Hot hot hot! That sums it up nicely! We rode today in 42 degree heat. It was unreal just how hot it was and made the stage harder than I think anyone anticipated.

173kms was on the cards today and naturally seeing we had the leaders jersey our team had to control the race. We also wanted to get our sprinter mark cavendish up for the win so we we were committed from the get go.

Two of our guys started riding after the break went……much to the disgust of the peleton who were all really enjoying rolling along at snails pace! Actually it disgusted me too, along with half of our team cause it was quite nice just relaxing in the Spanish heat..

The day was hard. I knew it would be though as I raced ruta del sol at the start of the year in this area and that was not an easy race! Add in there some climbs which aren’t actually climbs (don’t ask me how that works) and a crash by two of my teammates on a dusty corner, meant for a hard day in the office. I was 1 meter from crashing also but I held it up…. I was thanking the lord here!

The break surprised me and really took the race by the scruff of the neck today. I started riding after 40kms and we rode fairly hard all day. I felt strong today but not super, mind you guys were getting dropped with us on the front so that’s always good for the morale

We caught the break with 12kms to go and that was my job done. We didn’t win today but we were close. We were all a bit gutted after pulling all day but like I said it was a very hard day and cav will be back winning in no time!

Tomorrow it’s a shorter day being only 157kms. This worries me! Basically means full gas! We have a 15k climb near the end of the stage too which for sure is going to tickle, but what that means is a nice freewheel to the finish!

Tomorrow youll find a group going to the finish. Here’s hoping our gc guys find their legs and hang in there. I’ll just get through tomorrow the best I can and then we will see…..

It’s great to finally be racing though, I’m loving being here and the team morale is still very high after our great win last night.

Thanks for reading and keep following me! Good things come to those who wait right!!!!!

Ciao!