Last weekend I raced in ‘Le Triptyque Monts et Chateaux’ a 2.2 UCI race which attracts an impressive field of 160 riders from Continental teams such as Rabobank, Leopard-Trek and Astana.

The race is held just south of Flanders in the Wallonia region of Belgium. There are a lot of nice climbs down that way which the race used, many of which I am familiar with from training rides. I was feeling good coming into it and was interested to see how I’d get on.

The first stage was a hilly 180km, which started with a me and 10 or so other riders puncturing in the neutralised zone (weird, but it gets the adrenaline pumping), and ended in a bunch sprint (which also gets the adrenaline pumping!). The first 30km were spent avoiding crashes, particularly one rider gong over the bars into a ditch. At the finish I led Ed Theuns, my team mate, out for the sprint, it’s a buzz to fight for the position at the front of the bunch, it gets pretty frantic, but I can hold my own! Ed got 7th and was close for the win. A good first stage.

The second stage was a 10km TT and I decided to try to do the beginning hard, the middle hard and the finish hard. I finished in 16th 19 seconds down on the winner: Ed Theuns! He really smashed it and got himself the yellow jersey for his troubles.

The 110km afternoon stage had 3 finishing circuits of the Kluisberg and Cote d’horlitin. We tried to defend the yellow jersey as best we could and were doing a decent job. With 10km to go it was me and Eddy left from the team in a group of about 70 guys.

Then his chain broke!

The race was lined out with a massive gap behind and no team cars due to a split in the bunch it was game over.

Ed just told me to ride for myself and that was that. I offered him my bike but as I’m 6ft 8 and he is probably a good 8 inches shorter than me… I ended up just finishing in the peloton of about 60 or so guys. We were gutted to have lost the jersey!

Stage 4 was 160km with a lot of climbs including two ascents of the cobbled (and very steep) St Saveur climb. I stayed at the front of the race for each hard section but the wind was never really strong enough to properly split the bunch.

160km is a long way. Especially when nature calls. Trying to answer the call while riding proved tricky, and cold. Other than a few spectators having a bit of a shock I managed to pee on myself and the ground in fairly equal measure. Job done. There’s always a new cycling experience.

The stage ended in a fast bunch sprint battling with 70 other guys.

I ended up finishing the race in 19th overall which is quite a nice result for me and a good confidence boost for the weeks ahead. I felt good on the climbs where in previous years I may have struggled. I’m really happy with my performance and want to keep the momentum going now.

I’m on the road for the next 10 days with the Irish U23 National Team. The next races for me are the U23 Nations Cups. Saturday is U23 Tour of Flanders. A race which is so damn cool and I’m really excited for. You always need a bit of luck in it but even if things don’t go to plan it’s always the sort of race which gives you a good adrenaline rush.

Then the following Wednesday is La Cote Picardie in northern France. Then the following Sunday is ZLM Tour in Holland. All races with lots of cross winds, headwinds, tailwinds, tail cross winds, head cross winds and head tail head where is the wind coming from winds. It suits me and I’m up for it! An exciting next few weeks!

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