After a 10hr trip to Ballarat in The Fixed Wheel van we met the rest of the crew in some far away farm, amongst some trees in a faraway place, for some usual banter and pre-race dinner – cooked by the Masterchef Ryan O’Neill along with his protégé and house guest Gareth Williams from SuVelo.
The team spirits were lifted by the news that KMD Racings training partner Andrew Crawley had won the rest day stage of the Tour of Tassie which was a fantastic result and well deserved.
Andy Crawley wins a stage in the Tour of Tasmania
Well back to serious racing. We turned up to the race ready to go. With Jarod Crosby driving in from Melbourne we lined up and got signed in and warmed up. KMD racing was represented in both M1 & M2 with Miha Remec taking to the M1 field on his own and Alex Gardner, Jarod Crosby, Daniel Wright and Ryan Oneill lining up for M2.
The M1 race started off and not much was happening until Miha drove the pace up with 20min to go and caused a split with 2 other riders. Looking strong they opened a big gap over the rest of the field and Miha looked comfortable as the three riders started sharing the load with the wind starting to pick up. When the two riders appeared without Miha in tow we started to wonder what happened to him. He appeared about 30sec later back with another rider from SuVelo Nathan Bonarius. The two worked quite hard to try and pull the leaders back but were not looking like they were closing the gap. A lap to go and Nathan put in a big dig to try and close the gap and in doing so he left Miha behind who was now in conservation mode thinking about his main aim of winning the road race on Saturday. Rolling across the line in 4th place and ready to take the sideline and support the M2 riders.
The M2 race started off at a solid pace and the usual workhorses Jarod Crosby and Daniel Wright took place at the front end of the pack, while Ryan Oneill and Alex Gardner took up position in the sheltered group. ¾ of a lap in and a solid attack came from the peloton. Jarod Jumped but as he was meant to be trying to conserve himself for the potential sprint Danny called it and bridged to the solo rider. The two opened a small gap and worked together for a while before being swallowed back into the pack. It looked like it was going to be a hard day to try and get away in a break.
KMDracing was always in the mix on the front and covering attacks coming from various other teams before a strong attack from Ryan got him off the front by himself and he opened a big enough gap to cause concern. The peloton didn’t react and Ryan sat out there for a while before a few riders bridged across to him. It was looking like it might have been the move but the gap was not opening so Jarod jumped off the front of the group and quickly closed the gap to the lead and joined Ryan. The gap opened a bit more and the peloton started to react with a few more riders trying to get across but with any moves being covered it just welded the leaders back.
Gaps kept opening and Danny welded a few back before giving it a dig and getting off the front with another rider from the Melbourne based O₂ Networks team who were riding strong. With 10min to go + 2 laps the move looked like it could be the decisive break so the KMD boys sat up and tried to slow the pack down. They let another rider get across to help the break. What Danny had thought would only last maybe a lap when he attacked soon had him committed as the gap got bigger. Not being in great form took its toll as he had to grovel his way around to make sure he was not dropped.
Would the plan work? Jarod, Alex and Ryan had a nice sit for the last 15min before the peloton started attacking and chasing the break. With 500m to go the break was coming back and the boys from KMD knew that they had to take control with a few tricky corners leading into the finishing straight. Ryan came to the front with Alex on his Wheel, Jarod tucked in just a few back. Things were looking good for the sprint until……..
Ryan overcooked the second last corner as the breakaways were being swallowed up. A gap opened to the front two riders and unfortunately Ryan and Alex ran off the road into in the grass and had to try and get back on the road and close the gap to three riders up the road who had started the sprint. Ryan had blown by that point and swung off while Alex had a big job on his hands to try and pull back the lead with 400m to go. He launched his sprint out of the last corner but it was already gone. He crossed the line in 4th while Jarod, Ryan and Danny rolled in just behind.
Over all it was a strong display by KMD Racing and it was close but yet oh so far away from having a rider on the podium. Until tomorrow……..
Written By,
Hammish McTactics
Excecutive Assistant
KMDracing.com
