I had to gamble in this race to try to score a few points, and with the storm there are 2 options to gamble ;
attack and use energy in the flat sections or save many energy in the flat sections and gamble on a strong 55 finish.
I tried the last option with teamcaptain
Byers, and with an excellent result =
10th !
I must say that Byers was lucky to have a helper in s1, s2, s3 ánd the important s4.
Because I tried a few different free role tactics, so there were not many helpers.
Luckily Beckham was a (too fast) helper and he was together with Byers in s4.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Race report :
In s1 it looked like my gamble would be a disaster ; already Byers was on 0:21 of the front group of 38.
And only 2 Australians ( 1 helper and 1 free role ) were in that front group.
In s2 even one group further behind and already on 0:40"
Still surrounded by most Australians, including 2 helpers and dissapointing free roles.
Only helper Beckham stayed in the 2nd group as important forward pawn tactic.
And still the 2 same Aussies in the leading group of now 29.
In s3 still in the 3rd group but the gap a few seconds bigger ; 0:42"
And Byers lost 1 helper, so just 1 helper left in s3, the others were free roles.
In the front "helper" Curry could not follow. Only free role Douglas was in the break away group of 20, including 7 Belgians. 
In s4 it was full power for Byers and he came closer.
Now it was a fragmented race with many little groups. Byers was in the group of number 26 to 39 on 0:33"
And important, together with a helper.
Free role rider Douglas dropped to the group of 21 to 25, just 4 seconds ahead of Byers and helper Beckham.
For Douglas this means he has no chance anymore to score points.
Also for free roles Trump and Neville (1 group behind Byers) it is already in s4 clear they will not score points despite their energy for s5.
In s5 a magnificant climb of the final cobblehill resulted in an excellent 10th place for Byers. 
He was the best silver cyclist in this race, in fact, 18 out of the top 20 had golden icons, only the Italian nr17 had also just silver.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -In the past 5 seasons Australia did not score points in a cobblehills race, so these are 120 unexpected bonus points.
Belgium did amazing in this race ;
Pierre won and 7 (
! ) Belgians scored a total of 790 points in this race.
This makes Belgium the new leader in the season ranking, and Australia dropped just one place.
Next week we go to a rainy, cold and windy Barcelona for the very first climbhills NT race of CFF3.
The best Australian hillsclimber is ranked as number 71 in the golden climbers list. 42 foreign hillsclimbers are higher ranked.
