Tour Feminin en limousine

24^th – 27^th July 2008

Stage 1 – 4, 6 km prologue

Stage 2 – 121 km

Stage 3 – 123km

Stage 4 – 96 km

From Tour of Bretagne to this tour

I only had 3 days in between to rest and recover Together with 18 hours driving
from and to the next tour. For me it wasn’t enough and from

the way I felt in Bretagne I should have known I would be tired.

I have to add that I am the only girl in the team that did al 3 tours (la Grande boucle, tour of Bretagne and tour of Limousine) and we were only 2 doing both Bretagne and limousine, with a hard training camp in the Alps

I had to get trough all 3 tours to get into form for a really hard 8 day stage race in France next month (Le Route de France) and also because July's training was important for building up to World championships, if I get selected to go. Arriving a bit late in Europe I am still racing fresh and the races can only make me stronger.

I tried to give my best in the prologue but my results showed that I wasn’t my normal self,

and Dany (Team manager) said I must just ride to finish it. But honestly to ride every day hurting from the start isn’t fun.

I started feeling better as the tour went on, but the stages were still extremely hard.

It was a hilly tour with no flat roads. I am just glad it’s over.

I'snt this just the most beautiful post office you've ever seen. It was at the start of our last stage in France

My next races are Saturday and Sunday in Germany, Sparkassen Giro UCI 1.1.

The woman’s race is in the morning and the men in the afternoon. I am so happy to have a full 5 days with no travelling, racing and training campsJ. Tomorrow I will definitely be going for an easy spin to the nearest coffee shop for “pannekoeken en koffee verkeerd, alstublieft”

TOUR OF BRETAGNE, FRANCE

Thursday, 17/07

Stage 1, 85km

The first Mountain prime was on 3km, which made the race crazy fast from the start.

With 120 girls in the race, the racing is more dangerous and I’m finding it more difficult to get to the front than usual.

The stage finished on a small circuit of 3km×4. I know my cornering isn’t that bad. So I decided to sprint to the front before the corner, luckily because I could only hear some of the girls crashing behind me. I went first through the corner, but going to the finish line I didn’t have to power and started fading towards the finish line.

With the crash at the end they mixed up the places and placed me 47^th with 12 seconds behind the bunch although I was 17^th with no time lost. They messed up everyone’s result and decided to give everyone the same time.

Friday, 18/07

Stage 2, 118km

The Rolling, winding roads through Bretagne are really beautiful, but make the racing so hard!

Today’s stage we arrived on a finishing circuit of 4× 6.6km. The circuits are definitely the hardest part of the race, and funny enough the easiest part (if you still have legs left) to get away cause the whole bunch is lined out on the circuit and its only the front ones that can really see you if you try to get away or who can bring you back. But the tricky part is to get to the front without killing yourself by doing it. 7 Girls managed to get away and it was my turn to go down in the final bunch sprint. Luckily I didn’t get hurt but broke my Zipp wheel. I’m sad about it because I love those wheels.

Saturday, 19/07

Stage 3, 99km

Every day I can feel my body getting more fatigued and my mind tired of fighting for a place in front. And my knees isn’t coping at all with the racing here.

The finishing circuit (4×4km) was on narrow farm roads. And as soon as we got onto it the bunch got split into small little groups. I ended up in the 3^rd group. I just didn’t have the legs to fight for a front position going onto the finishing circuit.

Sunday, 20/07

Stage 4, 10km Time Trail

I lost a lot of time the previous day, so my manager advised me to take it easy and focus on the afternoon’s stage. But being a cyclist I guess we always want to try and give our best.

I decided again just to ride on my threshold power which improved a little since I’ve been here, and happy to have been able to do so. I can’t compete against the others yet, but I’m trying my best to improve and be able to do so in the future.

Sunday, 20/07

Stage 5, 75km

After the Time trail I thought the GC would be final and it would be an easier stage. But I don’t think these girls know what that is. The finishing circuit (4×5km) had a 1km really steep hill in and that killed me, I finished again in the 3 group.

This wasn’t a good tour for me, I felt more tired every day and my body never reached the point of adapting and then starting to feel stronger again.

OLEN 1.15 Dames Elite - Open omloop

It’s been a while back since I’ve done my last Criterium.

