Competition
Reflections on 2010
As I sit on another domestic flight to Melbourne on the 1st of January 2011 I have a moment to reflect on 2010.
In December I and the Honda Dream Team came together to compete in the inaugural International Honda Insight Grand Prix series, a 5 day criteium series held in NSW Australia.
The race stages took place in Bathurst, Parramatta, Gosford, Coogee and Cronulla from Wednesday through until Sunday the 12th of December.
We, The Honda Dream Team entered the race with a very strong team but we never dreamed of winning every stage, we knew the series win was a very possible goal, We took the races day by day treating every day as a one day race that we wanted to win… It was an amazing 5 days with Peta winning a stage, Mel winning a stage and I took the other 3 stages and the overall series. Tiff and Jos were the strength of the team, delivering our lead out train to the final 500m in perfect position every race.
30th October 2010. Noosa.
Noosa Win
This weekend the Honda Dream Team won their first race of the Australian Summer Series in Noosa.
Tiffany Cromwell, Josephine Tomic and I took time off the bike after the World Champs and Commonwealth Games so we had planned for our other two riders; Mel Hoskins and Peta Mullens to be in top form for our first race.
Peta and Mel put themselves in every move from the start and after just 10-15 minutes of the race, they decided to put some pressure on their small group. Peta and Mel rode away/off the front TOGETHER- just the two of them! They worked together until the end of the race, finishing 1st and 2nd over 30 seconds ahead of the 3rd placed rider!
Commonwealth Games Delhi, India
I’d firstly like to apologise to all of you for my lack of updates during the past 8 weeks. I’ve been very dedicated to preparing for my 3rd Commonwealth Games (over 8 years) and this meant less time on my computer and more time training and recovering.
I finished 2nd in 2002 and again in 2006 (both medals were on the track in the points race). This year I have been focusing on the Commonwealth Games road race and prepared specifically for the flat 112km race in Delhi, India.
I was fortunate to have such a strong Australian team on Sunday who were able to neutralise all attacks and break-away attempts by the Kiwi’s and Brit’s. It was my task to shadow Nicole Cooke until the last 10km, and then I would take the wheel of Australia’s young sprinter- Chloe Hosking. Australia had another 4 riders (still active in the bunch) during the final 10km’s to cover Cooke and any other strong moves.
Lotto Ladies are now on top!
On the 30th of July Sofie De Vuyst won the 1.NE race in Bambrugge Belgium.
Lago Ceresio, Ponte Tresa, Varese
Grace Verbeke took a solo win at the Erondegem 1.NE race in Belgium last Friday and then she backed it up with another big win at the Valkenburg Hills Classic on Sunday.
Lotto’s newest signing; Australia’s Tiffany Cromwell managed an impressive 2nd place in Germany at the Sparkassen Giro 1.1 race.
That’s some impressive results but what about me? Read More
Lotto Ladies- back on the podium!
Podium
Last week I was 2nd in the UCI race in Cento Italy. Kim Schoonbaert was 3rd in Maarkedal Belgium and Grace Verbeke won the Mountains jersey in the UCI tour of Limousin, France.
Grand Prix de Cento Carnevale d’Europa Feminin was held on the 17th of July in 40 degree heat. The course in Cento Ferarra is a flat sprinters course with a total of 10m vertical ascent which is gained on the two bridges passing over the river. The race is 11 laps of a 10km circuit. There is a total of 10km’s of cobbled sections including the 500m’s into the finish- this tends to favour the older, stronger sprinters.