Vicki Whitelaw

Another tough stage last night with the four laps of a 25 kilometre loop around the town of Altenberg including a short (400 metre) but steep (23%) climb.  Unlike the riders of the Tour de France, the women didn’t feel the need to take it easy on the final stage and raced from the gun.

Vicki’s job was to protect her team mate’s third place on GC:

Finished thank goodness.  Worked hard to keep Shara in third.  Bit worrying at times as Linda Villumsen [AA Drink - Leontien.nl Cycling Team] in break.

The finish saw a few survive off the front of the bunch and finish in small groups of twos and threes.  Vicki finished 16th on the stage but slipped one place to 8th overall.  More importantly Shara Gillow retained her podium position, finishing the tour in third.

Sounds like Vicki is struggling with a cold which would explain why she has been feeling tired the last few days.  Unfortunately, unlike us mere mortals, pro riders can’t just curl up in bed with a good book when they are feeling under the weather.  I knew there had to be some downside to this ‘easy’ life tripping around the world riding a bike.

That’s me signing off on another tour.  Guess you’ll see me again at the next one.
Dave

Hi.

Last night was a 19 kilometre individual time trial.  Not a great day for Vicki.  I think some fatigue from the current block of racing is starting to creep in.

Had a bad TT.  I’m very tired.  The long sections in the wind were a lot longer than I thought.  Good news is that Shara [Gillow] is now in third [on GC].

Vicki’s version of bad means 21st place on the stage (I wouldn’t mind being able to ride that badly) though I will admit that there are a number of riders ahead of her who she would usually beat.  She slips one place to 7th on the General Classification.

Tonight the race finishes with 100 kilometers that includes four ascents of a 400 metre cobbled climb that maxes out at 23%.  Ouch!!  Vicki will be looking to make sure that Shara maintains her podium position, sacrificing herself as required.  If all goes well she might even be able to hold onto her own top ten placing.

Dave

Morning.

Well the ‘queen’ stage was run last night and it sounds like it lived up to expectations.  The 100 kilometer race included two ascents of the Dörtendorfer Berg, a 1.5 kilometre climb with a maximum gradient of 14% and the GC contenders came out to play.

According to the report from Pigeons of Podium Cafe, a break of 18 escaped after the first ascent of the Berg.  It included all the top ten on GC.  Vicki was out on another raid and in some pretty esteemed company. 

The group split and when it reformed two had flown the coop – Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervelo) and Judith Arndt (HTC Highroad).  Emma won the stage, 1:05 ahead of Arndt with another 13 seconds back to the remainder of the original break.  Neither Pooley nor Arndt were in the decisive break of Stage 2 so the GC standings are little changed.

Sounds like it was a tough day at the office for Vicki.  I’m guessing she didn’t have any energy left to type.

Hi.  Survived another day – just.

She finished 12th on the stage and maintained her 6th place on GC.

Tonight could well see a shake up of the overall standings as the contenders face a 19 kilometre individual time trial over rolling terrain.  Apparently the organisers of some small race in France saw this and thought is was a good idea so decided to hold a time trial on the same day.  I’m sure the women will get the lion’s share of the media attention though. 

Until tomorrow,
Dave

Last night saw the girls race 145 kilometres (the stage was lengthened by about 15 kilometres to avoid some road problems – bet the girls loved that!) in and around Schleiz.

For Vicki it was a stage that highlighted the random nature of cycling where a rider is exposed to so many uncontrolable elements: weather, wind, Commissaires and mechanicals, just to name a few.  Yesterday Vicki placed second on the stage.  Today…

Easy long day in the bunch.  Ruth [Corset] and Jess [Maclean, Vicki's Australian team mates] in break.  Annoying day mechanically for me.  Stage was wet and problem with brakes so very scared on every descent including the run to the finish.  Lost valuable seconds. 

So often cycling is about risk management.  You can bomb a descent and put time into your rivals or take one too many risks on a corner and crash out of contention.  I must say that, personally, I am very happy Vicki decided to take it easy.  Cause, you know, I do actually want her back at some point! 

Because Vicki is riding for the National team this race there wasn’t a spare bike for her on the car.  She couldn’t even grab someone else’s bike because the AIS riders use Shimano pedals and Vicki rides with Look ones.  She just had to soldier on as best she could.

I was expecting the worst when I jumped on-line to see the results only to find that Vicki did lose time… but only 6 seconds on GC leader Emma Johansson.  Phew – not nearly as bad as I was expecting!  Seconds count – seconds always count in this type of tour – and Vicki did drop from 5th to 6th on the overall standings but given the circumstances I think she might be being just a little hard on herself.  Not that Vicki would ever do that! 

The stage was won from a break by Amanda Miller (HTC Highroad) but because the time gap to the peloton was 2:21 compared to yesterday’s 5:52 the overall standings didn’t change all that much.  Look to Podium Cafe for more details.

Tonight sees what the race organisers beleive is the hardest stage.  It’s ‘only’ 100 kilometers but that includes two ascents of the Dörtendorfer Berg, a 1.5 kilometre climb with a maximum gradient of 14%.  Seems like another day for a break away.  Vicki is going to have to be attentive to defend her GC position.

God bless,
Dave

Last night saw the peloton race a hilly (one hill was as steep as 16%) 105 kilometre course that finished in Greiz.

The message I received from Vicki was short… but very sweet:

I came second to Emma Johansson in the stage from a break away group of 9!

Thüringen is a real hard woman’s course with short, steep climbs, cobbles, rain (there is always rain during this race) and narrow roads.  It is usual for the race to be decided by small breaks and who has the fortitude to be in these day after day.  With the main bunch finishing almost six minutes down last night it is pretty certain that the final winner of the general classification will come from the nine who finished at the front of Stage 2.

