Michael Hernandez flew the Aevolo flag at Chain of the Lakes stage race in Florida this weekend. He finished in fifth place in the opening stage road race and seventh in the afternoon time trial before coming in seventh place in the criterium the following day. His consistency earned him fifth overall.

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Q: Can you give us some context for the results? Who else was in the field and how selective were the courses?

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The field was made up primarily of guys who can roll the flat lands. The road race was not very selective so a lot of overall aspirations came down to the time trial. However the crit is very technical and has a history of breaking up the field. For most of the field that meant doing damage control in the time trial and getting to the crit with thoughts of getting up the road to make up any lost time.

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Q: How did the result match your expectations?

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I had high hopes coming into the weekend, but with legs that didn’t want to cooperate on Saturday, I was in a position where I was playing catch up for most of the weekend. Regardless of how I felt, I am happy with the rides I had and where my fitness is heading entering the first block of team races.

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Q: How does this weekend’s race fit into the upcoming race program?

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The weekend gave me a good opportunity to work on my timing and positioning in attacks and sprints while navigating through the field coming into Joe Martin where I am looking for some opportunities to test out a sprint or two.