I wasn’t sure what to suspect. Only knew that no matter what happens, at least it will help improve my sprinting abilities.

It was an 80 km (17 x 4, 7 km) race, for my team it’s important to get results in their local races.

I think our team controlled the race really well. In criteriums it’s always hard to predict which break will stay away so it’s important to have a rider in every break.

The last lap was very exciting.

There where 2 riders in front, followed by a group of 6 riders that got away on the 2^nd last lap and then our group.

The small group got brought back 1km to go, and as we started sprinting the 2 in front just managed to keep their 1^st and 2^nd place by only 5 seconds.

I found myself in a good position for the sprint and finished 7^th

1.15 Dames Elite - Open omloop

Aantal deelnemers: 81

1. WYMAN HELEN SWIFT RACING 02:06:00

2. DECROIX Lieselot LOTTO BELISOL Ladies team

3. DE VUYST Sofie TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN

4. DE CLERCQ Mieke KSV DEERLIJK GAVERZICHT VZW

5. BRULEE Latoya AA-Drink Cycling Team

6. VERBEKE Grace LOTTO BELISOL Ladies team

7. DU TOIT yolandi LOTTO BELISOL Ladies team

8. HARRIS NIKKI WIELERTEAM DE SPRINTERS

9. DEBBOUDT Lensy KEUKENS REDANT CYCLING TEAM

10. BEYEN Lien SWIFT RACING TEAM

Training Camp in Bourg d'oison

Training in the Alps was for me the highlight of all my European seasons so far.

I’ve seen the guys in the tour de France riding up the climes.

But never ever in my whole life did I even dream about riding up

the climbs myself.

The training camp is finished and going back my body feels extremely tired,

and my heart extremely sad.

I fell in love with the mountains and wouldn’t mind staying there for the rest of my life.
We spend 6days on our bikes with a rest day in the middle.

Friday-3h ( clime of avg 1173m, 4%)

Saturday-4h (clime of avg 1440m, 5%)

Sunday-4h (clime of avg 1026m, 5.8%+ clime of avg 950m, 3%

Monday- Rest

Tuesday -6:30h( clime of avg 1369m 5% + clime of avg 1130m 6.6%)

Wednesday-3h (clime of avg 970m,7% + 9km clime of avg 1165m, 5%)

Thursday-3h (famous Alp d’huez 14km clime Avg 1302m, 8.6%)

Although most of the climes has an average gradient between 5-7% you do get pieces were the gradient is around 9% for a few kilometres.

Since I’ve been using the Garmin 705 and a powertap my training has been exciting again.

I could get all the above information and more from my Garmin. This helps explaining my power output on my power files.

It’s important to go back and look what you’ve done in trainings;

it keeps you motivated and increases your performance.

It was a good training week and I hope that I will benefit from this in my tours to come.

The Alps is even more beautiful than what I ever imagined it could be. I came here for training with my cycling team of 2006 (Team Swift).

We are staying in a little town at the bottom of alp d’huez, called Bourg d’Oisans

The town might sound familiar because the Tour de France goes through it every year.

We are staying in a campsite in a nice big campervan. Swift makes campervans and being the main sponsor of the team, they got sponsored a real fancy one. And it’s only me, the manager and his wife staying in it.

Waking up every morning surrounded by mountains, having breakfast outside is the best way to start ones dayJ.

Since we got here we kind of got into a routine. First we have breakfast and then we go training, come back have a shower and lunch. Then we walk into town, have a coffee, go to the supermarket and buy dinner. When we get back we do 30 min of ball work or yoga. Then we make and have dinner. And end the evening with playing a board game.

The training so far has been great.

After they’ve done my cleat and bike setup my knees is feeling their old self again.

Bike setup is really important, and also to find the right person to do it! Here in the Alps aren’t any flat roads so you are most of the time either climbing or descending.

Since I’ve been here I haven’t done a clime that’s under an hour.

I love it because you can’t cheat on trainings, every ride has been hard and the time passes quickly.

Also the view while we are riding is amazing. It’s so beautiful it looks unreal.

I’ll be training here till Thursday, and then we will head back to the completely flat part of Europe J (Belgium)

Another thing that made my week extra special was my little sister who was riding the Eric Van enter she broke a away on one of the stages and got her first big win