First Win - Boezinge

After Mondays hilly kermis in Flobecq, where I finished 16th, yesterday I made the long 170km trip to Boezinge in West Flanders. The short course – just 4km a lap – was pan flat, featured a cobble section (with adjacent smooth bike path), and some exposed cross wind roads. At 4.30 the race got underway with some 50 riders ready for the 18 lap race.


With primes every lap, the initial flurry of attacks went out as usual, and just a few laps in I found myself out front, having just sprinted for the prime, with initially 2 and then 3 riders. We stayed away for a couple of laps but never really gained enough advantage to crack the peloton. As we were reabsorbed, team mate Dom Schils, set off another attack, and despite just one other rider following opened up a good lead.


However, the windy circuit was too unfavourable to any small breakaways. As Dom started to come back to the peloton, attacks went as riders attempted use the leaders as a target to bridge over and form a break. This succeeded in forming a lead group of around 20 riders and with a fair gap to the peloton, the race for primes (10 Euros a lap) was fierce!


The race proceeded in strange circumstances: no-one was really willing to work together to ensure the group stayed clear, instead preferring to attack each other at all opportunities, with the somewhat unjustified outcome of keeping the pace high enough to hold off the efforts of the chasing peloton.


Having won 3 primes, and a close second on 2, I shifted my materialistic intentions to one side, and with just 4 laps remaining started to think about the finish, and saving my efforts for the final dash to the line. Staying at the front of the group was key, and I attempted to go with any attacks, trying my own hand a on a few occasions. However, nothing was sticking and with 1 km to go, Dom launched his trademark 'casually ride off the front' attack. Taking the 'free' ride I got on the right wheels and was the first to jump out for the sprint, holding it to the line to take my first victory of the year!


It was just last week that Dom asked me if I thought I could win a race this year. Of course I declared a profound yes, but whether I really believed it was left lingering in my mind. To have that first win feels a great breakthrough, and a new platform to progress from now.