Dear riders

Last night was my return to Crystal Palace racing following a few years away from the scene due to breaking my shoulder and I found myself hanging on for dear life to a group which had been distanced by the lead four riders. Everyone in the group also had team mates in the lead group up the road, so it didn't seem clear to me what our agenda was -be it working to bridge back to the leaders, riding tempo to limit our losses, or you wanted to race for a position

Either way, it seems clear that everyone thought my plan was to sit on and sprint at the end. I can assure you that this wasn't the case and never has been -I simply wanted to get to the end of the race, get value from my race entry and get back into the swing of things. I've won more races at Palace than anywhere else, including the series overall in the past and hopefully anyone who raced with me back in 2010 would attest to my committed and contributing way of racing. Sitting-on really isn't my style, but when we were riding all together, it appeared that there was no cohesion. The rider on the front moved off, but back to 2nd wheel, never quite making it clear if I was to move up. Usually I take this to mean that riders moving from 1st wheel to 2nd wheel and back to 1st again want to control the pace and allow the breakaway to take shape. In my previous experience riders don't normally ride round from 4th wheel up into 1st as it doesn't seem economical.

Last night I could hear riders in our group discussing attacking (me) which put me on the back foot a bit as I was waiting for this to come. Things got a bit heated between us and I'm sorry I was aggressive, I really didn't mean to, I was also right on the limit and just hoping I could keep going when the attacks came.

Like I say, I've been away for some years and perhaps the etiquette has changed, or I simply misread the situation. I can understand your frustration, and perhaps straight after the finish is not always the best time to talk about these things...personally I find I always say the wrong things or come across the wrong way in the heat of the moment, so that's why I'm writing this now. 

I genuinely wish you the best of luck with the rest of your season.