Sarah's report on racing the road race and the criterium of the Victorian Championships last week-end, 13-14/08/2011.
The state championships road race is held on a gruelling 47.7km course starting from Anakie and travelling through Meredith and Steiglitz. Two laps of the course would decide the Vic state champion. The bunch stayed together until the first decent followed by a steep uphill where a few riders got caught out and couldn't get back to the main bunch. A break of three girls from the teams of VIS, Bundaberg and Suzuki went shortly after and managed to stay away until the last climb on the first lap. Starting the second lap out of Anakie the bunch was just turning the legs over but there was the tense feeling that someone was going to attack. There were a few digs towards the top of the climb but the bunch was on to it. The bunch stayed together until the climb out of Steiglitz about 10km from the finish when the split in the bunch started to form. The main bunch finished approx 2min ahead of the second bunch followed by a couple of other riders behind them. The winner of the stage was Loren Rowney from Jessica Munday and Kendelle Hodges.
The crit at eastern gardens was met with perfect weather, sunshine and only a slight breeze, much different from the previous year which riders faced torrential rain. With VIS and Bundaberg again in the mix at the front the sprints every second lap were hotly contested. As there was little wind to string out the riders it came down to bunch sprint where those riders first into the last technical uphill left hand corner had all the advantage. Loren Rowney won from Jessica Munday and Grace Sulzberger.
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