Another excellent win by Ben Perry in Belgium yesterday!
From Bens Blog
This was a great race! It was the only Kermesse in Belgium on the day and this made me feel a little more pressure to preform. The most international race I have done yet, even more so than the Nations Cup Abitibi! There was an American team, Dutch team, French team, South African team, a bunch of Belgian teams of course, a single rider from New Zealand and us! We pre rode on what we thought was the course but it turned out it was nothing like it at all. This was a little confusing at the start but after a lap we had a good feeling of the curcuit. I covered moves and then there was a lull in the pace and I launched my attack. I was soon joined by a Zanatta junior and I truly didn’t think it was going to last 75km out in a 80km race. I rolled through not ready to really commit to anything but our gap was slowly growing. After a few laps I started to help push the pace and our gap got to around a minute with half the race still ahead of us. There was a kom sprint every lap and I had won everyone so far having been in the break and every time up I managed to put a lot of hurt into my companion. So I backed off a little in hopes of him resting and being able to contribute to the pace more. The first 5 or 6 laps we spent away he was a big help and from then on he could only do a very small amount of work as I pulled him and he gave me a little break every once in a while. Just before we crossed the line at the top of the “berg” he popped and I had about 13km to do solo and 45 seconds to maintain over a field of around 80 chasers. The fans were very supportive and Ben Chartrand had some of his family out with flags to wave and the sound of a canadian accent cheering was a nice surprise. Sadly Max was caught with 4km to go and I felt a little bad he couldnt have 2nd but that is bike racing. I grew my gap up to a minute over the next 10 km but then lost 15 seconds in their build up to the sprint. 45 seconds is a nice cushion to finish solo over a peleton. Since I was in the break I picked up a few premes but without realising it because the announcer was speaking in only dutch. Along with my premes I also won the KOM and the actual win! This totalled in a nice amount of euros, 1 bouquet of flowers, 2 baskets of fruit and a nice little back pack!
Awesome!
Off to Holland today to race a crit
What is a Kermis???
Kermesse (Bicycle Race)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A kermesse, also spelled kermess, and kermis in Flemish is a style of road bicycle race that is common in Western Europe. Typically kermesse races are found in Belgium, especially in the northern Flanders region, where they are the most popular style of amateur bicycle race. They also exist in the Netherlands. The bicycle race borrows the name from the kermesse (festival) where the bicycle race is often held on the same day as a town festival, though not always .
The races are usually 90-140 kilometers in total length. While some are longer or shorter, most are about 120 kilometers. The race is a set distance and number of laps over the established course[1]. There are typically 10 to 20 laps, of between 5 and 10 kilometers. The race usually begins and ends in the center of the town which is hosting the day’s race. The race will occupy the roads in town as well as the roads surrounding, either city streets or farmland.
The course usually has a rolling enclosure. This means that while the race is not passing through, the streets are open to traffic. A designated car, usually with a caution sign and a red flag, leads the riders and close the cross streets to traffic. A following car, usually with signs and a green flag, open the streets back up to traffic.