WCMCC Wandi Durbridge Kermesse - A Grade :: 30th June, 2013

A Kermesse is a style of road racing that might normally be seen in Western Europe, typically around Belgium, and is most similar to a Criterium but over a longer course and overall distance[1]. I'm not sure that today's WCMCC Kermesse resembled much of a Criterium but certainly brought back memories of the UCI World Cycling Tour Qualifier at Perry Lakes earlier this year given the 100km+ distance and the intensity of the race, but with a somewhat flatter course. I'm not sure if it was the first time WCMCC had held a race over such a distance but it was certainly the first time I would ride such a distance with the club and was really looking forward to it.

This report would have been the quickest read of them all (and a rather humorous one) if I had have just gone with Chris Singleton's perspective of the race, which went a little like this: "We turned up, we all did some stuff, AP did heaps of stuff and picked up a very well deserved second place to Eddy The Great". While this cannot be argued with, I shall give a bit more of detailed description of how I perceived the race. Apologies in advance for the length of this one but I do take in the perspective from my team as a whole which fills out the report a bit more than usual.

All bar one of the Unicorn-Hall men's team arrived this morning with Craig Pennell unable to make the trip down to join in the fun. The spin on the day's event would be that A and B grade would combine which would be a great chance for the B grade regulars to compete amongst the A grade riders and test their fitness. Simon Verona (HCT) was one of these and would be a great chance for him to test his ability and fitness among A grade ranks.

There was rumour that Sam Smith had convinced Eddy Hollands to make the trip down to Wandi to assist the team, including Sam, Chris Glasby and 1 or 2 others. Unicorn's answer to this was to have our illustrious leader in Brad Hall among the starters but purely for in-race guidance as he would be racing in the Satalyst-Giant kit. Surrounding these two local stars of the sport was a complete field of strong riders from the usual teams KHT, Rider's Choice-MAN, Total Travel WA, Rota-M and Churchill Cycles with a team of 4. But it was Arbitrage-Bianchi who would throw a strong team into the mix that could well make for an interesting day's racing.

As we were marshaled up to the starter for the usual attendance call, the size of the peloton was realised to be around 65 riders where the full width of the wide roads at Wandi was certainly going to be utilised from time-to-time during the race. My aim for the morning's race was to attempt to go with any attack attempt where possible and with George Miller in the mix, the usual jump came from the moment we were released and while it was probably only a half-hearted effort, myself and a handful of others were happy to go with it but the main group were on to us and pegged us back well before the climb up Bodeman Rd was reached.

A number of similar attempts were made throughout the first two or three laps where each of them were covered and brought back into the main group fairly easily. A couple of these attacks either came from or involved Brett Stapleton who seemed to be keen to put some sting into the legs of the other riders and would string out the front of the bunch. The Unicorn team were busy up front with more than one of us available to go with any attacks that eventuated and also instigated one or two of our own. But it wasn't until a lap or two later when AP hit out on Wandi Drive and into Bodeman Rd taking George Millar with him for a break of two riders. I was indecisive in considering whether or not to go with AP as he came by and my position in the front-left of the peloton would require me to push to the outside or through the front of the group before being able to get free so I was happy to stay put and help out the rest of the team. Probably a mistake in the end as having two riders in the break would've been very advantageous.

Before long, Eddy Hollands decided he wanted to be a part of AP's break and made a strong attempt at bridging the gap. This spurred Chris Singleton to go with him (either that or he was given the push to go) to try and get two Unicorns in the break but unfortunately was not able to match the strength of Eddy and Chris found himself in no-man's land as Eddy rode free and continued on to join AP and George in the break. Chris had already put in some solid work during the first part of the race putting his ability to push large gears to good use so I can only imagine the pain he must have been feeling at this point of the race.

With Chris out front on his own, a small attack was forthcoming from a couple of Arbitrage riders who I suspected were keen to use Chris as a stepping stone to attempt to bridge the gap to the leaders. I could see Chris was being worn down so I jumped with the two Arbitrage riders and worked with them until such time as we reached Chris along De Haer Rd where I jumped in ahead of him and afforded him some respite and a chance to recover while doing what I could to keep the Arbitrage riders in check to ensure they didn't counter-attack and continue their attempt to bridge the gap. Thankfully, the remainder of the main group were not too far behind and collected all 4 of us, nullifying the break.

The three leaders continued to maintain their gap and showed no sign of being brought back into the main group. Vaughan Harvey was at the top of the Bodeman Rd climb and was providing a gap time and indicated that the leaders had almost put 2 minutes into us. This seemed to spark a bit of a combined effort from the other teams in an attempt to bring the gap to a more manageable time but with both EHBS and Unicorn both having a team rider in the break, there would be no offerings from either team to assist in the chase. Brett Stapleton again featured in some of the strong work being put into the chase along with a couple of Total Travel riders.

