My plans to update the blog daily during Trans Germany were unexpectedly thwarted by not being able to get an internet connection in the little backwaters we have been staying in. The 1st stage was a bit of a strange affair, with 103 km listed in the book as the race distance. However the first 28 km were neutral and the whole field was stopped and regrouped before the real racing began. I felt pretty good, and found myself in the 2nd bunch on the road with a group of 5 ahead. There were 2 Multivan guys (Andreas Kugler and Hannes Genze) in the front group, and I was with Jochen Käss. The bunch worked well and I was surprised to find the time gap was only a few minutes well into the stage. Kugler was 2nd in a sprint and I was 12th.
Stage 2 started badly for me; after sitting with the (large) lead group up the long first climb I flatted just over the top. It was a gash in the tire, and after trying Pitstop foam I had to put a tube in. Problem was it was so cold my hands wouldn't work properly, so when the CO2 froze the valve, I couldn't close it quickly enough and I had only around 20 Psi in the tire. Luckily it wasn't too far to the next feed, and after a quick wheel change I was left with the hard task of trying to catch groups of riders on my own on a very fast course. I didn't dig too deep, but it was still tough riding most of the 82 km on my own or in groups of 2 or 3. In the end I was almost 15 min down on the stage. On the plus side, Hannes attacked on the last techo descent and stayed away to win and take the overall lead, with Kugler again 2nd on the stage.
Stage 3 was a bit of a ball breaker; 96 km with quite a bit of climbing. Stayed up with the front bunch for about half the stage, working hard as one of Hannes main GC rivals had been dropped with a mechanical. Once the big guns started to hammer I had drop off, but ended up in a good group to get back to the finish. Quite tired now, and happy I have been able to land myself in a good spot with the Multivan guys. These guys are a serious outfit, and it is nice to have someone take your filthy bike away as you cross the line and hand it back sparkling new :)
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