The third stage of the Tour of Chongming Island was truly a surreal experience and one of the most memorable moments of my cycling career to date. It was definitely a day that I, and I'm sure everyone on the MB Cycles team, will not soon forget.
We headed into Stage Three, 5 seconds up on General Classification (GC) and also in the green sprinter jersey after I took out both intermediate sprints and finished 3rd in Stage Two. Our aim for the Stage was simple; protect the yellow jersey. After watching years of bike races I should have known thatthis task was never a simple or easy feat, yet my naivety got the better of me and I could never have expected what was in store for me and all the girls on the MB team. The first intermediate sprint was at 34km and all the girls showed that they were ready to meet and beat the expectations placed upon the team wearing the yellow jersey. The girls controlled the peloton and allowed me to easily take out the first intermediate sprint and gain another second advantage on my nearest GC rival, Zhao Na, from Giant Pro Cycling Team.
This smooth run was not to continue and it seemed, after the 40km mark anything that could go wrong, would. A sharp left hand turn 10km after the first intermediate sprint marked the beginning of what was to be a streak of bad luck. First a crash which sent two girls to hospital occurred directly in front of me, I was lucky enough to quickly swerve to the left, narrowly avoiding it. Tess, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Coming down in the crash Tess lost some skin and was kind enough to act as the road to riders behind her as they rode over the top of her. Thankfully she came out of the crash relatively unscathed and was back on her bike in an instant. I, and the other MB girls were completely oblivious to Tess' bad luck and were soon too absorbed in the next mishap of the day to realise until the end of the stage.
What seemed like seconds after I had avoided the crash in front of me I heard the sound that every cyclist dreads when racing, especially when the wind is roaring and you're already on the rivet. My rear tire commenced to puncture rapidly as I suddenly found myself riding on the rim of a Zipp 404. "I have a rear flat. I have a rear flat" I proceeded to announce over the radio to my team, in what I thought was a reasonably calm manner, this composure was not to last.
As soon as the other teams got news that the yellow jersey had flatted it was like they were a pack of wolves who had caught the scent of fresh meat. The South African team, who even had a rider down in the crash, immediately attacked and I'm told that these attacks did not cease, with the New Zealand and Chinese teams all actively trying to ride the MB team out of the race and try and take the yellow jersey for themselves.
Bridie O'Donell was the first MB girl to get to me and immediately gave me her wheel, I was back riding within seconds. Tahlia was at my side at once and Tess was soon to follow as she came rocketing up from behind, as I learnt later she was chasing after crashing. Both Tess and Tahlia knewexactly what to do and they began to work turns protecting me. After receiving a spare wheel Bridie was soon in hot pursuit of Tess, Tahlia and I and as soon as she joined us the chase really began.
Slowly but surely my composure began to slip away from me as panic started to cloud all sense I had left. I found myself dropping wheels and the girls, because of me, were going backwards rather than forwards as they attempted to get me back into the race. At this stage we were 1 minute and 10seconds down on the main bunch. We had lost the yellow jersey on the road and the feeling was truly devastating. Tess, very wisely instructed me to "Breath" and it was this simple instruction which seemed to click things back into place for me. I immediately concentrated on my breathing andfinding a rhythm and my composure came back. From then on Bridie, Tahlia and Tess were just a force. I've heard Phil Liggett say so many times while watching the TDF what being in yellow can do to a rider and to a team. It was at that moment that I realised he wasn't just dribbling nonsense. If we had not been in yellow and if we had not been so determined to claim back what was ours I don't know if we all could have dug as deep as we did.
After 20 kilometres of chasing we found ourselves sitting 50 metres off the back of the main bunch, and it was this 50 metres which took us the longest to close. The relentless attacking which had begun as soon as I punctured combined with the strength of the wind had torn the Peloton apart, splitting it into two bunches. Both Amber and Liz, my other two team mates were in the front bunch covering and neutralising the attacks coming from the Chinese, New Zealand, Ukrainian and South African teams. And here the next complication of the day's stage begins.
Amber had gone into the stage with a broken radio, she could not hear anything being relayed over the radio between the team and so was completely in the dark as to the situation which had unfolded behind her. At some point during the race Liz's radio also stopped relaying messages to her. As Bridie, Tahlia, Tess and I sat 50metres behind the main bunch for 5kms not making any progress you can not imagine the desperation we felt that just once one of the girls radios would work. (Bridie's screaming into a block head wind may give you some indication of the level of desperation.) After what seemed like hours Liz got a crackle over her radio, turned behind her and saw the train of pink, she immediately dropped back and helped close the 50metres which had seemed so impossible for us to close before. It’s comforting to know that even when we're all onthe rivet after chasing for almost 30kms we still had a sense of humour when the Italian, German and South African girls who we had dragged back to bunch with us rolled past us saying "thank-you, thank-you".
The next 70kms were a matter of conserving as much energy as possible so as to be able to contest the sprint for the stage win. It was difficult to sit back and watch the Chinese contest the third intermediate sprint of the day and see Zhao Na reduce the difference between us on GC.
There was a sweeping left hander 2km from the line and then a sweeping right hand corner 1km from the line. I managed to position myself on the Chinese pace line and despite all the bad luck we had experienced earlier that day the sprint could not have been more perfect. The pace was on, the bunch spread single file and I was sitting on Zhao Na's fourth wheel around the corner. With 200metres to go I exploded off Na's wheel, swinging to the left of the road. I crossed the line with my arms in the air, relief, satisfaction and gratitude were just some of the emotions I can remember feeling. Behind me, the girls crossed the line with their arms raised too. As Bridie said later that night, that stage made us all understand why riders in 20th, or 57th place raise their arms in victory as they see their sprinter cross the line.
It was truly one of the hardest bike races I have ever ridden, both mentally and physically. I'm so satisfied that after all the work the girls had done to get me to the finish that I was able to pull it off. This stage win is the best win of my cycling career to date, because it wasn't just my win, it was the teams.
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