Hey there…

Very big day here in Spain. It was super hot and we covered close to 4000m vertical meters of climbing today. We started in calpe and rode up the coast at full speed. Over small climbs, up and downs and lots of corners…. In the first hr we averaged 45km/hr…. It was very hard and the peleton was in pieces!

I felt good. I was struggling at times but was within myself which was good…. But the pace was really on.

The break went after about 30mins of madness and euskatel controlled the peleton… They rode immediately due to some riders in the break being high on the GC. So we never really rode easy….

Today I was really strong, and did some great work for the team. I wasn’t in the gruppetto today, I was right at the front when that was called, so I got over the really steep climb with the main group…. Not for any reason other than to help our gc boys… I took teejay to the front, then ventured back and got the final bidons for the boys. Now this is where it really hurt! The pace was on in the 2nd last climb with the remaining 80 guys in single file.. I did a full gas effort to take the bidons to the guys, at one point I looked up asking myself if I could even get to the guys…. I did finally after a mad sprint, and the boys were very grateful.. Then that was me dine. I exploded! Then rode easy to the finish happy with the job I did…

We then were straight in the bus and into a 4 hr transfer to our hotel here in sitges. It was painful this trip and stiffness is a word the first describes the feeling on arrival.. We are in a mint hotel though, a 5 star so all the boys are happy… However we just got told it’s the gay hotspot in Spain and at breaky this am we seen why! Lol. We were too scared to look up! Ferral! Nothing against them though, each to their own, it was weird!

Today we have arrest day and its come at the right time… The peleton is really tired, myself included…. Today we have a wee stroll, then a long massage in order to recover the body… I’ll do a 25min temp effort today though just to keep the body ticking.. It’s unreal thinking that and you all must think I’m crazy… But in the tour last year I just rode and man did I suffer the next day..

I’ll update after stage 10 with what I hope is a good report.. The next few days presents some nice opportunities and I hope to make the most of them… Time will tell!

Hope your all enjoying the reports.. I like writing them and keeping you all informed.

Talk soon, ciao ciao