Tuesday, September 30, 2008
At last...... A WIN !
Good things come to those who wait…. This is what I’ve been told all year whilst racing. Well it seems to have come true. This year whilst racing I have had so many top 10’s, 2nds and 3rds but no win….until Sunday!
I’ve been wanting a win all year, I have raced a lot in Belgium and Holland and always come close but hadn’t got that illusive top spot on the podium, which I wanted so much. It was at a road race in Wilrijk, Belgium where I got my win.
The race started out and it was a typical Belgium race, twisty roads, mainly flat with a bit of a drag around the back which really got to your legs after a few laps. There were around 70 riders which set out for the 18 lap 90km race.
The first few laps were quite negative, people would attack but with everyone so fresh I knew nothing would go, I sat in near the front and tried not to make any massive efforts. I was sat on the side of the bunch just behind the Belgium National Champion Ilse Geldhof, I could see her flicking through the gears and I could tell she was going to attack, I went with her, we got a gap of about 150 metres but down the back of the course It was very fast and it ended up coming back together with a few serge’s from the peleton behind. I decided to take a breather and just be patient.
The next couple of laps I just watched at the front, to see who was attacking , chasing etc. It was with 12 laps to go I made a do or die move, the pace had been high and a few attacks had gone and come back it was then I decided to attack out of a corner through a twisty section of the course. I sprinted flat out and got a gap of around 200m I looked behind to see everyone sit up and look at each other, I knew with a little gap and some speed I could pull out a bit of a lead, a lap later and I was still out on my own, the lead car had come past me. I looked behind to see a girl chasing me but I didn’t want to wait as if I did the peleton may have come back to us, she eventually got up to me and for the rest of the race we shared the work and ended up getting a lead of over 2 minutes. The legs we screaming and with 4 laps to go my team manager passed me up a bottle of coke which was great, it just gave me that last little bit of energy I needed to keep digging in on the front. I attacked with about 350m to go and crossed the line with my hands in the air, I was so made up and happy with the way that I had won, we were over a minute in front of 3rd place isle geldhof and 2 minutes in front of the peleton. My dad was also there, he had came over to watch me for the weekend so I was made up to have won when he whilst he was there watching.
I had a break at the end of August and since then I have been preparing for the cyclo- cross season where I’m planning to stay in Belgium and hopefully compete at the top level in world cups and super prestige’s, this is definitely the place to be for the cyclo cross season and it’s the first time I will be taking it seriously since I was a junior so I cant wait. I’m sure I will get a good kick-in at first but if I want to improve this is where I have to be!
Thank you to everyone that has supported me this year, you know who you are.
I’ve been wanting a win all year, I have raced a lot in Belgium and Holland and always come close but hadn’t got that illusive top spot on the podium, which I wanted so much. It was at a road race in Wilrijk, Belgium where I got my win.
The race started out and it was a typical Belgium race, twisty roads, mainly flat with a bit of a drag around the back which really got to your legs after a few laps. There were around 70 riders which set out for the 18 lap 90km race.
The first few laps were quite negative, people would attack but with everyone so fresh I knew nothing would go, I sat in near the front and tried not to make any massive efforts. I was sat on the side of the bunch just behind the Belgium National Champion Ilse Geldhof, I could see her flicking through the gears and I could tell she was going to attack, I went with her, we got a gap of about 150 metres but down the back of the course It was very fast and it ended up coming back together with a few serge’s from the peleton behind. I decided to take a breather and just be patient.
The next couple of laps I just watched at the front, to see who was attacking , chasing etc. It was with 12 laps to go I made a do or die move, the pace had been high and a few attacks had gone and come back it was then I decided to attack out of a corner through a twisty section of the course. I sprinted flat out and got a gap of around 200m I looked behind to see everyone sit up and look at each other, I knew with a little gap and some speed I could pull out a bit of a lead, a lap later and I was still out on my own, the lead car had come past me. I looked behind to see a girl chasing me but I didn’t want to wait as if I did the peleton may have come back to us, she eventually got up to me and for the rest of the race we shared the work and ended up getting a lead of over 2 minutes. The legs we screaming and with 4 laps to go my team manager passed me up a bottle of coke which was great, it just gave me that last little bit of energy I needed to keep digging in on the front. I attacked with about 350m to go and crossed the line with my hands in the air, I was so made up and happy with the way that I had won, we were over a minute in front of 3rd place isle geldhof and 2 minutes in front of the peleton. My dad was also there, he had came over to watch me for the weekend so I was made up to have won when he whilst he was there watching.
I had a break at the end of August and since then I have been preparing for the cyclo- cross season where I’m planning to stay in Belgium and hopefully compete at the top level in world cups and super prestige’s, this is definitely the place to be for the cyclo cross season and it’s the first time I will be taking it seriously since I was a junior so I cant wait. I’m sure I will get a good kick-in at first but if I want to improve this is where I have to be!
Thank you to everyone that has supported me this year, you know who you are.
# posted by Nikki @ Tuesday, September 30, 2008 
