Tues 20^th was a split day and a very early wake up call for 9 am stage start, though gorgeous weather made it bearable. It was this morning where I made my mark, jumping into a 5 man move in the opening 10km. A good strong group, we powered on over a couple of KOM’s and shed 1 rider, the pace too hot! Indeed it was only as we entered the last km that a bit of cat and mouse started, and from it all I picked the winner as I followed Astana till 150 to go and launched the winning bid, crossing the line arms up. Amazing. Well, well pleased. 1hr 15 for the 61km, 48.6kph ave. That’s trucking! A podium appearance along with flowers and a nice hamper of local produce. The perfect mother’s day gifts.... I also got myself the race Eco jersey for keeping race litter in my pockets. Actually a pretty cool thing as I do believe that riders should keep packets and wrappers in pockets rather than dropping them, or throwing them in a feed where they can easily be picked up. We all hate the horrible people that post Mc Donald’s shit through car windows, so why should we throw litter just because we're racing!!

Anyways, a short interlude for dinner and sleep then the afternoon 100km stage, which was mental from start to finish. Much harder with hills and some wind, J Mac and Thwaitsy rocked  6th and 7th I think, just blocked by traffic. Good ride on the tough run in.

The rest of the race was a worker roll for me, helping the others as best as possible - usually onto a finish circuit and the boys did awesome. Eric smoked the field on a very tough 190km into Fleurs with the 2^nd win for the team.