Vicki Whitelaw

Hi.

Vicki has blogged but I thought I would just add in the details…

Vicki finished 39th in last night’s Stage 10 and maintained her 22nd on the general classification with a time of 26 hours, 11 minutes and 42 seconds, 55’48″ behind tour winner Mara Abbot.

So, until the next tour…  God bless,
Dave

I have never been so smashed in all my cycling life!  I’m thankful to Dave (Mr Vicki Whitelaw) for daily updates.  I had nothing left at the end of each day to type and even though I’m struggling now, I’ll give a brief update on how Stage 10 went down.

We started the tour as 7 Lotto riders and finished today with 5.  With crashes knocking us around and then the second part of the tour resulting in half of us being sick, it was a tough task to finish this epic tour.  This morning at breakfast, knowing the finish was so very near, we were all thinking about what a great day our Monday would be… and Tuesday… and Wednesday.  Days of sleeping-in, no pasta and definitely no race gels!  Ahhh, bliss.  Yet we still had one more ‘flat’ stage to complete and there was something novel about doing a couple of laps of the Monza Ferrari racing track before venturing out for a 100km loop.

I was involved in several attacks on the initial racing circuit – enjoying the hot mix surface.  I was keen to get an early break going, if nothing else to wake up my legs.  Unfortunately nothing was sticking until 25km when Evelyn Stevens escaped solo.  A couple of other riders were in pursuit and then another 1 min back was the peleton driven by Gauss and Valdarno.  The pace was high for most of the race with the peleton strung out and our team working hard to keep bunch position, expecially for Ashleigh who had woken up this morning feeling very ordinary.

Evelyn was caught at 60km and shortly after a break of 6 riders formed.  Team Australia had missed it so became the main chasers.  Again the pace was high as we made our way up and down the rolling terrain of this ‘flat’ stage. 

The most entertaining point of the race occurred with 15km to go, when the police motorbike led us down a dead end street and the whole peloton came to a halt and were directed to turn around.  We then sat for 10 minutes while cars in the convoy came at us from all directions and soignys ran around crazily to hand out food and drinks to see us through the last 12km of racing!  Once the police swapped GPS navigation systems and established where we were meant to go we were on our way and, in typical Marianne Vos style, she attacked immediately making my heavy “Coffee-shop legs” scream very loudly. 

The last 12km are a bit of a blur.  It was hot and humid and strung out for long sections in single file.  I just wanted to finish!  The final 5km were driven by Team USA who have had an outstanding tour.  With 400m to go there was a U-turn where positioning in the first 5 wheels was vital for anyone dreaming of a stage victory.  It seems that USA had done their research and timed things beautifully for Shelley Evans to take the win by a whisker from Kirsten Wild.

It has been a truly character building tour. We’ve all experienced extreme fatigue and there have been tears of relief as we’ve conquered the highest mountain pass in the Italy. I am hanging out for some serious R and R.

Next weekend Lotto is racing Cento – a 1 day race near Bologna, Italy that I have done the last few years.  The following day is  la Pinarello cycling marathon/granfondo starting in Trevisio.  It will double as a great training ride and way to thank our wonderful bike sponsor – Pinarello.

Now I’m going to crawl into bed.  It’s going to be a struggle just getting there from the couch!

Thanks for reading,
Vicki

Tough, tough, TOUGH stage last night.  The time gaps were huge with 7’44″ between first and 10th place!  And over 40 minutes between the first and last riders to finish.

Vicki was really tired when she finished the stage last night.  Or at least I assume this to be the case seeing as I haven’t heard from her.  She must have been so tired that she didn’t have the strength to push the keys on her phone.  Either that or she has realised that a club C grader has no place associating with anyone who can finish 25th on a stage like that.    I’m hoping it’s the former.  If nothing else I kind of like being known as Mr Vicki Whitelaw.  Who needs kids when you can live vicariously through your wife? 

So, with the dearth of information all I can do is give you the results – Vicki finished 25th, 16’25″ down on stage (and dare I say tour?) winner Mara Abbot of the US National Team.  Vicki moved up a few places to 22nd on GC.  Unfortunately one of those places is because Vicki’s friend Amber Neben crashed out on a descent.  I’m praying that her injuries aren’t too serious.

