Almost!

A dropped chain at the crucial moment may have cost Oenone the World Championship.

It’s the day after the Worlds, Italy won and Marta Bastianelli is the new champion. One might almost say it is a strange result. Not so much that Italy won, their national team has clearly prepared very specifically for this event and the Italian riders have been achieving consistent results over the past few months. The big surprise was that Bastianelli took the win and not the favourite, Cantele. To my knowledge her win yesterday was one of only a small number in her career. She certainly chose the right race to win! But the question is; how did this relatively new, unknown rider manage to pull off a win at the hardest race of the season on a really tough and technical course, against the best riders in the world? The race day started for the Aussie team with a 6 am breakfast at the hotel. At this stage it was still completely dark outside and quite cold, about eight degrees. As I sat down to my plate of plain rice I thought that this is perhaps one of my least favourite aspects of racing.Shovelling down bland food in the early morning, when really, you are just not hungry. Nevertheless, you eat because you know you will need it soon enough. We then headed into the course and had an hour or so to get ready and have a last minute run over the race plan in the bus. Women’s professional racing has not yet reached a level where teams travel to races with a big bus. It is probably the one point that makes me quite jealous of the Pro Tour peleton. I have never been such a big fan of changing clothes on the street, trying to wriggle into your knicks with a crowd of onlookers, desperately hoping that your towel doesn’t drop. The bus is definitely a level above in sophistication. We started racing at 9 am. The weather was surprisingly good and we even started to get a glimpse of sunshine as we rolled off the start line. The road however, was still wet from the rain during the night. This, in combination with the leaves on the road made for a pretty hair-raising first descent. The first crash for the day happened at this point, not more than three km from the start. The descent onto the first climb was probably the most technical part of the course. It was quite a fast descent with a number of hairpins and a sharp right hand turn onto the climb. This of course created a funnel effect as people jostled for good position leading onto the climb. The average grade for this climb was around 13% so each time over the top, quite large gaps formed in the bunch. Across the top there was a false flat section before a short second descent, quite similar to the first. The second climb was a lot more open, with a gradient of around 6%. It was then followed by another descent and then a flatter section through a small shopping area. The final climb through the start/finish line had a grade of perhaps around 4%, but it was slightly longer than the previous two. The women’s race was seven laps of the 19 km circuit, with a total of 2,800 metres of climbing. What made the circuit particularly difficult was the very limited recovery between the first and second climbs on the circuit. A good position onto the first climb was essential, as large gaps opened up very quickly given the steep gradient and narrow road. This meant any rider who was riding on the limit to close gaps over the top of the climb had practically no recovery before hitting the second climb. In the early laps, the peleton stayed together, more or less, with only a few of the less experienced riders dropping off the back. There were a few attacks by individuals but these were controlled by the Dutch, German and Italian teams. I think most riders were quite wary of spending energy too early in the race, given the length and amount of climbing still to come. On the fourth lap the Italian rider Guederzo attacked solo on the second climb. She had gained around 20 seconds as the bunch approached the two km to the start/ finish. At this point you could feel that a lot of riders were approaching their limits and for many disaster struck when the strong winds actually blew over a section of barricade around 50 metres long, right into the middle of the bunch. Several of the race favourites including Cantele and Arndt were involved in this crash. The Italian team sent riders back to help Cantele back onto the bunch and eventually the peleton regrouped, but for some riders (including Australia’s Emma Rickards) this crash was the end of their World Championships. By the fifth time up the steep first climb, Guederzo had been caught and the race favourites could all be found at the front of the bunch. Over the top of the climb Cantele (Italy) and Neben (USA) made the first really dangerous move of the day. Both of these riders are extremely good climbers and quickly gained an advantage over the group. It fell to Germany to bring the break back which meant they had to sacrifice Hanka Kupfernagel (the new time trial world champion). Coming into the final time through the start/finish the two had been caught. With still around 40 girls in the peloton the final descent into the steep climb was hectic with good position this lap being critical. I came onto the descent in around 10th position, but, like a total hubbard, managed to drop my chain. On about my fifth attempt to get the chain back into gear I felt a push from my team-mate, Lorian Graham. Just in time! By this time the first riders were well underway up the climb so I had to scramble my way back to the chase group. A group of five riders including Cantele and Bastianelli had gained a gap by the top of the climb. The two Italians used the advantage of having numbers perfectly and Bastianelli was able to get away solo. By the top of the false flat, my chase group had managed to catch the four ahead, leaving a solo break and a chase group of 15. There was a crash on the descent soon after which took down two riders and allowed Bastianelli to gain further time on the group. On the second climb both Worrack and Arndt from Germany tried to attack and bridge the gap, but both moves were responded to quickly and the group stayed together onto the last descent. At this point in the race it became a game of tactics. Bastianelli was within reach of the group, but the teams with numbers, Holland, France and Germany seemed unwilling to commit to the chase. The Canadian rider, Erin Willock got away four km from the finish, but was caught at the base of the final climb. With only two km to go I realised my only chance left was to attack. Germany obviously had the same idea and so Ardnt, myself and Worrack all tried one after the other to get away. Unfortunately, Italy had all bases covered and Cantele was quick to cover each move. So it came down to a sprint for 2nd place, with the win going to the much deserving Italian team.