U23 Tour of Flanders

Well, today was one of the hardest races I've done while here in Belgium. U23 Tour Flanders uses many of the of the same roads and the pro race. The race was around 170k with many steep cobbled climbs, two of which were on the finishing circuits. The finishing circuits were 17k with one cobble section of about 3k and another 1k or so, along with the two climbs on each of the 3 laps.
First section of the race was littered with crashes, two of which happened right next to me, I narrowly avoided both. Once we made it to the finishing circuits the attacks came, one small group after another would roll away. With two laps to go I was with a group of about 25 that was starting to split, each time up climbs and on the cobble sections I would feel strong and attack the group, eventually it was down to four of us with a lap to go and another group within sight. But with cramps starting to settle in I was on the edge, and so were the other 3, so we kept working together to stay away from the group of chasers behind us. As we came closer and closer to the finish everybody started looking at each other. With 300 meters to go one jumped, the other two were quick to get on his wheel, with 100 meters to go I launched my sprint from 4th wheel, I was 5 Meters too late and was edge out by a few inches. I crossed the line around 40th, not to shabby for a first year U23 racer....

Cole