Joe Martin Stage 1

Today started with a neutral roll out for a little while, and then some people attacking for a while longer, and then a group got up the road, and Health Net rode the front the whole day. It was pretty comfortable hanging out in the pack for the first few hours, nothing more than a few surges on the climbs. I even made one of those little pieces of paper that fast guys put on their stems to know when important parts of the race are coming up. It was the Turin guys idea, but it was surprisingly nice to have that info around.



The race didn't get too hard until that climb from mile 73-84. I was able to make it over the top of that little bump with the front group, which was pretty decent size, but there were also quite a few guys getting dropped on the climb, so I was pleased to be on the good side of the splits. From there I just tried to recover for the end. It was pretty hectic at the end because no team really had too many guys left to control the front. I tried to move around and get towards the front for the sprint (since I'm such a sprinter and all), but the little rollers once we hit the downtown area finished me off and I wasn't able to throw down much up the final little rise. I ended up somewhere right in the middle of the front group as we came across the line.
I was thinking today as we hit the century mark, that this is only something like my 3rd or 4th century ever, that's not very pro.

Health Net was seriously impressive the way they rode the front all day, and then still put 2 dudes on the podium (John Murphy and Rory Sutherland). Sebastian Haedo won the bunch kick, but he didn't see the front until the last 5 miles or so. Tomorrow is another pretty long one, and I think I'll probably use the same tactics as today and just try to make the splits I need to. OK, we have an 8 AM start time tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.

Also, Props to Bri Kovac for a sweet podium placing in todays stage. Rep'n the midwest well!