Tour de Fra...Okay not quite.

My last race for the year in the Aussie colours was the Tour Féminin en Limousin in rural France. A UCI 2.2 category four day Tour consisting of four slightly undulating road stages. I went into the race excited as always and a little nervous after my last tour experience.

After a rotation of riders the Aussie team once again had a different line up. Under the direction of Martin Barras, the Australian national women’s coach, the Australian team this year has adopted a different approach to previous years. Where in the past 6 or so girls raced for the Australian team for the entire season, now girls are given the opportunity to race two or three races with the team and then others are brought in.

I think it’s a great opportunity for all the girls involved, giving them international racing experience and exposure to the European peloton. It also enables Australia to show off the depth of talent we currently have coming through the sport.

Tiffany Cromwell, Miffy Galloway, Shara Gillow and I all returned from the previous races. We were joined by Ruth Corset, who rides for the American professional team Jazz Apple, and the U19 rider, Kendelle Hodges who was invited to race with the senior team in preparation for the junior World Championships in a little under a week in Moscow.

The depth of the field while not at the same level of the Giro was still respectable with a number of UCI teams taking the start line and over 170 riders. The first stage quickly established the General Classification (GC) for the rest of the tour with 10 girls escaping on the first Queen of the Mountain and staying away for the entirety of the stage.

Ruth, who was the designated GC rider, finished third in the Stage 1, setting herself up well for the rest of the tour. In the remaining stages all the girls worked hard to try and move Ruth up on GC. The 18 second time gap that Grace Verbeke from Lotto-Belisol gained on Stage 1 proved too difficult to close, however Ruth was able to gain enough time bonuses in intermediate sprints to jump over the Russian rider Alexandra Burchenkova and move into second overall, a position she held until the end of the tour.

I was glad to be able to help position Ruth and give her a wheel to follow coming into these sprints so as to give her the best possible opportunity to gain time over the riders sitting only seconds in front of and behind her in general classification.

On our way to second overall the whole team seemed to get a chance to show what they were made of. On the second stage, Shara, chasing attacks to protect Ruth’s general classification place found herself in a break and claimed second in an intermediate sprint. Shara being better known for her hill climbing and not necessarily her sprinting received a text message from the Australian coach ‘Shara, a sprinter?’

Miffy Galloway was forever present at the front of the bunch, jumping on anything that moved. Miffy ensured that Australia was always well represented. She showed that the nervousness she may have once had about big bunches, fast speeds and narrow roads are all but a distant memory.

Kendelle Hodges, at only 17 years old and not even in the senior ranks was the youngest rider in the race. Kendelle while finishing respectably in each stage improved each day and showed she has a huge future in cycling. She had a successful crossover to not only European but also senior racing. On the third day of the tour Kendelle was challenging for the ‘Aussie Cup’ for best positioned throughout the race and found herself covering numerous breaks, no small feat for a girl who isn’t even senior yet.

The ‘Aussie Cup’, while being a complete fabrication by Nico, our charismatic mechanic, was a competition between all Australian riders in the race and could be awarded for anything from most embarrassing crash to best placed.

Tiffany’s convincing Stage 3 win from a breakaway of five and her tireless and selfless effort throughout the entire tour to help her team-mates showed why she is such a valued member of the American professional team Colavita and the Australian team. Her amazing lead out effort for me in Stage 2 where I claimed second was a sight to behold. After having chased for much of the race to protect Ruth’s general classification position, Tiff again made her way to the front to help me in the lead up to the final sprint. With 3ks to go Tiff was on the front driving it to give me the best possible chance in the sprint. A phenomenal rider and an awesome team player, Tiffany is definitely an Australian cyclist to watch.

And me, after claiming a few sprint points in intermediate sprints and finishing second in Stage 2 the team thought I might be able to have a crack at the green (sprinters) jersey. However, Rochelle Gilmore proved too strong and things were quickly reassessed. My role changed to help position Ruth and also attempt to lead her out for the intermediate sprints which carried valuable bonus seconds. Since the riders around her on GC were 3 seconds ahead, and 1 second behind and Ruth was able to gain more than the 3 seconds needed to move herself into second overall through bonus seconds and small gaps at the finish I’d like to think I did my job well.

The whole tour was incredibly enjoyable, from the people I shared it with, (the Aussie girls and staff, parents and sister), to the success of the team it was a great way to finish off my stint in the green and gold. I can only hope that there are many more opportunities for me to pull those stripes over my shoulders and race with these girls, some of the most talented athletes Australia has to offer.

