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

After La Grande boucle feminine, I am struggling a lot with my knees. I’ve been riding easy and even took some days completely off. But it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

I only got an appointment for a proper bike setup on Friday, last week. And with my knee’s not feeling 100% I decided not to do the Belgium national criterium on Sunday. Also because my next big Races for July are:

Tour de Bretagne feminine – 16.07.2008- 20.07.2008

Tour feminine en Limousin – 24.07.2008-27.07.2008

And I want to be 100% going into them. This week I will be taking it easy again, seeing someone to do my cleats properly on Thursday as well. Then everything will hopefully be going better from there.

One thing that I truly enjoyed last week was my GARMIN 705. Before I came over Jason Theunissen, Owner of Team Garmin, gave me European maps for it. I am staying at the moment in Tielt-Winge, Belgium, and actually stayed here for 6 month’s in 2006 also. And with my Garmin I was able to train on roads I’ve never even seen before. It is incredible. I would just ride in a direction, get completely lost then just press- Navigate to Start- and it would take me straight home where I started. It even tells me the distance so I can decide if I want to carry on where ever I am heading or if its time to head home.

I love training in Europe now, it’s a whole new experience. If I see a road that goes through a lovely forest or something I can just go on it and enjoy my ride without stressing about getting lost because there isn’t any road sign’s around the follow.

If you are planning to come to Europe get one! It’s a wonderful experience going anywhere you want.

La Grande boucle Fèminine

Internationale 2008

Tuesday, June 17th

1^st STAGE, 82km

(Gent →Wattrelos (Belgium))

It’s been a great experience starting this tour. Before the race we had quite a few supporters bundling up around our team stand. My European team is the best team in Belgium, and with the tour starting in Belgium we had a lot of supporters there to support the team. Must admit it’s a wonderful feeling being a cyclist in Europe where the people truly love the sport. I only got my bike yesterday. I thought the setup on it was okay. Only had time for a quick 30 min ride between all the travelling and team presentation Monday evening. It wasn’t enough to find my correct position on the bike. I felt uncomfortable during the whole race. Afterwards when they measured me again, they saw that my saddle was 2cm too high. I felt powerless throughout the stage, but thought it was because of the travelling.

The race started with a good tempo, then head onto a cobble section the men also did in the well known Paris Roubaix. Going over the cobbles ripped the bunch to peaces; I also couldn’t manage to stay on and finished in the second group.

Wednesday, June 18th

2^nd STAGE, 61km

(Wallers →La louvière (Belgium))

The race started with a neutralised cobble section because racing over it would cause many crashed and punchers which the organisers didn’t want from the start. It makes the race then more difficult to control. It’s that part of the men’s Paris Roubaix where the guys mostly rode on the small gravel side paths. I am glad we didn’t race over it; just riding over it neutralised was difficult enough. The bunch formed a long line on the side paths and I could only see dust in front of me. It was quite an experience.

Today the tour really only started, yesterday everyone was still holding back a bit. Trying to find their place in the pelaton. I can feel my experience is lacking, I struggle to keep myself in front. And made an unnecessary mistake, I was in the front bunch and 10km to go we went down a long downhill and I was sitting around the back and when we reach the bottom of the downhill there where a few splits and it was to late to chase back. Still can’t believe the bunch actually split on a downhill. The downhill had a lot of turns going through small towns. And it just shows you again how important it is to race in front!!

3^rd STAGE, 91km

La louvière → Fourmies (france))

Two stages in one day, makes a day really long. I forgot how hard cycling in Europe is. The stage turned into a disaster for me. Not even 20km into the race we went over cobbles, going over my seat post snap, I luckily didn’t crash but had to stop and get the team’s spare bike. It was too small but ok to continue while they fixed mine. It didn’t even take them 5km and I got it back. The whole incident caused me to stop a few times and chasing back cost me unnecessary energy. I could feel it towards the end. But manage to finish 35^th, still in the main group

Something that drawn my attention today was the way my team mates rode Everyone in the team rides unselfishly wanting to help each other when ever they can. In European team’s you don’t really have a team leader; everyone is equal if you finish first or last. A few times Lieselot de Croix from our team who is chosen for Olympics came to me and said lets go to the front. Then I just sit behind her and get a free ride to the front. That’s when you start respecting your team mates and don’t mind working for them J

Thursday, June 19^th

4^th STAGE, 109km

(Montdidier → Drancy (France))

Standing up in the morning, looking out of your window with rain falling down is a beautiful sight but a horrible feeling when you’re a cyclist. That’s how I felt today.

