Tour Cycliste Feminine Ardeche

Diary of Team Kiesan member

Wed 7th: Prologue: 3.8km
Up at 6.20am, ouch that hurt me. I wasn't too sure how my form was as I'd had a few days off with a cold and just done 40km easy rides all week. We arrived with not much time to spare, so we just had enough time to drive the course. Then we got to the start, I jumped on my bike, did a lap of the course then did a couple of short fast efforts on the wind trainer and I was off. It started off at the bottom of a 1km climb, then there was a very dodgy descent and finished on a flat skinny road through the centre of town. I tried to hammer myself on the climb and try to stay upright on the descent as the road was wet and there were some tight corners. Edita Pucinskaiate from Nobili won in 5min 28 sec and to my surprise I ended up just 19 seconds down and 8th overall! Wicked, maybe these short warm ups work for me.

Wed 7th: Stage 1: 77km
Good stage this avo. We did 3 GPMs that were all about 2-3km each and all in the first 30km of the stage. The pace up the climbs was made very fast by the Americans and the bunch split early on. I made the front group of 25 along with Toni and Michelle. We all did really well and had turns attacking the bunch and going with attacks but nothing stuck. It came down to a bunch sprint and unfortunately I found myself too far back as it was very twisty turny and ended up 16th. Still, not a bad day, kept myself in 8th on GC.

Thurs 8th: Stage 2: 108km
Today was great fun. It was flat, fast and raining. (Maybe I'm going crazy). It’s the type of racing I like, where you’re in a big bunch and it’s fast and you have to always fight for position. I tried to get away a few times but nothing was going. It ended up a big bunch sprint and I finished in 7th place. There were a lot of crashes today because of the rain and very poor traffic management. Normally hazards such as traffic islands are pointed out to us by policemen standing there with flags and whistles, but this tour has very little of that. Very dangerous.

Fri 9th: Stage 3: 96km
Today we had 3 climbs. The pace up the climbs was pretty fast but the bunch stayed together until the last climb which was short but steep. I think there were about 50 of us left at the end. It was a hard slight uphill finish and I ended up 15th and held 8th on GC. We are also 4th team on GC at this stage which is cool. Unfortunately Joh got caught up in one of the crashes today but she managed to get back on and finish with us.

Sat 10th: Stage 4: 76km
Today was a circuit race – 8 x 9km circuit. The pace was very high from the gun as the first GPM was just after 3km. Myself, Toni and Michelle all had good position going up the climb on the 2nd lap. All of a sudden (from what I can remember as it happened so fast) someone chopped me and my wheel got taken out and I was sent flying into the stones off the right of the road. Unfortunately Michelle was on my wheel and Toni was on her wheel and we all came down along with a few others. I jumped up and all I could hear was Toni screaming “I can’t move.” Mitch and I ran over to her and tried to help her up. By the time we had figured out she was ‘ok’ and I got my bike straightened out, the bunch was long gone and we all ended up pulling out. I still can't quite believe it happened, one minute I'm sitting 8th on GC and so motivated to get a result and the next minute I'm pulling out.

I know some people think I made the wrong decision and that I should’ve jumped back on my bike straight away, but I had to make a decision at the time and that’s what I did and I have to live with it. It’s not nice seeing your team mate and friend lying on the road not knowing how badly hurt she is. I think things have changed since the Australian tragedy this year and we had that on our minds and panicked a bit and didn’t know what to do. I would never have forgiven myself if something bad had happened to Toni and I had just ridden off. I’m ok, just the usual gravel rash on my knee and elbow, some bruising on my butt and hand, a very sore neck and a pulled muscle around my right knee. Michelle’s knee is pretty banged up and Toni has a sore back as she came down hard on her backside, but hopefully they should be sweet in a couple of days. Tammy pulled out on stage 4 as well, so it was up to Joh to fly the kiwi flag for the rest of the tour.

So, a very disappointing way to end my season in Europe, but that’s bike racing. On a positive note (after the disappointment subsided) I have come away from the tour with a lot of confidence and feel like I'm riding so much stronger now and looking forward already to next season.