The race popped up on the calender a little late. It's a pretty good race media wise and it's always good to do well here.
This was a new course that is actually on an airbase across the street from the New Giant Taiwan HQ. As soon as I saw the course I knew it was a good one for me.
The course was basically a long thin rectangle with the start/finish coming after 2 hard and short left hand turns. The other end of the course detoured around some construction and has a few short sections in it and all the headwind.
I prerode the course and realized that I needed to be in position about 50m out from the last 2 corners. The long straight heading into the two final corners was on a landing strip divided down the middle by cones but about 100m from the corners the cones ended and you could dive down, into the corners and carry a ton of speed through the first corner turning the final two corners into one.
There were primes every 3 laps so I waited for the second one, when there were 3 guys away going for the prime and I jumped as if I wanted to bridge to them. Really I just wanted to test the line at speed and make sure that I was going at the right spot. Sure enough it worked perfectly and I came onto their wheels just as they crossed the line selling it the whole way.
For the rest of the race I followed wheels while the Continental riders slugged it out. Lots of guys were getting dropped off the back because of the wind and the speed so I had to hide but also I had fight to keep a good position and not to get caught behind any gaps.
As usual us Olde Elite guys were thrown in with the Elite/Continental/National Team riders. I knew I couldn't out sprint the guys who had just come back from some decent stage racing but I was pretty sure I could finish near the front and win the Masters category.
Coming into the last lap I worked myself into position and was able to jump, set my line and come across for a win.
Considering the less than stellar fitness I have I was more than please to take a win.
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