May update

The season is in full swing, so we’ve been busy hopping around Italy from race to race every weekend, gradually gaining experience, knowledge and form (hopefully!). To put it simply, the racing here is bloody hard. A typical Italian race is hosted in a picturesque hilltop town, which the race passes through every lap at the summit of the climb. This repeats maybe a dozen times, which causes an attritional nature of racing, with only fifty or so riders finishing from one hundred and eighty starters. As my skills have developed, I’ve managed to finish these races, squeezing in to the top 40 in the second day of Due Giorni Marchigiana last weekend. The next step is to be fighting for the top positions, which is my goal for the second half of the season.

Yesterday, we were at a flat race, near Milan. This was my first time attempting a lead out against the Italian teams, for our sprinter, Karl. The race averaged forty seven kilometres per hour, so when we were fighting for position in the final fifteen kilometres, the pace was over fifty. Before this year, being super keen was enough to get to the front, but everyone here is one hundred percent committed, so aggression is needed, which I have developed more of. This means knocking handlebars, shouting and not letting anyone push you around. We laughed in the car on the way home when Karl recounted me shouting at a rider who gave me a large shove at three kilometres to go. I was so zoned in I can’t remember what I said, but the beauty is you can shout in English and they won’t understand a word. We only mustered a team of three due to injuries and the giro team being at altitude, so we didn’t have the cumulative horsepower of the other teams, but I managed to drop Karl off in to the top 10 wheels with one kilometre to go. Unfortunately he was swamped at a roundabout so only managed a top 30, but it was a good to get another race in the legs. We have another double race weekend coming up, then shortly after I’m back in the UK for a few weeks.

Thanks again to my Parents, the Lewis Balyckyi Trust Fund and Mr Zappi himself for all of their help.