Perth SmokeFree Criteriums

TDT Race/Bikeforce took a team of 4 riders and 2 development riders to Perth for the Perth SmokeFree Criterium Series.
Chloe,Sarah ,Miffy and Delphine rode as TDT RACE and Nik and Stacey were riding as Bikeforce

Stage 1: North Bridge
With a new rider added to the start list (Emma Pooley- Garmin Cervelo )all the girls knew they were going to be in for a tough ride!
The race started with 1 neutral lap and then it was on.. Pure Tasmania attacked from the word go, splitting the bunch within the first couple of laps. Then Pooley attacked and that was the last anyone saw of her. Rowena Fry managed to hang onto her wheel for 2 two laps before she came back to the remaining bunch containing Sarah, Miffy and Chloe.
Emma Lawson (Pure Tasmania) managed to get herself a handy split from the bunch after attacking our team after a chase. She managed to stay away and bag 2nd for the day.
Miffy put on an awesome few laps of pace to keep the time gap down to a minimum but with the race running a little longer than calculated, it was all a little too early and with 2 to go the bunch started preparing for the sprint finish for 3rd.
A little too much heat on the final corner saw Gracie Sulzberger wipe out herself and the barriers not to mention stuff up the line of most girls behind her including Sarah and Chloe. Sarah finished the sprint well considering and got up for 9th place. With Chloe finishing in 11th and Miff in 12th.

Stage 2: Victoria Park
Another hot, gusty day in Perth today with a P shaped circuit challenging the riders. First to make the break: Sarah Riley (TDT Race), Kate Finnigan and Sarah Holland, kept a solid pace out front using the advantage of the gap from the bunch, allowing technical cornering. After a few laps in the breakaway Sarah came back to the main bunch to support her team mates.
Pure Tasmania Team were riding to mark Emma Pooley and did a great job at keeping the current TT world champion at bay, getting onto her wheel every time she attacked up the climb. The constant attacks caused the bunch to splinter with 10min to go and Chloe managed to make this lead group of 10.
Sarah and Miffy were just behind in a chase group, which were within meters of rejoining before another attack by Pooley meant the race was strung out again. This group rejoined on the last lap after some cat and mouse from the lead group and some hard chasing on their behalf!
The finish came down to an uphill bunch kick and with cooked legs Chloe managed 9th place. Emma Lawson (Pure Tasmania) got the win from team mate Rowena Fry with Pooley placing 3rd.

Stage 3: Leederville
The first of the night stages was ran in Leederville. A pretty technical circuit was always going to make it a night for a break away. And this is exactly what happened.. Emma Pooley showed why she is the world TT champion, by powering off the front, unable to be brought back in by the hard working Pure Tasmania Team.
Chloe was positioned in the chase bunch of 9, with Miffy and Sarah in the next group, strategically not pulling any more sprinters into the lead group. Chloe got a bit boxed in around the last U-turn corner and couldn’t make up enough ground, placing 10th in the sprint. Miff and Sarah finished just behind. Stacey had a great race and was unlucky to not finish in the top 20.

Stage 4: Fremantle
Fremantle was definitely the most technical circuit of the series, with the added challenge of racing under lights to test out the riders. The race was on for the overall series with 1 point separating Emma Lawson (Pure Tasmania) and Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo).
Emma Pooley threw everything at the Tasmanian trio, but every attack was met by an equally aggressive chase and she could not get away. A break of 7 formed after the elastic band snapped, leaving Chloe, Sarah and Stacey in the chasing group.
Stacey had a brilliant race, staying in with the big girls and showing that she is stepping up to the elite level as an U19 rider. She even took out a midway sprint for some cash!

The three TDT RACE girls did the lions share of the chase and their efforts were rewarded when the break away took the pace off with 1 lap to go and the girls got back on just before the final corner.
Chloe and Sarah contested the sprint from the back of the bunch and finished 9th and 10th respectively.

Overall, it was a great experience for the girls to travel to W.A. to race and we would like to thank the race organizers for putting on an excellent event. We would definitely encourage more chicks to head over to Perth for this series next year!!

BIG THANK YOU'S!!

