Alex Meenhorst Professional Cyclist

Stage 4 Stage Finish - 2011 PowerNet Tour of Southland

2011-11-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

Tour Of Southland Stage win in Te Anau

2011-11-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

Little Internet Time

2011-09-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/RaceTalk/victory-gets-kiwi-amped-for-end-of-season-success.html

Baltic Chain Tour

2011-08-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Tour Alsace... everything was really something haha :p

2011-08-25T02:59:00.000-07:00

Antwerpse Havenpijl

2011-08-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Ronde De Liose, Circuit Ardennes,

2011-08-25T02:57:00.000-07:00

Ronde Nord Holland

2011-06-18T08:41:00.001-07:00

Paris Mantes

2011-06-18T08:40:00.001-07:00

Norke Korse

2011-03-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Tour d'Alsace 2010 - Stage 2 - Finish

2011-03-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 7

2011-03-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 5

2011-03-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 4

2011-03-05T08:15:00.001-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 3

2011-03-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage Rest Day

2011-03-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 2 (Explicit Language) p

2011-03-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

Tour Of South Africa Stage 1

2011-03-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

2011 Here We Come

2011-03-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Well hello everyone!

Yet again I am back in the game that is cycling and am riding for a really great team, Differdange a Luxembourg Continental team with a really great race program and riders. Now you might notice that in 2010 I think I did a grand total of maybe 5 posts :p. This year however im going to do a couple of things differently! Instead of having to type out every single stage I am now going to take videos instead. I'm sure they will be much more interesting to watch also.

This season I'm living in the very south of Luxembourg, in a large town I guess you could say called 'Esch'. My apartment is right in the centre of town on a walking street, so no traffic and really nice area. Will try and put some photos up once I got outside, as I have been a bit ill after arriving and have been stuck in bed the past 3 days :(. But on the mend now and looking forward to getting out and exploring some new roads and sights.

Bayern Rundfahrt: time trial Alex Meenhorst

2011-03-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

New Beginnings For 2010

2010-02-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Goedenavond everyone,

It’s time to fill you all in on the antics of 2010 so far. I have been in Europe for just over 2 months now and am settling into my house rather nicely now. Since Leaving New Zealand I first was able to spend 6 wonderful but not nearly long enough days with Nathalie. She picked me up from the airport in San Francisco with the car packed to the brim with all sorts of things, we proceeded to head south instead of north down Highway 101 through Santa Cruz and some really beautiful scenic spots to a secret location she wouldn’t reveal to me.

We ended up in Monterey Bay, a small but lively costal city that is famous for things such as Pebble Beach golf course, The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Laguna Seca racetrack (my Favourite track on the Play Station) just to name a few. We had a cool little motel that was going to be our home for the next 2 days while we explored the area. Day one we checked out the really cool National Park and Ocean that it touches and the epic waves that were everywhere because of the filthy storm that was moving through while we were there. After taking 10,000 photos and getting our walk on, we headed back to the motel as the sun was setting to find flashing lights and police and fire fighters everywhere! The power had been taken out in our Motel and half the city by a bloody giant tree falling in the power lines!! After having to pack the entire room in complete darkness bar the lights from the car we had managed to angle into the room we had to move hotels at 8pm, totally crap!

Anyway day 2 was equally as great except with power as well! We spent the majority of the day checking out the aquarium which was def the best aquarium I have seen to date! I mean it might be that my photography skills are off this planet ;) but just check out the pics of some of the exhibits below! Anyway after heading back to San Fran we had a couple of nice chill out days before I had to once again say good bye to someone very special and head back to Europe.

Arriving in Munich before Mallorca was a cold shock! Stepping off the plane and into the bus in the snow was freezing to say the least and the fact that before flying to Mallorca they had to drive the plane through a “clean the ice off the wings drive thru” was a first.

Mallorca on the other hand was a little better than Freezing but not far from it. I stayed in a hotel with the team for 2.5 weeks where we smashed out some serious km’s. What can I say about Mallorca, beautiful views, smooth roads (very important), AMAZING cathedral, and some friendly locals. After the first two weeks we changed to the other side of the island where the 5 one day races my team were taking place in required us to move to a “race hotel”. The race hotel had a great view but the Mallorca race organisers really shafted us with a functional hotel! Never the less the team still did really great in a couple of the races and I managed to get in some epic training rides on some extremely beautiful roads because of not being race fit yet.

After leaving Mallorca I flew to Belgium to come and stay in my new house in Kelmis for the first time. The first impressions of the house was great and it hasn’t changed since! Big windows, Huge bathrooms, Big lawn, Surround Sound Systems that could blow your clothes clean off. Let’s just say summer is going to be a dream! Although there was quite a lot of snow for the first 3 weeks I found new ways to train and for the first two week’s Jens, one of my Directors who lives just 200 meters down the road from me took me out for some mountain bike rides in the snow which was a lot of laughs. My team mates came one week later and we soon had a group of 6 of us for group rides through the forest in thick snow. I’m not going to lie, sometimes it was 100% not fun training for hours and hours in the snow, but there were some upsides which were trying to push each other off into the snow and laughing at each other as we hit the deck going down hills and around corners. I have to give Daniel Schorn my Austrian team mate 100 points for riding the whole week on a cyclo cross bike which is effectively a road bike with slightly better breaks and a stronger frame, no suspension and slippery tyres meant when he went downhill, we laughed a lot!

