Saturday, August 7, 2010

100th Melbourne to Ballarat

On Saturday July 17th, Ballarat-Sebastopol hosted the 100th Melbourne to Ballarat Cycling Classic. For a race that is usually renowed for its howling cross winds and tough conditions the day was actually reasonably pleasant, although the temperature plummeted by about 10 degrees by the time riders made their way into Ballarat



TDT Race had 6 riders starting, with Nik, Sarah, Delphine, Carly and Stacey off the 27 min mark and Chloe starting further back in the 21minute group.
With the cross winds not too bad and a scratch group that apparently weren't working all that well together, it was the middle bunches that came through with the goods.

At about 30km into the 96km race, Chloe's 21min bunch had reeled in all the bunches in front and for a brief moment all of the girls were together. Then with pressure coming from the bunches behind, the pace lifted and unfortunately Sarah and Delphine couldn't quite get onto the strung out line of riders.

The 15min bunch eventually caught the large group of riders out in front, including Chloe and then it came down to a ridiculous final 5km of about 30riders.

Chloe managed to avoid the crashes in the last 1km and finish 12th overall, also picking up 3rd female overall behind Jo Hogan and Jenny Macpherson. Sarah and Delphine rode strongly to finish not too far behind.

A good day with a podium for the team, a handy bit of pocket money and a solid work out for the legs.

Next race for the girls is the State titles in Geelong on Aug 13-15






Canberra Tour

At the start of July, TDT R.A.C.E sent a team of 7 riders up to the DBR Womens Tour of Canberra:


Stage 1- 14km IRTT
As the women were being mustered ready for the start of the 15.5km Time Trial on the first day of the Canberra Tour, the clouds rolled over Mt Stromlo, the temperature plummeted and the heavens opened. The TT was a challenging undulating course, on dead open roads which was made even more torturous in the wet and freezing conditions. While the women shivered waiting to start, out on the course it was down to business. The RACE team all dug deep to overcome the unpleasant conditions to finish the first stage of the Canberra Tour. Chloe finished in a respectable 7th on stage 1, only 1:11 min down on 1st place



Stage 2- 38km Road Stage
Saturday morning was the 2nd stage of the tour and was bound to be tough with a hilly course of only 38km. The stage started off fast and hard in cold conditions. There was barely enough time to warm up before the first attacks started, lead by MB cycles. With close positions between 2-10th on GC nothing was going to be let go.

At the first U-turn the bunch was all together but as the group ascended up the first QOM splits started to appear. A group of about 25 got away at the top of the QOM, which contained Chloe.

This lead group started to decrease as more attacks were made by VIS riders and TIS riders. The chase bunch contained Bec and Sarah who were working hard to minimise any time gaps.

At the second u-turn the lead bunch was down to 17 with Chloe hanging in there. The pace was still high with only 10km or so to go. There was a steep descent down across a bridge and then a very steep climb out of the other side, Jo Hogan and Amy Cure attacked but unfortunately Chloe didn’t quite have the legs to stay with the lead bunch as the group shattered. Amy and Jo extended there lead from the group and Chloe worked with a couple of other girls to stay within touch.

Then the unthinkable happened, Jo and Amy took a wrong turn into the finish, mistakingly turning left instead of right. Not knowing they had gone the wrong way and with their heads down, they kept going until the end of the road before turning around. The chase bunch had also made the same error but turned after 200m and this meant that those behind (Chloe and Bec, who had worked hard in a bunch to make up a lot of ground) had closed the gap.

So end results of the stage were 1st Sarah Cure, 2nd Emma Lawson, 3rd Amanda Spratt.
Bec and Chloe came in 20sec back in 21st and 22nd place respectively. Sarah was next of the RACE girls in 31st position and Vic next in 34th place. Unfortunately Felicity was feeling unwell during the stage and had to pull out. Unluckily for Jo and Amy, they rode in 4mins later and the time stuck, which took the top 2 places on GC out of contention.

After the confusion of the days stage, Emma Lawson wore yellow with Chloe the highest of the RACE girls 9th 43 seconds off the lead.


Stage 3- 40min + 3 lap Criterium
We expected the crit to be aggressive, and it was, although no one was allowed to get away. It was a fairly fast crit, with very few periods of dawdling. The team made a decision to have a lead out train for Chloe with 3 laps to go. Bec made her way to the front and was on the front with 2 laps to go, when the commissaries walked onto the course and told everyone to slow down... Myra Moller (Lawson Homes) and Bec who were on the front couldn't work out why we had been told to slow down. It then became apparent that 3 large kangaroos had made their way onto the course. With lots of yelling the bunch slowed down as the roos darted out in front of the peloton and into the surrounding bushland. Chloe had a great sprint and finished 6th holding her top 10 spot on GC.

Bec taking control before the kangaroos joined the party


Vic and Chloe working hard in the Crit



Stage 4- 72km road race
The final stage was always going to be tough after 3 previous stages in testing conditions. TDT RACE rode out to the start line and when we left home it was -3 degrees and ice still covered the ground. Knowing what to wear caused as much trouble as trying to brake and change gears as well as descending with ice on the road! To cut a long story short, the race went up, then down, then up and down again... for 71km. Chloe got herself in the lead bunch with Vic, Sarah and Bec in the chase bunch. Chloe held on for 5th with Vic, Sarah and Bec crossing the line 2.20min later.

A great tour by the team, and especially with Chloe finishing 6th on GC. The only downside to the tour was Sarah being bought down by a rider over exuberantly sprinting for 25 place on the final stage. It was literally 2m before the finish line on the final stage. Despite being all banged up, Sarah picked up her bike and walked bravely over the line and straight to the ambulance. She is tough as nails and is already back on the bike.

Next up for the team is the 100th Melbourne to Ballarat!