Granfondo delle Tre Province

Crossing the finish line with Simone in toe

Yesterday I competed in the Granfondo delle Tre Province,my 3rd Granfondo in 3 weeks.The 'percorso' was run over 154km with 2393 mt of 'dislivello'. As the name suggests the race route took in the 3 provinces of Firenze, Siena & Arezzo.

My morning started with the alarm clock kicking me out of bed at 5:30am. I had to drive to Restone in the Valdarno,province of Firenze which is approximately 50km north of Quercegrossa right by Montevarchi.

The training has been going quite well but to tell the truth I've been a little tired. I wasn't going to let this bother me however as finally I was having the the chance to race again on some of my favorite roads which I train on most days of the week.

Unfortunately I hadn't pre-entered the race so had to start right down the back of the 400 strong bunch. Most of these races are part of a regional series so the majority of the participants receive their numbers & timing chips at the beginning of the season. The benefit of this for the guys I'm up against is they get to start at the front of the grid. For a poor "straniero" like me it can tend to make for an interesting first 5 or 10 minutes weaving in &  around  all manor of rider to find your position at the front of the "gruppo".

So at 8:30 we were finally off with the usual fan fair that surrounds these races. As we all well know the Italians love to chat & let me tell you it doesn't stop even in a bike race. The majority of the granfondo's start pretty casually with most of the participants using the first few kms at least for a catch up.Today we were led out by the race jury in a nice yellow Ferrari convertible.

After about 10kms I was at the front, just in time for the first climb of the day & was feeling pretty good. Lucky for me as we hit the climb at warp speed. About 3kms into the 7k climb I looked down at my Garmin. Big mistake! I was riding about 15 back, with the bunch strung out doing 35kph. What seemed like 2 minutes later I took a look around & found myself last wheel. The whole bunch had been dropped.We were away! The guys were driving & I was the caboose. All I had to do was hang on for the last 1km. Easier said than done, let me tell ya! 

Unfortunately the last K was 150m too long & with my lack of racing I just didn't have the legs to push through. There is certainly something to be said for race fitness! These guys were going way too quick for me, especially with 130kms to go, so I decided to put my ego aside & sit up for the chasing group.

With the decisive first split up the road the rest of the race was a bit of a formality.We were riding along the most idyllic roads in Chianti so why not enjoy the experience. We had a perfect sized group of about 20 "ciclisti" so what better way to spend a Sunday in Tuscany. The highlight for me was meeting my now good friend Simone Mazzi. Speaking in a mixture of Italian & English we swapped stories.I discovered that he was from the start village & he discovered that I was from Australia. I speak pretty good Italian but I'm sure it was pretty obvious from my accent that I wasn't a real local. After the finish I was to be referred to as the Kangaroo of the "groupetto"

My new pal Simone & I

We had covered some fantastic climbs, the highest, Monte Luco topping out at 800+ metres above sea level. We had also passed through the town of Gaiole in Chianti, now famous for "L'EROICA". Before I knew it we were into the final 15 Kms & I could see a few guys getting pretty twitchy. We had brought back a few guys that had been dropped from the front group so I knew we were racing at least for a top 15 result.

5th in Masters 2 category,12th Overall.

Of the guys most active, I had noticed Simone increasingly moving toward the front. He had told me that we only had one small climb to go so I was keen to stay close by. So when he attacked on the final climb I was glued to his wheel. He was absolutely driving & there was no way I was going to let him drop me. In fact as we crested the climb I was beginning to drop him. Down the other side I waited for him & it was just the two of us. We had a good gap so I decided to persist. We were away! Simone was suffering a bit but I didn't care.This was my chance for a result. I drove it balls out for the final 5kms to the finish. At one point Simone came up beside me saying that he was spent so would not attempt to out-sprint me for the line. I really didn't mind if he did anyway. So speeding along at 40- 45kph the final kms ticked off quite quickly & we finally crossed the line together holding off our group for a 12th & 13th place outright, 5th & 6th in our category. What a result! The winner,Iuri Gorini finished in a time of 4hrs 17mins with an average speed of 35.94kph. Simone & I crossed the line in 4hrs 39mins with an average speed of 32.95kph.

Later at the pasta party over a glass of the local red wine Simone told me that prior to the race he had decided to tone down the racing at the end of the season if he couldn't achieve a top 10 in our category. After this result he said he was keener than ever & thanked me greatly for towing him to the finish. I hope his wife isn't too angry with me for this as she will have to be a bike widow for yet another year.