Race Report: San Ardo RR - Men’s Cat 3
Race: San Ardo Road Race - Men’s Cat 3
Date: 8/19/2023
AVRT racers: Flo Costa, Daniel Fonyo, George Wehner
Top Results: Flo 4/19, Daniel 7/19
Course: 69 miles, 2000 ft vert - 3 mostly flat 23 mile laps. Notoriously bad section of pavement on a bridge about halfway through the lap. Finish is on a small uphill.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9681276391
Nutrition: Clif Bloks and gels with malto + gatorade in the bottles.
Race Recap: Our plan going into this race was to be patient the first lap and control any threatening moves, be more aggressive the second lap to try to stick a break, and work together for a sprint finish if things were still together on the third lap.
From the start there were a lot of attacks as other riders seemed pretty motivated to make a break. Given that we had a smaller field and everyone was fresh, none of the moves got much separation from the main group. During the first half of this lap, George did a great job responding to moves and getting Alto Velo represented up front. Some riders from other teams were also chasing down their own teammates for some reason. My mindset was more to conserve as much energy as possible at the beginning and only close down the most threatening moves.
These attacks continued for a while as George, Daniel, and I worked together to follow moves and threw in some digs to test the field. Midway through the second lap still no break had formed and I wasn’t feeling great. It was looking like it would be a sprint finish, so mentally we prepared ourselves for a bunch sprint.
With around 7 miles to go, a few seemingly non-threatening riders got off the front. These guys had been attacking all day, so I felt confident the pack could bring them back before the finish. This was fine until another rider, who already had a teammate up front, bridged up to them allowing them to go all in and work together. George put in a big effort to bring them back, but the gap wasn’t moving.
At this point it was classic group two syndrome as everyone looked at each other to chase. Another rider took advantage of this stalemate between teams and attacked the group and once again, no one wanted to spend energy.
With a couple miles to go, the group of 5 ahead had increased their gap making it unlikely for us to be able to catch them. Attacks finally came from the group as people gave one last attempt to bridge. We ramped up the pace on the final hill and started closing down the gap. A rider in the main group launched his sprint anticipating the final left turn and everyone else followed. In the sprint, we managed to catch 4 of the 5 breakaway riders in the last 100 meters. I finished 4th with Daniel in 7th.
We were a bit disappointed with how the race played out after being in control for much of the day. Personally, since I wasn’t feeling great I think I was too set on saving energy for the sprint, resulting in the break slipping away. This outcome was a good reminder that we can’t be afraid to take risks - being passive sometimes ends up just being a greater risk. As simple as it sounds, putting ourselves in winning positions is the key to winning.
Thanks for reading,
Flo