Zaterdag won Cibel renner Thomas Gibbons de wedstrijd in West-Vlaamse Anzegem. Aan cyclingsite.be vertelt de sympathieke Amerikaan zijn wedstrijdrelease:
The race in Anzegem was 13 laps of 8,9 kilometers. Each lap included a climb up the Holstraat, which goes for 1 kilometer at 5,2 percent and hits a maximum of 13 percent. Before the race, everyone warned me about the difficulties that were in store. It was “Holstraat this,” and “Holstraat that,” and always spoken with wide eyes and a tilted head as if to say, “You’re doing the Holstraat 13 times, and so you will die 13 deaths.”
It turns out the Holstraat really wasn’t so bad. Early in the race, I decided to ride my own tempo up the climb. Maybe I dropped a wheel or two, or six, but the race would always come together on the flats afterwards, and the rest of the track was wide roads in the wind, which made it easy for me to put myself where I needed to be. After 60 kilometers, there was a small split in the field towards the top of the climb, so I stopped going backwards, pushed a little on the pedals, and found myself in the lead group of 20. From there, it was all downhill, which suited me just fine. I rode hard for a few laps to help establish the gap, then settled in to enjoy the ride.
I say the Holstraat wasn’t so bad, but it did require a certain amount of attentiveness. A few riders wanted to make it hard up the climb and would attack. And maybe this would have made it hard if I had tried to follow, but I just kept on my tempo, and time after time, it all came back by the top. You can only go so hard up a climb 13 times. Eventually everybody is tired, and it’s best to just be patient and let hare come back to you.
That said, I’m quite a big boy and had no desire to stick around for the group to detonate the last time up. Tired legs are tired legs, but in the last lap, all bets are off. So after the second to last time up the climb, I waited for the pace to let up on the flats and jumped from the back. From there it was just a matter of doing what I had been doing all day: riding my own race. I know how hard I can push for 15 kilometers. And I know if I’ve got a gap of 20 seconds, it’s going to be difficult for a tired group to bring me back at that tempo. So I settled in and kept pushing the pedals. The last time up the climb, a rider from An-Post came most of the way across the gap, but I just kept on what I knew I could do and eventually, he had to give up.
It wasn’t until the last 2 kilometers that I really let myself push over my limit. And that turned out to be just enough as I crossed the line with 5 seconds to spare ahead of a chasing group of 3. And that was that. I rode how I knew I could ride and I won. I should try that more often. Nothing beats kisses and free beer.
