It was a long day today for day 2 of Trophee d’or with the riders racing 2 stages – a morning 17.8km Time Trial and an afternoon Road Race.
Our girls had a stellar performance in the TT on a course that was a slightly undulating and exposed to the wind. Amy and Grace stormed home to a credible 6th & 7th and Chloe was super happy pulling out a personal best performance in the top 20! Emily did well in 37th and so did Taryn in 13th following her recovery from illness. Ensuring not to exacerbate any prior injuries, Rachel ‘cruised’ in the TT on her road bike.
- 6. CURE Amy 01’03”
- 7. SULZBERGER Grace 01’05”
- 13. HEATHER Taryn 01’32”
- 20. MCCONVILLE Chloe 01’47”
- 37. ROPER Emily 02’23”
- 87. NEYLAN Rachel 05’00”
What started out rather chilly in the morning for the TT, then turned to rain for the entire 78km road race in the afternoon. There were 2 main crashes of the day that both occurred in lap 1 (of 3) of the 26.1km circuit, and unfortunately we had a rider in both falls. Rach was the first victim of the slippery, wet roads at kilometre 9 and then Taryn at kilometre 20. However, both recovered and made it back into the peloton to finish.
A solo break away of Russian rider Anastaysia Chulkova survived the best part of the last lap and finished 1min ahead of the chasing bunch for the win! Grace put in a solid attack to bridge across but to no avail.
Coming in for the bunch sprint 5km to go, Chloe did a great job to help Amy & Grace move up into position, with Grace then pulling an almighty turn on the front for a couple km guiding Amy into the finish. Amy crossed the line in 19th, which wasn’t quite the win we were after but not for a lack of trying!
More fun to be had tomorrow on stage 4 as the hilliest stage of the tour.
