Incheon

Hi,

Well Inchoen didn't really go according to plan for me and my team, but it was the same for most of the other teams. Most of the skaters were surprised to learn that the fastest finisher in the WIC, Luca Saggiorato, wouldn't be in Incheon due to a training crash a couple of days earlier. However, about 5km into the race, his team captain Massi Presti blew that out of the water. He attacked with a local Korean skater. Most of the other teams thought that the pack would catch them again on the slight downhill before the finish, but they were never seen again. Skaters first tried attacking to bring them back; then with about 20km to go, a teams team time trial of sorts happened on the front. All the big teams left in the pack sent a guy, sometimes two guys to the front. It was one of the most organised chases I have ever seen in a WIC event. However Massi and his Korean friend pulled away from us!!!

About 7km before the finish a group of eight skaters finally got away from the main pack. Our team had Reyon Kay in it. He held on for a good 7th place after quite a fair amount of work before hand. In the end, Massi easily beat his Korean breakaway friend to the finish, and Jorge Cifuentes from Matter came in third to give his team its first podium of the year.

This weekend is something a little different. On Friday evening, there is a relay race for the WIC teams on the new banked track in Switzerland. Then on Saturday there is a brand new WIC marathon, also in Switzerland. I don't know any details about the course, there have been so many stories floating around from "it's an easy course" to "it could be one of the hardest events of the year." So we'll see on Saturday.

Thanks
Scott