May kicked off with the Super Series race in Llanelli, which was the European Championships qualifier for Miella at the end of July. The top two across the line got automatic spots, so that was the goal. I was feeling good going into it, as I had a solid month block of training before tapering and was looking forward to seeing where my form was at.
The swim didn’t go too well, I didn’t get the best start and came out about 30 seconds down. I worked pretty hard on the bike in the first few minutes to bridge up to the second pack. There were six riders up the road working well together, and we never managed to catch them coming into transition 50 seconds down. I had a decent run and managed to move into 2nd place, finishing 15 seconds behind the winner, which secured my selection for the Euros.
Next up on the calendar was the ETU Cup in Olsztyn. This was my second ETU Cup of the year, with the first being Quarteira where I placed 2nd, which was also my best result to date. It was a sprint distance race, with four laps on the bike and two on the run. I knew the swim would be tough with some fast guys in the field, so I expected a front pack to form and stay away. I had an average swim, coming out around 25 seconds behind the leader. I got a decent start on the bike and found a good group to work with. We eventually then caught the front pack by the end of lap one. The bike was pretty sketchy as the pack ended up being around 50 or 60 riders on a narrow course, so I tried to stayed near the front to avoid any crashes. There was one with about a lap to go, which I just about managed to swerve however several people went down. Luckily, no one seemed seriously hurt and only a couple of riders had to pull out.
I came into T2 around 15th in the group, which wasn’t the best position, but not the worst either. I had a good start to the run and caught the leaders about a kilometre in. Once I reached them I tried to keep on the pace and managed to pull out a small gap, which grew to around 10 seconds by the end of lap one and held it till the end to take the win. It felt great to get my first ETU Cup win, and I’m really excited to see what i can do the rest of the season.
I’ve got one more stop in Poland this weekend at the ETU Cup in Kielce, which will be in a super sprint heats and finals format, so should be good to see how my form is over the short sharp distances.