Amiel Flett-Brown
The Agency Omnium started off this past weekend with a short and fast time trial prologue around the farmlands adjacent to the Victoria airport. The course, an exciting T shaped, pancake flat, 6km prologue that had four major pinch points including two U turns, as well as a few rouge dog walkers and the odd on course parallel parker. The race was run Merckx, which meant that we were not allowed to race on time trial bikes, which was a nice way to even the playing field and keep things interesting. To add to the technical nature of this twisty time trial, the forecast had been threatening rain all afternoon. This was a fantastic opportunity to put our Continental GP 5000s to the test and see how they perform under pressure. We had multiple riders in the top ten including the two Fraser-Mauran brothers finishing in 3rd and 4th. This would give the team a tactical advantage having two placed high in the GC classification but not having to control the race from a defensive position. To add to the great evening, just as the final riders crossed the line, the downpour began.
The next day was the Metchosin Road Race, one of the hardest road races in BC with very few meters of the course being flat, the race would be decided by riders who could climb, descend, navigate narrow roads and find the legs to sprint after covering 2,100 in under three hours of racing. The race started in typical fashion for a circuit of this sort, attacks off the gun and some of the fastest times set up the main start finish climb were set on lap one and two. The pace never really settled after the initial breakaway attempts either. It was on and off for the entire race with riders chipping off the front and back of the back until the group was whittled down to about ten riders. This would be the final selection before the last attack. A well-positioned Daniel Fraser-Mauran would be the one with the legs to follow the move in the closing kilometers that stayed away for the win. Dan went away with two riders, both further back on GC then him, so this immediately was the best possible move for Dan to be in, easily securing the leader's jersey before the final stage in downtown Victoria. Unfortunately for Dan, he had a cramp that saw him miss out in the final sprint to the line, but by then he had already done enough to rest assured that he would be wearing his first ever elite stage race leader’s jersey in his first year racing Cat 1/2. A bittersweet moment, but exciting for the team nonetheless. A special mention has to go to the young stage winner, Matthew Ney who took the win for local team, Victoria Wheelers.
Luke Hubner
On the last day of the three-day Victoria race series, the Red Truck crew faced the BC Crit provincials around the Victoria parliament buildings. With the eight Red Truck riders making up the most dominant team in the race, the goal was to bring the race to a sprint finish as with such a dominant team, a lead out to a sprint was our best chance. There were attacks from the start, but the Team covered all attacks throughout the race. The Team left the rest of the racers to fight it out for the primes, allowing other riders to tire out their legs while our sprinters Al and Amiel rested for the final sprint. With roughly 15 laps to go, Cole, Declan and Luke headed to the front to start driving the pace in preparation for the final sprint. This, however, almost fell apart as more and more primes were added at the end of the race, which caused some chaos as people sprinted for the primes, but once that had calmed down, the Team retook control as the laps started to count down the Team pushed the pace. It was quite something to see, eight Red Truck riders making up the front eight riders. At this point, the Team could be confident in the win as there were no other strong teams to challenge them. As the Team came into the final laps, each rider emptied their tank and peeled off, leaving Al in the last few meters to sprint for the line and take the win. With Al winning, the Team took the Provincial Crit jersey and the overall leader jersey for the Victoria race weekend.