Well the sun is now shinning and the snow is all gone and with my first race in just over a week I looked forward to filling you all on more soon.

Alex

My first Team Camp with Team Netapp...

2009-10-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

My first proper team camp,

After a nasty amount of flying I arrived in Milano, Italy on a very cold (2 degrees) morning. After waiting around a little, I was picked up by Ralph our team Manager and Eva who is in charge of logistics with the team.

After 3 hours of driving through some beautiful scenic highways, we arrived at the SRM base in Lucca, Italy. The house turned out to be a huge Villa on the hills surrounding Lucca and the property was really beautiful with olive trees and gardens everywhere. There was also 10 apartment style units that were all connected together on the property which the riders were staying at, 2 people to a room. They were really fancy and were all complete with their own kitchen, shower, bath and relaxing area, very nice!

The team was also stuck in traffic from the morning so they were running a little late but this allowed me to meet some of the staff and get one of the first interviews out of the way which was for the website for our profiles.

After the team arrived I got to say hello to a couple of familiar faces and met a whole lot of new ones. We jumped straight into the first meeting which was learning how to use the new SRM systems that would be on all of our bikes and we were also able to check out the bike for the first time. Very Sexy ride!

We were then introduced to the STAPS team which consisted of 4 people who specialise in testing athletes and writing training programmes. They currently work with Columbia and Milram and now our team too. After the meeting we all sat down at a huge dinner table and had some amazing food from our two professional chefs that came with us to the camp. After a few bottles of wine and some pool games it was off to bed.

Day 2 was all go; we had a rotating roaster of different places we needed to be throughout the day. First step for me was clothes fitting, pretty much like going shopping, buying the whole store and not having to pay for anything, very fun! There was then, photo shoots, training and racing plan meetings, power and lactic tests, and fat tests. The evening was a chance for everyone to get to know each other a little better and the evening was topped off with a team photo shoot in the empty swimming pool for our team cards for 2010.

Day 3 also had the rotating roaster but this time just with a photo shoot for our own individual team cards. It was really exciting and interesting to see how many people were at the shoot and all the drinks and snacks that were setup for us. Unfortunately the weather almost packed in and the wind caused a few problems but we all managed to get the shoot done without getting any rain on us and back to the Villa for another spectacular dinner.

The next day the camp was all done and all the guys headed back into the cars and headed back north to their various homes. I stayed on for 2 more days at the villa because I was flying out a couple of days later, but there were 2 American track riders staying in the house and it was nice to meet up with them.

After catching the train up north and spending the night in Milano for my early flight in the morning, it was time to head back to America and spend some more time in San Francisco with Nathalie. All in all it was very exciting for my first team camp and if I can take anything away from the camp, it’s that I’m excited to see what 2010 has installed for me!

Last of the Season and Worlds Update

2009-10-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2009

With my first season in a Continental team coming to an end, it was time for me to show what experience and strength I had gained at my main goal of the season the UCI Under 23 Road World Championships.

I came into the race with pretty awesome form. Since April, I had done more than 50 days racing and 20 days of those races were on the professional level. A few weeks leading up to the Worlds I saw a lot of my training paying off when at the decisive stage of a really big 2.2 Tour I dropped the favourites of the race from our 8 man group on a 5km hill and held them off to the finish.

The week before Worlds I also lined up at GP Industria & Commercio di Prato a UCI 1.1 in Italy that had more than 25 of the riders riding for the Italian, Columbian, Venezuela and other nations Elite race for Worlds. In addition there were a few of the under 23’s that would be riding Worlds and were already in Pro Tour teams.
The course had some flat sections before the start and finish but consisted of 8 laps with a difficult 4km hill with an average gradient of over 10%. I think I may have had my best form of the season at this race and rode an awesome race. Staying with the leaders of the teams the entire race and the select 40 man group at the finish, I however did not have the power to go with the 10 man break the last time up the hill. I did however finish 24th, 13 seconds off the winning group of 10, which was by far my best result of the season in a hilly Professional race. It was awesome to see other people impressed with my result, putting me in a good head space for Worlds.