The rain was coming down hard as we started the stage, and played an important role on the day. A few girls came down hard. Racing in the rain is always difficult, and the girls made the pace hard and fast from start to finish

Everyday I’m getting more and more comfortable on my bike and today I felt really good, finished 18^th.

Friday, June 20^th

5^th STAGE, 40km Individual TT

My first thought about the stage was “how do I pace myself for so long.” But warming up for the TT I just felt more confident, I realized that I’ve been doing a few MTB races before I came over where I had to pace myself 3-4h. I didn’t know whether I am good enough to compete against the others but I know my body and what I can do. Training with power taught me a lot about myself.

When I started I went up to my threshold power and tried to keep it there till the end. I felt good and in control doing the TT. Going into the last 5km I felt my tire losing pressure but kept on riding. The last 2km it was completely flat, luckily it was my front tire and I could continue till the finish.

I finished 39^th, I am happy. It was my first 40km TT and I learned a lot about myself. I actually prefer longer TT.

(Domaine du lac de Chalain →Clairvaux - les- Lacs (France))

Saturday, June 21^st

6^th STAGE, 105km

(Lac d’Aiguebelette → Villard-de-Lans (France))

I woke up knowing I am not going to have a good day. I just couldn’t get into racing mode and felt like falling asleep. I don’t know why I felt so tired. The race started with a slight uphill and I didn’t have the power to go hard. I’m ashamed to say it but I was the first to drop from the bunch. I just kept on riding because I wanted to finish the stage, and as I continued I started feeling better and rode myself back into a little group.

My only highlight of the day was seeing the finish

Sunday, June 22^nd

7^th STAGE, 85km

(Guillestre → Sestrière (Italie))

I felt nervous starting the stage, especially after yesterday. But a message I received earlier the morning saying ‘it’s the last day, so give everything’, kept repeating itself in my head. A girl attacked and 3 followed her, I saw them getting a small gap and just felt I had to go so I jumped across. Two came with me and we formed a break of 7 and opened a gap up to 2minutes going onto the first 30km clime of the day.

The time gap helped me a lot because the front girls only caught us half way up. I tried staying on as long as possible but they were simply too strong and ended 18^th.

I am pleased with my result, especially if I think back at the whole experience, how I had to adapt to a new bike, shoes and the travelling in a short time.

Starting in Belgium and doing some real difficult cobble sections, then into France, riding up the Alps and then finishing the tour in Italy. Made it an awesome tour, it had something of everything and the scenery, especially in the Alps was breathtaking. I gained a lot of experience and think it was a good start to my European season.

Induna Classic

Over the weekend I travelled down to Hazyview for Induna classic (Mazda Series #3).

It was my last MTB race before I leave for Europe.

The Laeveld must be the most beautiful place for cycling, especially mountain biking. And I realized this again over the weekend. The scenery was absolutely breath taking.

It was a challenging route that traverses scenic plantations on forestry roads and incorporates some single-track and river crossings.

My most memorable moment of the race is the hanging bridge we had to go over, I almost did bridge jumping or rather diving for the first time, without a rope J

The first 40km was the technical part with the single track’s and river crossings. I went quite slow struggling with my head, I kept on telling myself that I’m not good on technical parts and ended up losing 7min on the leading girls. I will have to work on myself.

Think the fact that I’m also starting the Le grand boucle feminine on Tuesday played a big role. I didn’t want to crash and miss out on the tour.

The second half of the race I road much better and made up some of the lost time but it wasn’t enough to catch up with leading girls. And finished 3^rd overall

1^st Tanya Raats

2^nd Carla Rawley

3^rd Yolandi du Toit

Today, 15^th of June, I am leaving for Europe to join my European based team (Lotto-bellisol). My first race as I mentioned is the Le Grande Boucle Feminine (17/06-22/06)

Starting in Gent and finishing in France. Will keep you up to date with my racing abroad