The Hectic Convoy - EPZ Omloop van Borsele 2.NCUP - bmwcycling
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24 Apr The Hectic Convoy – EPZ Omloop van Borsele 2.NCUP

Posted at 19:02h in Racing, Rider Blogs by

A Riders Perspective – Ava Maddison

I learnt a lot from this weekend after racing at the Omloop Van Borsele even though I didn’t end up completing the tour after crashing 20 minutes into the race, caused by getting pushed into the ditch and flipping over my bars.

I’ve never crashed in a road race before, especially never in a road race like this, so learning how to get back onto the peloton was a new and challenging task to face.

After pulling myself up, collecting my bottles and bending back my handle bar I got back on the road before our support car could get to me (honestly forgetting we had a support car).

Once on the road, I had to solo my way through some of the support vehicles which was quite stressful as I was still a bit shaken up from crashing and the cars were honking a lot to signal there was a rider (me) approaching.

Thankfully I had a support motorbike staying near me to ensure the convoy knew I was there. After a couple of kilometers I joined the back of a small group who had also crashed. Knowing how badly I wanted and needed to rejoin the peloton I jumped on the front of the group to lead the pace and start making the girls work.

After this, around 6 girls in my group worked together on the front to pull back the 2-3 minute gap the peloton had on us.

Making my way through the convoy was a really exciting but stressful experience, with trying to figure out where to sit behind each car and trying to jump from the back of one car to the next without them swerving into you.

I’ve had many times in racing where I have had to chase back onto a bunch but getting to use the convoy cars and support motorbikes was a super interesting experience that I learnt so much from.

Once joining back onto the peloton lots of emotions and feelings came rushing back. The fear and stress that I had felt at the beginning of the race being in the massive peloton had come back and my head, back and neck started to hurt more as the adrenaline wore off.

After meeting up with my teammate who suggested going back to the team car, I raised my hand and waited as the commissaire car radioed for the Black Magic car to come forward. This was my first time going back for support during a race so it was very new and quite strange. Once the car made its way up through the convoy up to me, my ds made the decision to pull me out of the race for my safety just in case I had a concussion.

Gutted not to finish so now counting down the days till the next one.

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