How to sum up a 10 day Giro in a short blog?
28th July 2009
Well if Lance can sum up a day in a Twitter then I’ll give this a go.
The Giro was an eye-opener, another step up in skill and standard. I found that out on day one, a 2.5km prologue, where I struggled to make the top half of the results sheet, even with my supposedly tuned engine! I comforted myself with the fact that it was way too short to suit me and that a 15km Time Trial was coming up on stage 2.
But before that we had a hot, hard, hundred km day in the saddle on stage 1 where five drink bottles wasn’t enough to stay hydrated – I had lost 2kg upon checking at the end! The Italian summer had well and truly settled.
I was keen to do well in the TT but the only hitch was that we had not surveyed the correct course on the bike and at the end there was a tricky decent that we’d never done and an uphill ‘kick’ on cobblestones that we hadn’t seen! I was happy with how I was feeling on the Bianchi TT bike that Bikesportz had generously loaned me and I was confident that I could handle the cross winds with the Bouwmeester tri-spoke in the front. The AIS scholarship coach Dave McPartland was in my following car and was encouraging me over the radio when I passed both my one and two minute girls.
I usually love descents, but on a TT bike with race wheels that just want to go in a straight line, it was a battle of will not to touch the brakes (a battle that I lost). Then it was into a hairpin, pretty much straight down into the easiest gear and an out of the seat grind to the finish line. I only had a 23 on my disk and at one stage I was seriously thinking “I hope I don’t have to click out!” I crossed the line in a good position …I think… I wish I understood rapid, excitable Italian better. But in the end I was eaten up by 27 others, with the only comfort being that those who beat me were some of the best time triallers in the world. Indeed it was the reining World Champion Amber Neben who won it.
The rest of the Giro can be summed up with one word – hills. It was a course designed for the Italian climber Fabiana Luperini who won last year’s Giro on a decisive mountain stage. This was good for me, and our team who were riding for rising star Tiffany Cromwell, but unfortunate for our sprinters Chloe Hosking and Belinda Goss, with only two stages that might be a bunch finish.
One of these was stage 4, a 27km circuit with a climb that the sprinters were going to find tough but should get over. I came in handy when Chloe got a puncture and I was close by to hand over my wheel then stick around for the neutral spares. I worked my way back on for the fourth and final climb where I found Chloe in a good position up front but needing a wingman for the crest and decent towards the finish line. It was after only a few hundred metres of taking Chloe down the hill that I heard an almighty crash behind me – yes, it was Chloe, most likely getting taken out by a rider behind her. And just as I was feeling useful! But that’s racing.
As the rest of the field got more and more tired, I was riding better and better. For the next few stages Tiff contested the young riders jersey and I tried to help as much as possible. Most of the time it was a matter of hanging on and coach Martin Barras could sense the survival mode that we all went into. He wanted us to get up front and try to get into breaks – something I eventually managed to successfully do on stage 8.
The hilly day started with a 12km decent and we were nearing the bottom when I saw two riders go. “Occhio, occhio,” I yelled at the girl in front of me meaning “look out” or in this case “get out of the way” and I was off. Team captain Lauren Kitchen told me over the radio we had a good gap and we soon had 30 seconds on the field. Beginning the first climb the other girls seemed to be tiring already so I had to drive it and we got it out to almost a minute. There was soon a strong chase group who caught us, which included eventual stage winner Trixie Worrack. So it was just a matter of increasing the time gap before the members of the break-away started attacking each other. Trixie was looking strong all day and she got away on the final major climb with a group of three chasing. My earlier effort meant I had nothing in the tank so I waited for Claudia Haussler’s (race leader) group to catch us and just tried to stick with them until the finish. All that toil and effort resulted in 13th on the day and a jump in my GC to 25th. Considering I had a personal ambition of targeting the TT and nothing more, I was well pleased to be in the top 25 out of 137 starters.
The team was great, Carlee Taylor, Miffy Galloway and Shara Gillow are the other members not yet mentioned. And of course we had great support from soigneur Beth Duryea, sports scientist Laura Garvican and mechanic Wayne Nichols.
None of these adventures would have been possible without the opportunity afforded to me by being the Amy Gillett Scholar. Thank you so much to the AGF and its supporters - Bianchi, Oakley, Bouwmeester and the AIS.
As for the next chapter, I am unsure. I am having some downtime back in Adelaide where I’ve started a new role with the Sunday Mail. I’d like to do a few races in the lead up to nationals this year, which I can now contest with some actual race experience under my belt!
Stay safe on the roads.