Me on the start line at GP Industria & Commercio di Prato UCI1.1 in Italy

GP Industria & Commercio di Prato - Ita - 1.1 - 178 Km
20. September 2009

1 VISCONTI Giovanni ITA ISD - NERI 4:04:00 43,77
2 GAVAZZI Francesco ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:00
3 PAOLINI Luca ITA ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFE MOKAMBO 00:00
4 STARCHYK Volodymyr UKR AMORE & VITA - MCDONALD'S 00:00
5 OSS Daniel ITA LIQUIGAS 00:00
6 SANTAMBROGIO Mauro ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:00
7 SCARPONI Michele ITA SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI-ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 00:00
8 NIEMIEC Przemyslaw POL MICHE - SILVER CROSS - SELLE ITALIA 00:00
9 AXELSSON Niklas SWE TEAM UTENSILNORD 00:00
10 BRUSEGHIN Marzio ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:05
11 GARZELLI Stefano ITA ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFE MOKAMBO 00:09
12 FISCHER Murilo Antonio BRA LIQUIGAS 00:13
13 FERRARI Roberto ITA LPR BRAKES FARNESE VINI 00:13
14 KHALILOV Mikhaylo UKR CERAMICA FLAMINIA - BOSSINI DOCCE 00:13
15 BELLETTI Manuel ITA SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI-ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 00:13
16 GINANNI Francesco ITA SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI-ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 00:13
17 ROSSI Enrico ITA CERAMICA FLAMINIA - BOSSINI DOCCE 00:13
18 VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco José ESP CARMIOORO - A STYLE 00:13
19 LORIA Eugenio ITA CENTRI DELLA CALZATURA 00:13
20 PAVARIN Marcello ITA CSF GROUP - NAVIGARE 00:13
21 MORI Manuele ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:13
22 RUBIANO CHAVEZ Miguel Angel COL CENTRI DELLA CALZATURA 00:13
23 KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr BLR LIQUIGAS 00:13
24 MEENHORST Alex NZL NAZIONALE ELETTRONICA NEW SLOT - HADIMEC 00:13
25 MAGAZZINI Enrico ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:13
26 BALIANI Fortunato ITA CSF GROUP - NAVIGARE 00:13
27 SZCZAWINSKI Krzysztof POL MICHE - SILVER CROSS - SELLE ITALIA 00:13
28 IMPEY Daryl RSA BARLOWORLD 00:13
29 FANKHAUSER Clemens AUT ELK HAUS 00:13
30 TRAMPUSCH Gerhard AUT ELK HAUS 00:13
31 FURDI Blaz SLO SAVA 00:13
32 CHACON COLMENARES Franklin VEN NAZIONALE VENEZUELA 00:13
33 CACCIA Diego ITA BARLOWORLD 00:13
34 CORTI Marco ITA BARLOWORLD 00:13
35 VARGAS Freddy VEN NAZIONALE VENEZUELA 00:13
36 STANGELJ Gorazd SLO LIQUIGAS 00:13
37 HONCHAR Serhiy UKR TEAM UTENSILNORD 00:13
38 SELLA Emanuele ITA CARMIOORO - A STYLE 00:13
39 SOBAL Yauhen BLR CENTRI DELLA CALZATURA 00:13
40 PODGORNYY Ruslan UKR ISD - NERI 00:13
41 DABROWSKI Jaroslaw POL AMORE & VITA - MCDONALD'S 00:13
42 MIHOLJEVIC Vladimir CRO LIQUIGAS 00:13
43 BISOLTI Alessandro ITA CSF GROUP - NAVIGARE 00:13
44 GRIVKO Andriy UKR ISD - NERI 00:13
45 AGNOLI Valerio ITA LIQUIGAS 00:13
46 DENIFL Stefan AUT ELK HAUS 00:13
47 BELLOTTI Francesco ITA BARLOWORLD 00:13
48 PONZI Simone ITA LAMPRE - N.G.C 00:13
49 FAILLI Francesco ITA ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFE MOKAMBO 00:13
50 CARVAJAL JARAMILLO Edwin COL MICHE - SILVER CROSS - SELLE ITALIA 00:13

Worlds

The week before Worlds I stayed at a friend’s house very close to the circuit and got to ride the course again a few times before the race. Coming into the race I was maybe a little more tired than I had hoped but once I was at the race, going for a spin before the start, I felt great.

Now when I had ridden the course throughout the year, I knew the hills were hard, but I really thought that the 3 or 4 kms of flat before each of the hills would allow for good recovery and the hills wouldn’t be so bad. Man I was wrong. As usual with the under 23’s it was go from the start and some heroes wanted to show how they could break away solo 170kms from the finish so the hills were full gas! Then slow on the flats, then full gas up the hills and so on. I moved up to the front by the start of the 2nd lap but it was so crazy up there and you had to use so much more energy to hold good position so for the early part of the race it was much easier to cruise at the back.

I hung out at the back until the 5th or so lap into the race and with the pace on the hills starting to take effect on a lot of the riders is was time to move up. The next 5 laps there really isn’t much to comment on. It was just really fast and with the 5 man early break being reeled in on the 8th lap the pace was really high as a lot of people were trying to create a new break away. But as the field had been so thinned out by now nobody was going to let a break go so this just created a really fast pace. On the 10th of the 13 laps there was a significant lift in pace up one of the hills and when I turned around at the bottom of the hill there was only about 50 or so of us left. The nerves started to kick in a bit more now as I was still feeling comfortable... well under my max limit on the hills and with no break in front I was looking good for the race win.

