Odd sort of race for me - didn't really feel like I could keep a consistent pace. Kept on surging, then falling back, then surging again, unable to settle on any sort of rhythm. But I was doing okay race-wise, so I'm not going to knock it.
Feared the worst early on when despite my best efforts to stay with a group, everybody completely splintered on the first run through the Esses and it looked like it was going to be a long solo ride. Eventually about five of us coalesced approaching the sprint banner and a few more joined from behind us over the next few miles, finally giving us a decent enough sized group as we went up into the volcano. Eventually our size paid off and with the extra draft we were able to pull back the next (smaller) group on the road, giving us even more speed. This was great for me because neither of my rivals from the last few weeks had made this pack, so I was now pulling away from them with every pedal stroke.
Was surprised that given what happened on the first lap, the group didn't immediately pull apart on the Esses each lap - we did stretch into a long snake, but everyone seemed to bunch back together on the flat again. But by the time we hit the penultimate lap, I was starting to struggle and fall further towards the back of the group each time there was a small rise and it was no surprise that I got dropped with just over a lap to go - tried to sprint back on but was getting distanced regardless.
Spent 20 seconds or so riding at a recovery pace, thinking that as the next nearest riders were over 50 seconds behind me, I was in little danger over being overtaken. Then I remembered that this race series is about time, not position and realised I had to step up my efforts again if I wanted to maintain/increase my overall gap over my rivals. Managed not to lose too much time in the end - think I had a lead of about 2:15 over the guy I needed to beat when I got dropped and managed to keep 1:50 of that at the finish line.
