22 year-old Jake Scott is in his second season with the An Post-Chain Reaction team and the young Briton has achieved some impressive results lately including 5th at Antwerpse Havenpijl (1.2) and 6th at Ronde van Overijssel (1.2).
His most recent race was the GP Stad Zottegem (1.1) in Belgium where he faced WorldTour opposition. The 198-kilometre race was won by Jasper de Buyst (Lotto-Soudal) ahead of Joeri Stallaert (Cibel – Cebon) and Kenny Dehaes (Wanty – Groupe Gobert).
Below, Jake describes his performance at the GP Stad Zottegem where he was the top finisher for the An Post team.
Jake Scott’s Blog Entry
Yesterday was the 82nd GP Stad Zottegem, a race that’s well known in Belgium and holds UCI 1.1 status. With this came the World Tour teams of Lotto Soudal, and LottoNL-Jumbo. With the majority of the start list containing Pro Continental teams from Belgium, France and Holland meant the pressure was not really on our team to control the race in any way.
The fact that we get to race against World Tour Level teams at nearly every race which shows the opportunity we have at An Post Chain Reaction. The calendar the team provides each year as a continental level team is one of, if not the best, calendar of any continental team, and certainly one that benefits and suits me the best.
If anything, our calendar rivals one of a Pro Continental team. The team’s constant opportunities shows that people like the way we race, although every race doesn’t go to plan, we always try to show ourselves in some way.
The pace early on was the norm of a Belgium 1.1 race, a few guys go up the road in the breakaway of the day, the peloton take it easy and is controlled by the higher statured teams and the break is reeled in towards the end.
Yesterday contained three breakaway riders who were very close to being caught before there was a mass crash in the peloton after twenty kilometres, but luckily no one in the team was hurt.
The gap was allowed to expand and the control of the peloton was taken up by Crelan later on. The peloton was generally very relaxed with the wind speed being low and the last circuits having a two-kilometre cobble section which proved to shape the race in the finish. Personally, I find this pace difficult, you go from relaxing one second to full gas the next, and the legs can take a few kilometres to feel normal or should I say race worthy once again.
I knew that yesterday’s finishing loops could suit me well, with the way the race was going I saw it simply as all I need to do is to be in the front portion of the peloton every time we hit the cobbles.
Finishing laps one and two went perfectly to plan, the second time was the more defining section as a lot of riders did not make it back to the peloton afterwards, but I was still nicely in the front group feeling confident.
I knew in a sprint with that group that I couldn’t win, and after a small group attacked I also knew I needed to go sooner rather than later and attacked to go across solo to the front group.
I was caught on the way and passed by other riders, just as I was closing the gap, with a few riders behind and the peloton splitting I waited for the guys behind. However, it seemed they were all content with the riders from their own teams that had made it to the front. I tried again but my energy had gone from trying to close the gap before.
Knowing I could still get a reasonable result, I sat easy in the peloton waiting for the cobbles with guys from other teams chasing in the front. However, it seemed staying in the front wasn’t to be for me.
A couple of mechanical issues both before the cobbles and over the cobbles saw me drop out of the front group which I had made comfortably the last two laps, a disappointment for me. The only consolation I could take was to know I still had a good feeling before the issues on the last lap, but obviously that doesn’t help the end result of this particular race.
It seems that the altitude camp has made me a lot stronger this season, with a lot more intensity this year. I didn’t know if this would benefit me at first, but I felt the benefits a lot the last few weeks and have been able to turn up confident to every race.
Altitude affects everyone differently, but generally the whole team benefitted from the training camp with our sponsor Cenit. With the testing at Centre Cenit itself, each rider individually knew if they needed rest or could continue with the training block.
This is a huge benefit, because you find out quickly if you are just a little tired, or if a rider generally has an issue with his health. Thankfully for me I was able to complete the full block as planned, simply because this year I adapted to altitude better than the previous one. But more than that, it was certainly the most professional training camp I’d partaken in, from Marti at Cenit to the soigneurs and mechanics, there was nothing to lose sleep about. The question is now how long I can continue the good feeling.