Tonight’s 10th and final stage flattens out again.  There is some altitude gain to be had but nothing that carries any mountain classification points.  This tour hasn’t delivered anything for the escape artists and I’m guessing that the trend will continue with HTC wanting another win for Ina (to take her to five for the tour!?) and Cervelo just wanting a win.

I suspect that Vicki will be happy to just roll around and finish safe… after she tries to attack multiple times first, of course.  She can then go home, recover and do it all again next weekend at Cento.

So until tomorrow…
Dave

Another nasty stage last night.  Knowing that it started with a 30 kilometre climb Vicki made sure she did a good warm up before hand.  Sure enough the US team drove it from the gun and shattered the bunch.

Vicki is slowly improving.  She hung onto the front bunch, looking after her team mate Ashleigh, until the 20 kilometre mark and then, in her own words, popped.  I know popping 20 kilometres into a 90 kilometre stage doesn’t sound good but it was 20 kilometres of climbing with some of those 45-kilo-when-soaking-wet climber types driving it. 

Vicki found herself in a workman (workwoman?) like group of the same girls she has been climbing with in the last few stages.  They were rolling around well until Vicki got the call from the Lotto Director to stop pulling turns because Ashliegh had been dropped from the front group and one of the girls with Vicki was close to Ash on GC.  Vicki always feels guilty if she just sits on – her work ethic is just too strong for her own good – but I figure it was probably good for her to have a bit of a ‘rest’.

In the end Vicki finished 25th on the stage, retaining her 25th place on GC.

Tonight’s stage is just insane!  It finishes on the Stelvio pass which is one of the most famous climbs in Italy.  Sure, the girls are racing the “easy” side but easy is a relative term!!  Weather can be a big factor too.  Vicki and I were going to reccy the climb a few weeks back whilst I was in Europe but the weekend we had set aside saw blizzard conditions and road closures in the pass.  Vicki might be hard as nails but I do this riding malarkey for fun… and that just didn’t sound like fun.

To give you an idea of the climb have a look at this footage.

Two things to note on the video…  the first is that, as usual, the camera flattens the climb.  If you want to get an idea of the gradient pay attention as the camera is coming to a switchback.  If you look at the road coming out of the turn you can see how quickly it gains height.  The second thing to note is how the drivers interact with cyclists.  If they come up to a cyclist at a place where there is no opportunity to pass then they actually sit behind until it is safe to do so  Well sort of safe - they do play chicken with the on-coming traffic but my point is that they don’t just mow the cyclist down as happens all too often here in Aus.  I’m missing Italian drivers already!

A great description of the stage can be found on Podium Cafe (it’s where I found the footage).

Tonight will pretty much settle the General Classification for this year’s Giro.  I expect that Vicki will finish in the 20s or 30s again and just be glad to have made it.  (She has said that she has been enjoying the scenery – obviously not working hard enough!!    )

God bless,
Dave

Ouch!  That was a solid stage last night.  Stage 7 was the first of the mountain stages – and it only gets worse from here.  As a warm up, last night’s stage went from Como to Albese.  Along the way the girls climbed the Muro di Sormano which is only 2 kilometres.  Only 2 kilometres with an average gradient of 17%… and a maximum of 25%!?!  As I said, OUCH!

Vicki is really struggling.  Due to her Stage 1 crash she doesn’t have full power in her right leg.  This is survivable on the flat but if you choose to climb something as steep as the Muro di Sormano you need all the power you have… and then some!  Vicki is just having to get up as best she can.

The peloton blew apart last night (not surprising given the route) and crossed the line in small groups.  In fact the ‘laughing bunch’, which was the biggest bunch by far and maybe should be called the peloton, crossed the line some 38 minutes behind the winner Evelyn Stevens (HTC Columbia).  Vicki finished 31st in a small group that was 19’07″ down which drops her to 25th overall.  Not for the first time this year I am left wondering what she might have done if Murphy hadn’t come a visiting.

Tonight’s Stage 8 is going to be a horror.  It starts with a 30 kilometre, 5% average gradient climb.  Get to the top and you still have two thirds of the stage and another two climbs to go.  Given her injury I think Vicki is in for one tough day!

