The start was at 9am and the wind was blowing hard already. Our 30+ bunch had 27 riders and there were teams from Cycle Nation, Cyclelab, Panda and a few others.
The start was steady until after 3km the Cycle Nation guys started attacking, this was a sign of things to come. I got away with 2 Cycle Nation riders at this point but the bunch was still fresh and pulled us back after a few kms in the lead.
At the 1st KOM sprint at 15kms Jimmy le Roux attacked early and got away alone to take the points, Anthony Field-Buss from Cycle nation sprinted for second spot and I came 3rd, when we looked back we were away so we kept going until we caught Jimmy. The 3 of us were working well together for about 10kms but then I flatted. I received a wheel from a following car and jumped into the bunch as they passed.
Now Mr Price had to chase because we had nobody in the break. Sean spoke to the team and they hit the front and started a hard chase.
In the gutter winds this made things very hard and the bunch started to splinter.
After a 20km chase with Gwyn and Sean pulling hard on the front most of the way, we managed to bring the 2 escapees back.
After we turned left there were some more attacks and I found myself in the break again, but after a few kms a flurry of attacks behind saw the group catch us, but now there was far less riders.
Coming into the last 20km there were 7 riders up front, 3 Cycle Nation, 1 Cyclelab rider, Sean and Myself from Mr Price and Jimmy. We worked well together until at 12km to go Julius Cobbett attacked and I went after him. I worked with him to get away but soon his teammate Craig Harvey rode across to us. I was now worried with the 2 on 1 scenario, and tried to sit on, but Craig would just sit up and let Julius ride away when I did so I rolled through but saved as much energy as I could.
Coming up to the line I was expecting Craig to attack but he never did, so it came to a sprint. Craig led it out and I got behind Julius, but I was surprised when Julius started his sprint early at 400m to go. I followed Julius and came over him with 100m to go to take the stage.
Sean out sprinted the rest of the break to get 4th on the stage.
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