The corner braking and drafting dynamics on RGT, combined with an infinite amount of opportunities to create routes through the Magic Roads, makes crit racing the most popular genre for racing on the Platform. Raw power does, however, have a lot to say. Since there is no categorization on RGT, you'll soon find yourself blown out the back on a regular crit, if you have just started racing.
That's where the "Crit Racing for Beginners" enters the picture. With a loose upper bound of an FTP of 250, it's aimed towards making crit racing competitive for people who have just entered the platform or are stronger in the mountains. "It’s basically how my journey on RGT started last year with my THRSDY crits, which has evolved into something more challenging by now. So, I hope that this gets some more people into racing on RGT" Says Alex Pleger, the man behind the event.
The first race was done on the Lissone crit, which is 1.1 km long and keeps climbing to a minimum. It was hard from the start, with lots of red numbers out the pen. To Geeme who did his only third ever race on RGT, managed to get a decent gap from the start. He was relatively fast drawn back, and the race turned into what most crit races is about - keeping the pace high and trying to stay in the right lanes at the corners. After 24 out of 25 laps, the front group was boiled down from the starting 50 to a small group of 9 riders. They had the company of at least a dozen lapped riders, which tend to make the finals rather confusing. At the last corner, Kristen Ege turned on the engine, doing 9.2 w/kg, and gapped the front group with only a little over 200 meters to go. Even though the chasing field with Ronald Broeders at the front doing 12 w/kg, closed some of the distance, the move was too strong and so well-timed, that Kristen Ege could cross the finish line, being the first winner of the "Crit Racing for Beginners" series. "It was extremely hard. I was dropped in a few corners where I had to fight back. At some point I got into a rhythm, making it a bit easier. But the sprint was extraordinarily hard." Ege told us after he crossed the finish line". "I used a lot of energy making sure Geeme did not get away. He seemed to be the strongest one amongst us". To Geeme, did set the tempo for most of the race, but was not able to finish the race for unknown reasons.
Here is the top 10 of the night
- Kristen Ege 42:32.8
- Ronald Broeders S.T
- John Hardwick S.T
- Joseph Duluc S.T
- Alexander Kock S.T
- Daniel Magalhães S.T
- Simon Miller S.T
- Will Hutchins S.T
- Roberto Martí S.T
- Holly Larsen 43:48.4
The race was obviously capped at 250 watts, which is relatively hard to enforce for the race organizers. Looking at the top 10 of the race a few riders do stand out, but nothing too spectacular. The winner did 257 watts at threshold HR for 42:32 minutes, which does seem legit.
The race was streamed and commentated by Mike Lister. Watch from 38:57 to see Ege's beautiful move, attacking from the back of the pack out of the last corner.
Thank you for this :)
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