The Nice-Vaujany Story

After an AMAZING week in Nice with Delphine, it was racetime again last Sunday at La Vaujany. We arrived in Bourg d'Oisans from Nice on Saturday evening. I decided to go and retrieve my chip by bike, this way I could let the legs get used to the bike again (after a week off with way to much pizza & "Gellati" (http://www.fenocchio.fr//)) & also explore the final climb up La Vaujany.

Since I wanted to be at the start as soon as it opened on Sundaymorning, I decided to let Delphine sleep and go to the start on the bike (meant waking up at 4.50, on the bike at 5.45). It was quite cold, but it was going to be very hot, so I just had to stand the morning cold.

Contrary to last week in Morzine where we had to climb from meter 1, we now had 23 kilometers to warm up. Downhill, so the speed was between 40 and 60 all the time. Suits me a lot better! Of course, as a result, there aren't really any excuses like "I was too far behind on the first climb".... I had to let go the "elite" riders almost immediately when the "Alpe du grand Serre" climb began, and thought I would be able to hang on to a rather big second group, but that wasn't the case. They rode 1 km/h too fast for me, so I had to be happy with a group of about 6 riders, amongst others an Italian, Brazilian and Red-Specialized-outfit rider.

By the time we got to the col d'Ornon, our group had grown significantly, but I was quite confident that those that caught up with us at the previous descent were going to get dropped again. On the Col d'Ornon, the pace was high but still alright, and in the descent I tried to see whether we could get away with the best "downhillers", because after that the long climb to Villard Reculas - Alpe d'Huez - Col de Sarenne was up, and I figured a preliminary selection would be a good thing. We (4 to 5 riders) had a small gap, but everything came back together on the way to Rochetaillée.

Quite soon after the climb started, the group fell apart. I made a quick phonecall to Delphine, because I was in urgent need of water, and she was waiting for me a little past Huez. The red Specialized rider was always near, but by the time we got to the top of the Sarenne, he rode past me, after I had past him on the way to Alpe D'Huez. I had a very difficult moment on those last 2 kilometers to the top of the Sarenne. Funny thing is that when I came to this region in 2004 with my dad, I also had a very difficult moment on the exact same place! I was passed by 4 to 5 riders, but on the following descent, I felt very confident and rode past them again. I caught up with a dutch rider, and only 1 of the riders from the climb was able to follow me. On the way down, we also past Marjolein Truyers (Grinta team cyclist), whose hands were cramping up (or so I thought I heard) in the descent...

As a result, I found myself with 2 others (a French guy and a Dutchman), and we worked together very well on the 25K-strip van the Barrage to Rochetaillée. We kept the speed between 32 & 35. The Dutchman received a bottle of Coke from his followers and passed in on to us, and I did the same with the last bottle of water Delphine gave me. Then, it was every man for himself on the final climb. Despite the big gap we had thanks to the fast descent and our co-work in the valley, I was passed by 3 more riders that came from the back. One of them was the Red-Specialized rider that had been with me most of the day, and I congratulated him as he passed me. I was suffering bigtime in those last kilometers, and was happy when I crossed the line! What a hard race! More like les 3 Ballons than like La Morzine if you ask me, and thé ideal preparation for La Marmotte (which I won't be doing) indeed! Some ten minutes after I finished, Arno also crossed the line. He suffered bigtime, and had the looks of it:-). Read all about how he did in La Morzine & La Vaujany here: http://arnovanhelvoort.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to my results in these Grand Trophée races, I am currently ranked 6th in age category C (18-29) of the Grand Trophée. Your best 8 results count, but since I will only have ridden 3 this year, I guess this 6th place will remain this season's high. Who knows, maybe in the years to come I can try to go for a podium finish in the Grand Trophée?... I will have to ride La Marmotte too then of course... Old friend Martin also had a nice ride in Vaujany, and is still in the running for a top finish in the Grand Trophée overall. A real pitty he didn't take the start in Morzine, but he seems to be recovered from his fall earlier this season.

So now, what's next? First, I'll allow some days to recover from La Vaujany and the long ride back (arrived in Ghent at 1 am on Monday, had to work that same day). There are about 5 weeks left till the start of the Honesty Tour, and since this year Bram Schittecatte will participate (was riding for a top50 finish at les 3 Ballons before he was forced to abandon), it promises to be a very tough fight for the podium. Especially because I felt that my "col-climbing" needs to go a lot better if I want to battle it out with Pieter and Bram in the Alps. After that, I hope to set another top 100 finish at the Vélomédiane (1 week after the Honesty Tour end), and 2 weeks later, I'm off to the Pyrenees!

Below some pictures of Nice and the fine mediterranean cuisine, the reason why I gained 2 kilos;-)

So this was it, my month in which I rode a sportive every weekend. I can only be happy with the result, since I always gave all I had. Here's a wrap up:

GF Ardennaise: 40th, 13th category C (18-35), 5:13:00
Les 3 Ballons: 119th, 29th cat. C (18-29), 7:19:24
La Morzine Vallée d'Aulps: 45th, 10th cat. C (18-29), 5:41:40
La Vaujany: 60th, 17th cat. C (18-29), 6:37:48

Last but not least , I'd like to explicitely thank Delphine for being so enthusiastic about going to Nice, and making detours in order for me to be able to do what I love the most: riding sportives. Thanks Delphine, for the "ravitaillements", the encouraging peptalk, your enthusiasm when I rode by on the Joux Plane, your patience when I was getting fed up at "Les Chamades" in Morzine when not only I couldn't eat pasta the day before the race, but even worse they brought us the wrong pizza at 9.30 pm and we had to send it back!
Thank you for all of that! And rest assured, I'll happily do the same for you on one of your future (sport) goals!



 Let me close this post with my 2 favourite pictures of the whole trip: