Last week I rode the tour de la manche,elite national race in the brittany region of france.Before this I had the giro del regioni, zlm tour and cote des picardie nations cups…I had very good form in picardie and zlm and was always up the from being in mix..all went well!!I will be very optomistic going into these nations cup next year and the year after..especially after riding well this year! then my recent run of ‘bad luck” kicked off!!regioni….absolute disaster!!After less then 10k on stage 1 bang!!puncture…chased for a short while which hurt…and was thinking to myself..why is the bunch going so slow….i soon realised…wack straight into a 10 k climb!!stage 2…When i look back on this it was pretty funny but at the time I was furiuos…4k into stage 2 on a fast decent…. front wheel puncture…I thought i was going off the side of the cliff…sean downey looked back at me…thinking ”hes screwed”!!chased for ages…but I wasnt aloud draft behind any cars or get any help from the team….so needless to say when the bunch avereged around 60kph for the 1st 10 k I was back in my hotel room quicker than i thought!!not a happy camper!!!…Then i got back to france raring to go as I planned to ride well in the tour de la manche..lost no time on stage 1 all still to play for…then on stage 2…a 15k rolling time trial…suited me down to the ground..time check at 5k to go…i could here the director shouting vingt!!! vingt!!! (20 sec off the leader) so I started to pick it up slightly…hit a big open right hand turn at about 40 kph and bang hit the deck!….tore myself to bits..I was devastated lying on the ground thinking 20 seconds!!turns out I would have been very close to the under 23 jersey too..this would have been my first big french result and a big one for the team as alot of big teams were there…but I suppose thats the way the cookie crumbles! have a 1 day race on today..and a 2 day this weekend were im a domestique for the climbers on day 1 and then I get to rip it up on stage 2 with a 30 k team time trial!!!bring me some good luck!!

AB,