God bless,
Dave

Another hot day, just for a change!

Another inaccurate race profile too    The little bumps that appear on paper would have one believe that today was going to be easier than yesterday and that the sprinters might survive to the end.  Far from it.

I had reconned this stage last week and had some sort of idea of what we would be facing in terms of steep but short climbs.  There were just quite a few extra climbs that I was unaware of, especially the 2 laps of a finishing circuit.  On the start line this morning I was told by a fellow Aussie rider that the race course had been slightly altered.  Oh, just that they had included another uncategorised climb near the start – to warm up our legs no doubt.  Not expecting this, I was very underdone in my warm-up (it was non-existent) so facing a fast 2-lap criterium followed by a climb was certainly leg zapping.

I’m still struggling through this tour. I made the first group today and was hanging in on the climbs to support our GC rider, Ashleigh.  On a descent I was familiar with I had a gap with two other riders but there was no interest from them to drive it.  Then I tried twice more on the flatter roads around the lake which is in my home area.  Still nothing was sticking.  Then, we started to climb again and I whilst I hung in for the first couple of rises, on the one at 10km to go I blew into little pieces.  Fortunately I had some mates to ride in with.  We weaved all over the last climb, looked after each other on the descents and rolled into the line together (well some still unnecessarily sprinted – but you tend to get that fighting for 25th place ).

At the start it was team US riding on the front and keeping things organised.  A 3 rider break consisting of one of the Aussies – Lauren Kitchen - went at 5km and stayed away until km 65.  A good effort!

Team HTC Columbia then took over pacing it out on the front.  They were also aggressive with attacks from 75-80km and then again in the finishing 17km circuit.  They are looking like the most organised team at the pointy end of the race.  The Safi rider Olga  Zabelinskaya is consistently looking strong in the bunch.  She descends like a demon and is climbing with the best of them.  Marianne Vos has been biding her time in each of the last few stages and then, with an awesome amount of power, attacks and only a few can match her.  It will be interesting to see how she manages the longer climbs in a few days.

Tomorrow we have a stage with two bigger climbs starting in Como.  I’m hanging in – but only just.  Seems like I’ve dropped some form for this tour – but then I suppose you can’t be on top of good form all year… unfortunately. It’s been a long year starting with Nationals in January and been full-on until now. There are going to be ebbs and flows that as a rider I have to accept. My corked thigh (from the crash in Stage 1) isn’t helping, robbing me of some power on the climbs.  Still, I’m looking forward to the Stelvio stage – even if just for the experience of racing such an epic climb. Maybe also, it will be a little cooler up there – that would be really nice. Every day, I’m pouring litres of water over me as I ride, trying to keep cool. Fortunately I haven’t yet made the mistake my team mate Nimesha made today – she managed to pour Energy drink over her head thinking it was water! 

Till next time,

Vicki

This will have to be a quick one…

Stage 5 turned out to be a bit tougher than expected – those course profiles can hide an awful lot of detail. 

Vicki didn’t have a great day by her standards.  (Me?  I’d be wrapped with Vicki’s result but then I’m happy if I can keep up with on her training rides.  On her recovery training rides that is.)  It was another scorcher and Vicki wasn’t able to get enough fluid during the race.  This meant that she started to suffer and was unhitched over the last climb before the finish.  With only a fast descent and then the climb to the finish there was no time to catch back on.

Vicki finished 27th, 2’22″ down on stage winner, and new tour leader, Marianne Vos.  She drops a couple of places to 17th on GC.

Best quote of the day comes from Vicki’s team mate Nimesha Smith:  “Don’t know why it’s called the laughing bunch – it’s not very funny!”

Tonight’s stage runs from Gallarate to Arcisate.  It is practically in Vicki’s back yard.  In fact one of the last rides I did with her before returning to sunny (and freezing cold!) Canberra went over most of the climbs of the stage.  They aren’t long but there are a couple of nasty pinches thrown in.  Perhaps a day for a small group to get away?  Vicki has to try to recover from dehydration so I’m not sure how aggressive she will be.

Until tomorrow,
Dave