Stage 3 and the TT
A bit o bad luck but that’s racing. Now the race is all about riding for the overall team GC result. Taking what ever role i’m given and doing it to the best of my ability. Feeling surprisingly good given that I had a nice bruise on my hip and a fair bit of skin off from a crash the day before, I started Stage 3 in good spirits. The race set off easily enough but it wasn’t too long before the pace lifted and once 30 km had passed the it was game on….
Wind and rain made for a tough day, I rode well in the opening hour positioning well and covering movess until Spratty made the break. A puncture with a slow neutral change put me out of the pointy end of GC this day. After a crash and then a puncture causing me to loose even more time we decided I would not go all out in the TT. My Team mate Amanda Spratt had ridden fantasticly in stage 3 and was now in the top 10 and I plan to go all out for her in the coming stages. I took in the views and saved the legs ….. with a bit of luck going my way that should really help me in these later stages.
Stage 1 and 2
These first few stages is all about our nominated sprinter for this race Kirsty Broun. The team is riding well however our performance in stage one wasn’t up to the mark that it needs to be to give Kirsty the best opportunity in the sprint to the line.
In stage 2 we needed to lift our game and that we did. I was called to go to the front up the last climb with about 7km to go. It wasn’t a serious climb, so not enough to try and do any damage to any of the main contenders for the stage but I gave my all anyway to try and give Kirsty the best opportunity for the finish. With about 3km to go I suddenly found myself tied up in a crash. I hit the ground hard, a bit of skin off and surely some brusing but i jumped back on and finished 1 min down. Not ideal but maybe they wont chase me initially if I get a chance to get up the road later in the race …..
In the sprint Marianne Vos proved to be too strong finishing ahead of Teutenberg and race leader Annemiek who are all clearly in top form finishing 3 seconds ahead of the reaming peloton. Kirsty had a good sprint to finish 7th for her second top ten in 2 consecutive stages.
The Prologue
I’m here in France to race La Route de France with the Australian team and things kicked off today with a 5.9 km prologue. On a course that was going to be suited to the big power riders I wasn’t hoping for a podium but also didn’t want to loose too much time to the overall GC girls.
Out the front Sarah Duster from Cervelo Test team and Annemiek Van Vluenten from Nederland Bloeit rocketed along the course to set the equal quickest time for the day at 7 min 58 sec. I wanted to be with in 30 secs of those girls as I am feeling strong and when the road turns upwards I know thats the sort of time I can make back.
Once out on the road I felt reasonable, there was a decent headwind that had picked up through the afternoon, I just had to focus and ride hard and just get through it the best I could. I crossed the line 28 seconds behind the leaders and in 21st place over all, so pretty happy. Bring on some hills!
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