Stage 4
The elevation profile of this stage made it look pretty
burly, especially in the final 50k.
I was hoping the final climbs would force a selection and that a very
small group would finish together.
For a nice change the breakaway went within the first 30min of the
race. The race leader’s team began
riding tempo at the front and things seemed to be in order. My teammates did an excellent job of
keeping me near the front throughout the first 100k of the race. It wasn’t to be without any excitement
though… I broke a spoke at the 80k
mark and received me first wheel change ever from a race with a caravan. I got back into the peloton fairly
easily and was back in position before the first of the climbs in the final
50k. There was a small breakaway
about a minute ahead, but the entire Omega-Pharma development team was on the
front drilling it. The race was single file for the next 30k.
With 20k to go I followed an attack over the top of the 2nd
to last climb. We formed a group
of 5 riders, 2 of which were on the same time overall as I was and 2 others who
were at least interested in riding for the stage win. We rallied the descent and with 15k remaining our gap was
about 15 seconds. We had about 5k
of flat, a small climb, descent, and then about 5k of flat before the
finish. This was a good
opportunity and I did my share of the work to keep our gap. We worked alright together but the
peloton brought us back right at the top of the final climb.
 |
| The break riding through town with about 10k to go. |
Maybe things could have played out differently if I'd waited
until the final climb and attacked there?
No regrets though, I gave it a go.
The run into the finish was quite hectic with several crashes in the
final 3k. I was a bit too far back
for any real sprinting, but I finished on the same time as the other GC
contenders again.
Stage 5
I went to bed last night just thinking of how much
opportunity I had. I was sitting
in 7th overall before the start of the final stage, only 5 seconds
back from the race lead. The
course was fairly hilly, but most importantly finished with a 3k climb up to
the Citadel de Namur. I’d
researched the course and elevation profiles carefully. I knew that the final climb wasn’t very steep with an
average grade of less than 5% and that the final 1k was nearly flat. My chances for distancing all of the
other GC favorites on the shallow grade weren’t great, but I knew I was
certainly going to try.
 |
| Signing in for the final stage as the race announcer says over the loudspeaker, "Steve Feesher, le petite Americaun." |
The first 60k of the stage was very hard. There were tons of attacks, but not
just from guys looking to make it into the break of the day. Pretty much all of the other guys in the
top 10 overall were attacking within the first hour of the race. I did what I needed to do in order to
mark the big riders, but I tried to conserve as much as possible. Finally after 60-70k a break of about
10 riders got away and the race became a bit more controlled. My teammates did an incredible job
keeping me out of the wind and near the front until the finale.
 |
| Following one of the many attacks towards the beginning on the stage. |
The last 30k of the race featured a handful of climbs before
dropping down one last time and tackling the finishing climb to the
Citadel. With the breakaway
dangling about a minute ahead the pace up those climbs was nuts. Over the second to last climb I
followed an attack that drew out the yellow jersey and one other rider, but we
didn’t get too far. Going in the
base of the final climb the leader’s team was drilling it along the river and I
was in good position. We took a
hard left onto the climb and the pace didn’t really accelerate like I thought it
would. With the little lull I
attacked coming out of the first switch back with a little under 3k
remaining. I opened up a small gap
of maybe 5 seconds and kept on pushing.
I gave it everything, but I was caught with 1.5k to go. I held onto the leader’s group for dear
life over the next 500m knowing the final 1k would be flatter. A group of riders counter-attacked my move
and got away for the stage win. I
finished right behind the yellow jersey in a fairly small group.
 |
| Finish of the race in front of the Citadel de Namur. |
I ended up finishing 6th overall. That is a great result and I’m
certainly satisfied with it. I was
tied on time with 3rd overall though and that would have been
incredible. With no time trial in
this stage race, the tie was broken by adding up all of our individual stage
places with the lower totals coming out ahead.
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