#12: Soto – stage 3, criterium
SIt ended up being a short crit for me… instead of the 40 minutes, I was pulled at 15 minutes. The Cat IV field was about 100 strong and strung out immediately. I managed a descent start (clipping in, etc) but from the last row. I passed a bunch of people but after only 10 laps (15 minutes), I heard the whistle and was done. Fortunately, we had still had Bryan and Aaron in the field. They ended up in 33th and 35th place. I was marked down at 73rd at 4:53 back along with Mark at 83rd. Todd was pulled earlier, but was given a better placing by mistake (60th). 52 were given the same time (field).
The G.C. overnight going into the 4th stage (road race) looks like this:
- Aaron, 30th @ 4:16
- Bryan, 35th @ 5:20
- Ryan, 59th @ 11:20
- Todd, 88th @ 21:56*
- Mark, 91st @ 24:53
Todd will probably drop down when the results are revised. My goal of top 43 seems hard to crack. I need to get up the hill pretty well tomorrow to make that happen. After the big drop today, I don’t have much hope left for the g.c., hopefully we can do something to push Aaron and Bryan up a few places.
The race tomorrow is not that bad. It is rolling hills, a descent off the plateau, some more small hills, and then a 2-2.5 mile climb. Last year, the Cat 4 race was altogether at the base of the climb. I worked a bunch last year (attacking, etc) and climbing is not exactly my strength so I lost 3 minutes on the climb.
Below is a photo of the category III field race today. Here are the photos [link]….
Polar trends…. 