I was riding in the first 10 for most of the last 3 laps and on the 11th lap a small break went and I jumped with it. The guy I tried to ride across with sat up right away and after gapping the peleton a little I thought it was best not to try to ride across as the peleton was so small and chasing down every little break, they were never going to let the 10 of us get away. Sure enough half way up the hill not more than 4kms later we reeled in the break and a lot of the riders of this group went straight out the back.

Sadly for me the 26 hills we had to do in the race had really started to hurt me, maybe a tiny bit more than the other 35 riders I was left with and with 1 lap (13kms) remaining when everything went down on the steep hill in the race I dropped. The reason for the massive increase in pace was because the main favourite attacked and broke away with one other person and then proceeded to drop his break away companion and ride half a lap solo to take the title.

I kept a good pace to the finish and caught a couple of people and the 3 of us finished together. I came in 37th place, 5 mins down, which was a lot more time down then I finished last year but my place was 30 or so places higher. I had really hoped for a top 10 result and there were two riders who placed in the top 10 who at the race in Italy the week before, had finished more than 10 mins behind me. At the same time I was pretty happy with my result. I have never seen an Under 23 Worlds where the riders came in by themselves or with one other person in the top 15 and the peleton consisted of 20 people from 15th to 35th.

Looking back at my season I couldn’t be much happier with it. From having an Injury over the entire NZ season from November to Mid March, and not being able to do any training for the month and a half leading up to coming to Europe, to then come to Europe to my first Continental season was a hard start. To then look after just 1 month of arriving here being in a break away in a 2.1 and top 10’s in 2.2’s. Moving towards the end of the season being in a 3 man break with Ballan, Basso and I was something I could never have imagined in the past. Now with signing season taking place it’s time to move onto bigger and better things...

World Championships in Mendrisio on the top of the second hill in the first few laps of the race with fellow kiwi Sam Bewley.

Kieran Turner comments on U23 World Champs road race

2009-09-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sep 27th, 09. BikeNZ CEO Kieran Turner talks to RoadCycling.co.nz about New Zealand's results in last night's UCI World Championship U23 road race.

In last night's U23 road race kiwi Alex Meenhorst finished 37th after staying with the front bunch for most of the race, the other two kiwis pulled out before the peloton crossed the finish line for the final time. At the time of our first report, we had yet to hear from the New Zealand camp in Switzerland.

As the New Zealand camp awoke to prepare for today's Elite men's road race, Turner dropped RoadCycling.co.nz a quick note about yesterday's action.

Kieran Turner's comments

Alex had a great race. The pace was on up the climbs every lap and they are both solid 10% climbs. The first three laps were pretty fast and then it eased off for a few laps before going back on.

200 starters and each lap riders were being shelled. Alex was in the lead group of about 40 on the second to last lap when it all split up and he got gapped but rode well to finish 37th.

This would be one of the hardest courses used in the last 10 years and considering he was on his own for much of the race, it was a fantastic effort.

Good rides also from Sam and Clinton to support Alex early on, but it was always going to be a tough course for the bigger guys.

Read the article and more HERE

Thanks to roadcycling.co.nz

Meenhorst shows his talent in Worlds U23 road race

2009-09-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sep 27th, 09. Alex Meenhorst promised to do his supporters proud, and that's exactly what the young kiwi did in the U23 World Championship road race last night.

UCI U23 Road World Champion Romain Sicard - France (c)Sirotti

"Thanks everyone for the support for Worlds! I'll do you proud!," was Meenhorst's final Facebook post before last night's big race in Mendrisio.

For 12 of the 13 laps over the 179.4km race, Meenhorst was in the front bunch with the best of the world's young riders. Only on the final lap, when the pace increased significantly, did he drop from the select group and not manage to bridge back up, he finished 37th.

Meenhorst was one of only 72 of the original 166 starters, and the only kiwi, to finish the race.

Fellow kiwis Sam Bewley and Clinton Avery abandoned during the race, but so far there hasn't been any word from the New Zealand camp in Switzerland to tell more about what happened.

Meenhorst knows the mountains and hillsides of Switzerland, he spent his international season based in Zurich where he had many great opportunities, including a top level race alongside the likes of Christophe Moreau, Thor Hushovd and Heinreich Haussler.

Meenhorst's most recent success was in the GP Gansingen a one day/two stage, tour in Switzerland where the kiwi won a stage, and the King of the Mountain, sprint ace and overall classifications. Great motivation for the Worlds.

Today's race was won by one of the pre-race favourites, Romain Sicard. His attack on the final lap was so fast it split the remnants of the peloton and allowed the Frenchman to cross the finish line 27sec in front of his nearest rivals.

READ THE ARTICLE AND MORE HERE

2 Days, 400kms, Hot weather, and some serious speeds...

2009-09-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last month (July) was definitely not a result month for me but heading into this month my goals were to perform well in 2 one day Pro races being held in Italy and a 2.2 Tour in Switzerland called GP Tell which in the past few years has been a Pro Tour race, a Nations Cup and this year was a under 27, 5 day tour which had a lot of hype around it.

