French National RR Champs 2011

Chavanel — too fast, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I had a great weekend. Friday night I went to the theatre to see Gogol's The Government Inspector at the Young Vic, which was absolutely brilliant — HIGHLY reccomended.
On Saturday I raced my bike at Hillingdon, attacking the bunch with three laps to go to take 6th place. Not brilliant, but above expectations given the jetlag I've had since being in California this past week.
Then on Sunday — yesterday — I took a day trip to France to watch the French National RR Championships, a comission for Cycle Sport magazine. Sweet deal eh?!
The race was only in Boulogne, half an hour from the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais.
The race was a spectator's dream, covering 14 laps of a 13km circuit around the town. The sunshine only helped matters (and got me very sunburnt).
Sylvain Chavanel was head and shoulders above the rest, riding super aggressively in the final 50km to catch and pass about four groups on the road, before finally going solo for the last lap for the victory. What a guy, and what teeth! Chapeau!
More pics will be appearing in Cycle Sport in due course — keep your eyes peeled for that (probably in the winter apparently).