June 14, 2018 (Mont Megantic, QC) – Today’s stage was a summit finish on Mont Megantic. While the summit climb officially starts with 5km remaining, the climbing actually begins with around 40km remaining, and the rest of the stage is very lumpy. When you factor in the cool temperature and rain, it makes for a brutal stage.

For most of the day, I thought I was going to have to write a story tonight that I never wanted to write: the story about a badly injured rider.

Fairly early in the stage today, RwR’s Gera Medina crashed after hitting an unseen pothole. I was told that the race doctor arrived to check him out, made him stay down on the pavement, and promptly sent him off to the hospital in Lac Megantic with leg and shoulder injuries. That was all I knew and so I spent the rest of the day hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Fortunately, after the stage, Gera was found sitting in the hospital waiting room with a lightly bandaged knee and a sore shoulder. He is out of the race, but he is ok. His Cervelo came out of it in pretty good shape too.

Meanwhile, there was a race to be done. The summit of Megantic was in the clouds and visibility was less than 75 metres. After stage winner Jack Burke (Jelly Belly) crossed the line, riders appeared one by one through the fog, faces contorted, exhaustion in their eyes. Our best finisher was Aria Kiani in 41st place. Unfortunately, Christian Gomes was dropped and ended with a DNF. He will come back stronger next year. The rest of our riders all finished the day and are set to start the time trial in the morning. Tonight they will wash their rain soaked kit in their hotel room sinks, try to dry their shoes, relax and eat.

The banter around the dinner table is always a good gauge of spirits on a team. Given the amount of ribbing and chatter at supper tonight, it appears that all of our riders are feeling good about their race so far and are ready for what lies ahead. Even Gera was laughing.