Nature Valley Grand Prix, 2007

Stage 1 - St Paul’s Downtown criterium

The 2007 Nature Valley Grand Prix kicked off with an evening criterium in downtown St Paul’s.  With humid conditions but no rain, 125 women fought it out in an aggressive and fast 1 hour criterium.  The course was 1km in length in the shape of an L with a 300m uphill sprint finish.  With a change in format from the individual time trial traditionally kicking off the tour, we thought it unlikely that a break would stick on day 1.  But we were all proved wrong!

My job was to go for the intermediate sprints, occurring every 10 minutes, and to assist Mara in the 30sec sprint which was actually a Queen of the mountain sprint.  Laura was to rest her legs for the finish whilst Amber and Rach were also to assist in helping us to position near the front for the sprints and the finish.

The opening laps were amazingly fast with us completing each 1km loop in about 1min 15min.  The peloton was strung out in a long line and my heart rate went to 178 by the end of the first minute.  With the first sprint occurring 10 minutes in, I had no time to waste and had to really bury myself for 3 laps to get to the front.  I had reasonably good sprint legs and finished 4th and 3rd in the first two sprints. 

Mara went down in a crash in the first 10 minutes, breaking her helmet and trying to permanently implant her radio into her lower back.  Luckily, her back and radio survived the ordeal, however team mechanic read a short service to the helmet before tossing it away.  Katheryn had been t-boned by a little kid on a bike path yesterday and was recovering from a painful shoulder dislocation.  But “tough as nails Katheryn” rode conservatively and will be starting stage 2.

The decisive break came after 8 riders contested the midway Queen of the Mountain sprint.  They had a small gap after their sprint and Armstrong (Lipton) sensing the right moment, kept driving it.  When the gap grew to 20 seconds it was time to shut it down, however the break was well organised and their combined effort was matching Webcor’s chase.

Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine) attacked the break on the last lap and soloed into the leader’s jersey whilst Shelley Olds (ProMan) and Theresa Moriarty (Flanders) finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.  Rach, Amber, Laura, Mara and I all finished 27 seconds down in the main peleton.

With a 10 second time bonus as well as the 27 gap to the main field, Cheatley currently has a 37 second lead, heading into the next road stage.

Stage 2 - Cannon Falls Road Race - 108km - 9th

Today we faced an undulating road race on relatively wide roads. We were hoping for some really strong wind to help break things up but it remained quite calm and eroded any chance of putting the peloton in the gutter. The race started at 5.30pm in humid conditions. Several times it looked like raining but thankfully it never did.

We had a fun loose gravel section coming back into town and there was the usual fight to get to the gravel first. Once past the 1km of gravel we entered the finishing circuits. We did 5 laps of a 3km circuit with a long straight uphill finish. On the first lap we had a bonus sprint, were I finished 2nd to Rebecca Larson (Aaron's team). It was a good chance to test out the corners in preparation for the finish.

I was anticipating several late attacks on the closing laps so I remained in the top 10 while Cheerwine and Lipton set a fast tempo. On bell lap, I found myself caught back a little so Rach helped me move up and dropped me off near Laura. I led Laura to the 2nd last corner and yelled at her take Brooke Miller's wheel. She found Alex Wrubleski on the right and took this wheel as they started sprinting. Miller took the stage, whilst Laura finished 6th. I managed to hold on for 9th. As the race only started at 5.30pm, it was 9pm by the time we left the race for our drive back to Minneapolis. Fortunately we planned well and had food for dinner that we ate on the drive back, so we only had to shower and fall into bed.

The GC remains unchanged with Cheatley in yellow. The rest of peleton continues to be only separated by the 37 seconds from day 1.

Stage 3 - Individual Time Trial - 8km - 9th

I have started to really enjoy the challenge of a time trial. We woke and ate breakfast at 6am which felt like the middle of the night, but with a 9am start, we needed to fully digest to be able to race properly. The course was a flat out and back 8km with a U turn and a little bumpy pavement the only technical aspects to negotiate. As I had finished 9th yesterday, I was the last to start in our team line up.

As I started my warm up, Katheryn had set the fastest time of 10mins 52sec and was nervously waiting it out in the hot seat. (ie fastest time so far). As I took my position on the start ramp, Amber crossed the line, in 11min 5sec - another really good time.

Fellow aussie and World pursuit champion, Katie Mactier, was starting 30 seconds after me and knowing that she is a specialist over these short distances, made me very determined not to have her catch me. I felt strong and pushed a big gear but still kept a cadence of 92-95 RPM. At the half way turn around, I had caught my 30 second rider and could see the next one ahead. I glanced across at Katie who was approaching the turn and who still looked about 30 seconds back.

I concentrated on giving it everything in the last 4km. With 1km to go, I glanced down at my watch and saw 10 minutes. I dug deep and crossed the line in 11mins 7sec. Katie had really lifted in the second half of her TT and clocked 10mins 44sec. She remained the fastest rider until Kristin Armstrong (Lipton) set a time of 10mins 24sec (average speed 41.78km/hr). My team mates ended up 3rd, 4th, 5th while I finished 9th, a few seconds further back.

