In the photo: Travis Mceuen
written by Travis.
This was the first crit of the year for the Red Kite series which I am trying to target for the overall omnium. Nothing special about this course, just a four corner crit. A strong showing from not just TMBDev with 12 guys but a total field of 60. Needless to say, we had the man power to put someone on the podium.
With the majority of us having experience with this course and racing together, in general, we have had issues with keeping people in position on the last lap. The plan was to keep the pace fast and not get caught in a lull and have that turn into a surge with us getting caught off guard. I was supposed to find Justin and Taylor with 3 to go and be lead out by them.
The race started out pretty mellow, I went for the first prime and the second and got them both, 4 omnium points per prime . Mikal, a strong TT guy, went off the front solo for a lap and a half and was later joined by 4 or 5 other guys, Mikal got prime 3 but couldn’t get the break organized and we came back together with about 10 to go.
Everyone was selflessly taking turns at the front trying to keep the pace high and I was doing my best to stay top ten so I could react to any attacks. With 3 to go, I found Taylor and Justin made his way to the front. I could see that Justin had done a lot of work the whole race so I knew I shouldn’t rely on him to lead me out. My eye was on the TB13 guy Christian so I made sure to follow him. The last lap I stayed no more than 5 wheels back to make sure I could react to any move I saw. Out of turn 3, I saw Christian go and I was just a second or two too slow in my reaction as he and a Penvelo guy made it to corner four. I went into corner 4 in about 5th place but they had too big of a gap to make up and I ended up crossing the line in 3rd.
This was our best effort as a team and I was really happy to land on the podium for all of the guys putting in work. I’m stoked to be racing for such a big team and I know as the season goes on we will only work better together. This was also my first race in the new Capo short sleeve skinsuit and it was awesome!!! #TMBDevCritboyz
