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Normandy wrap up · 29/03/10

Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger

After a promising start to the Tour of Normandy with Rapha Condor Sharp riders featuring daily in the breaks, the latter stages of the race have tested the riders physically and psychologically. Grim conditions and a lack of stage racing so far in 2010 combined to batter the riders on a daily basis.

Despite the obvious disappointment, team manager John Herety was upbeat about what the team will take away from this race:

“Normandy was originally intended to be our second stage race of the year. But after the cancellation of Vaucluse it was always going to be a lot to ask of the boys to expect something big here. That said, we’ve had riders in the moves every day and the fact they’re getting shelled sometimes is because they’re giving it 100%. They could have sat in the wheels every day, but that’s not the point of bike racing, they’ve come out of this stronger than they went in and that’s not something we could have said last year”

As the race came to a conclusion today (Sunday) the team seemed to turn a corner, returning to their early combative form as Tom Southam made a breakaway that went just 20km into the stage and eventually built a lead which at one point topped 5 minutes. With just 5 seconds separating the top two riders on GC and sprint bonuses on offer at the end of the stage, the breakaway group was chased hard. As the finish loomed the lead hovered at just over a minute, a gap that held all the way to the line. The group of 10 of which Tom was part contested the sprint in which Tom eventually finished 7th.

Wrapping up his feelings on the week, John Herety was pragmatic about his teams fortunes:

“If we look back to this race last year we took a battering most days, rarely saw the front of the bunch and even more rarely saw a black jersey getting up the road. To cap it off, I went home with two sick riders who never found their form again all year. This year we’ve suffered for sure, but the guys have coped well, we’ve suffered because we’re trying to be a part of the race, not suffered just to hang on and whilst there were some hard days out there we’ve started to find our rhythm and when guys like Tom and Dan are getting in the moves and Lappers is battling through at or near the front I know we’re going in the right direction. There’s plenty to do still this year but as a marker of our overall condition, morale and direction, we’re doing pretty good”

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