At this stage of the race, I hadn't noticed too many B grade regulars in the mix among the front of the group, but I tip my hat to Scott Ayles in particular who made regular appearances at the front of the field throughout the entire race and pulled long turns each time he was there. While Scotty might not have finished strongly, he made his presence known and was a stand-out worker among the B grade riders in the field. Toward the middle and end of the race I did notice Ian Turner and one or two of his Churchill Cycles team mates appear to be putting in some solid work as well.

I soon spotted Brad in the group around the mid-way point of the race and was able to come up along side him where he was able to offer some in-race guidance that would see my role change somewhat by allowing Paul Foxwell to stay up around the front of the main group but conserve as much energy as possible to be able to go with any significant break attempts or to be there at the end if a sprint finish was to occur. My protective role would require an awful lot of work on my part to be sure I stayed ahead of Paul offering him every chance to go with any breaks, offer my wheel whenever he needed to recover and/or to simply conserve the energy needed when it mattered most. While my time at the front would rotate on and off, the race was never short of having a Unicorn in a prominent position with the ever-present Pat Hayburn and a strong Chris Roberts who, without working to reduce the gap, ensured no-one was able to upset AP's position in the lead group - a role they both maintained all morning.

At one stage during the race, I managed to end up on my own turning into Lyon Rd and had put a gap of about 2-3 seconds on the field which was not a big gap but I thought I would try to get a few riders to tag along and make them work and if we managed to bridge the gap, then it would give us two team riders in the break. I stayed away on my own until I reached the top of the small climb on Lyon Rd when I was joined by Ian Lyne from Total Travel (whom I was very much hoping would put in one of his monumental efforts to get away) and his companion (who slips my memory at the time of writing) and we attempted to continue the break but to no avail and were eventually caught by two Arbitrage riders and then ultimately the main field.

Meanwhile, from my recollection of the race, I noted another rider as a stand out worker throughout the entire proceedings. I don't recall too many moments throughout the race where Paul Prottey was not at the front doing his bit to either attack during the initial laps, or working hard to shorten the gap to the leaders. I expect this made it a brutal race for Paul and I sensed that he was giving it everything he had right up to the last lap. He was consistently there among the front riders that helped to bring the gap down to as close as 20-30 metres on the second last lap which appeared to have worn him down significantly as I don't recall seeing Paul near the front again. Had Troy Coultard and/or Phil Diesel been among his team mates, the race could have been a very different one.

With all the work that Paul and only a handful of other riders had put in to bring the gap back to within certain reach, the main group seemed to become very complacent and backed off the chase thinking that we would be able to bring the three leaders back into the group when we wanted to. This would prove to be a massive mistake as no efforts to bring them back in would come from either EHBS or Unicorn who between them dominated the front of the group allowing another attempt from the leaders to maintain their break and the gap was increasing once again as we rolled past the bell for the commencement of the final lap.

I was very tired at this point of the race and struggled a little to get up the Bodeman Rd climb for the final time and when the call came from Vaughan to suggest that the leaders had put some time back on us, the pace lifted significantly once again and I lost touch a little and I dropped back to the middle of the field. As we made our way along Lyon Rd for the last time, I made the effort to continue my assigned role of protecting Paul and getting him to the line in the best possible position. I came up the outside of the group (admittedly over the white line for a small while) and managed to slot back into the front of the group ahead of most of all of my Unicorn team mates but the small rise after the turn into De Haer Rd saw some strong moves come from other riders and I really had to work hard to maintain my position near the front.

At this point Paul had managed to get ahead of me and Chris Singleton had put himself into TT mode and was grinding 53/11 at full tilt to lift the pace as high as he could. I had Pat on my wheel providing me with some effective "motivational talk" that inspired me to get up and move back ahead of Paul as the pace was getting up and over 50km/h. I was stinging as we reached the 1km to go mark and I knew that I would need to be able to maintain the effort through to the 300m mark where Pat would be able to bring Paul around for the final assault on the line. Chris was still pulling on the front and with about 600m to go, the front of the group was swelling with numbers as Chris began to tire and I was beginning to notice a number of riders with fresh legs streaming forward and I felt I was now hindering Paul's lead out.