BIG THANK YOU's

Hi all,
The race reports for Perth will be posted ASAP.. just awaiting some photos..
But to start with the TDT RACE girls want to give a huge thanks to Bill, Matt and the rest of the team from Bike Force Docklands who have provided the team with some amazing Ridley Asteria's for the upcoming road season.




All of the girls loved racing on their new bikes in Perth. The guys did a fantastic job getting the bikes built up in a short amount of time, so if you are looking for some where to buy a new bike or just get your bike serviced the TDT RACE girls would highly recommend you pay these guys a visit!

You can visit their site at; www.bikeforce.com.au

Also a massive thanks has to go to the Bike Force Fremantle guys, who helped us out with tuning up the new bikes whilst we were over in Perth.
So when ever you are in W.A look them up they were amazing.

Perth reports will be up soon..the team flys over to Wellington tomorrow for the UCI Womens Tour of New Zealand.. so more reports will follow.

Ciao

Australian Championships: Criterium and Road Race

National Criterium Championships (Ballarat)
Bec was the sole TDT RACE girl to start, with Chloe pulling out due to sickness. Bec rode a solid race to finish in the bunch where less than half of the field didn’t finish. Jo Hogan and Lauren Kitchen rode a break away to the finish with Lauren taking the honours at the line. Chloe Hoskings took out 3rd with a late attack on the final lap.

National Road Championships (Ballarat)
Clare Dallat rode a brilliant first race back from injury to finish in 30th place. The gauntlet got laid down with an attack on lap 3 that blew the race apart. Alexis Rhodes (Garmin-Cervelo) took the win ahead of Carla Ryan (Garmin-Cervelo) and Jo Hogan (VIS).

Jayco Bay Cycling Classic

Jayco Bay Cycling Classic
Stage 1- Eastern Gardens
The team of Bec, Sarah, Chloe, and guest riders Miffy Galloway and Chloe Hoskings rode well. The aim was to set up Chloe Hoskings for the sprint. An attack at 3 to go meant that Chloe McConville burnt up all her lead out legs chasing it back and it was left up to the other remaining girls to help out. Not all went exactly to plan with Chloe Hoskings finishing just out of the top 10, but some positive aspects were taken out of the race.







Stage 2- Portarlington
By far the toughest circuit of the Bay Crits, an early crash took out some big names, with Belinda Goss breaking her collarbone and our rider Chloe Hoskings coming off and snapping her brand new team bike. The tough circuit took its toll and only 15 or girls finishing the stage. Unfortunatley none of our girls finished. The stage win was taken out by Tiffany Cromwell in a solo break.





Stage 3- Ritchie Boulevard
The hot-dog circuit is one renowned for crashes and some really tough racing. Definitely the best result of the racing for us so far with Bec finishing not far out of the top ten and Chloe Hoskings bagging a 2nd in a sprint finish. The win was taken out by Rochelle Gilmore (Honda Dream Team). A big thanks has to go to Paul Beretta for sourcing a new specialized bike for Chloe to race on.







Stage 4- Williamstown
Last stage = some tired legs and some girls who really wanted to keep The Honda Dream Team from a clean sweep. Racing again was fast paced with the Jayco team throwing down everything to make the Honda girls tired. Chloe Hoskings again did the team proud with a 3rd place behind fellow HTC highroad team mate Judith Arndt and Rochelle Gilmore.





Overall:
Chloe Hoskings 5th place GC

Tour of Bright December 4th and 5th

Tour of Bright December 4th and 5th
Stage 1- Tawonga Gap
Time to test the legs in the hills… a strong field had assembled in Bright at 7am for the first stage. Riders were welcomed by a light drizzle but that soon disappeared. An attack went early by Mary Rogers that lasted until half way up Rosewhite gap. Chloe and 2 NTID riders had broken clear at the bottom of the climb and took the top 3 places over the QOM, however this group was quickly joined just over the top by the chase group which contained the big names of the race.. Whitelaw and O’Donnell.
The leading group of 10 or so riders were caught by the peloton just before the 2nd intermediate sprint at Tawonga and the bunch was all together leading into the final climb. As soon as the gradient increased, the peloton splintered… Chloe finished the highest place of the team in 6th. Sarah had a strong finish to be in the top half with Vic a little further back.

