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Mi Aout en Bretagne: Kristian House takes 3rd on GC · 20/08/10

Mi Aout en Bretagne: Kristian House takes 3rd on GC as Rapha Condor Sharp shows it’s ready for the Tour of Britain.

The team have just returned from their latest international trip where they took part in the UCI 2.2 raked Mi Aout en Bretagne stage race in northern France. The 4 stage event was added to the programme for the team after the demise of the Tour of Ireland, giving them 4 days of strong competition to rediscover the rhythm of stage racing and test the six riders who, barring illness and injury, will represent the team in the Tour of Britain this September.

Each day of the race consisted a large circuit or point to point race culminating in up to 10 laps of a smaller finishing circuit and the format proved to be one that encouraged aggressive and fast racing from the gun on day one.

On that first stage two Rapha Condor Sharp riders initially made the crucial split that saw as many as 25 riders away at one point. Dan Craven and Kristian House were those two riders but Dan succumbed to cramp, bizarrely on the same climb on which an identical fate befell Darren Lapthorne in 2009 leaving Kristian alone in the lead group from which he eventually finished 15th on the day.

Day 2 of the race once again saw Kristian feature in the early move and with none of the other GC contenders he was virtual race leader for a short time. However, sensing the danger a few of the overall contenders bridged across to the move later in the stage, but despite being away all day Kristain was able to both finish 5th on stage and raise his overall place to 3rd on GC with a host of other riders just seconds behind.

The third day the race was a case of ‘stick or twist’ for the team, with Kristian having been up the road for more or less the whole of the first two days, fatigue would make him vulnerable to attack. As such the team hedged its bets, riding conservatively but always ensuring they were represented in significant moves, with so many riders potentially in the hunt for GC there would be no time to wait for the numbers of leaders to be announced on race radio before deciding on tactics. As such the approach would be to ensure the team always had a rider who could win the stage even if the general classification slipped from their grasp. Despite some dangerous moves on the finishing circuit the team rode well to keep things in check and Kristian ended the day where he’d begun in 3rd place overall.

The last day of the race saw the bunch tired and understandably so after racing full on for 3 days. The teams of the first two riders on GC had only a handful of riders each left in the race, leaving them vulnerable to attack, so whilst the responsibility lay with others to control the race, Rapha Condor Sharp took the initiative, riding as if it held the yellow jersey to control the moves and protect 3rd place overall, every rider playing their part in helping Kristian take a deserved podium spot.

Speaking upon their return to the UK, John Herety was pleased at both the result and the overall performance of the team.

The team has been pretty dominant over recent weeks here in the UK, the results in Richmond and then in Preston in the crit showed the guys are in great form. But it was really important both physically and psychologically for the guys to test themselves against international competition. In terms of their form and their cohesion as a team they’ve shown themselves to be pretty robust these last few days. That’s got to be a good thing going into ToB in a few week’s time.

Rapha Condor Club member from Milton Keynes supporting the Team on the roadside in France.

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