So, back to Banoyles again. Its maybe not the biggest race race, but it definitely is a fun one. The Catalyn people really are friendly, a relief coming from France! Simple little things, like offering to cook my brown rice and many many 'Mucho Bienas' ... just makes life feel better.

Staying with the Finnish ex roady, Jukka Vastaras, I got to hear some great stories about his crazy time with Rabobank which he rode for during 4 years. As he was not a 'star' rider he had to put up with a lot of crap.. like the team not allowing him to ride his brakes on the front/right side as he was used to, as it was too much hassle to the mechanics! He said he went down on multiple occasions, but still nothing. He had to stop due to back trouble, but now that he's healthy again he has decided to come back on the MTB, his first passion. It will be interesting to see how he progress's through the year, but for sure he has a few things to learn....



Jukka, road sprinter turn mtber!









...and his first lesson, take it easy at the start !!! The little power pocket lead us all full tit through the first 1/2 lap! It was good for me though, as I could just sit on and I was feeling surprisingly comfortable. By the second lap we were 6 riders at the front and I was still feeling fine, so I pushed the pace and got a gap. Behind the group of 5 including Jukka, Marti Gispert and Carlos Coloma, were never too far away, but I managed to slowly increase my lead to finally win by one minute fifteen. Seeing that I didn't actually manage to win a single race last year, this is a super start to the year!














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esmtb.com  ¶ 10:57 PM