My first race this season in UAE
Here I am in the United Arab Emirates for my First races this season. I decided to go few days before the races in order to do some training there because it is too cold in the Netherlands.
We arrived at 4 am and had some sleep to wake up to a sand storm! However, we drove through the storm, trained for few hours and came back to the hotel with plenty of sand to clean!
I was late with my preparation for this season due to my health. I knew that other athletes were in training camps working very hard for the new season, but still I tried to be in shape for my first race this season.
Our first race was a marathon on the 6th of March, and many of my competitors were there including the Beijing gold and silver medallists.
After starting the race I tried to stay with the first group, but when we went out of the city there were some steep hills and after the second one I had to drop off of the group, so I tried to catch up with the second group who were too slow! So I decided to leave them and try to close the gap with the first group.
I was just about 200 m from the group, when I missed the turn because there wasn’t anybody to give us directions. Hence, I ended up on the public highway driving and additional 1.5 km until I got back to the track. By then, I was so behind everybody else but I kept giving my best speed until I caught up with the second group in the last 700 m to go on and win in the sprint and rank in the 6th place.
On the second day, 7th of March, we had 2 races: one time trial in the morning and one criterium in the afternoon. After China, I learned how to ride a time trial so it was interesting to do it another time. I didn’t have good warming up because the place was to small so after starting the time trial I tried to keep the high power during the race, and at the end I was satisfy with the result! I finished 3rd and for the minimum preparation I had, that was not bad.
After some rest, we came back again to do the criterium race.
The race for me was like a test to see where I am now and what should be done for later. The race was for one hour and one round, and after the one hour they should give us the sign for the last round, but unfortunately they didn’t, and I finished 3rd without sprinting and that cost me the first place – I also finished 2nd in combination time trial and criterium.
I wasn’t surprised about the results because to win you have to work hard for it, and hope now I will be able to focus more on my training and the biggest target for this year is the World Championship in Sevilla – Spain.
Now back to Holland, with a new strategy and new training method hope to see better performance soon as I am looking forward to race again.
Thanks for keeping up with my latest news and until my next race, wish me a good health!
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