On the 5th of October i set of on my journey to the Tour de Reunion. A live volcanic island in the Indian Ocean and would be guesting for the DN1 team UC Nantes Atlantic. A stage race consisting of 7 days. A prologue, 2 mountain stages, 3 hilly stages, an individual TT and a crit on the final day. We arrived on the Sunday morning with the race due to start on Monday so after a 9hrs plane trip we arrived in the reunion island.
Stage 1 was a 30 lap Team TT round a velodrome in the capital St Dennis. After warming up we set off on a full out effort for 10min crossing the line in 5th place. It was decided beforehand that no team would lose any time for the general it would mainly be just to sort out the jerseys for the next day but we were happy with 5th.
Stage 2 was when the racing really started, 110km with 2 testing climbs to get over. The break went on the first climb of the day and I missed it suffering from the journey there as well as getting very dehydrated on the plane, I wasn’t feeling too great. As the race went on though i started to feel better and decided to attack the bunch on the final climb 30km from the finish. I ended up going away by myself trying to bridge across a 5min gap which wasn’t the brightest idea but I was feeling really strong and after getting the gap down to 1min and a half I really thought I could get across but having been away for over 20km I slowly started to blow. I was suffering from the 35degs and being very humid. I finished in the bunch pretty annoyed with myself for missing the break in the first place as I felt I had the chance of taking the leaders jersey but was looking forward to the next stage none the less.
Stage 3 was another rolling stage with the first 10km going uphill. I was told by my DS that he wanted me to get in the first break so warmed up on the turbo for 30min before the start. The start was rapid and I went with any moves that looked dangerous but nothing went for the first hour. Until we hit the first climb! I was not ready for the 5km climb with the last 2km going up to 20%. Being not the best climber in the world I just tried to hang onto the remains of the peloton. The break went again over the top of the climb and again I rolled in with the bunch over 5mins down.
Stage 4 I woke up feeling pretty rough with a sore throat and had 110km to do with over 30km of that going uphill into the mountains, so I was just hoping to get through the day in one piece. Luckily the first 60km went along the coast so was pan flat and once we got going I started to feel better. I found myself getting in the break of the day with around 10 riders along with 2 of my team mates we managed to pull out close to a 3mins. But the gap soon went down as we hit the slopes of the final climb. Constantly dragging uphill we got caught with 20km to go and after giving my all for our team leader, currently in 4th place overall I went bang out the back door, riding to the finish trying to save some energy for another hard stage tomorrow.
Stage 5 was the last real mountain stage with 90km of flat before turning onto a 8km climb up to the finish, averaging 10%. Again I found myself in the days break. With fatigue starting to settle in for some riders, the peloton behind got split to pieces in the gusting cross winds. Our team leader managed to get into a chasing group behind and I was told to go back and bring him back to the front group. I smashed myself on the front for 10km to bring him back up to the lead group. The race was panning out to be great for are team as we had 3 guys now in the front group and had put over 4min into the yellow jersey group before we started the final 8km climb. I led my team mate into the foot of the climb. My job was done and it was now up to him to finish it off. And as I crossed the finish line pretty knackered I was pleased to find out that we had taken the stage and was now within 25sec of taking the leaders jersey. It was a good day!
Stage 6 was probably the hardest stage on paper with 5 classified climbs over 120km with not much flat at all. The first hour was a real lesson on how to suffer but after an hour or so I started feeling really strong. A small group went away on the first climb but my team mate having been told before the start of the stage to just stay on the rider that was going to be the biggest danger to take the overall, decided not to do this and he got away with 4 of his team mates ending up doing a team TT to the finish. Another one of my team mates who was holding the points green jersey crashed heavily on a descent, luckily he didn’t brake anything but was badly cut up and had to pull out the following day. I was feeling the best I’d felt all tour and even though I had been working all day on the front I still managed to get a top 20. The legs were starting to come good but was I bit too late.
Stage 7 was an Individual TT. I was feeling pretty confident I could get a good result as I was getting stronger every day hoping that everybody else would be starting to get tired. I set off at 8.40am on the 8km testing TT and as I crossed the finishing line, having given it my all I was told I had the best time so far! But as the final riders set off, fully equipped with TT bike and helmet with myself having done it on my road bike ended up finishing up in 12th place. I was pleased with the result considering the tough few days I’ve had.
Stage 8 and the final stage, a 2km crit in the capital city and was looking forward to the final 2hours on the bike. A long story cut short I ended up getting disqualified for giving my team mate my rear wheel when he punctured, having been told by my DS that if this happened you could cut across the circuit and join back up with the bunch. The race director then told me that I had to stop the racing. But with 4 laps to go and having come all this way there was no way I was going to stop. So I did finish the race contrary to what the final result say.
All in all it was a great experience, having never raced anywhere like this and in these conditions before I enjoyed it massively. My new team for 2014, UC Nantes Atlantic was everything that I expected from one of the top amateur teams in France and look forward to racing with them next year. Overall this season has been a big stepping stone for me having had so many very bad injuries over the past couple of seasons I have shown this year that I am capable of competing and beating the best with 4 wins and many top placing’s in Elite level races. I am now just looking forward to continuing my progression and hope for an even better year next year.
I would like to thank again the Dave Rayner Fund for giving me the opportunity to race the reunion tour and for funding me all year as I would not be able to do it without their help so many thanks again.
Sam Allen
25th November 2013