Photo by Manuel Piexoto
La Classique des Bourbons 2024
The team travelled to central France for the final big event of the season La Classique des Bourbons.
After a successful race at the Tour of Wales he previous weekend the team were full of confidence and looking forward to a good race.
Saturday was super hot with temperatues around 35 °C! Keeping the lads cool and hydrated was going to be a challenge. The race got off to the worst possible start with a huge crash on fast decent which took out Oscar and Ben. Ben was able to continue, but unfortunately Oscar was injured and his frame snapped! Shortly after James had to pull out due to issues caused by the heat. Dan, Freddy and Ben made it though the stage, but unfortunately Ben, after a brave ride due to injuries from the crash and heat, just missed the time cut.
Sunday was a much better day for the team with strong rides by Dan and Freddy in the stage 2 ITT.
Stage 3 was even better with both Dan and Freddy animating the race up front. Dan managed to solo away from the peloton and built up a lead of almost a minute before eventually being caught on the final climb with less than 10km to go. His performance earnt him the combativity award for the stage and lot of flowers!
Misfortune aside it was a great experience for the team. The event is fantastically well organised and the parcours is top class and run on fully closed roads. Huge thanks to Yanick Gondoux and his team for their warm welcome and putting on such a fab event. Hopefully we will get an opportunity to race there again next year - we have unfinished business!
Photos by Manuel Piexoto and Stu Nisbett