Tuesday Night Crit, A race. This is the non-technical oval-ish type crit. It's the last one of the year, and the first time I have done it in a couple of months, and first time this year I did only the A instead of A+B. Low wind day and unusual direction, so more of a chance of a bunch finish. I sat in for first 20 minutes, letting other people bring back attempted breaks. A break of 3 riders had gone up the road and was off the front for a couple of laps. But the bunch was getting closer to them. My one teammate in the race lifted his arm and pointed forward. I was in the back. My plan was to just sit in and wait for a possible sprint, while my teammate the breakaway specialist could maybe get in a break. After he raised his arm, I rode up to him, and he told me to attack and try to bridge up. So I was considering this, and thinking about what part of the course might be the best moment (maybe not in a headwind). I had drifted back again, and then Jesus on another team attacked from the back, and I was able to immediately get on his wheel. He covered half the gap, I came around and covered the 2nd half. Always follow Jesus. And then it was a break of 5. The break had been perhaps 25 seconds up the road. Somebody told me 30 seconds, but I think it was less.
We had good team representation. All the major teams represented, but not the strongest guys of each team. So we were sort of the "B level" breakaway. We continued to stay away and work together. Then another rider from the strongest team bridged up, and I thought we were done for. He did not take pulls and just sat on. While his teammate was opening gaps and not working hard, either struggling or playing games. At one point a teammate on the sideline said we had a 30 second gap. Later I was told we had perhaps a 0.67 mile lead. The issue was that it was dark, and I had my shades on (and no contacts), and I could not see what the gap was when I looked back.
With 5 laps to go, Jesus was urging us to work harder in the break. He was taking hard pulls. In my pulls, I was going 350w, often in the headwind area. It seemed like the other 2 guys weren't going as hard. And at that point we had the couple guys from the strongest team just sitting on. The group behind was chasing, but I couldn't tell where they were.
With one lap to go, I thought we maybe had it. With half lap to go, I was last wheel of 5, conserving energy and ready to sprint. I felt there was a possibility I could win the sprint given who was in it. Me winning the A crit would be amazing. Hard to come up with an analogy here of what an upset that would be. Right at this point, as we were going through the chicane, BOOM, the group catches us and is blowing past us. Turns out that the two strongest teams were chasing (despite having teammates in the break), they had rapidly closed the gap. I immediately hit the throttle and was 4th wheel, behind one of the strongest sprinters. I stayed on his wheel, tried to come around in the last corner, but could not pass him. Ended up 4th. Less than a bike length away from the podium.
Far different than the technical course where I am getting dropped within 10 minutes. Anyway, the result for me might have been better had I not gotten into the break. But I'm glad I did go for the break and got into it. It was a better learning experience. And gives me more confidence. And I'm pleased that I was able to get a 4th despite getting caught. That's my best finish ever in an A crit. I'll do a video later.