Roc d’Azur Cross Country France - Mountain Trax Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team

BY: Ben Thomas

Published: 22nd October, 2013

Fresh from the marathon on Friday Tim lined up for the 55km cross country at Roc d'Azur on Sunday. Here's how he got on.

The cross country at Roc d'Azur was my last big race of 2013 so I was keen to end the season a high. With the wife commandeering the hire car I had plenty of time to warm up on the 35km coast road from Cannes to Frejus. But it was incredible watching the sun lazily rise above the horizon throwing a golden glow over the red rocks that form the Esterel coastline.

Arriving at the arena in plenty of time I was gutted that my teammate Ben wouldn't be joining me as he hadn't recovered from the bug he caught at Ornans. We've raced together all season so it was a big disappointment not to finish it together.

With the race due to start at 9 I warmed up, assuming I'd be gridded as I had always been previously. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case, only the first 100 were gridded and I found myself somewhere in the middle of wave 1, comprising 700 other riders. That this was just wave one gives some idea of the number of racers taking part in the cross country- around 5,200! Being more mature now (preferable to old!) I wasn't too bothered about not bring gridded, unlike one French chap who threw all his toys and almost his bike! He did have French national champion stripes on his arms so he probably had more reason to complain than me.

The commentator once again encouraged the spectators to "clap your hands for the riders" , Cotton Eye Joe blared out over the loudspeakers and the tv helicopter hovering overhead really added to the unique atmosphere. Then we were off, 800 riders thundered off across the huge arena all with the same idea- get ahead before the narrow bridge crossing and inevitable bottleneck. So the net effect, we all stayed in pretty much the same place! Sadly this resulted in a few minutes wait at the bridge but at least I could only move forward from then on.

Up the first climb the legs felt good and I passed rider after rider. Having ridden the the first descent on Friday I felt much more comfortable and continued passing riders on the way down too, though this was pretty risky as there were some pretty hefty boulders off the racing line.

After the first descent we sped through some flat dusty singletrack. There was no way to move up here so I downed my first bottle of USN drink and scoffed a gel, ready to hit the next climb hard.

My race continued in much the same way. The legs felt great, whirring round in a blur. About half way round I caught Alban Lakata, the winner of Friday's marathon, fixing a puncture. He soon recaught me and I tried desperately to hang on. Despite that he was clearly not trying, his huge legs powered him on, still riding with him had helped me push myself and pass a few more riders.

By the final feed on the Col de Bougnon I was starting to run low on gas. I looked desperately for Ben and a much needed bottle but we somehow missed each other. I had just one caffeine gel to get me through the final hour. This soon kicked in and I was off again. I was now catching all the elite riders distinguished by a number of less than 100, they'd been gridded in front of us mortals so I treated each catch as a little victory!

Before long we were dropping onto the beach, filled with confidence I surged through the sand and successfully hopped back onto the road. There then followed two steep ramps next to a flight of steps back up to the road, I just made it to the top before almost losing my balance as my chain skipped. Falling back down the steps would not have looked cool!

After the short coastal section I was joined by a BMC rider and one other. They both left me on the front on the cycle path back to the finish and claimed they couldn't come through to help set the pace. With a big group just in front I was keen to push on. Annoyed I decided if they wouldn't help I could at least make them suffer a bit! Turning round there was barely a grimace from the BMC rider as he sat easily in my slipstream! As we entered the arena I wound up the pace for the finish, inevitably both riders passed me with around 100 metres to go. No matter. It had been another fantastic day, on some of the best trails I've ridden.

My final result was 79th, I've been higher but the field was stacked with World Cup quality and my delay at the start meant I was on the back foot from the beginning so I was more than happy with my performance.

So that's it for 2013. What an adventure! We've raced in snow in Spain, searing heat in South Africa and everything else in between. It's been a long season inevitably with its highs and lows. Personally winning the UK 12 hour champs was my stand out performance. Riding wise, it'll be hard to beat Joberg2C. It's now time for some rest and to get the brownie point tally with the wife back in credit!!

Throughout this year we've been incredibly fortunate to receive amazing support from our sponsors. Without all of you our adventures this year wouldn't have been possible, so a big, big thanks.

Next year we'll be back to tackle new challenges and hopefully win even more races along the way! (Ed. There’s still a few smaller but just as important races to go in 2013 including the Brass Monkey Winter Series which the team has made their own the last couple of years, see you there!)

A big thanks to all our fantastic sponsors for their very generous support and to John from Vermont Images for feeding us with USN bottles and gels at the feed zones.