An update on recent races
After my regional championships I moved on to the next races
Wed June 6: Parel van de Veluwe
A classic roadrace of 135 km (84 miles), cat 1,2&3, 170 starters.
This was my first 'classic' and my goal was to finish in the main group. So I tried to keep in the front which was easy in the beginning but later on it was getting harder. I also didn't want to push myself to hard since I had no idea how my body would respond to such a long distance. After an hour the first escapies rode of which caused the pace to drop somewhat. Half way the second group split of the main bunch. Then the pace was easy to maintain and I knew I would finish. The finish loop (which we had to do twice) was dangerous (lots of cars and small streets) so I didn't really attempt to go more to the front for the finish sprint. I finished 76e, which I thought was good.
Sat June 9: Crit of Groot-Ammers
Crit of 35km (22 miles), 1 km lap, cat 3&4, 30 starters.
It was hot and really humid. The course was short and heavy since 70% had cobbles. We started and within the first lap my two teammates just pulled away from the pack by accelerating on road leading up to the dike. Two laps later I was able to make to jump towards them. We three worked very well together and pulled away from the bunch fast. With 5 laps to go we lapped the bunch. So it was a 1,2,3 for our team, I finished third since my teammates are better sprinters.
Sun June 10: Crit of Erp
Crit of 60km (38 miles), 3,7km lap, cat 2&3, 50 starters.
Still warm but less humid and the lap was so much better then the day before. There were lots of women making an attempt in the beginning to ride away. After 20km on of the women (with the most teammates in the group) manages to ride away and her teammates block the bunch. Which was sorta stupid because no way she would last alone. On of her teammates made a stupid move to pass me, almost causing a crash with me. That got me a bit pissed and that gave me the extra boost to place a good acceleration. Only one woman managed to keep up (former national champion cx) and we both rode to the one girl which rode alone. We managed to stay away long enough for the bunch to give up their chase attempt. I finished second in the sprint. Wow 2 times on the podium in one weekend.
Sun June 17: Classic of Wevershoof
Classic of 107km (67 miles), cat 1,2&3, 180 starters
It really was bad weather, lots of rain that day and the days before. Within 2 kilometer after the start there was the first crash in the bunch. I was just behind it and managed to ride around it through the gras. Just as we were pulling towards the 40 riders which were split off the race was stopped. The riders in the crash lay square across the road so the teamcars were unable to pass and there were a number of girls with bad injurires which had to be taken to the hospital. After 15 minutes we restarted. At 14km (after a difficult section with wind in the side) there was another crash. Again I managed to pass it since I was just behind it. But the race was again stopped since the crash was also bad. After waiting for 15 minutes we were told that the race was cancelled since there were no more ambulances available in the region (we used up all 8 of them to transport the injured girls).
Wed 20 June Crit of Hazerswoud-Dorp:
Crit of 60km (38 miles), 1km lap, cat 1,2&3, 40 starters.
The main sponsor of the event is also the main sponsor of a good cat 1 womens team. So that team was there in full force and they took control of the race. There was no escaping without having one of them on your wheel. They had planned to finish 1,2 and 3 and they played the game to make that so. Which sorta ruined the race, it was not fun for us. I finished 10th after having tried it many times to escape.
Next up is a classic tonight but the weather prediction is pretty bad. Very strond winds (almost storm) and rain. Which is ashame since it is a local race for our team and we would like to score well.