1 Kristin Armstrong (USA) TEAm Lipton 10.24 (41.781 km/h)
2 Katie Mactier (Aus) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team 0.20
3 Katheryn Curi (USA) Webcor Builders 0.29
4 Rachel Heal (GBr) Webcor Builders 0.36
5 Amber Rais (USA) Webcor Builders 0.41
6 Kristin Sanders (USA) Aaron's Pro Cycling Team 0.42
7 Leigh Hobson (Can) Cheerwine 0.43
8 Lauren Franges (USA) TEAm Lipton
9 Helen Kelly (Aus) Webcor Builders

Stage 4 - Downtown Minneapolis Criterium- 19th

After resting from an all out individual time trial this morning, we loaded the vehicles and headed to stage 4, an evening criterium in downtown Minneapolis.  With 4 Webcor riders in the top 20, we wanted to race conservatively in the criterium and focus all our energy into moving up in GC in the final 2 stages.

This criterium had 6 corners on a 1.2km circuit.  The corners were really technical and this made it even more fun to race as I love technical crits. It rained hard all afternoon so as I rested from the time trial, I plotted and planned a complete shattering of the peloton with a satisfied little Mona Lisa smirk on my face.  Unfortunately, the rain stopped and everyone seemed super happy except me.  My consolation prize was that luckily the course was still technical so it would remain challenging for most of peloton.

Team Lipton worked hard on the front by keeping the pace high to protect their race leader, Kristin Armstrong.  Team Cheerwine also wanted to look after Catherine Cheatley (2nd in GC) from mishaps, so they also did a good share of pace making.  Their strategy was perfect and enabled us to sit in for a free ride.  Riding 4th or 5th wheel behind the Lipton or Cheerwine train was lovely and not at all taxing on the legs. I hardly braked and stayed out of the wind and rested. 

There were time bonus sprints every 7 minutes so Laura and I followed the sprinters wheels and covered the predicted counter attacks.  An interesting piece of data is that sitting on the sprinters was fast, and my Polar data showed 50km/hr for each sprint!

The pace was so high that there was no chance of a break succeeding and the peloton prepared itself for a bunch kick.  Lipton started the lead out with 3 laps to go.  On bell lap, they were out of riders and as the field bunched through the start/finish line Cheerwine and Aaron's took over.  Laura was sitting in 5th wheel whilst I took Brook Miller’s (Tibco) wheel just behind.  Van Gilder (Cheerwine) jumped from the final corner and took the stage, ahead of Nichole Wangsgard and Brooke Miller.  Laura finished 9th whilst I took it too wide on the last corner and didn’t contest the sprint.

Now its off to eat and rest which again put the Mona Lisa smirk back on my face.

Stage 5 - Mankato Road race - 140km - 37th,

Today was a long stage of 140km over undulating terrain. There were no major climbs on the course until the race returned the township of Mankato and we had a finishing circuit of 3km which had a steep little pinch in it of 15%. The climb of 1km started as a false flat and with the final 300m being rather steep.

I didn't wake up hungry and didn't eat a lot in the morning which was unlike me. This happens sometimes during tours and I should have just forced a little more food in because I am sure this is what caused me to hit the wall during the final 1/2 hour. I ate plenty of gels during the race but it wasn't enough. I was really hungry for solid food. I sucked down a few cokes in the last 20km but I was feeling quite light headed by the time we hit the circuits.

Kristin Armstrong attacked on the first of the 4 laps and no-one went with her. Rach and Mara were in a small group of 7 but with no-one really digging deep to bring Armstrong back. I was in a group about 30sec back with Amber, Katheryn and Bev. My group split on the final ascent as my legs decided they'd had enough. I didn't cramp but just had nothing left.

Armstrong won by 40seconds. Rach sprinted and took 2nd, ahead of Felicia Gomez (Aaron's cycles). I finished 1mins 28sec behind and slipped to 20th on GC. Rach moved to 3rd in GC but with the same time as Alex Wrubleski (Colavita) and so we went into tomorrow's final stage with a goal of keeping Rach on the podium, and ahead of Wrubleski.

Stage 6 - Stillwater Criterium - 15th

This criterium would have to be the hardest but most fun of all the criteriums I've done. It has a 300m 22% climb in it and 4 technical corners that can be taken really fast in good weather. Fortunately there wasn't a chance of rain, as the sun beat down. It was 34C and blazing hot.

The race started at the base of the climb so it was a case of clipping in and going completely lactate within 30 seconds. There was a bonus sprint at the end of the first lap which I won, but not intentionally. I was just on the front to get the lactate out of the legs and to settle into the race.

There were KOM sprints on every 3rd lap and it was on one of these that Armstrong and my team mate Mara snuck up the road. I got dropped from the peloton for the next 4 laps before chasing hard and catching back on, with 3 to go. The time to Mara increased to 50 seconds which was enough to move her into 2nd overall.

In the final lap, we covered all attacks and prepared for a vicious uphill sprint as the finish was at the top of the 22% climb that we'd just climbed 12 times. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) took the sprint to take 3rd in the stage, followed by Wrubleski and Rach. We thought that if Rach finished in the same time as Wrubleski, Rach would retain 3rd overall, but some complicated USCA ruling announced Wrubleski as 3rd and Rach 4th. This dampened our spirits considerably as we had all thought we'd secured 2nd and 3rd overall. Unfortunately, a protest with the officials did not overturn their decision.

So now I am back in Madison, Wisconsin, training for my next stage race in July, the Tour de Toona.

Overall GC
1st - Kristin Armstrong (Lipton)
2nd - Mara Abbott (Webcor) - 2mins 19sec down
3rd - Alex Wrubleski (Colavita) - 2mins 32sec down
4th - Rach Heal (Webcor)
10th - Amber Rais (Webcor)
14th - Helen Kelly (Webcor) - 3mins 38sec down