I did get one thing out of last month and that was some form. All the racing and hard training I did may have made it hard for me, but it sure has made a difference now and hopefully with the continuation of racing and training my form will be right all the way through to Worlds.

After the win I had 2 weekends ago I felt a little more comfortable going into Coppa Bernocchi and Coppa Agostina which were two races part of a 3 race series over 3 days in the Northern Region of Italy. We were not able to do the first one as it was a 1.HC and only Continental teams of the country that the race is held in are able to do .HC races. Just between you and me I’m glad we didn’t do the first day anyways because 2 days was hard enough.

The first day was 203kms and involved 50kms of flat heading out to a circuit which we did 6 times and had 2 nasty hills in it, then 50kms back to the finish. After speaking to a few people and looking at the past history of the race this wasn’t the kind of race that many people finish. The last 5 years only around 30 of the 200 starters have finished the race and when you see the list of winners, they are all riders who are crazy fast climbers and big time dopers, you see why not so many people finish.

After seeing the start list and all the Pro teams bringing forth their strongest climbers, my goal really was just to finish the first day. I decided to try and get into the early move as in the Pro races they almost always let a break go at the start, the break then gets out to a large lead of more than 5 mins and then over the course of the race the peleton goes faster and faster until the leaders attack and usually at this stage the break has come back and there really is only a small group of riders left.

I felt great on the start line and looking around it was def the best race I have ever been part of! Sure Gippengin, in the middle of the season, was big and was the only .HC race I have ever done but seeing the quality of riders at this race was something similar to the Giro or even the Tour de France.

The start was cruisey for a few Kilometres before someone decided to attack and then for me it was race on as it was important I was part of every attack to make sure I was part of the break. The first 10 or so breaks all had large numbers of riders and nothing seemed to be sticking for more than 1 or 2 kilometres. I even had a go myself at my first ever attack in a .1 race in Italy, as I usually just follow the riders when they attack, since it saves a lot of energy. I turned around, glimpsed in one of the windows to my right to see what was going on behind me and saw 2 riders on my wheel, then a gap. One of the jerseys caught my eye and when I turned around properly to have a look I found Ivan Basso of Liquigas and Allesadro Balan of Lampre and the 2008 World Champion on my wheel. I almost giggled but knew there was no chance of us breaking away so I sat up and let the peleton bring us back in. Immediately after, 4 riders counter attacked and then the peleton shut it down and called it a day. Missed it.

We headed out to the course and the profile said there was one hill 2kms long with an average gradient of 12 % which is the kind of hills I liked so maybe if I was having a great day finishing the race may be possible. Too bad the profile was completely incorrect and it was most def not one hill 2kms long!

There was a 2km hill then a 3km descent which then went straight into this hill which must have been only 1.5 kms long but so stupidly steep. There would have been some short sections where the road was over 20 % and the average must have been well over 12%. I don’t know if it was the heat or the ridiculous speed but it’s safe to say my mood in the race quickly changed after one lap of the circuit. After the 2^nd time more than 50 riders were gone and had pulled out of the race. The 3^rd time up the hill was enough for me but I felt a little bit happier seeing the trail of riders already behind me and one of my favourite riders Ignative dropping next to me who also seemed to think this race was rediculous. The craziest thing was pulling into the feed zone and stopping and already seeing so many riders out of the race. Elk, a pro continental team from Austria, already had all 8 of their riders out and were packing up and heading home. We only had one rider left in the race so 6 of us headed back to the hotel to start the recovery process. All and all a hard day!!!

The second day was much better for me. The first hour was really special though. We rode through the city first, then out onto some big open roads towards the circuit. The first hour, even with all the obstacles on the road, was ridiculous, 53.6 kmh! It was however nice to get ¼ of the race out so quickly. A small group finally got away and the peleton sat up so we could all have a break for a while. The circuit was hilly with 2 short steep hills in the 15 km course. It wasn’t anywhere near as hard as the day before and maybe only 80 riders were gone by the end of the circuits before heading to the finish. The call when we were 30kms from the finish was 2 mins and because there was a lot of sprinters at the race today like Pettachi, Napoiltano, Pozzato and so on the pace was high to bring the group back. We got onto the finishing circuit of 3 laps, just a little over 10kms. The pace never slowed before getting to the finish and there was no way the break was going faster than us yet we were given the call with 8kms left that the break was 4mins up on us? WHAT!? It turned out that we had been given the wrong times out on the course and because of this all the sprinters teams got totally pissed off and just sat up so we road to the finish some 5 mins behind the break. It was however a great opportunity for me to practice my sprint. I ended up finishing 34^th and to date this is my best result at a 1.1 so I’m happy with that.

Now it’s a few days rest then off to GP Tell.

The Roses of Success

2009-08-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

After a month of solid racing I now have a chance to catch my breath in Switzerland for a couple of weeks training and 2 elite Swiss races. The first was a one day 2 stage tour on Saturday and the other is a one day race I have coming up in a few days.