For now, I’m back to Belgium to race for the Moving Ladies team. It was sad to say goodbye to the girls (who have been good company and excellent training partners for the last month) and my family (who were some of the best groupies one can hope for while on tour) but I’m looking forward to some more Dutch racing and trading the gelati for stroopwafles.

'Flat, like pizza flat'

My legs found themselves back where they belong this past Saturday, on the flat and in the wind. Strangely enough this wasn’t in the land of windmills and wooden shoes, rather, still in the country where clothing, speed limits and indicators are all optional.

The Cento Carnival UCI 1.2 category race was my second race with the Australian team during my month long stint in Italy, and as alluded to was probably the flattest race Italy has ever seen. After my demoralising and draining experience of the Giro I was left singing ‘Hallelujah’.

I was obviously excited to finally do a flat race after what seemed like an eternity since my last Dutch race. I was also excited because I was being given the opportunity to race with and ride for one of the best female road sprinters in the world, Rochelle Gilmore.

Emma Mackie and Rochelle who both ride for the women’s UCI team Lotto-Belisol Ladies joined Tiffany Cromwell, Miffy Galloway, Shara Gillow and I in the race.

Quite often professional riders will ride as guest riders in their national teams when their UCI team is not doing a race. It serves as a great opportunity for girls like myself and Miffy, (who are eager to learn as much as possible about the European peloton, teams and racing) to pick their brains and race with some of the best riders racing, truly an invaluable experience.

Three laps into the eleven lap, 110 km race Emma found herself in a break of 6 riders. With most of the bigger teams represented the break quickly gained an advantage of over 2 minutes. But the Olympic and World Champion, Nicole Cook and her team (Vision1) along with the Italian team Selle Italia Menikini didn’t see the race playing out that way and the break was slowly dragged back with under 10 km to go.

The last 10 km of the race were possibly the fastest I have ever ridden. Safi, the Italian team of Georgia Bronzini, the current world point score champion and one of the world’s best female road sprinters, were clearly on a mission as they controlled the front of the peloton driving the pace.

As I had been given the job of leading out Rochelle I tried to slot myself into the Safi train, knowing that on my own I couldn’t possibly maintain the speed that the Safi train was travelling at for more than a couple of hundred meters.

Sitting fourth wheel with a little over one km to go I was optimistically thinking, I might actually get the lead out right! Unfortunately on the final right hand corner coming into the line I was sandwiched between two Safi riders and with nowhere for me to go but backwards Rochelle was forced to accelerate past me coming out of the corner and I was left to watch the sprint unfold in front of me.

Rochelle finished second behind Bronzini, the team was happy with that result but I was left thinking if only I could have done more for her and the team. My lead out skills aren’t quite up to the standard of Mark Renshaw just yet, but practice makes perfect right? Hopefully I’ll get the chance to lead out Rochelle or another top sprinter in the near future. For now maybe I should give Mark a ring and see if he’s giving any classes?

Now for the women's Giro...

After being in Europe a little under a week I was asked, what races in Europe, if given the opportunity, would I most like to race? I answered, the Women’s Giro of course, and some of the world cups. I thought it was a possibility that I would one day get to race the Giro, at least when I had been in Europe for more than three months. I said to myself, in two or three years maybe I’ll get that opportunity.

Just a few months after being asked that question I found myself donning the Australian colours for the second time and taking the start line of one of the biggest races on the women’s racing calendar. Seven other fellow Australian female cyclists also pulled those green and gold stripes over their shoulders and took to the start line of the Giro Donne or the Women's Tour of Italy. Two of these girls, Lauren Kitchen and Miffy Galloway had progressed with me through the junior ranks and it was great to share the experience with both girls.

Amber Halliday (current Amy Gillett scholarship holder and a team mate in China), Carlee Taylor (current AIS scholarship holder and former Amy Gillett scholarship holder), Belinda Goss (current AIS scholarship holder and medalist at this years Track World Championships), Shara Gillow (Queensland Academy of Sport scholarship holder) and Tiffany Cromwell (current AIS scholarship holder and member of the American professional team, Colivata) made up the remainder of the Australian team.

With an average age of 21, the squad was one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams competing in this years Giro which was to be a ten day tour, with one 2.5 kilometre prologue, one 13 kilometre time trial and eight road stages. The majority of the road stages were unfortunately plagued with 10 kilometre burgs to suit the Italian favourite and last years winner, Fabianna Luperini.

Despite having been advised that the blogging of my Giro exploits should be limited to ‘I refuse to acknowledge the Giro’ and ‘Moving on from my Giro experience…’ I will try and provide you with a bit more insight into what it is like to race one of the hardest, and longest professional Women’s stage races on the calendar.

