A Lombardian Summer

The sun shone throughout the season and suddenly it was September with four weeks of racing remaining.

My palmares for the season was looking reasonable, 3 wins, 3 second places and 7 thirds amongst numerous top ten finishes.

The highlight had been finishing third in the Lombardian Championata. But then there were the disappointments. The Italian Championships, 25th. Despite crashing, then going over the top of the final climb in a break of 6, the finale did just not pan out. The European Championships, 15th and a truely dismal day at the World Championships when the 40 plus degrees had me on the ropes all day. I had hoped for more in these three coveted races that I had based my season around, but it was not to be.

In February we had started racing when the snow had only just melted from the ground and the skies were still grey. In June, July and August the temperatures were searing hot and the the skies blue, there just never seemed to be enough bidons as we raced through the feed zones week after week. Now in September the leaves were beginning to turn yellow, signally the season would soon come to an end.

It was a testament to the quality of the racing here in Italy, as after 40 odd starts I still remained motivated for the final weeks of a long year and with good form I was still hungry for that final win.