The first race was called Gp Gansingen went quite well you could say ;). It was pissing with rain but still a good 20 degrees so wasn’t so bad on the legs. The first stage was a 12 lap circuit race with a 1.7km hill which was really steep. The group stayed pretty much together besides a few little attacks for the first 4 laps. Just before the hill on the 5th lap myself and 3 other riders broke away and had a 10 or 15 second buffer going into the hill, and with the 4 of us working well together we held them off and put time into the group by the top of the hill. The next 6 laps were pretty standard, 4 riders came across to us a couple of laps later and we all worked well together and established a big lead on the peleton. With the winding wet roads I knew holding the peleton off was going to be easy. I won all the primes for the king of the mountains jersey with ease and I thought my biggest competition would have been the Columbian rider form the UCI team but he seemed to be dropping every time I put a little acceleration in, which was great for my morale.

Coming into the final time up the hill my plan was to hit the hill right from the bottom full gas and try and drop everyone as I seemed to be the strongest rider on the hill. Coming round the corner before the hill started I was 2nd wheel on the Columbian. He started to accelerate on the flat and this was perfect for me because it strung us all out before the hill making it even easier for me to drop the riders. I did however; never get a chance to attack because I spent the next 1.7km sucking in air for dare life as I tried to hold the Columbians wheel. He was so strong and after only 500 meters of the hill everyone was gone and it was only he and I left. Now normally when someone attacks they go hard for 20 or so seconds then you can see them start to die and this is the perfect time for a counter attack because they are hurting however this never happened. He didn’t look back once, ask me to lap through or even seem to be hurting. I could hear him breathing like crazy or maybe that was just me.

At the top of the hill we had a 10 second gap to another 2 riders and after that no one was in sight. We started the nasty gravel descent with the hopes of holding the other two off but I later found out one of the guys has been national champion for cycle cross for the past 6 years running so he and the other rider caught us very quickly because of the technical aspect he had over us on the corners. We attacked and counter attacked each other until 1km to go where the 4 of us slowed right down and waited for the sprint. It was slightly up hill and a bit of a head wind. I decided to go 4th wheel as then I could see everything happening and although this might have been a tad far back considering there was only 4 of us I thought it was probably best. The sprint started at maybe 250 meters to go, I was on the Columbians wheel and kicked right with him when he went. He had nothing the cycler cross rider quickly got a bit of a gap, I kicked passed the Columbian and had enough speed off him to catch the other rider and take my first win of the season.
At the end of the first stage I had every jersey and the stage win, what a start to the day. The afternoon stage was 40 km Criterium/ Points race. In Switzerland they have sprints every 5 laps and the person with the most points in the end wins the Crit. The tour was done on points also and I had 120 points from the morning stage with a 20 point lead over second place. We thought beforehand that if I finished in the top ten in the crit I would win the tour so the plan was to take some early points and make sure 2nd and 3rd didn’t pick up to many points. I grabbed a 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the first 3 sprints and after that my team mate broke away with one other person and stayed away for the rest of the race taking the stage win and all of the points away from the other riders. I finished the stage in 6th place and although the guy who was sitting on 2nd position form the morning finished 3rd I finished 10 points ahead of him with 150 – 140 points. I ended up winning all the jerseys and the tour and my team mate won the other stage. Couldn’t have been a better day for the team!!!
Now hopefully I can get another result this weekend before building up to a target tour I have at the end of the month.

First Race Weekend July

2009-07-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 8^th of July 2009

Since Racing Gippengin, I had a much needed break off the bike and indulged myself in some other sports for a little while. Played some golf, a lot of swimming, the finer things in life ;). After 7 days I then headed back to the bike to do some base training and get back into the swing of things. After a week and a bit of training I had a great jumpstart weekend for the second half of the season with a 190km 1.2 in the south of Switzerland on Saturday (maybe include the date so when people look back they know when this was) and a 200km 1.1 race in France on Sunday, and a 150km 1.2 night circuit race in Italy on Tuesday.

As my form had taken a serious blow from my break I wasn’t too sure how I was going to go in these races but they were a great platform to start building back up. The first race in Switzerland went well, a little hilly. I also felt terrible while warming up so was thinking nothing special from me that day on the bike. Well that quickly changed when I got in the break for the day just 2km into the race and we ended up staying away for 130 km. I felt so bad the whole time and was praying my team mates would come across to the break because I didn’t want to be the guy who is in the break for the team then comes dead last. We got a maximum lead time of 4.30 mins but it all came back together and shortly after that I was gone from the small peleton. Bonus of the day: While riding to the finish I stopped to fill a bottle up from one of the fountains on the side of the road and found a un opened beer so that was definitely the push I needed to have a smile at the finish. Below is the profile from Saturday, Flat eh!

