Vicki Whitelaw

As predicted the Wellington Women’s Race came down to a sprint finish.  The flat course lent itself to such an outcome and with the Aus team keeping everything together for their sprinter Rochelle Gilmore it was pretty much a cert that it would be a day for the fast women.

The big trouble with a sprint is that it can be a bit of a lottery.  A team can work all day only to have their rider pipped at the line.  This happened to Vicki today with Chloe Hosking taking the win and Rochelle claiming second place.  The team did “heaps to control the race and were spent.”  After all the work Vicki rolled across the line in 34th place.

I’m again working with very little info (I at least I have a text message this time!) so can’t say much more than that.  I will bug Vicki to blog soon – she’s back in Aus tomorrow.

It was a reasonably successful trip for the National team.  They won two stages, were in the yellow jersey for two days, won both the sprint and under 23 jerseys and got 2nd and 9th today.  Not everything went there way but hey, it gives them something to aim for next time.

Signing off for now,
Dave

I haven’t heard anything from Vicki yet but the results are up for stage 2.  Vicki’s team mate Rochelle Gilmore backed up from yesterday and won the stage.  I’m guessing here but given that Vicki finished well down the bunch – 46th with the same time as Rochelle – I reckon she was doing lead out duties again.

Vicki now sits 24 seconds down on the overall (there are time bonuses for the first three places on each stage) in 45th place.  She will move up a lot tomorrow if she has taken her climbing legs over with her.

The Aus National team has to be happy.  Two stages, two wins, the leader’s jersey (Rochelle), the sprint jersey (Rochelle again) and the team classification.  With the mountain top finish on tomorrow’s stage there will be a major reshuffle of the general and team classifications.  Hopefully the Aus team will hang onto both.

I’ll add more if I get any further information.

Dave

I talked with Vicki last night.  I was right – she was working for the team sprinter.  Sounds like she was spending lots of energy chasing down breaks and doing an ultra long lead out.  I’m worried that she has burnt too many matches whilst the other GC contenders have been taking it easy in the bunch protected by their teams.  Oh well, it’s what you gotta do if your team decides that stages wins are the priority…

Well, Vicki has deserted me again and run off overseas. New Zealand this time. She is there racing with the Australian National Team in both the Women’s Tour of New Zealand, a three stage tour, and the Wellington Women’s Race, a one day race. The team consists of Rochelle Gilmore, Carlee Taylor, Peta Mullens, Tiffany Cromwell and Vicki.

Once again I’m left at home reporting what she is up to. *sniff* The first stage was run this afternoon. I have a brief text message from Vicki so will pass on what I know…

The Aus team was working for a bunch sprint in what was a pretty flat stage. With Rochelle on the team they knew they had a good chance in the sprint. Feeling good, Vicki was also going after the Mountains Jersey. She was doing well but Ruth Corset, one of the big threats for the overall, was doing better. Vicki decided to save her energy for the days to come.

In then end it did come down to a sprint. Vicki, along with the other girls, did her usual lead out work and it paid off with Rochelle taking the win. Sounds like it was a messy sprint. With 500 metres to go one of Vicki’s own team mates hit her front wheel, wrecking it. Usually when this happens the person ends up on the ground. Somehow Vicki managed to hold it up (praise God!!) and was able to roll over the line. Any resulting time gap shouldn’t damage Vicki’s chances for the overall – if an incident happens within the last kilometre of a stage then anyone affected is given the same time as the group they were with. Sometimes the application of this rule is a bit inconsistent so I won’t make assumptions until I actually see some official results but it should be ok. Thing I’m most annoyed about is that for the first time in ages Vicki was racing on her own wheels. Guess I have some work to do when she gets home.

Tomorrow’s 122 km stage is again mostly flat with one climb rising all of 60 metres. I’ll post another blog when I hear how Vicki goes.

David

Results are up…  Vicki rolled across the line in 32nd position four seconds down on Rochelle.  Someone further up the bunch let a big enough gap open that a separate time was given to position 8 down.