, the gap came down. It became clear we needed a backup plan. Fortunately, we still had another sprinter in the peloton. So the focus shifted towards positioning him for the finale. Personally, I didn’t have my best day. The legs weren’t terrible, but they certainly weren’t race winning either. My contribution in that final lap was mostly helping move our sprinter into position in the final long wide straight before heading into the final few kilometers. After that, my work was done and I dropped back to the back of the peloton. A bunch sprint was coming. And I wasn’t going to contest that for a P20.

A few minutes after I dropped back, our sprinter crossed the line first. We have a National Champion in the team.

Looking back, I think we raced exactly how we should have. We had riders in the decisive move, we adapted when circumstances changed, and we still managed to finish the job when everything came back together.

Now it’s time to focus on Wednesday’s Time Trial Nationals. And it is going to be a spicy one🌶️. The organization already changed the time schedule to accommodate for the heat - there is no riding between 1PM-5PM. I already panic-ordered a cooling vest last minute, which I hope will arrive in time!

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