Pat was still in my ear but with about 450m to go (into the final long bend), I pulled aside and let Pat lead Paul through but to my surprise, there was no sign of Paul on Pat's wheel. Either I had become to much of a hindrance forcing Paul to look for other avenues or Paul had not managed to keep on Pat's wheel for some reason. Chris Roberts was also in the mix as we approached the end of the final turn and I latched onto his wheel to try and keep as many places as I could. Chris had the same intention as me to pull out wide to the opposite side of the road as the corner island ended. We both jumped together but I had to hit the anchors a little to avoid collecting a couple of other riders with similar intentions.

The touch of brakes required a very strong effort to get back a number of lost places and finish in main sprint bunch. I had learned shortly after crossing the line that Paul was well up in the field and managed to claim a paying place (9th in the end) and AP had claimed second overall. A great result for AP and the team.

AP's perspective of the race was certainly interesting and I provide his comments here to fulfil an overall race view:

"After the first couple of laps where the rest of the team had been active in either instigating, shutting down, or following attacks, the pace seemed to settle down for about five minutes while everyone rethought tactics or just took a break. Attacking up Wandi Drive seemed a good idea as:

1. We had three riders in the front five meaning that anyone chasing would have to get around them first.
2. I hadn’t done too much work up till then and was relatively fresh; and crucially
3. With 65km to race, it wouldn’t be considered a strong chance to stay away.

"The break worked well from the start and when I first looked back I had a good gap and there didn’t seem to be much of a chase. I could feel someone behind but was committed to getting away so wasn’t looking for help at first.

"When I got to the left hander onto Lyon [Rd] I started flicking the other rider through and when there was no help, [I] realised it was George Miller. I had actually hoped Sam [Smith] would come along and after a few choice words, [George] did come through for a short turn which was when I saw Eddy had also come across. We still had a good lead and Ed started rolling turns.

"For the next few laps, we worked reasonably well together (me and Ed that is, George made a few token turns on the front but wasn’t a huge help) and seemed to be holding the chase away. Personally, I thought we could have gone a bit harder, but Eddy thought a few more would bridge across so I don’t think he was 100% committed to staying away. I heard later that he was talking with [Chris] Glasby when I went and he said something to the effect, ‘I’ll go with this one and you can go when we get caught’.

"I can’t remember which lap, but at one stage the chase was in sight and we could see them riding hard to shut us down. We lifted the pace and dragged away again and so maybe 3(?) laps from the finish were told that we were 2 minutes ahead. I thought by this time, the main group would have given up on us and be jousting for sprint positions for minor places. Obviously I misread this as the next lap Vaughan was shouting the chase was only half a minute away and riding hard.

"This led to us lifting the pace and the last 20 minutes was my highest power and HR output for the race.

"I do need to note that on the third last lap, George told us he was only going to ride for third and wouldn’t challenge us for the sprint, which I thought was an honourable acknowledgement of Eddy and my contributions. I was pretty sure I was only racing for second place anyway (I think that’s more realistic than fatalistic) and with the chase coming so hard, was not about to start playing games with Eddy to try make him do more work. Especially as I suspect he could have contested the sprint if we were caught anyway.

"In the end, Eddy had a pretty easy win as George led me out and then sat up as first Eddy rocketed off, and then I did my best to look like a credible challenge. [I] was actually a bit surprised how quick the main sprint caught up after the finish."

The team might not have been seen to put in as much effort in the chase down of the leaders as others, but with a team member in that group of three riders, we were keen to give him the best opportunity to successfully maintain the break and maximise the chance for the team to finish with good results.

From some reports I heard, there was a level of animosity among the field toward our team tactics by not pulling harder when we were at the front and potentially hindering the chase. This is the race style we rode because there was no point in chasing down our own rider when he had worked hard to attain a strong position in the race and doing a mountain of work to maintain that advantage. Every rider is entitled to their own opinion on other riders and I have no issue with them voicing their opinions but in the end, team-work is team-work and tactics are tactics and if it means protecting a team-mate in a break by disrupting the chase and attempting to thwart efforts to bridge the gap to the leaders, then that is part of the race and it is up to other teams to counter these tactics.

Congratulations to WCMCC for their organising such a fantastic event and many thanks to Luke Durbridge and his management and to FILA for their contribution of prizes and trophies. Congratulations also go to Melissa Robinson who took out first female to finish (in the support category C&D grades) and overall 8th place, Emma Molloy taking 13th and Nat Roberts taking 14th - strong efforts considering all three also raced at Wandi yesterday with PDCC. Brad Hall fought his way through the congestion at the front of the group to take out the sprint finish and placed 4th overall while a good finish from Simon Verona saw him place just outside the paying places in 18th.

1. Wikipedia: Kermesse (Bicycle Race)