Joe Martin Stage Race - 2004

After a 2 hour car drive from Tulsa, Oklahoma, we arrived in Fayetteville and settled in with my host family from last year, the Dickenson family. With heavy rain that I am sure exceeded Australia's annual rainfall, we decided to turn the l egs over on wind trainers in Chip's garage. After dinner, Andrea arrived from Texas which completed our team of 4 that was ready to do battle in Arkansas.

Stage 1 was an 112km point-to-point road race. The Rona plan was to use this stage race to tune up for the Montreal World Cup, so we all raced aggressively, to get a tough work out. After dodging at least 6 unleashed dogs that gave chase to us over the first 40km, Katheryn got herself into a break but soon dropped them and was climbing alone.

Towards the top of the main climb, Lyn Gaggioli (T Mobile) attacked hard with Katrina Grove (Rona), Sue Palmer, Tina Pic (Genesis) and Kristin Johnson (Basis). Rona split the group further with Grove, Pic and Gaggioli eventually escaping. Pic won the stage ahead of Gaggioli and Grove.

The second stage starting at 8am, was an 110km road hilly stage. Andrea and I had the green light to get a break going. I got into a break with Grace Fleury (Genesis) sitting on but got caught after a 10km stint off the front. At almost the same place on the following lap I got into another small break but an attentive but shattered field soon caught me. I was cramping in both legs which was causing severe discomfort. I think this was due to the intensity and workload of the race, rather than an electrolyte issue.

The decisive move of the day came when Kori Kelly attacked and Christina Ruiter (Basis) and Andrea Hannos (Rona) bridged across. Content that all riders were not a threat to GC, the field relaxed and let them go. Hannos worked hard in the break to take the stage win and move into the leaders jersey by a mere 5 seconds. I finished 3rd in the field sprint behind Tina Pic (Genesis) and Lyn Gaggioli (T Mobile).

After a few hours rest, we headed to the hilly time trial course for stage 3. We were excited to have Andrea in the yellow jersey and pre rode the course to check out the gradient of the climb. Lyne Gaggioli (T Mobile) won the ITT in an amazing time of 9mins 14sec and moved into the lead. Grove came in 2nd, 34sec down. I cramped during the last km of the TT and finished a disappointing 2mins 12sec down. Andrea rode well to claim 5th in the general classification.

The final stage was a technical criterium with 12 corners and 3 climbs per lap. I spent 30mins in a 5 rider break but we were caught with 5mins to go. Van Guilder (Genesis) took the stage in a close finish over Grove, while Gaggioli took the overall tour win for the second consecutive year. It was a great stage race for Team Rona with a podium result in every stage. In the overall GC, we all finished in the top 20 with Katrina Grove 3rd, Andrea Hannos 5th, Katheryn Curi 7th and I was 18th. My overall position was hindered by an average time trial, so with some specific power work planned, I hope to improve this at the next stage race.

Warming up for the Individual Time Trial. From left: Katrina Grove, Katheryn Curi, Helen K elly, Andrea Hannos.