Grischa Janorschke reports from Argentina - stage 3.

 
Hello!

So, now that we’ve had three stages at the Tour de San Luis, one slowly begins to feel like a real rider again. The body has a certain amount of basic tension again, and it’s noticeable during the breaks when the body is recovering. 

Recovery is essential especially during a tour. Here we’re being supported as much as possible by our two physical therapists, Vero and Jacek. The two of them not only handle the daily massages. They also try to make life as easy as possible before and after the stage, and they relieve us of many tasks. Everything proceeds like clockwork after the stages. Vero waits for us at the finish line with a cool drink. After that, we wash off a bit and put on some dry clothes. Each rider is also given a recovery shake, a protein bar, a sandwich and a wide range of drinks in order to initiate the recovery phase as soon as possible.

Today’s 170-km ride was difficult, as expected. After circling around a reservoir and competing in a short mountain classification (category 3), we immediately started the climb up Nogoli (2,080 metres). It was a rather leisurely pace, except for the usual attacks at the start. But Robert “Frösi” Förster thought it was “too good to last” (his exact words), and that’s exactly how it turned out. The slow pace was abandoned right before the first bend. A couple of riders attacked and then a group of 10 riders led the field. Of course that called for a response, which meant that the race was now underway and the suffering began for most of the riders. At some point during such climbs every rider begins to ride at his own pace (at least at the rear of the peloton). Bit by bit more and more riders pull away and small groups form, with some shuffling at the front and back and each group fighting for itself at first. At some stage almost everyone teams up again towards the rear and the Grupetto is formed. Climbing a mountain this high is a bit easier when you’re all together, especially when the wind is blowing from time to time like it was today. Timon had a string of bad luck at the bottom of the mountain. Our Belgian rider Jerome had a flat tyre and Timon gave him his rear wheel. And shortly after he changed it, Timon had another flat tyre. So right from the start he had to fight his way back into the race from the rear.

After the descent we were about six minutes behind the first group, which was made up of about 70 riders including Schilli, Markus and Jerome. And then the non-climbers, most of whom are rather heavy guys, started their chase. We really stepped on it, and after an hour of fast pedalling we were at the front again. A 5-km final climb awaited us, and it was like a mini final. The course zigzagged up the mountain and the wind came from all directions. During a short climb with 2 km to go, the hectic combination of climbers and riders competing for the general classification as well as the crosswind culminated in a crash, which weeded out a few more. More or less from that point on I rode at my own pace to the finish line. Markus managed to keep pace at the front for a long time and was less than three minutes behind Contador and Leipheimer. Unfortunately Jerome, who is actually a good climber, didn’t have a good day and wasn’t able to keep up during the final climb.

Tomorrow I’ll have what is essentially a day off, unlike our time-trial specialist Timon. A 19.5-km individual time trial is scheduled. Like most other European riders, I’ll be riding a normal road bike.

Best regards,

Grischa