Trifactor 2024
Trifactor was the 1st race I ever won & so always holds a special place in my heart. With a 3.45am wake up time though, it really tests that love!
I thought I’d last ridden it in maybe 2019 but the blog suggests this is the first time Ive raced since 2016!
Waking up was surprisingly easy as I was in age group. Had I gone for Elite then it would have been an obscene 2:45 start.
Age group was 49km - 7 laps - with the 40s/50/60 group together. There were a few other races on the course at the same time so I expected it to get messy quite quick. Thankfully it worked out & the concerns were mostly unfounded.
We started with about 60 in the peloton. Matadors were the dominant team with at least 6 riders & then just ones and twos for the rest of us. We put the speed down from the start and immediately reduced the group to ~20 which made it much safer.
Keiichi and 1 Matador got a gap on lap 1. This was ok for most of us, so we sat up and let them build the gap up to 1 minute. No one else had numbers so couldn’t really make a concerted effort to close it. We cruised round at a 38 km and most were happy.
Naert went on lap 6 to grab 2nd in the 40s category. I tried twice on the final lap bridge and into the uturn on the hill but couldn’t get anything meaningful. I sat up with 200m to go to be safe.
Keiichi got the win and I was around 6th.
Nice fun end to an enjoyable season
