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Stage #2 of the
Duluth Classic,
South Range,
WI
54 miles, 3 laps, fairly flat.
I had a poor time trial so I was middle of the pack on the GC about 2 minutes
down. The first lap was fairly boring and sometimes a bit scary. 45 riders
on very narrow rough roads, one section was like pave, with bottles coming
loose, and riders flatting. I started in the back and felt like a caged animal
as the pace was slow and there was no way to move up through the
group. Finally, as we turned into a head wind the field got strung out and I
moved to the front. There were sprint points at the finish on the first lap and
that got the group a bit excited. Again on the second lap I found myself at
the back through the rough section, this time moving up along the second leg of
the square course. When we turned into the head wind I tried a few hard
attacks, that the group followed and others took their shots. After I attacked
a few times our GC man Dan Logan who was third took a few tries himself as he
was sitting 13 seconds down. Nothing doing though and we turned towards the
finish, the second lap their were KOM points at the start finish, which was
silly as it was flat. I was going to give it a go though as I wanted to contend
on the climb the next day, but as I was sitting 7th wheel I got shoved and
decided to sit up and avoid the chaos. Heading into the last lap the group went
very slowly up a long gradual climb, if going hard you wouldn't think it was a
climb and I sat in about 4th. The GC leader and his team were at the front. I
decided that I would try attacking on the second leg about 12 miles from the
finish. They let me go, as the leader was content on letting me nab the time
bonus. My gap was growing and Shawn Gort who I have raced against in MN a lot
the last few years started to bridge up, I knew he was strong and would be
willing to work, so I slowed a bit for him. Once he got to me we worked great,
taking even pulls, nice and short on the down hill sections and a bit longer the
rest of the time. We got a time gap of 20 seconds and then I looked back and
the gap was larger. We had to long straight sections to go, and a few guys
tried to bridge, which Shawn saw and mentioned, but I said we can't wait we have
to go. We made it to the final corned with a good gap still with 3-4 miles to
go. With about three K to go the follow car moved up behind us and we thought
we had it, but this motivated the group and it looked like they would catch us
with 1.5K to go. We were still working well, but I shortened my pulls a bit the
last few as I was feeling the effort. I encouraged Shawn as he came around me
with 1K to go that we really had to go. He put in a big pull and I let him hang
a bit to about 500m to go and I had to jump him, I got a good gap but was dying,
but he wasn't coming. My wife and kids were cheering at about 50m to go as
the group was coming very hard. I crossed the line, had a chance to give a
salute, as Shawn just beat the group about 20m behind. What a great feeling
though to finally get a win after trying hard for the past several years, and it
was that much sweeter to have my wife and kids there, my boy was especially
proud. Thanks for reading. Garrett
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