Luxembourg Review
Luxembourg
Well, I’m back home in Italy for another few days between races in Luxembourg last weekend and Belgium again this weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday I raced in Luxembourg; the races were quite hilly so I didn’t expect any results- I was just going there to be a part of my team Lotto Honda and to get some good training in. I didn’t finish these races in Luxembourg last year so I was surprised to finish 22nd on day one and 8th on day two… a few more UCI points was a tiny bonus!
Seven times World Champion Marianne Vos is unbeatable at the moment! I’m sure a few people are happy to hear that she won’t be in China next week for the UCI tour and World Cup! Marianne won both races in Luxembourg and apparently she demonstrated on Sunday that she is a level above the world’s best; Johansson and Arndt, she rode away from them and won solo by 42 seconds!
What is Marianne Vos? In the past few months she’s won world titles in cycloCross and on the track, she’s won two road world cups within 5 days; one was a dead flat race with a big bunch sprint and the other finished on the wall (Mur de Huy) at Fleche Wallone. This woman has won seven UCI road races already this year, and probably many more races on the track and in cyclocross. Is it possible that she’s the best all-round cyclist ever?
Lux day 1
What can’t she do? Ah, it blows me away- she can beat Ina Yoko Teutenberg in a sprint and also win Fleche Wallone. This is like seeing Cadel Evans outsprint Mark Cavendish on a dead flat race with a big bunch sprint finish or, seeing Mark Cavendish get to the top of the Mur de Huy in front of Cadel Evans!!
Ok, back to Luxembourg, we (Lotto Honda) had a strong team there; unfortunately the results don’t really show it!
Our team was; Me, Tiffany Cromwell, Cathy Delfosse, Sofie Duvyst, Ashleigh Moolman, Laura Werner and Vicki Whitelaw.
You could say all these riders except Laura and I are known to be strong climbers… now what excuses do I have for the lack of results?
Lux day 1 warm down
Um… the answer is lack of skill and experience- not leg power, endurance and fitness.
Little Tiffany is a true racer, she makes courageous moves and takes big risks! Both days I saw Tiff attack like a mad women on the climbs, splitting the bunch and forming break-away groups…. Then I caught and passed her while she was exploding like a bomb! This was clearly Tiff’s objective- to make the bunch react in order to set our other riders up with an opportunity.
Vicki stayed with me on day one to encourage me, I was climbing quite well so her job was not as boring and frustrating as usual! On day two Vicki was free to ride her own race.
I’m not sure what happened but I think she had a mechanical at a crucial moment and therefore was not able to see what she was capable of! In her true professional racing style she appeared with 3km to go and says- come on, I’ll lead you out!! God bless her, she is a truly committed teammate!
Photo by Anton Vos
Sofie Duvyst; missed both the gun moves on both days- perhaps due to lack of top end power and positioning or more likely, just like me- she is racing too conservatively!
Laura Werner? Not a specialist climber- supported me.
Cathy Delfosse; I think Cathy crashed. There were so many conversations going on in our team camp after the race that I didn’t hear what happened with her, everyone was rushing off to different airports etc… and I didn’t get a chance to hear about her dilemma’s!
Last but not least, our little pocket rocket- Ashleigh Moolman. Where was she? We’re hiding her, she’s our best kept secret! No no, Ashleigh was out there putting herself on the line. Ashleigh is South African and very new to the European peloton. The reason Ash missed the moves was because she was always positioned too far back in the bunch at the start of the climbs- but even so, if the climbs were longer she may have been able to climb her way up to the leaders. Ash is a diesel with relatively good power. We should see her do something special in July when the climbs are RIDICULOUSLY long!
Photo by Anton Vos
So, there are all my excuses for all of us in Luxembourg! Ah, my excuse- I’m a chicken- scared of hills! One day I’ll attack the climbs instead of letting them attack me!
Next: Flying to Belgium on Saturday morning for an afternoon race, back to Italy Sunday morning, then to China Sunday night.