Yes it’s been a while since I’ve last updated, but this is because I’ve been travelling around the North of Italy with the 2009 Giro Donne. For the last 3 days I’ve been in a little motel somewhere near Pisa, with no internet, much to the horror of most of the girls! As we speak I’m sitting in a nice 4 star hotel in Fermo right on the beach, the sun is shining and looks like a perfect day for racing. Unfortunately from today onwards we move hotels every night so there is no time to get settled and long transfers after racing become the norm.
So here’s how the Giro Donne has played out so far:
Prologue:
The prologue was a 2.5km hotdog loop around the streets of Scarperia. It started with a short rise before a long downhill straight and uphill finish. I was pumped with adrenalin leading into the TT. Rolling up to the start line and seeing the likes of team Columbia and Cervelo, and people wearing their national jersey’s and the World Champion bands was overwhelming. As I was rolling up to the start, Marv wished me luck and said to have fun. I’m riding for my country in one of the biggest women’s stage races in the world. How could I not have fun? Sitting on the start line awaiting my start, I couldn’t believe what I’d gotten myself into. I was about to embark on one of my biggest learning journeys yet, that some of my biggest dreams were starting to unfold right in front of me. The clock hit 0 and it was time to go off, and just as quickly as it had started, it was over. I’d just finished the first stage in the Giro. Kirstin Wild from Cervelo won it and Tiff Cromwell was the best placed from the Aussie Team in a time of. A little disappointed, I finished in with a time of 2min29.
Stage 1:
Stage 1 was a 99.9km loop from San Piero to Sieve and Pratolino di Vaglia. It was a relatively flat course with 2 rises in the 2nd part of the course, the first one an average of 3% for km and then the last one a nasty 2km steep finish. My job for the day, and the Tour, is to be Carlee’s right hand man. It is my responsibility to try and help Carlee to position herself in the front of the bunch and help her whenever she needs it. I have to admit I was a little nervous with the role that I was given as Carlee (along with Tiff) is one of our GC contenders and so it was my responsibility to make sure she had to do as little as possible to save herself for the hiller stages when GC would be decided. Overall, I was really happy with how rode and fulfilled my role. I was positioned in the top half of the field for the whole race and managed to get Carlee into some better positions leading into the bases of the climbs. I’m not sure if I was still running on adrenalin or was just ‘in the zone’ but looking back on the race now, I don’t know how the hell I managed to fit through some of the gaps I did or move around the bunch like I did. One of the highlights for me would have been sitting on the back of the Columbia train as they dragged a few of their riders to the front. Definitely a cool moment there. I finished off the back of the main group with some of the other Aussie girls as my role was done for the day and I had done all that I could to help Carlee. It was then just a matter of getting myself to the finish using as little energy as possible. After the race, we rode back to where the van was to find our own seats with our own protein bottle, sandwich and bags all laid out in front. Buckets with water and towels were there to cool ourselves down and Nico and Dave were taking our bikes off us as we rolled in. I couldn’t believe how well organised the team is, and little did I know that this is what would happen everyday that we were on tour :)
Stage 2: 15km TT
I woke up this morning with a sickly feeling in my stomach. I’m not the best time trialist the world has ever seen and frankly, to be honest, they make me feel a little nervous. However, Marv came and spoke to Lauren and I shortly before departure and said that today we’d be having a ‘rest day’ and for us to only go 80%. Oddly enough, instead of feeling relieved, I was a little worried. Going 80% in probably my biggest time trial to date? But I soon looked at the bigger picture and my role in helping Carlee was far more important to me than giving everything in the TT, so I took the opportunity to conquer my fears and concentrate on my technique and practice my race script instead. The time trial ended up being quite enjoyable, I was happy with the way I rode it although the sharp pinch 500m from the end on cobbles through some narrow road through the houses proved somewhat of a challenging surprise (a girl who passed me shortly before we hit the climb literally came to a track stand!). I still finished mid field (I think 69th) however I think there were a few other girls who were having ‘a rest day’ also :p Tiff was our highest place getter on GC and now sits 3rd in the young rider classification
Stage 3: 90km, Monte Serra hill top finish.
What is today? Today is the most important day of our lives until tomorrow. Day 4 was dubbed the ‘Queen Stage’ of the Tour. It was on this stage last year that Luperini broke away from the field to win by 1min30 and secure the leader’s jersey. Needless to say, similar to last year, today would have a major impact on GC. Again today my role was to help out Carlee as best as possible. Loud cracks of thunder sent us off and within minutes, there was a heavy downpour and we were soaked to the bone. This made the 50km of flat before the climbs a lot more interesting. I was unable to move up through the bunch as I had on the first stage as there were mini ponds on the sides of the road and so was forced to fight my way through the much more edgy bunch. Visibility was minimal and scretching brakes and yells were heard frequently and of course there were a few crashes. I got caught up in one but fortunately managed to unclip as the girl infront of me tumbled down the side of the road but Lauren wasn’t so lucky getting caught up in another crash and after requiring a bike change, slipped on a white line as she was being towed back into the bunch! Looking a little worse for wear, she but on a brave face and set a good example for the team which is why she is our team Leader. She is a bit of a tough nut :P . Meanwhile I was still struggling with position when I heard over the radio that Carlee had punctured. I used the opportunity to go back with her and help to tow her back up to the bunch with Chloe and Belinda before the base of the first climb which was rapidly approaching. We managed to get her up in time but the mass of riders negotiating the narrow roads made it dfficult to get into the first half of the bunch. I was still in the tail end of the bunch when we hit the climb, I started to pass riders when the ‘grupetto’ started to form. Lauren and I managed to get into another group in front of grupetto and tempoed to the top of the first 9km climb. Our job was done, there was nothing else we could do for our GC riders now except to make it to the end of the race in one piece. If only it had happened that way. On the 10km decent, I was feathering the brakes to get some of the leftover water off before coming into a hairpin turn when much to my shock nothing was happening. The corner was coming up fast and still nothing from my brakes. I signalled to the girls to come past and took the corner as wide and best I could but slipped out and found myself in the gutter. Loz stopped to help me and the US team car also helped to peel me off the road and get me back on the bike. The rest of the decent was slow and tedious as there was still little response from my brakes. A small group caught us at the base of the decent and dragged our butts with them to the finish up Monte Serra.
All in all, not a terrible day in the office but not one of my finest either. I think I let the weather conditions get to me and never quite settled in. But I was able to take away a few things from the race also, like the importance of positioning in the bunch, that when a small bunch forms behind the leader’s bunch you do not attack it and all roll to the end together just to name a few.
This tour has been one of the steepest learning curves of my career to date and i'm enjoying learning the ins and outs of international racing and I feel that this experience can only help mould me into a bigger and better bike rider :D
Until next time,
Take care
Ciao xx
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