Yesterday Taylor completed likely his final junior cycling race in his relatively short junior racing career. He was the defending champion in the time trial, which he won last August in Mexico, but he wasn't necessarily the hands down favorite. First, he has been focussing on the individual pursuit as the Olympics are now less than 4 weeks away. Second, there is a very good Polish rider who has won every Junior nation's cup event that he has entered this year. The pressure was definitely on, but Taylor was focussed on riding his best. Last year, Taylor had some advantages in that the worlds TT race was held at altitude and didn't have extreme travel required. This year, he was racing at sea level and most of the European riders were in their own time zone.
Taylor was the last rider to start, with the number one on his back. We knew that the Polish rider who started just ahead of Taylor was the one to watch. Taylor rode extremely well, and in the early stages the two of them looked to be on even time...maybe a second or two separating them in the early miles. At the end of lap 1, Taylor was about 5 seconds behind. He was on a good pace, though, and if he could keep the pace on the second lap then he might be in the medals. The course was relentless with ups and downs and fairly strong winds to contend with. Taylor was able to use his "super-tuck" position only 3 times during the race. The super-tuck is used when he can no longer pedal any faster...which is more common in junior races, as they are all gear restricted to a 52 X 14 gear at the largest. On those downhill sections where the super-tuck was in use, Taylor was peaking out at 75km per hour - nearly 50 miles per hour!
Taylor was the last rider to start, with the number one on his back. We knew that the Polish rider who started just ahead of Taylor was the one to watch. Taylor rode extremely well, and in the early stages the two of them looked to be on even time...maybe a second or two separating them in the early miles. At the end of lap 1, Taylor was about 5 seconds behind. He was on a good pace, though, and if he could keep the pace on the second lap then he might be in the medals. The course was relentless with ups and downs and fairly strong winds to contend with. Taylor was able to use his "super-tuck" position only 3 times during the race. The super-tuck is used when he can no longer pedal any faster...which is more common in junior races, as they are all gear restricted to a 52 X 14 gear at the largest. On those downhill sections where the super-tuck was in use, Taylor was peaking out at 75km per hour - nearly 50 miles per hour!
In the second lap, one of the time splits showed a difference of about 11 seconds. Taylor said that when he passed the 4K to go sign he said "oh crap" to himself, as he knows how bad a 4K effort can feel...and he was going to go for it. Taylor rode well through the final hills and actually pulled back a couple of seconds to finish just 8 seconds behind the Polish rider at the finish. Unfortunately, there was a strong ride put up a German rider in an earlier wave and he ended up a little less than 3 seconds ahead of Taylor. The good news, though, was that Taylor had earned the Bronze medal....an excellent result that we're all very proud of! Today we have a day to relax and pack up, and then it's off to Bordeaux at 7am tomorrow! For now, au revoir to Cape Town, South Africa.
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