Far removed from the mass of media, fenced off areas, VIP sections, crazed fans and podium girls of the men’s Giro d’Italia, the women's Giro d'Italia instead has a surprisingly casual atmosphere surrounding it. This was especially surprising for a race in Italy, where passion and drama come second only to tans.

Friends and family make up the majority of the fans (thanks Mum, Dad and Chelsea) and the fenced off areas amount to a single yellow tent where teams congregate before signing on before each day’s stage, a tent that is far from impregnable. Team vans are parked in fields sans toilettes where bushes became the next best option.

Pasta with tomato paste sauce became our staple diet for the 10 days. Luckily for us our amazing swannie, Beth, has a knack for knowing exactly what cyclists need, practice makes perfect. Tasty sandwiches and a mind-blowing breakfast box, full with fruit bread, fruit, nutella, and scores of cereal helped keep us sane and our stomachs full.

The course for this years Giro was incredibly challenging and definitely something I wasn’t mentally, or physically prepared for. I had raced against many of the world’s top riders, such as Ina-Yoko Tuetenburg, Kirsten Wild and Marianne Vos, but never over 10 days and never over terrain presented by this years Giro.

The 2008 Giro d'Italia Femminile was a similar format to this years, however, the terrain was very different. In 2008 four of the seven road stages finished in mass bunch sprints. In 2009, only two stages were gruppo compacto at the end, even better, only one of them was actually raced by the entire peloton as many assessed the last stage’s course to be too dangerous to race on and chose to effectively neutralise the race.

Belinda Goss and I went into the Giro as the team sprinters, our job on the stages where a sprint was not likely was to look after all the girls by helping them with food, water and positioning. Carlee Taylor and Tiffany Cromwell had been singled out us the teams General Classification riders while Lauren Kitchen, Amber Halliday, Shara Gillow and Miffy Galloway were given the jobs of looking after both Tiff and Carlee to the best of their ability throughout the entire tour.

The 2.5 kilometre prologue was done and dusted for all of us in just over 3 minutes, Tiffany posted an impressive time and went into the first road stage in third position in the Young Rider classification.

Unlike 2008, there was to be no easing into the tour with a few flat stages, rather we were thrown straight onto the mountainous terrain which Italy is so well known for. I quickly found myself for the first, but definitely not the last time, in the ‘Bus’, ‘Laughing group’, or the ‘Grupetto’. This is the group that forms at the back of the bike race, where dropped riders work together to make sure they finish within the time limit for the days stage.

My first real chance to do my job as the team sprinter came on stage 4. The stage, which was a circuit course ridden four times, while not completely flat with a 7 kilometre drag, was one suited to the sprinters. I went into the stage eager to do what I do best, sprint.

Throughout the race I felt strong and positioned myself well. A puncture on the second lap threatened to curtail my race aspirations, but the team was quick to come to my aid with Amber Halliday immediately stopping with me to swap wheels and Lauren Kitchen helping me make my way back to the peloton.

Within 5 kilometres we were all back in the race and the flashbacks to my experience in the third stage of the Tour of Chongming Island were pushed to the back of my mind.

Despite the quick recovery from the puncture it was not to be my stage. A sharp left hand corner on the descent 10 kilometres from the finish proved to be my undoing. Taking the corner too fast my front wheel slipped out from under me and I came crashing down, signalling an abrupt end to my hopes of pulling out a result for the Australia team.

I made my way to the finish with the chasing group, never making contact with the front bunch again. The stage was won convincingly by Ina Tuetenburg.

After a few more visits to the Grupetto I was eventually forced to abandon the tour when I found myself isolated and at the back of the race. This marked the end of my first ever Giro d'Italia Femminile, seven days and 485 kilometres into my first major European tour.

Being pulled from the race was truly devastating, I can now fully sympathise with those riders struggling through this years Tour de France but not quite making it to Paris. Next year, hopefully I’ll be back, stronger and better prepared.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the last of the Australian girls to find the Giro over before the last stage. Miffy, suffering from chronic back pain didn’t start the 7th stage and Belinda, while starting the 7th stage wasn’t able to finish due to continuing pain in her arm after a crash in the United States a few weeks before.

The rest of the girls continued on with the tour doing Australia proud. Tiff finished third overall in the young rider classification and Amber began to find her feet in the European peloton with some strong finishes towards the end of the tour such as her 13th place in the eighth stage. Lauren, Carlee and Shara continued to work for the team doing their jobs well.

The Giro was, although incredibly hard and emotionally draining, a great experience. It was great to ride again in the Australian colours in such an awesome team. Martin Barras ran a very well organised and professional team which I felt privileged to be a part of. It was great to share the experience with girls like Lauren, Miffy and Carlee, girls who I’ve grown up and competed with for years.