Tour de Limousin

Unexpected...but delightful 4th overall! I didn't go into this race feeling super confident, specially after the 10 days of hard racing...I wasn't quite sure whether or not I was ready to tackle another stage race. But I must have done something right...well I had help! After the giro I called Max (Testa) and talked to him about my riding and the things I need to work on....blah blah but the most important thing he said was that I needed to recover between the tours...so I did. As an athlete you always think that more is better, well I had to trust what he said that I needed to do just the opposite...to recharge. Then there I was in france...had a great first stage, well could have been better had I not "choked' but still I was happy with my riding. There is always a lesson to be learned and things that can be improved. In a short version of what happened, I found myself having to bridge to the break of three riders in the last 10km of the race, after having worked for my teammate tatiana (guderzo)setting her up for the queen of the mountains jersey, keeping our break away (we were 10) to keep her fresh for the finish. Well, after the last GPM(QOM) a counter containing those three riders Grace Verbeke (lotto belisol) Ruth Corset( Austr. Nat team) and Alexandra burchenkova (russia nat team) and tatiana told me i had to bridge....holy crap! I was totally gassed by then, but I got on it and for about 1-2kms I chased and made my way to the break....took a lot of work..once I got there I thought that I was going to get popped on the rollers....but I kept telling myself ..NO NO WAY YOU ARE NOT GONNA GIVE UP NOW! So I stuck it out, but wasn't very smart coming into the finish...and also not very confident either. 2 big mistakes...and I am working on that ;o) so hopefully I won't be making the same mistakes on the next races to come. After that stage all I had to do is defend my position, or try to move up in GC which was really hard, since the only hilly stage was the first one, the others where all power climbs (sprinters climbs lol) and ended up either in a bunch sprint or in a break not containing any GC riders...it was much harder for me than you can imagine...so much work when nothing gets away and comes back together in the end! It was a great race, and I learned so much...have lots of work to do!!I will post pics when they became available, as of right now, I have none. ... sorry!