Redlands Sunset Loop

Ben Day of Team Fly V Australia [CC]

Ahhhhh, the come down! After 4 days of incredibly tough racing, being amongst the action for the most part, here I am on Monday morning with legs that don't feel like they were on the verge of cramping at the end of 150km yesterday.

The Sunset Loop at the Redlands Bicycle Classic is quite an epic. In the guts of the race is 12 laps of a 10km circuit through curvaceous (apparently windy, as in windy road, isn't grammatically correct?!), undulating and somewhat steep roads. To think we averaged 40km/h over this hard terrain is phenomenal and it went to show how aggressive the race was, but also, how strong team BMC were with their leader, Jeff Louder.

I threw everything I could at them. I don't know how many times I attacked, but each and every time I was brought back. The climb was hard, but it just wasn't hard enough for long enough to really split everything apart.

Coming into the finish circuits, Rory Sutherland was away solo, and as he was a threat to the overall position of myself, Bissel rider Tom Zirbel and BMC's Jeff Louder, I was forced to use my only remaining teammate in the group, Bernie Sulzberger to bring him back.  

Coming into the finish, I tried to attack again to gain the small amount of time needed to move up to 2nd or 1st on GC but Tom Zirbel was awake to it and covered me. This gained us a few seconds on the yellow jersey, but not enough to take the lead.

At the end of the four days, with 200 bike riders, and everyone wanting to win, the top three positions on GC were separated by only six seconds, an amazingly aggressive race and one that shows how far the US peloton has strengthened in the past few years.  

Thinking back on the race now, I can see the moment that the race was won - Friday's stage at Beaumont. Louder, Zirbel, Stetina and Routley took an opportune moment to attack the peloton and gain a few seconds for the win. Oh the joys of hindsight!

And now all the adrenalin and determination that I have had coursing through my body in the past few days has ebbed away and I find myself completely and utterly relaxed, drinking a coffee and writing to you good folks. My legs aren't even sore!

I want to take a moment to reflect on the past two weeks of racing with the whole Team Fly V Australia presented by Successful Living Foundation. In this short space of time, we have grown considerably. For the first time in most of these guys' careers, they were given the responsibility of defending a leader's jersey for a genuine candidate. They are all great riders on their own behalf and have had many great results over the course of their careers, but I feel now they have truly started to appreciate the necessity of being a completely united team, and I feel a strong winning vibe surrounding us now. The emotion is there, the commitment is there, and now the expectation and utter desire is there.

Fly V Australia presented by Successful Living Foundation is on the move. Onwards and upwards.

Ben Day

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