Another cracking day today with brilliant weather and some fun racing. Todays stage started in Dumfries again and finished in Castle Douglas. Going round to the north over the moors past Moniave the terrain was quite hilly again today and probably slightly tougher than Sunday.
We were all expecting a brutal stage as Rapha and Endura tried to over turn the slim lead held by Raleighs Matt Cronshaw and it did start very fast however the Rapha rider Zak something or other took an intermediate sprint and a time bonus early in the stage which put them in the lead and they controled the pace from then on. It ramprd up again with about 30miles to go which resulted in a split but luckily I was near the front at the time and stayed the right side of it.
Coming into the finish there was a nasty sting with about 5miles to go in the form of a steep climb which finished off a number of other riders. So coming into the finish I was in a group of about 50 riders. Despite having good intentions of contesting the sprint, when it came to it my legs were cooked and I rolled in near the back of the group in 45place. I didn't loose any time however while a lot of others did so moved up the GC to 55th overall. Not an incredible result but I'm happy enough with it. Tomorrow will be a shock having to go back to work!
Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com
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