After his adventures last year in Belgium and the Netherlands, Eugène Dillon returned to tackle the same terrain from new angles. Take a read below!
He's then back in action riding in the Amstel Gold this weekend. Best of luck from everyone in Orwell Eugène, have a great ride and enjoy the bants!
2015 Volta Limburg Classic
Eugène Dillon
The alarm went off at four in the morning, I cooked my porridge, made my wraps and put on my SKIL gear and got out the door with enough time to get the 5:23 train to Liège. The train arrived at about 7:00 and ten minutes later I took a smaller train to Visé, from where I cycled the 4km in Eijsden. I picked up my number, 27, and pinned it to my jersey and I headed off into the brisk cold morning. Not as cold as two years ago when Karsten, Fabian and I started in a light snow but not as warm as last year when I was able to ditch the knee warmers en route and enjoy the summery weather.
Within four kilometres the familiar first climb presented itself. I paced myself up it, concerned that my efforts of the previous days might get to me. I had cycled the Ronde van Vlaanderen 130km distance on the Saturday followed by a smaller shorter sportive on the Sunday called the Randonnée de la Pierre Brunehaut 90km. At the Pierre Brunehaut I had suffered in a really fast group that tackled the wind and I didn’t want to suffer as much. It was a challenge to manage the activity of consistent days so I had to monitor how I felt but the past two years I had cycled both the Ronde and the Volta and I was really looking forward to being in this familiar terrain. Seeing as I had woken up in Ghent that morning, I took the opportunity on the top of the first hill to take in the Limburg countryside.
Not much further as I approached two tight bends immersed within a tiny village called Moerslag, I felt a brigade of dark clothed cyclists making progress behind me. I got through the bends and down the straight to the sharp left to another long straight with the Eijsderbosch forest on the far side of the road. The landscape from which I came from forms a perfect backdrop of green fields and a photographer from Sportograf was duly set up to capture the moment. I sprinted ahead and said thanks as the photographer clicked, easing up immediately afterwards as the road abruptly rose up letting the group overtake me.
For the next twenty kilometres I stayed at the back of the group until we descended into the town of Slenaken. The road rose up and I started the climb pacing myself, but about half way up I looked at all the cyclists amassing around me and thought about the food stop some eight kilometres away. I wasn’t feeling the best and I thought to myself it’d be good to get there ahead of the bunch. I saw one of the guys from that group of cyclists with black gear, who I had gathered were from Leiden, and I followed his wheel. On the plateau following the climb, the roads were narrow and twisting but I knew the way. A group of three rotated on the front at a great pace and as I didn’t feel 100% I just followed as we overtook cyclist after cyclist. We had to be careful with traffic on the narrow roads but I knew what to expect and what bends to look out for. At one point we met a peloton of mountain bike riders in the opposite direction.
After the food stop, I started to feel better. The road dropped to the town of Gulpen and I was in a new group that stayed together to the climb by the forest close to the ‘Drielandenpont’ – the point that the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. The group started to break up and I chatted to one of the guys briefly and thought about waiting. At this stage I was beginning to feel better again. The route converged with the shorter distances and we crossed the border into Belgium. The road surface deteriorated immediately and I descended a climb I cycled the opposite way at the Ardennentrip sportive last August. A loop around a Flemish part of Belgium followed before the familiar descent at about the 90km mark into the Walloon part of the sportive. This was the point deeper into the sportive that I had enjoyed the most the past two years. This year would be no different.
I started making conversation with one of the guys from the group who was in the vicinity, Stefan, warning about the obstacles coming up when I remembered them. The classic descents, twists and abrupt steep ascents followed are what characterises this sportive in my mind. Before I knew it, it was the 110km mark and the final food stop. Again it was familiar territory as I descended down a narrow poorly surfaced road where a crash and a deluge of rain had occurred at the Mergelheuvalland Twee Daagse last September. This time around there was much more visibility and I used the descent to bridge up to and overtake the following group.
After some undulating terrain in the deep green countryside, we came to the final ascent and I put a dig in. On the plateau on the top I continued my effort, descending by some houses through some really tight bends to the town of Warsage. From there I sought out a group and experimented with a few until I found one where I felt sufficiently exerted that I could do no better alone. As I carried on in the high-paced group, I reflected on how over the course of the year and since joining Orwell Wheelers my group cycling has really come on in leaps and bounds. I am at ease and on the look out to be safe the whole time. Before I knew it, we were back in Eijsden to receive our finishers’ medal for the 145km.
I think the Volta Limburg is a nice sportive and it gives a taste of what the Amstel Gold Race is like. I think I’ll do it again next year if I am doing the Ronde van Vlaanderen as it gives the opportunity to cycle two really well organized sportives in the one weekend.
