Nicki Harris, Emma Trott, MirtheWagenaar, Linda Ringlever, Trix Mulder, Ellen Hermens and I made up the Moving Ladies team for the weekend of racing and together we joined the mass of riders at the start line on Saturday, once again at the back. The world cup, being held in Bern, Switzerland the next day meant that the start list of Saturday’s race wasn’t quite as impressive as it had been at Borsele and Roeselare, with only three full UCI teams signing on; Lotto-Belisol, Leontien, and DSB Bank. Possibly because of this fact or because I’d become complacent in my, nearing three weeks here, I underestimated the difficulty of getting to the front in races like this and my race started and ended at the back.
Less than 10 minutes and 10 km into the race I was still at the back when a crash happened in front of me and I came tumbling down for the second time in as many weeks. My bike was rendered unrideable and my race was over. Emma, Trix and Mirthe all got caught behind the crash and also saw their races cut short. Linda and Nicki dodged the crash and went on to do quite well. Both were quite aggressive throughout the race, with Linda breaking away at 50km to go and being caught with 30km to go. Nicki finished well, in the top 25.
It was frustrating to watch the race from the sidelines and see the mass bunch sprint fly past my eyes with Rochelle Gilmore narrowly taking it from Claudia Wittereen. I was left wondering what could have been had my race not ended 120kms earlier.
If anything, watching the race unfold only made me more determined and focused on Sunday’s race, resolute that I would redeem myself and prove to myself and everyone watching that I wasn’t going to make a habit of not finishing races due to crashes.
After going our separate ways on Saturday the Moving Ladies team met again on Sunday in Veldhoven ready and raring to go. The day was beautiful. With the temperature in the 20s and barely any wind, conditions were perfect for a bike race. Today there was also a men’s race being held at the same place, carrying a UCI 1.2 ranking. It was pretty cool to see all the teams and riders and the absolutely huge bunch ride away for their 212km race. Theo Bos, riding for the Rabobank Pro Continental team ended up taking out the race.
Everyone in Moving Ladies decided today we would cut our usual pre race roll of the legs short and attempt to get closer to the front. Yesterday’s race had demonstrated that sometimes its just not possible to get to the front no matter how hard you try. Despite this show of initiative I still managed to end up closer to the back than the front and again had to gradually work my way to the front in the initial stages of the race.
The atmosphere in the team was really good, with everyone going into the race with a positive attitude and eager to do well. We were all communicating really well, riding at the front, letting each other know when there was a sudden left or right turn over the radios and making sure there was always at least one Moving Ladies girl in anything that went up the road.
The race was to be 112km, made up of one large 100km lap and one smaller 10km lap which saw the bunch pass the finish line once before coming in for the final sprint. Winding its way through numerous villages the race had lots of sections where ‘furniture’ as Chris the team manager calls it, or traffic islands were scattered over the road. I was obviously very mindful of these after my incident with the gutter the week before. The race also had a 10km stretch of cobbled road which began at the 60km mark, with 50cms on either side of the road being
the slightly less harsh to ride on bricked road which was certain to be a defining section of the race.When we hit the cobbles I was about 30 riders back and the bunch split into two single files, one driving it on the left hand side of the road and one on the right, avoiding the harsh cobbles which paved the whole middle section of the road. At times I could see gaps opening up in front of me with girls struggling to put the pressure down and ride efficiently on the stones. To bridge these gaps you were forced to brave the cobbles, accelerate past and tuck yourself back in. After experiencing cobbles just a few times now I can appreciate how difficult it is for someone who has never ridden them to grasp just what it is like to ride on them. They are draining and punishing on the body. Cobbles add a completely different element to bike racing and, despite how much I complain, I love it!
Less than a kilometre into the cobbled section and the front of the race was being blown to pieces. Two girls had a slight gap on the main bunch. I watched another three girls jump across to this break and knew that this move could be the move. I jumped on the wheel of a Leontien girl as she attacked to jump across to the break, together we closed the gap quickly and began rolling through and working turns immediately.
I’m forever being told off for riding too big a gear, grinding my pedalling action rather than spinning. This is one of the few points where cobbles and I agree. The best way to ride them is to throw it in the big chain ring, in a small cog and power over them, rolling rather than spinning.
The break continued to work well, quickly establishing a gap of 25seconds which the bunch held for over 15kms. The Ton van Bemmelen Sports team attempted to pull us back as they were the only major team which missed the break. The rest of my team did a great job in breaking up the chase, sitting at the front blocking and neutralising any attacks. After the 80km mark the chase in the bunch seemed to fall apart with the gap growing to 40seconds, then 50seconds and then one minute and 20 seconds. I continued to work hard in the break, pulling strong turns mindful that if we stopped working and got caught any sprinter left in the bunch would have done a lot less work than me throughout the race. Coming into the final kilometres, Lianne Wagtho from Leontien tried to attack the bunch a few times but each time I was straight on her wheel. I came into the final 500ms in third wheel, and opened up my sprint with 150m to go winning convincingly from Danielle Bickering (Hitech Products) and Elise van Hage (RedSun Cycling Team).
All I could hear when I crossed the line was “Ch-lue Hosking, Ch-lue Hosking” and some other very rushed Dutch. (Yes you read right, I have been renamed Clue over here. I find myself getting increasingly bitter with my parents many failures when it came to naming me. Firstly, having the wrong middle name written on my birth certificate and then neglecting to give the ‘e’ on the end of Chloe an accent, meaning that my name doesn’t get pronounced correctly in countries that actually use accents. Could they not have foreseen that I would be racing around the world?)
The whole Moving Ladies team got up on the podium to celebrate what had been a very enjoyable race and one which every member of the team was happy with. My next race with the team isn’t until the end of this month. I leave for Italy on Thursday and cannot wait for some hills and solid training! (Did I just say that?)
Keep posted for more blog’s on the happenings in Tuscany!
Hope you are looking after my (repeat my) Spinergy's over the cobbles. Thrilled to see they are being used for what they were designed for rather than sitting in the shed.
ReplyDeleteHey chloe,
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great riding, you are doing really well. Thanks for the fab stories... they are great reading