In B Grade Women TDT RACE was fielding 2 riders who had a good chance of getting some solid GC results in Delphine and Stacey. Delphine showed some strong sprinting form to be leading the Sprinters competition at the end of the day and Stacey was on top of the U19 competition. Both riders finished well up the field in the first stage.




Stage 2- 15km IRTT
With several members of the team racing with equipment they hadn’t raced on before there were high hopes of time being shaved off relative to the other competitors. Sarah was the first of our girls to roll off and had a solid ride. Chloe saddled up the new Scott for its first race and went far better than expected, getting 5th in the stage, moving her up into 5th on GC. Vic was the next one of the A grade TDT girls to start and she was very satisfied with her result.

In B Grade, Delphine had a ripper. Stacey also rode a great race with tired legs from the morning to finish 2nd in the under 19 category




Stage 3- Mt. Hotham Climb
After 20km of the A grade bunch stuffing around with no one rolling turns and the bunch behind catching them, the commissaries told the girls to start racing or get pulled off the road. As per usual as soon as the gradient went up… somewhere around The Meg, the bunch shattered with a group of 8 including Chloe going clear. This lead bunch was caught by a chasing 4 riders just before the ticket box, but again as soon as the gradient kicked up the mountain goats showed their legs. Chloe didn’t have enough gas to go with the attack, but continued solidly with Rebecca Locke (Prime Estate) to peg back a couple of riders over the final kilometers. Chloe finished the stage in 7th, slipping down to 6th on GC and out of the cash!! But extremely happy with how she went in the hills. Sarah was the next best placed not too far off the pace.







In B Grade, Delphine was the convincing winner of the Sprinters Jersey, getting a 1st and 2nd in the intermediate sprints, placing her well on top of the table. Stacey showed her climbing form, coming in first place in the U19 category up Hotham, sealing her victory overall in the U19 class.

Shipwreck Coast Classic

Shipwreck Coast Classic 110km Warnambool

Sarah, Chloe, Delphine and Stacey heading over to Warnambool to race in the Shipwreck Coast Classic in wintery, cold wet conditions.
Stacey put the pace on early, making the other girls chase. A crash occurring due to a clip of wheels took down Delphine and Chloe at the 15km mark. Delphine was unable to continue, but Sarah dropped back to help Chloe chase and the two got back on the bunch after a couple of km’s.
Sarah attacked at the 35km mark gaining a good advantage. With the cross winds the bunch was having difficult chasing her down as Chloe sat in and looked after herself. 10km later Chloe attacked on the climb and bridged across to Sarah. The two worked hard together into a relentless headwind and finished over 5min in front of the bunch, gaining 1st and 2nd with Kate Finigan getting 3rd in the bunch kick.

High Country RR and Crit- Oxley Oct 9/10

High Plains Road Race Oct 9
A beautiful sunny day met Vic, Bec and Chloe up at the start of the High Plains Road Race at Mansfield in Victoria’s north east. The race went pretty much to plan; put the pressure on up the climb over Whitfield gap, then Chloe attack and see if she can get away and stay away.
Vic did a great job of attacking first, making the other girls in the bunch expend a bit extra energy. Then Bec put some pressure on, then just before the QOM, Chloe attacked, taking out the QOM jersey and giving herself a gap of a 100m or so onto the descent. The next 65km of the 100km race was spent alone by Chloe out front, slowly building up an advantage of just over 3min by the time she reached the line at Sam Miranda Winery at Oxley. Bec rode a smart and tactical race to win the bunch kick for 2nd place. Vic who had done a great job early on rode across the line a couple of minutes later. A good day at the office for team R.A.C.E. 1st place, 2nd place, QOM and Sprinters Jersey not to mention a handy wad of cash and some nice wine.




