Bay Crits Stage One
Stage One, East Gardens Long Circuit, Victoria. 2nd of January 2010
Stage One Win (womenscycling.net)
Stage one of the Bay Crit series in the East Gardens of Geelong is my most least liked circuit of the series, there are no corners, no real hills and a fast downhill sprint… the strong headwind sprint was something I did like!
The race started out very calmly with my teammates controlling the race and covering all the moves, the pace picked up a little leading into the first sprint which I was keen to contest, Peta Mullens gave me the perfect lead-out and I took maximum points in that first intermediate sprint.
The race continued at a steady pace until the second intermediate sprint which I didn’t plan to contest as it’s only 6 laps from the finish of the race. I followed Peta again and came 2nd without a maximum effort; this put me in the lead of the sprint classification leading into day two
Leading into the last lap of the race the pace was very high and the bunch was riding crazy for positions, elbows were going everywhere and it was difficult to hold a good position out of the wind. Fortunately my Honda Dream Team put themselves on the front with half a lap to go and my confidence was boosted, Tiffany Cromwell started the lead-out up the slight rise around the back while Jos Tomic and Nimesha Smith kept me well protect and out of the wind… Peta Mullens moved around behind me keeping a close eye on protecting my back wheel!
I was sitting behind Jos when Chloe Hoskings started her sprint with a wildly explosive kick 200m from the finish, she came off my wheel and headed for the far side of the road, I responded quickly and followed her across to the right side, taking one deep breath before accelerating past in a monster gear, the 11!