Evan's Race Recap - Fayetteville Classic Road Race
The race was a windy one with quite a few large teams out there and some really strong guys. I stayed alert so I would not miss getting in the move of the day. Eventually one got away and unfortunately I wasn’t in it, I had to be patient and wait for the right moment to bridge. I spent about a lap in the field attacking trying to get things going, and was then able to slip away with 3 other riders. YES, we caught the break to make it now a group of 10 of us with about 60km to go. There were 4 teams with me in the break, each with 2 guys so I was the only one flying solo. I played it low, surfed around just to make sure I would be in the front during all the splits. Eventually it was down to just 7 of us in the break and the field was getting closer with the final lap coming up. Colin and Sheehan started to attack us and it took quite a bit of juice just to keep following. Sheehan and one other eventually got 30 seconds or so on us. Sheehan’s teammate Colin, and the other guy both just sat on my wheel, this left the chase up to me. I waited for an Elbowz rider who had been dropped by one of those attacks, and then we did a two man chase for over half the last lap. I knew this was what was going to determine the race finish, so it was all or nothing. We ended up catching the two riders and Colin immediately countered. Know this was coming I immediately jumped on. The Elbowz rider and other guy on CCR Roofing got popped, so there was now 4 left. One CCR, Sheehan, Colin, and myself. I knew Sheehan and Colin would gang up on me so I had to be ready and follow every move and try to counter them. I ended up attacking them multiple times but they always would bring me back and then not work so their other teammate could catch on. Here we are in the last 1k, Colin attacks really hard and I managed to jump up to his wheel. When I got there he sat up and I knew it was either; 1- sit up and get smoked by Sheehan or 2- attack and most likely just lead Colin out since he was pretty fresh. I stuck it in the gutter and ripped all the way to the finish but Colin came around me with like 50 meters to go and took the Win.
The finish was very tactical but I think a good experience to try and battle out against the odds. I really wanted to pull it off and gave it my best but they raced a smart race for their situation and were able to execute. The Fayetteville Road Race was a super fun race, the next Texas race is a stage race in a few weeks so that should be a fun one also!
Thanks for following along, great things to come from Gateway Harley-Davidson Trek Development Team!