Veldegem 1.16 - bmwcycling

09 Apr Veldegem 1.16

Posted at 07:35h in Race Reports, Racing, Results by Patrick Harvey

For the first time ever, an u19 NZ women’s team had ventured out of Oceania and found themselves on European soil, with the first race on the calendar being a Belgium 1.16 kermesse.

Having raced Oceania’s just a week ago, the girls had some racing under their belt and were excited to pin a number back on again.

The U19 BM NZ Trade Team of Maia, Ruby, Kirsty, Ava, Tiree and Lola and also fellow kiwi rider, Muireann riding for the Watersley R & D completed the 70km course today in Veldegem, Belgium. Consisting of 16 laps, the pace was on from the get-go, with attacks going early on and teams showing who was wanting to stamp their mark on the race.

There were a number of strong teams and girls used to the local racing and knowledge on these kermesse style races.

On lap 3, all the Kiwi girls were pushing the pace as a team on the front and stringing out the bunch, with a number of girls finding the course too challenging and being pulled early. First goal for the race was already achieved – to have our riders actively racing and on the front!

The U19 bunch was joined by the U17s mid race, which added chaos with an increase in numbers on a tight and fast 4.4km course. The BM girls were chasing down attacks and making sure none of the early moves stuck.

Our race plan was to look for breakaway opportunities in the second half of the race on a course that would likely favor a break that got away.

Ava, Ruby and Maia were amongst all the action at the front in the closing stages of the race trying to force a split or late break with Maia finally getting away with another 2 riders with 4 laps to go.

With Maia away Ava and Ruby did an incredible job shutting down any attempts by riders to jump across of force another split.

The break worked well with Maia looking very strong and the 3 girls worked well together and lasted until the finish line stretching the gap especially in the last few laps in no small part due to the awesome work by the BM team.

In a 3-up sprint, Maia was narrowly pipped on the line but we were absolutely thrilled to come away with a 2^nd place in our first European race.

All NZ girls finished in what remained of the peloton with Ruby showing her sprint and final positioning was a match for her Euro rivals with a 3rd in this chasing group. An awesome Top 30 result, with over 100 riders on the start line. We can’t wait for more racing next weekend back in Belgium!

A special mention to Muireann Green whose advise and guidance to the girls since we arrived in Europe has been invaluable. Having her personal experience and knowledge allowed the girls to go into this race with the self-belief they needed to achieve what they did.

More to come…