Sunday’s race was really hilly as well but the level was the element that was really going to make it difficult. 3 Pro tour teams in contention and all the national championships of the European countries having happened the weekend before meant that the level was going to be really high. After the best possible recovery on Saturday night I felt much better on the start line on Sunday and also had a good catch up with Guddy who was doing the race with Francais Des Jeux. After the usual French start of every man and his dog trying to break away, well actually this never stopped. After 120km no break away was established and after 2 hard hill/mountain passes the peleton was now cut in at least half. Shortly after the feeding zone was a very difficult crosswind section that really hurt everyone’s legs and with a difficult short sharp hill at the end of it, it was race over for me and at least 40 other people.

I rode to the finishing circuit but pulled out with 30 km to go. Two of my teammates finished placing 22^nd and 23^rd a couple of mins down. 27 of the 140 starter’s finished the race and the largest group contained no more than 5 riders. Was a hard day to say the least!

Tuesday’s race was a interesting one, In the north of Italy near Bergamo. We were the only Continental team on the start line but the best amateur teams in Italy had turned up for the race and a lot of them are equal to the professional teams anyway so it was going to be fun. Race started at 8.15pm and was a 9km circuit 15 times with a brutal hill in it, that was cobbled a little, then the descent was 4 switchbacks, all cobbled 800 meters long. Awesome! The circuit had so many obstacles in it, parked cars, concrete bits sticking out everywhere, it was death for any cyclist. Not to mention the pitch- black darkness we all enjoyed riding in. Then when you have 160 charging Italian kids (in Italy you can only be an amateur if you are under 26) well most of them were older than me on the start line with a race that’s starting as the sun sets, it’s kind of a recipe for disaster. Not much to say about the race really, it was so fast and hard and the pace didn’t back off once. People were dropping left right and centre after the second lap. I crashed on the 3^rd with 3 of my teammates as we were going into the hill. Tobias and I got up and chased back on with the other rider pulling out. Splits were happing very often and coming into the last three laps it was pitch black with maybe 50 guys left. The past 2 days racing and 5 hour drive had hurt me just a little and I dropped on the last time up the hill and rode to the finish with one other guy. My teammates got 4^th and 9^th and I finished 30ish with only 3 of us finishing this brothel of a race.

Now it’s a 5 hour drive back to Zurich starting at 1am arriving at 6am for me, fun fun fun!!! Then some much needed rest and going to put some serious hours in on the couch watching the tour!

Twitter: @alexmeenhorst

http://alexmeenhorst.blogspot.com/

46th GP Kanton Aargau (1.HC) - Gippingen, Switzerland 7th June 2009

2009-06-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

With almost half the season completed now and my first big race been and gone I thought I would share some words on what happened in my first target race of the season. So far this season we have competed in a variety of races from Swiss National to Pro races in Italy and Europe, however this race was the biggest one on our roster and is only 20 km from where I live. It was a 1.HC circuit race that consisted of 10x 19.7km laps and had a couple of nasty hills and very strong winds just to make life a little more difficult, but based on my climbing form lately I was really glad to see some nice hard hills in the race.

For the last 6 years the race has always finished the same way, with the peleton being destroyed over the hills the finish resulting in a select group of riders who are left standing. My goal for the race was to make it into this group and see what I can do in the finish but seeing the calibre of riders who have been on the podium the past few years such as Bettini, Ullrich, Nuyens, Kroon and Lovkvist just to name a few, I knew it was going to be hard to keep up with the climbers over the difficult hill. My form coming into the race had been perfect timing and the weekend before I had pulled off my first good result for the season.

Race day was crazy, the trees were almost touching the ground because they were bending over so far and Nightmares of Southland were coming back into my mind. The pace started off nice and slow.... for about 500 meters before some teams decided it was time to get going but with one of our riders making the break everything for Team Hadimec was great. Ag2r started to set the pace halfway through the race and because of the really strong winds and almost no tailwind on the course the breaks keep on coming back. 4 laps from the finish Ag2r decided to lay it down in a cross wind section and really split the race up, but it quickly came back as too many strong riders were still in the peleton and it was way too far from the finish.

The pace on the hills now started to go up a lot and a few riders were being dropped every lap. My legs didn’t feel too great at the start of the race but with 4 laps to go I was feeling awesome. I was making all the splits on the hills and riding over the hills in the top 20 position more often than not.

With 2 laps to go the Pace Really heated up and with an attack from Heinrich Haussler and Christophe Moreau the peleton broke up big time but with no riders from Silence lotto in the move it come back with little stress. The last time up the hill was death but I came into the hill in 10^th position on Thor Hushovds wheel so was feeling pretty safe about the situation. By the top of the hill 5 riders had broken away but I managed to make it into the group of 40ish riders and we quickly caught the 5 others. On the last hill which had very strong cross winds, two riders broke away and established a 15 second gap with 6 km to go. The finish was down a long fast hill then 3 kilometres of flat. With 2kms to go I was sitting 10^th wheel right behind the Cervello Lead out train. My director was pumped and was yelling all kinds of things in my ear. The 2 riders were still 10 seconds ahead with 1 kilometre to go but we were fast approaching. Without attacking once during the day I was feeling awesome and was pumping myself big time. Then with 800 meters to go Cervello just slowed right down and stopped the chase?! WTF! Haussler and Hushovd were both in the middle of our group and not on the lead out train. With this sudden speed drop 20 riders came bombing around me on either side to totally destroy my position and box me in big time. The sprint stated and I couldn’t do anything. I managed to move up a couple of positions with 100 meters to go but it was so chaotic in the bunch I still had to slam on my breaks with 50 meters to go.

