Spain

Spain World Cup had evidently been a main target for a number of the world’s best sprinters.

Many team’s arrived in Valladolid Spain with their strongest sprint specialists, leaving their climbers at home until later in the week when the known mountainous races were to begin; Durango & Bira.

It was only on the morning of pre race day when our director mentioned that the course had changed from the previous year. Last year the course was relatively flat and well suited to the sprinters.

Our (the rider’s) initial reaction was; how could you not know this before selecting a team and having us prepare mentally and physically for a flat race? Well as it turned out, even the strongest teams like HTC & Garmin had left their climbers at home, thinking it was still a flatish world cup circuit. Apparently the information and profiles provided were not accurate. The only real winners in this situation were team Nederland Bloet who had brought one particular rider who can win a flat race or a really hilly race (Marianne Vos, who went on to win the World Cup).

As I had prepared well for this race and felt fit and healthy, I didn’t really allow the news to phase me, I thought ok, a few hills I can handle!

Our Team, Lotto Honda got ready and set out on our bikes to take a look at the course. After completing just one lap of the 7km finishing circuit it was clear that even a strong, fit, pure sprinter was not going to finish amongst the leaders.

The finishing circuits were extremely tough with a few steep hills including a 1.6km uphill to the finish. If the race only included 2-3 of these finishing laps then maybe it could have been possible for a sprinter, but not with 5 of these tough laps.

The disappointment I felt was immense. I had been thinking about the Spanish world cup for one year (since missing it due to illness last year). I had prepared well. My SRM power outputs were spot on just days before the race and my motivation was high! I didn’t cope too well, even though there was nothing I could do about it – I still just felt disappointed. I think the toughest thing was knowing that there are not many races coming up for sprinters. Hopefully there will be opportunities for stages in the ridiculously hilly tours like Trentino and the Giro d’Italia etc… but the next one-day race for sprinter’s is not until mid July in Cento, northern Italy. There are two world cups left now, one is in Sweden (late July) and the other is in Plouay, France in August. Sweden could possibly come down to a small bunch sprint but Plouay is definitely another one for the climbers.

I woke up on the day of the Spanish world cup with a slight lack of motivation due to the severity of the course but,during the race I felt quiet good and became more positive, thinking that you never know how the race is going to go, and anything is possible. The bunch was together when we hit the first of the five finishing laps and I raced near the front for two laps and then on lap three I realized that the climbers were just playing!  There was no chance of hanging on over the climbs once they’d decided to put the hammer down. Knowing that I couldn’t match the climbers on the final laps I mentally gave up. It’s difficult for a sprinter to keep pushing for a decent placing when they know they can’t podium. I’ve never been able to really hurt myself when a podium finish is out of reach.

On lap three (on the toughest hill) I took the pressure off the pedals during a moment of mental negativity, I rolled down the other side waiting to slip into a little group on the descent. I started thinking about our team’s climber- Ashleigh Moolman while riding the last two laps at a comfortable pace. As the race kept turning back on itself I couldcatch a glimpse of the leading riders. Ashleigh was there with the leaders and looking good with 2km to go. Unfortunately, Ash slipped out and crashed on the last roundabout just 1.6km from the finish- she lost contact with the leaders and finished 27^th in the second group. I finished mid field feeling like I didn’t give 100% but knowing that 100% might have only just got me into the top 20!

Ah, I shouldn’t complain too much, we’ve finally got a World Championship and Olympic Games course for the sprinters to look forward to!!

I stayed in Spain for another climbers race 2 days later: Durango-Durango. I’m not really sure why… the planning for Spain was in hindsight a complete stuff up. I wonder if I still would have made the trip if we knew the World Cup course had changed? It’s possible that I would have gone anyway due to the fact that there is not much racing on the calendar but I definitely would have went with a different attitude; to train through the racing instead of peaking for nothing. We, Lotto Honda had also considered going to America for the Philadelphia Classic so I guess we may have done that if we had known about the Spanish World Cup circuit.

Durango-Durango was pretty uneventful for me. I raced well for the first 80km and then tried to aggravate the bunch leading into the bottom of the first major climb. Ashleigh wanted the pace of the race to be very high into the first climb at the 80km mark but my turnswouldn’t have been hard enough- so I tried some attacks hoping to spark a reaction. My race was over when we hit the climb and it was then up to Ash to do what she does best! Unfortunately Ash dropped her chain at the top of the first climb and had to stop and put it back on with her hands. One teammate; Marissa Van Der Merwe stopped to assist her but as Ash took off to chase the leaders again she was too strong to benefit from Marissa’s kind sacrifice. Ash solo chased for 5km just rejoining the leaders on the descent into the last climb. Ash climbed well but couldn’t/didn’t respond to the moves of Vos & Johansson (we will never know if she could have responded without having done the 5km solo chase). I believe Arndt and Pooley jumped over to the two leaders to make a lead group of four, Ash was in the group of 5 who crested the climb just seconds behind. So, Ash finished 9^th in Durango- not having the best sprint (5^th of 5 in her group) but again proving she is one of the top 10 best climbers in the world. AshleighMoolman is still relatively unknown in the peleton but riders like Vos are starting to recognize the constant presence of Lotto Honda’s little South African on the climbs!!

Posted in Competition on June 9th, 2011