Sprinting with the best

The next month ushers in a full program of racing and training with the Australian National squad. The races will be some of the biggest and hardest I have ridden and I’m itching to race the Giro, Cento and Tour de Limousin.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The weekend past saw me race the RaboSter "Zeeuwsche Eilanden", a 2.2 UCI category, three day stage race held in Zeeland on the Dutch coast. Consisting of a 7km Prologue, and two typical Dutch road stages, the tour drew an impressive field.

With over two hundred girls and seven UCI teams taking the line, including Columbia, Nurnberger and Lotto-Belisol the races were bound to be hard. The roaring winds of the Netherlands combined with technical courses and enormous bunches ensure this is generally the case.

As always, I went into the three day race eager to get the adrenalin and heart pumping, but this time I was slightly more excited. The quality field included three of the world’s best female sprinters; Ina-Yoko Tuetenberg (Columbia), Suzanne de Goede (Nurnberger), and Rochelle Gilmore (Lotto-Belisol). I was excited to be able to race with them.

If travelling to Europe has changed anything about me at all it would be my desire. Racing week in, week out against the best riders in the world has only intensified my desire to be one of the best in the world. Every time I take the start line in Europe I find myself determined to prove myself. Racing against riders like Teutenberg and de Goede adds that extra incentive to do well.

Never having been known for my time-trialling abilities I finished a disappointing 131st in the opening 7 km Prologue, as much as I could make excuses and say I was at a disadvantage because I didn’t have any of the specialist equipment, the reality is that it was a dismal result and clearly an area I will have to work on in the future.

I went into Stage Two with all General Classification hopes dashed and with nothing to lose and everything to gain. The importance of being at the front was made obvious when the bunch splintered into three groups at around the 50 kilometre mark. The other three members of my team who had taken the start line that morning, Emma Trott, Mirthe Wagenaar and Sarah Cramoysan all found themselves in the chasing bunches. I had positioned myself well throughout the race so was still at the pointy end of the race with 20km to go.

Flexpoint, a Dutch based UCI team who are always very aggressive launched a few attacks but were reeled in by the Columbia team each time. Columbia clearly favoured their chances in a bunch finish, with sprinter Ina-Yoko Tuetenberg, arguably the best female sprinter in the world.

With 10 kilometres to go I found myself fighting for Teutenberg’s wheel. Coming into the last right hand corner with 300 metres to go there was no clear lead out train happening. Riders from Leontien, Lotto-Belisol, Nurnberger, Flexpoint and Columbia were spread across the road.

With about 200metres to go there was a near fall involving two girls, just in front of Teutenberg and I. Ina went one way and I went the other as the sprint for the line opened up. Suzanne de Goede who been in front of excitement crossed the line for a convincing win with Ina-Yoko a few bike lengths behind her. I crossed the line narrowly taking third from Loes Gunnewijk ( Flexpoint).

I was happy with the result and keen to repeat or better the performance in stage three but that was not to be. The third stage of the tour is renowned for its difficulty and often sees only thirty or so of the massive field finish. Going into the stage I had been told by a friend about last years race where only 24 girls had finished, she described the stage as the ‘hardest race of the year’- coming from an experienced racer this was a warning to be heeded.

The course which included two 7 kilometre bridges and a 6 kilometre dike, a form of road which sits above the land dividing the water from the land, to be ridden three times ensured the bunch was constantly spread single file battling the ferocious winds which the province of Zeeland turned on for us.

Coming into the race I thought I knew when to be at the front, admittedly in Dutch races, or any race in Europe really, you should always be at the front but constantly fighting to hold your position takes its toll. Crossing of the two bridges were obvious danger points and I was so focussed on these bridges that I’d neglected to think about the dike just before the finish line.

Coming onto the dike for the first of three times I was poorly positioned and found myself too far back when the pressure went down. The bunch splintered into three groups and I found myself in the third, with all the race favourites in the front bunch I knew where I had to be and so I attacked out of the bunch after the dike trying to close the gap.

With 30 kilometres to go the race came back together but I had expended a lot of energy chasing and wasn’t feeling too crash hot. With about 15 kilometres to go five girls made a break, all of the major teams bar Nurnberger were represented in the break. With no one chasing, the break rode away from the bunch. The placegetters came from this bunch, Nikki Harris a former Moving Ladies teammate, who signed with Flexpoint mid season, took second and I cruised to the line 35seconds behind first place.

It was a great tour and I was pleased to come out with a stage podium finish in a field of such quality. Hopefully I’ll be back next year with a stronger time trial and more experience, I might even have a crack at the young rider classification!

But now I’m back in Italy and have joined up with the Australian team headed by Martin Barras. It has been great to meet up with the all the girls who are racing with me in the Giro, (and to hear the Aussie accent again!). I can’t wait to pull the green and gold jersey over my shoulders and ride as part of an Australian team!