After the race I was pretty pissed to say the least and ended up finishing 31^st I had achieved my goal but after being so close to getting a top 10 position I was pretty ripped. The two riders, one of whom won the Under 23 World champs I did in Germany in 2007, stayed away and won by 2 seconds. Victory went to Milram.

Although we didn’t get anyone in the top 10 all and all for our team it was a pretty good race. There were only two continental teams in the race, Hadimec (my team) and one other, all others were Pro tour and Pro continental so the fact we had 4 riders in the front group and only Cervello and Agritubel had more was great.

Now it’s time for a short break, then some endurance training for a couple of weeks to build up for some more big races in July and hopefully through to the world champs in Switzerland this year.

Alex

France 2008 Mid year update!

2008-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hi all and welcome to my blog.

It is currently mid June 08, the sun is shining and the temperatures are soaring so I am clearly not in New Zealand! No in fact I am over in the "land of the frogs" also known as France to continue my dreams of becoming a professional cyclist. This is my 3rd season in France and this year is a little different as I am not only based in the north, but am riding for a French team instead of the Under 23 New Zealand team which I have been riding for, for the past 2 years.

I am living in town called Villeneuve St Germain, which to me is more like a suburb of a sizable city called Soissons. The city has some interesting features to it, the most eye catching being the two towers that stand at least 100 meters tall and can be seen from a long ways away due to the flat terrain around here. The main street is always busy and has a bunch of malls to keep the shoppers entertained. My flat itself is awesome however the area it is in is not the best. We have an ok kitchen and lounge which are both good sizes, and my bedroom is now awesome after pimping it out with a double bed and some other important items.

Anyway so the team I am riding for is called CCVSA or Club Cycliste De Villeneuve Saint Germain, and is an Espoir team which pretty much means in English that we are an under 23 team. We are very closely ranked with the first national division teams and do all the Coupe De France (French Cups) which are a series of 8 one day races in which the 20ish best ranked teams in France compete in. My teammates are great fun and we have a blast whenever we are on tour. Unfortunately the organisation at the races isn’t the best, but other than that you couldn’t ask for a better team.

Before coming over to France this year I managed to schedule in a nice 5 day holiday in San Fransisco with the wonderful Nathalie which was awesome! I spent a day checking out the city, a day driving over Mount Tam and checking out a local beach. A day up north in an area called Sonoma county which had awesome views and also managed to get a mint ride in up there too, and also one and a half days skiing in Lake Tahoe where I gave my legs more of a workout than they have ever experienced before!!!

On arriving to Soissons, I had a day to recover before heading to my first Coupe De France which went ok, but unfortunately a tumble in the last 5km didn’t help my positioning and I think I came in around 50th place. Since then I have done at least 20 races, with a variety of places but the main ones I should note are a 3rd place on my second race which was an elite national ranking “Boucles de Picquigny”, a couple of 5th places, one which was at the race “GP de Saint Aubert”, a 2nd place at the “Critérium de Soissons” which was a big race in our local city which the FDJ director came and had a look at.

There is also a series of races on the French racing calendar which are similar to the Coupe De France cups however they are only for Under 23’s and have a few more tours in them rather than the one day races which the Coupe De France races have. Anyway so these races are called the Federal Espoir races and so far this season I have been going quite well in them!!!

The first one was a one day tour that consisted of a team time trial and then a afternoon circuit race. The morning stage went ok, we finished mid pack but the afternoon went much better. I was on the attack all race and going into the last lap gave it to them on the hill, went solo, where I was later caught by 3 riders, but then beat them in the sprint and won my first race of the year. I also placed 4th overall in the tour so it was a good start!

The second one was a 3 day tour with 4 stages and went even better. The first day I finished with a select group of 5 in third place which gave us a good lead over the rest of the peleton. The next stage finished together in a bunch sprint.

That avo had a 17km tt which I wasn’t looking forward to too much and after learning that 2 of the 5 guys in the initial break turned out to be the French Time Trial and Road Race Champion and the French Pursuit Champion things were looking worse, but I only ended up loosing a 1.30 to them so not a bad days ride. The 3rd and final day was going to need something special to move from 4th to 1st and although the terrain suited me I was a little unsure. But…. After getting away at 60km with a group of 15 people the gap increased quickly (with some good hard turns from my team mates to over 4 mins). Things were looking very good but with 4 teams chasing behind the gap came down quickly and was at 2 mins with 10 km to go.

The Next 10km was almost a blur as my two teammates and I were on the front charging and managed to hold the pelton off by 1.53 seconds at the finish where I claimed my first tour win ever. How happy was I?

So now it’s one more race then an awesome holiday with miss Nathalie, again! I know we are lucky, this time to Italy which I will report on soon!!