Stage 2 Podium: Vicki, Emma Johansson & Amy Pieters

Vicki has now moved into 5th overall, 14 seconds behind Emma J and 1 second off a podium place.

And you want to know the best thing of all?  I now have a photo of Vicki with a beer in her hand.  This is Vicki.  The one who never drinks and hates the taste of beer.  The race is sponsored by a beer company – the Altenburg Brewery – so the daily podium presentation is made with schooners of beer in place of the usual sparkling wine and the final General Classification winner receives a massive glass that has to contain close to a couple of litres - it’s certainly enough to give one of these slight female cyclists a bad morning the following day.

Tonight’s Stage 3 is a 98 kilometre loop out of Schleiz which is reasonable flat and expected to end in a bunch sprint.  It seems that the Commissaires took note of my rant the other day (cause, you know, I’m sure they are listening to me ) and gave all the riders in the same bunch the same time last night.  Here’s hoping that will continue tonight!

Until tomorrow,
Dave

Morning.

Stage 1 of the Thüringen Rundfahrt was run last night, a 119 kilometre loop out of Gera.  It finished in a bunch sprint which Ina Teutenberg won, extending her lead in the general classification.  Again Podium Cafe is covering the race with their embedded reporter Pigeons.  (I’ve always thought that embedded journalists end up being prone to bias but I’m sure Pigeons can rise above this.    )

Again I only have texts to work with but it was a good day for Vicki:

Had a great race.  So much prefer these hills [to the climbs in the Giro Donne].  Was in good break with Pooley, Luperini & a few other on last climb with 8 km to go but got caught.    Finished in bunch.

Until a bit of bad news at the end:

Unfortunately this is the one tour a year where they [the Commissaires] are very severe with wheel gaps on the finish line.  We didn’t fare so well, losing valuable seconds .

The rule with bunch finishes is that everyone in the bunch gets the same time as the first rider over the line.  This is a safety thing as otherwise all the GC contenders would be fighting with the sprinters to make sure that they were as far forward in the bunch as possible so as not to lose time.  Sprints are dangerous enough already without even more people fighting for position at the pointy end.

So how do you judge where one bunch finishes and another one starts I hear you ask.  Well the UCI rules state that

2.3.040  All riders in a given bunch shall be credited with the same time when they cross the finish line…

That’s it – no strict rule on what constitutes ‘a given bunch’.  As so often happens in cycling, tradition fills in for this gap in the rules.  The tradition has it that there either has to be a full second or a full bike length between riders (depending on the particular judge adjudicating) for one bunch to end and a new one start. 

Looking at last night’s results neither tradition was applied – in fact it looks like no bunch was recognised and everyone was given the actual time that they crossed the line.  For example there were six riders given a time of 3 seconds down and then three riders given a time of 4 seconds down.  So clearly the first traditional method (one full second) wasn’t being used and unless all six lined up perfectly and crossed the line together (holding hands?) I rather doubt there was a full bike length between the last rider given 3 seconds and the first given 4 seconds. 

There were ‘given bunches’ at 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 seconds.  Guess that means Ina didn’t actually win a bunch sprint but rather from a small breakaway.  Just dumb!

For the rest of the tour anyone with GC hopes is going to have to fight to be within a second of the stage winner or stand to lose time… that is going to be real messy, not to mention dangerous!!

Vicki finished 20th (yay!) but in the six second bunch (bah!).

Tonight’s Stage 2 is a 105 kilometre jaunt finishing in Greiz.  There are lots of short, sharp climbs so it may be one for the escape artists… depending on whether HTC was a sprint again.

God bless,
Dave

Good morning.

It’s me, Dave, back again as Vicki rushes around Europe doing another block of racing. 

On Saturday Lotto-Honda lined up for a 110km race in Cento, Italy.  Vicki was aggressive, jumping in a lot of breaks early on but the bunch was wanting a sprint finish so chased everything down.  In the end she finished 12th despite having to stop in the last 10 kilometres for a wheel change after a puncture.

Two days later Vicki lined up with the Australian National Team for the prologue of the  International Thüringen Rundfahrt in Germany.  It consisted of a 3.4 kilometre team time trial around a technical little course with cobbles and a small climb. 

Team time trials are funny beasts.  The finish time is taken on the fourth rider across the line (in this case – sometimes it’s the third or the fifth) so the teams of six have to ensure that they don’t drop more than two of their number.  Anyone who is dropped doesn’t get the team time but the actual time it takes them to complete the course which can lead to significant losses.  This leads to a number of strategies – some teams go as hard as they can, willing to sacrifice a couple of riders in order to be in with a chance for a win whilst other teams decide to stay together so that no one loses too much time, even though the whole team will be a bit slower.  For example the team who won last night (HTC – Highroad) finished with the minimum four in 4’34″ – the two riders they dropped finished 8 and 54 seconds further back.  The first team to finish with all six riders was in 9th place.

That team in 9th was actually the Aussies, who finished 13 seconds down on HTC.

The internet in the hotel where Vicki is staying is overwhelmed by all the internet addicted cyclists who are staying there.  That means that all I’m likely to get are text messages so not much detail.  Guess I’m going to have to make a lot of stuff up this week.    From last night’s text:

Finished 9th. Rode normal bikes [instead of time trial bikes] because of technical course.  Aimed to finish all 6 instead of 4 so I only worked at 80%.

Tonight sees the first road stage, a 119 kilometre loop around Gera.  Expect to see break aways and small groups – I’ll let you know how Vicki goes.

God bless,
Dave