April 12, 2008 (Holland) – Today was definitely the fastest and most furious race I have ever done! After Thursday’s Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo, I didn’t think it could get much harder. The pace wasn’t as hard for me because I wasn’t in a break all day but the terrain was unforgiving and the demand for good positioning was crucial. The race was 136km and consisted of three sprints at the end of three cobble sections, three premier sprints, and three GPM sprints.

Riders went full on from the start, I guess because the first GPM was only 9km into the race. I clipped handlebars and hit so many wheels before that first GPM just to stay in good position, that I really started to scare myself. And when the race bible indicated there were three cobble sections, we all thought that it meant like 500meters or so. But each section was 2-4km, and they were more like boulders! Haha… I was sure that something would be broken after that, either on my bike or my body.

Going into the first cobble section of the race at 38km I was probably top 40 (out of about 170). The gaps opened up immediately and by the end of the first cobble section the breaks were formed!! The first break had about 10-12 riders, the second had about 10 and I was in the third with about eight riders. We could see the other groups 15-20 seconds ahead, and we were all working to catch them. The rest of our team were one group behind me with 40+ riders (including Suzanne De Goede, and Marianne Vos. Since those two top girls had missed the breaks their teams drove it.

After two more nasty cobble sections, and over half the race completed, we were caught by the large peloton behind us which Anne (Samplonius) was with. Now Nurnberger and DSB Bank went to the font for Suzanne and Marianne, to try and catch the front group. It didn’t seem like it would be possible because the winds were so strong and there weren’t that many riders chasing. But when three riders attacked and went off the lead break that group slowed and we eventually caught them! Now there were about 40-50 riders in our pack chasing the three riders off the front, so the fight for positioning never let up.

Right before we entered the city circuit, we caught two of the girls. High Road’s Chantal Beltmann from the Netherlands had attacked and dropped them. Now some teams were sort of chasing and some were attacking, and it split up the field into two groups. I was in the lead bunch with about 24 riders.

In the last 5km, I went with nearly every attack because I didn’t want to lose any opportunity. None of them stuck and the moment I saw the 500m sign I jumped into the turn before the finish, I knew that I went fairly early but didn’t want to wait and risk getting boxed in or anything. I saw Vos, Ina and Suzanne pass by me at 200m, and then Rochelle Gilmore passed me at the line, so I ended up 6th.

I don’t think this race report really sums up everything that we all went through out there today, but I just wanted to bring up the main points. I was very happy with this result, as was the rest of the team.

Ciao,
Alex

Thank you to our national team sponsors that made this project possible: L2RCP, H&R Block and Tim Hortons.