Coming up to the last corner Viganò seemed in the perfect position to take the win in RHC BCN No.5. “I made a mistake in that last corner. I took it to wide. Van Eerd took the inside and beat me.” In London Davide was beaten by Filippo Fortin. In Barcelona he made sure that would not happen again. “Fortin always rides on my wheel. He is really fast in the sprint so he follows me around all the time. So this time I returned the favor making him close the gap on Van Eerd. I jumped out of his wheel just before the last corner”, Davide explains his tactics.

Viganò had some help from his teammate Ivan Ravioli in the beginning, but was isolated in the end. “Yes, I think it’s really important. Look at the tactics Aldo and Colin used last year. It’s useful. If you have four strong riders like Rocket Espresso-Specialized and play it smart, you can do what you want.”

According to Viganò the race course in Barcelona was slow. “Two hairpins and one long straight where we had headwind.” Davide said he liked the course but prefers a faster one. “I think the course in Milan suits me better. It’s really fast and has no hairpins. If you check the super pole on the technical courses, I’m always in the back. The others are really fast in the corners, they ride their bikes like Valentino Rossi.”

“With the last race in my home town Milan, I’m looking to put the cherry on top of the cake.”

To some people the win of David van Eerd came as a surprise, but not to Viganò. “He is always up there, I think he had some trouble with the wet conditions in London, but in Brooklyn and Barcelona he was really strong, so I knew he could win.”

Having just retired from pro-cycling and working in the Cinelli factory creative department, Davide aims to continue his fixed gear career next year. “This is my new hobby, I’m really happy at Cinelli and everything goes well together.”

“I know the Red Hook races for quite some time now. I used to do track racing when I was about 15 years old, and Stefan Vis (former Dutch sprint selection track and winner of RHC Barcelona No.1, ed.) was racing there as well. I always kept track on how he was doing,” Ten Dam explains on how he got to know the sport. “Eamon Lucas is a friend of mine. We used to train together when I was in California. I had no race this weekend, so me and my wife came to support him.”

Asked how he would do: “They go even faster than I imagined (…) I think climbers like George Bennet and I wouldn’t be in the front if we participated (…) the constant accelerating out of the corners would be too much. Look at Eamon: he’s a beast.”

Ten Dam sometimes talks about fixed gear racing with his teammates, but they don’t seem to get it. “Ramon Sinkeldam and I will soon do a race together. It’s a three-hour car ride, so I promised to explain it to him then; about the qualifications and the super pole.”

Does the Giant Sunweb rider see fixed gear crit racing as a true part of the cycling sport? “Yes, definitely. And this format is perfect. A pro-criterium lasts for two hours. That’s way too long. This is exciting from start to finish and after 40 minutes it’s done. I really like it.”

Is Ten Dam ever going to race a Red Hook Crit? “I have a Giant track bike, so I might try a NL Crit Series in the near future and see how it goes. Unfortunately the next one, 17 September, comes too quick.”

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One lap to go:
Stefan Schäfer of the Specialized-Rocket Espresso team took the turn way too fast, he couldn’t hold the corner and crashed taking out several riders including Intelligentsia Racing teammates Colin Strickland, Marius Petrache, and Tim Ceresa. To see what happened check out the videos below.

David van Eerd manages to avoid the crash of Stefan and comes in a good position, he decides to give it his all to take that Rockstar Top-Antagonist award. “After the crash I had a good position, so I kept pushing,”

Final lap:
Van Eerd takes the Top-Antagonist award by crossing the finish line going into the last lap first. After the first corner he realises that he still has a gap and decides to put his head down and go full gas for the win. However, on the last straight going into the hairpin David is caught by the front of the peloton. “On the last lap they [Fortin and Vigano] caught me and I was just fucked. But then I got into third wheel and on the last corner I managed to take the inside line.”

Alec Briggs, David van Eerd, Filippo Fortin, and Davide Vigano go into the last corner almost side by side. It is Alec Briggs who takes a too steep inside line and crashes taking out Olivier Leroy of the Aventon Factory Team. David van Eerd takes the inside line and comes out of the corner first sprinting to the Red Hook Criterium Barcelona No.5 win.

As always the Red Hook Criterium Barcelona No.5’s venue is an absolute beauty.

Eleonore Saraiva & Colin Strickland started the day as the RHC leaders.

The course was technical with 2 hairpins but above all proved to be very slippery in some corners creating 2 stop and go moments each lap.

The qualification heats in the men’s race were very competitive forcing riders to go to the limit and sometimes go over it.

Due to a broken chain Aldo lost control over his bike.

However, in the Last Chance Race he did walk away with the win securing a 16th place to start.

She won in London, she won her heat, and she won the Super Pole, Raphaele Lemieux was clearly the top-favourite but was taken out due to a flat tire

Besides Raphaela, Ainara Elbusto, Ash Duban, Eleonore Saraiva, and Tanja Erath were also among the top favourites.

Ash Duban managed to beat Ainara Elbusto in a sprint-a-deux,securing the win.

Ainara set-up the break-away but had to settle for 2nd place

Photographers were there again to get those amazing shots

With 2 laps to go Stefan Schafer caused a crash causing many favourites, including Colin Strickland, to get behind

Both Olivier Leroy and Marius Petrache were among them

Not only did van Eerd get the Top-Antagonist award, he went on to take the win in RHC BCN5

Podium party

With his 2nd place, Davide Vigano took over the RHC leaders jersey from Colin Strickland

The Top-10 in the Women’s and Men’s field

And then there was the after-party

RHC BCN 5 race venue the day after

Now we are off to the beach