Tour De Delta, Canada

A little recap. Since I left Liberty Classic in the birth place of America Philadelphia, which was my first UCI race outside nationals, I went to Boulder, Colorado. For 4 weeks I trained mostly solo with the exception of my fellow Aussie mate Will Dickerson. I suffered through the Niwot Crit and Dead Dog Classic. All with one aim in mind to get ‘good legs’ for Cascade. The next phase of finding good form was to head to Canada to compete in BC Super week. The first of my two stage races here is completed and I’m on track for Cascade.

Tour De Delta

TT- 3k flat
This course was for a power rider, smooth fast surfaces with four corners. I disappointed myself here and finished 20th 12 seconds down from the winner.

Crit – 40laps, 36k
The Crit was fun and fast. Again flat and with four corners and being the Canadian Crit Championships it was not going to be easy. The race was like a suction cup the whole way around the course, making it easy to sit in the pack however difficult for a break to last. Two of my attempts were successful in gaining time on the field, only soon to be shut down. I finished in the middle of the very nervous last lap pack. 20th.

Road Race- 11laps 88k
A hill. A last I was given an opporturunity to test my strengths on a longer stage and also the single hill in the loop. The race was clam for the first 3 laps, some girls testing their legs on the climb but nothing sticking. On lap 4 I attacked and was away with four other girls for a lap. Looking good everyone was pulling through hard, although so was the main field and the break was caught. The race saw more aggressive attacks all occurring on the hill which was a short 600m with 6-8% gradient. With two laps to go I attacked with Amy, a Canadian girl who was my host house for my time in Canada. A break formed of five riders and we were away! Pulling through hard for two laps and we stayed away! Having felt the effects of being in my previous break-away I had to be happy with 5th, taking enough time over the other riders to end up 4th on General Classification.

Next week is the second stage race of BC Superweek, Tour of White Rock. Apparently the hillier of the two Canadian Tours, which will play in my favour!

Till next week’s report

Ange