5th in Tielt Winge

On Sunday, amid uninterrupted rain all day, I headed just a few kilometres north of here to a wet kermis in Tielt Winge. At 15.00 the race started with 130 or so riders signing on – although nearly losing 30 on the first lap as we were sent the wrong way!

The undulating, twisty, and at times narrow 7.8km circuit provided plenty of attacking options, although on the now drenched roads, few breaks gained any real advantage in the opening laps. Having forced a few moves a couple of times, I finally broke clear alone with around half the 117km race remaining. Bridging over to 2 riders, the 3 of us worked together well for a lap before being joined by 7 others who had also slipped clear of the peloton.

With the 10 of us working well, we were quickly a minute, and then 2 clear and with just a couple of laps remaining it was clear the break would succeed. Despite the attraction of primes every other lap - which I didn't contest to save myself for a favourable hill sprint finish – the group remained almost together until the final 3 kilometres. With a lone rider attacking on the main climb of the circuit, and then 3 chasing, I was thinking too much about the sprint and hesitated, gambling on the other 3 riders closing the gap. Of course, they didn't. Riding to the line, I led out the sprint for 5th and won convincingly, nearly catching 4th place on the line, but just a handful of agonising seconds short of the winner.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Confident of the hill finish, I needed to stay at the front, and do all I could to get back to the leaders. I became more concerned with beating the 2 riders with me than chasing for the win. Still, I can't complain, 5th is another good result, and another lesson learned.