New Zealand Elite Senior & U23 TT & RR Nationals

[RoadRaven]

Wow. What a day.

It was so interesting to be at an event and watch such a high quality “collection” of cyclists “do their thing”.

The day started early, it was already warm, and I got down to the school where the event was based from at about 8:25am. Enough time to park, to get to the start line, and take a pic before the count-down was on and I was snapping photos as the women went by.

It was interesting to “feel” the energy. It was a strange combination of excitement and apprehension. They were eyeing each other up whilst smiling and almost seemed that many were thinking “I must not be dropped… I have to stay with the pack as long as possible…” When the men lined up later in the day at 12:30, you could almost feel the testosterone in the air. Their were few smiles and it seemed they were thinking – “how quickly can I drop everyone?”

It was interesting to watch the two races transpire and evolve in quite different ways.

In the women’s race, Marina Duvnjak began with a blast of raw power. While the above report says she broke away on the first climb, the marshall on the corner before the first climb described to me how she had actually begun her break earlier, and coming up the false flat into the stiff westerly, she had already made two minutes on the peloton.

When I first saw her, I began to wonder if the peloton had had some dreadful crash. We were at the apex of the climbs and the vantage point offers the view of nearly a kilometre of climbing. She got to the top… still no sign of anyone behind her… and around the corner and she was away… and then the peloton arrived… mooching along. They seemed to be in no rush and by the time they reached where I was watching, the split I took showed her to have a 3minute, 10 second lead! It was downhill and flat from here to the start of the next lap – surely she would keep her lead???!

Now, just to explain this course a little. When I raced it in the club race on Saturday, by the time I got to the top of this climb I was 2:45minutes behind the rider in front. I dropped my chain twice while chasing him, but still managed to close the gap and he was only 12seconds ahead of me across the finish line. So once the main climbing is over, it is very quick if you are confident downhill and have good power in your legs.

Obviously Marina was… on the second lap she was unbelievably still out in front and had even increased her lead by 2 seconds! I began to hope she might keep the lead. But only half of the race had gone – there was still a lot of time for the peloton to do something.

As she went by for the third time, Marina was losing time, and the peloton was only 25 seconds behind her. I felt sad. She had been brave and reached for glory and for me, despite her being swallowed up in the chasing bunch, and not receiving a top ten placing, hers was the gutsiest ride of the day – I was well impressed.

The women disn’t seem to race the same way as the men. They all seemed to be watching each other to cover any attacks… but no-one seemed to do much in the way of attacking. And that was a shame, because this course offers a bit of everything and lots of opportunities to wear down the competition.

We were very proud of our two local girls, Bridget and Steph, who both managed to stay with the main peloton – despite being dropped on the first lap, they made their way back and finished well. The daughter of Ramblers, Sonia, was also in the front bunch and we were all thrilled for her. She is just making the transition from mountain bike racing to road racing. An awesome effort.

Well done Marina. Although Melissa Holt won the title, and although others rode a more cautious, conservative and perhaps “sensible” race… your ride inspired me and while all the other women will blur into a homogenous group – your ride will always stand out for me.

[RoadRaven]

Now the men’s race… that evolved quite differently to the women’s. I didn’t get there in time to see the start, so stopped on my way to my viewing possie at the corner before the first climb started to watch the men go by on their second lap. Already the field was broken up… 2 leaders off the front… another two chasing hard… a handful more trying to bridge the gap and then the main peloton – nearly two minutes before the start of the first climb.

Wow… attacks again so soon… great stuff…

So I drove on round the course in the opposite direction to the racers and stopped at the bottom of “Baker’s Bends” – the most technical descent – to watch them at as they came down for the second lap. A group of five came whizzing by – McCauley and two Auckland jerseys in there… two minutes later, a group of six… and nearly another two minutes came the main peloton – boy it was kinda scarey watching how FAST these boys move – that is one hairy, winding descent and they were treating it like it was straight!

Drove on up to the top again, parked, got out chairs, icey water, camera… here they came again… the leaders still out in front but attacks obviously going on behind with people changing places, and the tail enders beginnning to trail out behind…

We guessed that the gap would be bridged at about lap 5 or 6, and this is what happened, with new leaders and the pace obviously not letting up – the lap times were remaining fast and the main contenders were obviously keeping the heat on trying to drop as many other riders as they could. This was quite a different form of racing from the women.

We started heading back after they came by on their 6th lap and stopped two thirds of the way down the climbs to watch them come by again. Where we stopped, local buy Jeremy Vennell was in the lead of a group of six. Woohoo!

We kept on driving, not wishing to miss the sprint finish, but we shouldn’t have worried. Julian Dean came in ahead by a comfortable 15 seconds or so. (At this point my camera turned off – insufficient battery – and just missed his victory salute across the finishe line! And it was thrilling to see two of our local boys, Jeremy Yates and Jeremy Vennell arrive in 4th and 6th places.

We were also able to watch the three young lads from Auckland take out the top three spots in the U23 title. So much effort, grit and determination.

An awesome if rather hot day.

[kiwi girl]

Thanks for the report Rave.

I'm so pleased that Julian has defended his title. I got such a buzz last year seeing the NZ jersey on tv in the TdF

[RoadRaven]

Yeah, I had doubts about whether Dean could pull it off after about six weeks off the bike with the surgery.
He said he wanted to win it again, and intended to... and he did.

It will be a thrill to see him in TdF again (I am making the assumption his team will be selected and he will be selected )