02/10/2024
Wow, Zura, what a performance! 👏You first escaped from the peloton in a breakaway. Then you got caught on the Samtatskaro climb and gradually dropped to the third group. At Kvemo Bodbe, you were still several minutes lagging behind the leaders. But you showed stamina and determination, and closed the gap just before Sighnaghi. Tell us how you prepared and managed your efforts to claim the Golden Fleece Trophy 2024!🏆
'I prepared for the race in several stages. I analyzed the route and came up with a plan. Last few weeks I added intervals to my rides to get some fitness back after the vacation.
We went to Sighnaghi together with two buddies. We arrived a day before the race and did a recon of the last 10 km of the route. This included the last two descents and the last big climb - that proved very important later in the race!
The day before the race we packed as much rice, sweets and juice in our body as we could, prepared the bikes, nutrition and clothing for the race day. Eventually, we went to bed quite late at midnight.
For the race, I prepared one flask with 250 grams of sugar, another flask with 150 grams of sugar and 400 mg of caffeine, and a 750ml bottle with an electrolyte mix and 30 grams of carbs.
We were late to warm up in the morning, while it was pretty cold. But the weather forecast showed it would get warmer, so we risked it and got all the arm warmers and jackets off before the start.
My plan was to play the long game and pace myself. I wanted to finish strong on the last two major climbs of the race. This was a bit tricky because we had to do the hardest climb at Km 58 at Samtatskaro (6 km long climb at 8.5% average gradient). Meanwhile, there were long flat sections before and after that.
I was trying to establish a break quite early in the race, but the peloton was too motivated and closing all escapes. Nobody wanted to bridge over to me and work that early, so it all seemed like a su***de move.
After one of my attacks was brought back again, David [Mrktchyan] sneaked out in front. Nobody from the peloton tried to catch him. I waited for some time. When I could no longer see David on the long straight sections, I decided to bridge over to him. I still didn’t go full gas, because I was hoping that somebody would join me. But I ended up bridging alone and we still had 35km to go till the base of the Samtatskaro climb. After a few kilometers, Marius [Bujokas] came over to us and we continued chopping. So the plan was working. We were building a gap off the climbers before hitting the long climb.
As soon as we started climbing, David increased the pace and Marius got dropped. I swallowed my ego and let myself drop the wheel, too. I followed my plan - I didn't want to go too hard on the first climb. Remembering that this was a long game!
Yet, I always kept David in sight. Half way uphill, Yauhen [Navasad], the two times Golden Fleece champion, caught up to me. He told me that behind us, there were two other guys from the Armenian team [Anania Voskanyan and Artur Varelyan], working together. Yauhen then dropped me and bridged to David. Then, the guys caught me up at the last 100 meters of the climb. While I was swapping my bottles, I got distracted and let them escape. That was a mistake. It was hard to close the gap on the flat, while they were working together to increase it, and I was left alone in a headwind.
After 10 minutes, at Km 65, I went back to my regular pace. I continued chasing alone. In distance, I saw Anania and Artur catching up with Yauhen and David. At Km 85, I finally gave up the chase and waited for two other guys who were one or two minutes behind me. They were Ivan [Shashero] from my local Tbilisi team and Anton [Temnov] from Batumi.
So there were Yauhen, David, Anania and Artur ahead. And I continued with Ivan and Anton.
At this point I started cramping up. I ran out of electrolytes, water and food. I desperately searched for a next pit-stop. Initially, I didn't plan to stop at feed zones, but now I had to.
And here comes one at Km 118. But I almost missed it. I slammed on the brakes and ran back up to get some water and Haribos candies. Anton continued ahead and Ivan finished his refills faster as he had stopped in time. So now I was even more mad, left alone and dropped back to the 7th place already.
But the power of the gummy bears boosted me up! I managed to get back to Ivan and Anton pretty quickly. Then I started testing them on little uphills to see where they were with their legs. I noticed that they were struggling to keep the wheel. So I could go by my planned pace for the last climbs. On the penultimate climb, I set the tempo which my companions could not hold and they got dropped.
After a few minutes, it helped that I saw Yauhen and David in front. So basically, the podium was still in my sight. I managed to bridge over to them. They told me that that Anania and Artur were are up the road, but should not be too far away. We continued with David up to the top of that climb. At this point, Ivan was also catching back up.
This is where our recon of the last 10 km's came in play. On the steep descent, I was taking the corners smoothly and I was able to keep the speed up. We approached the last climb together.
Then, everyone is quiet, the climb starts easy at 3-4 % gradient. I’m patiently waiting for that middle section with up to 15% gradient to make my move. I noticed that David was already losing the wheel of Ivan, and at that point I made my attack.
The climb then continued steady at 5-7% and I kept increasing the gap. I started looking ahead to see if I can catch up to anybody else.
And here it comes as son as the concrete climb was coming to end. Yes!, I saw the leaders in front of me finishing it like 30-40 meters ahead of me. I knew there were still a few short kickers left ahead, which gave me good chances. I quickly got over to them, while judging by their body language that they had very little energy left in them. So I started preparing my plan for the finishing uphill sprint in Sighnaghi.
At Km 137, I was back on the leaders' wheels. And here comes the crucial part. In Sighnaghi downtown, we had to keep right to reach the finish line. However, they headed left into a parallel street. I immediately shouted at them that they were going wrong way. But they didn’t listen neither to me and nor to the race marshal, who was positioned at the turn. They only lost a few seconds there but these were crucial in the finish.
It played to my advantage that I had inspected the finish before, and so I was prepared for the last stretch. Like that I made a gap and then the only worry for me was not to drop the chain on the steep cobbles. I took it with ease, I didn’t need to sprint.
Finally, I crossed the finish line full of emotions, and enjoyed the cheering from the crowd.
The atmosphere at the finish line and also within the race was amazing. It was a great course with a beautiful scenery. And the profile allowed for an exciting race.'
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