SunTour: Positioning Is the Key - bmwcycling
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30 Jan SunTour: Positioning Is the Key

Posted at 19:13h in Racing by

Racing with the world champion among with other professional cyclists is something many people dream of, and thanks to the hard work of Patrick Harvey and Katri Laike, myself and many other kiwi women had the opportunity to do so at the Herald Sun Tour. The race consisted of a 124km road race and a 1.6km time trial through the Melbourne CBD.

I knew that racing my first UCI race would be a battle of survival as it is quite a step up from the junior racing I am used to. With a bunch of almost a hundred (by far the largest bunch I have ever raced in), I knew that positioning would be crucial to my longevity in the main peloton. Throughout the first 60km I sat near the front of the bunch but after getting pushed back during a sprint prime, I ended up heading into the first QOM climb near the back of the bunch which wasn’t ideal. The climb felt like it was never ending, winding its way up the side of a mountain. Having lost some ground right near the base of the climb I fought hard the whole way up and made up a lot of time on many of the girls. Knowing the decent would be crucial – especially with a wet road – I attacked it down, rolling past quite a large bunch in the process. Everything was happening so quickly as I was watching riders slide over the bank as they skidded out on the slippery roads. This sadly included fellow U19’s Niamh Fisher-Black and Abigail Morton both of whom had been positioned well over the top of the climb.

A group of us ended up forming once out of the decent and we stuck together working hard as a collective, especially over the main QOM climb at 90km, and along until the finish.  Making the time-cut for the stage meant that I was able to start the following day in the Melbourne CBD.

This was an incredible experience, especially since the men were racing only and hour or two after us so the atmosphere was exhilarating. The course was very technical with a hairpin right near the start as well as a few potholes and curbs to manoeuvre. For me, the final few hundred metres were definitely the hardest, as it was over tiles that sucked the speed out of you. I was happy with the time I set as it was competitive with many of the U23 and my fellow Mike Greer teammates.

I can’t wait until I can race another big race such as this!

Team Presentation

Team Presentation

Britney getting to practice public speaking!

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