Matt Brammeier (right) is feeling the heat in California but is determined to get up the road at some point
By Brian Canty
Three-time national road race champion, Matt Brammeier said he’s feeling good after the opening two stages at the Tour of California and is hopeful of getting into the breakaways in the days ahead.
He had said before the race that neither of the two opening stages was suited to him. But following some good training recently he believes he can get up the road, a major target for his team this week.
The Champions Systems strongman is currently sporting some sunburn and, like most of the field, he suffered in the blistering heat on yesterday’s stage 2 to Palm Springs.
“Yesterday was fucking brutal,” said Brammeier.
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“I have never experienced heat like it in my life, never mind raced in it. I had an average temperature of 43 degrees and a max of 51 on the last climb. There were a few guys in some pretty big trouble at the finish, some even collapsing from their bikes and being rushed to hospital. It was unbelievable. One guy was sat on the ground with a heart rate of 210,” he added.
Brammeier even questioned whether it was right that the race went ahead.
“If you tell me that’s still cycling then I call you a mad man,” he said.
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“It may be okay for the local and domestic guys who are used to something close to this but with an international field I definitely don’t think we should be racing when it gets so hot. I’m not sure if there is an official UCI rule with a max temperature or anything but if there isn’t, I think there should be.”
On the day itself he said he started it as he usually does, aggressively.
“I started the day trying to get in the breakaway. I was with the first few groups but it wasn’t my lucky day. A small group went up the road and got a big gap pretty quickly. I did a bit of pulling to bring the break back over the top of the main climb and into the finish. Our climber Chris Butler was up for the stage so we wanted to have things near enough together at the foot of the last climb. He didn’t have a great day so it was a bit of a wasted day and a lot of wasted energy on my part, but I guess this is all part of the job.”
“But overall I’m feeling pretty good, climbing better than usual but still struggling with the heat. I guess everyone is in the same boat with the heat so I should stop complaining,” he laughed.
He believes while BMC’s Tejay van Garderen is the strongest in the field, fellow countryman Philip Deignan is also motoring, as he showed on yesterday’s punishing finish.
“It’s hard to say in too much detail at the moment because it’s just been the guys who can deal with the heat that have been excelling so far. I’d say Tejay will be hard to beat, he has a good buffer over the other GC guys, I can’t see him getting dropped any day and also can’t see him not winning the TT.”
“Also Philip is bloody flying, it was pretty impressive what he did yesterday. He’s having a great year and looks like he’s enjoying himself more than ever.”
“Hopefully I’ll have more luck on my side today (Tuesday). I guess the leader’s team won’t be too interested in pulling all day and 90 per cent of the guys will be fucked from yesterday, so I think it’s a good opportunity for a successful breakaway. Let’s see what happens.”
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