High Country Crit Oct 10
Sunday brought another sunny day at Sam Miranda Winery in Oxley, but unfortunately for the race organizers this meant that half of the women’s field decided it would be much nicer riding Mt. Hotham than racing and so didn’t front up to the start. This left the field a little small, however that didn’t mean the race wasn’t aggressive.
Bec and Chloe attacked the whole race, getting away from the bunch with young gun Toni Abbosogni. Chloe managed to take both the win and the intermediate sprint. With Bec just getting pipped by Toni, ending up with a 3rd place.
A big thanks to Sam Miranda Wines for holding such a fantastic event with a great atmosphere and prize money not seen anywhere else in Victoria for a women’s race! It would be great if more women would make the trip up and support these races as without our support these types of events will stop being held.
Also thanks to Doug and Marg McConville for hosting the team over the weekend!!

Ballarat World Cycling Classic:

The Sunday before the World Road Cycling Championships gave the team an opportunity to race against the professional girls in the pre-worlds warm up event at Buninyong.
The pace was fast and considering most of the team has had no racing since State Titles in August it was definitely a shock to the system! It was an amazing experience to be able to ride with girls of that caliber who are in the form of their lives and simply riding in a bunch that big with handlebars that close together took a little more concentration.
Chloe was the only member of TDT R.A.C.E. to finish, coming over the finish line just over 1.5min off the back of the peloton in 58th place in her first UCI race. Considering training was not altered coming into the race, and there has been no racing for 6 weeks it was a pretty solid result.
Next up for the team is the High Plains Road Race and High Country Criterium at Sam Miranda Winery up in the King Valley on Oct 9/10

Victorian State Championships IRTT, RR and Criterium

Victorian State Titles:

The middle of August marked that time of year when the Victorian State Titles roll around. Friday the 13th was the 20km down and back ITT down along the foreshore at Portarlington. With a strong team including new member Clare Dallat who recently placed 4th at the Irish National Championships in the TT, expectations were reasonably high. The competition was tough as the event doubled as a national road series race, with several interstaters coming south to try their luck.Unfortunately no one from the TDT R.A.C.E team was overly satisfied with their result, Chloe was the highest placed in 15th, 1:05 back from the winner, VIS rider Jo Hogan. Flick was only 2 seconds further back in 16th. But to take the positives out of the race, there was a big improvement in several riders compared to last year and with such small time gaps between 1st and 20th place, the girls did ok.

Saturday was the road race with 2 laps of a brutal 47.7km course out at Anakie. The team did some reconnaissance the weekend before and decided the course was definitely going to be one of attrition. The race started off with a 6km steady climb, then come some undulating hills before a steep and tricky descent down over a bridge and then a wall of a climb out of the other side. This climb is where the race plan came slightly unstuck…Chloe was one of the first down the descent and then had some bad luck strike when a mechanical problem forced her to stop on the climb and fix a thrown back wheel. Bec stopped and waited, and dragged Chloe back up to the group, along with assistance from Sarah and Flick which took almost 5km. By the time the girls got back on there was about 3km recovery before the major QOM. With a lot of energy being used to get Chloe back up to the front it was going to be a tough task climbing with heart rates already beating at max.The major climb is where the bunch blew apart with 8 girls in the front bunch and then a chase group of 10 including Bec and Chloe, followed by the a strung out rest of the peloton including Sarah, Vic, Flick and Delphine.

The rest of the race was just a matter of finishing with winds picking up, the threat of rain and hill after hill. After the first lap, almost half of the 60 odd field had pulled out. The chase group worked well together but not well enough to pull in the lead group. About 5km from the finish, Chloe had a slow leak in her back tyre which limited any chance of sprinting for a top 10 finish, coming through in 15th place. Bec finished just off the back of the chase group in 17th place, and Sarah had a solid race to finish in the third group in 21st place. The win was taken by fellow Victorian Jo Hogan ahead of Laura Luxford and Loren Rowney.All girls agreed that this course was one of the toughest they had ridden.

Sunday was the final day of competition in the form of a criterium at Eastern Park in Geelong. As most would have heard the race was marred by a horrendous crash just after the finish line due to a photographer stepping out in front of a bunch of girls on a saturated course. Former team mate Jenny MacPherson got the win. Unfortunately Sarah and Vic got caught up in the crash, but luckily escaped with no serious injuries.
All in all not a bad tour for the first time with the new line up riding together, no amazing results but consistently up there with a bit of bad luck. Now to look forward to the next one!!