Vicki Whitelaw

So the Tour de l’Aude is over for another year.  It was won by Claudia Hausler of the Cervelo Women’s Team in a time of twenty-two hours, forty-nine minutes and ten seconds which equates to an average speed of 37.79 kilometres per hour.  Not bad given the difficult terrain that is raced over!

Stage 9 was won by Ina Teutenberg from a break of 6 riders.  Vicki came in with the next bunch 30 seconds down in 20th place.

Vision1 has had a good tour with Vicki winning the Sprint Classification and spending two days in the QOM jersey, Nicole coming 5th on the general classification after two 2nd places on stages and Christel almost finishing in the top 20 (21st) on the general classification.

Vicki finished 27th overall and won her first ever jersey in a UCI race.  She came so close to getting a stage win on the first stage… but hey, you can’t have everything!  The final standings for the Sprint Classification were:

Vicki has put me onto a website that has some really cool photos taken during the tour… check it out here.

So that’s me signing off until the next big tour…

God bless,
Dave

The penultimate stage of the Tour de l’Aude and another good one for Vision1.  Team leader Nicole Cooke made the winning break and finished second on the stage, Christel Ferrier-Bruneau had a good stage and moved up to just outside the top twenty on GC and Vicki now only has to finish the tour to win the Sprint Competition.

Stage 8 was a tough day at the office for the girls with four Category 1 climbs over the 101 kilometres between Axat and Espezel.  Vicki is feeling that her climbing is coming along and is only just failing to make the front group on the big climbs.  After this tour Vicki’s going to move her European base from Belgium (flat as a tack) to Switzerland (anything but flat) so her training will no longer lack the climbing required to be in form.  Bodes well for the rest of the season!

A break went early on the stage and took all the intermediate sprint points available so, with a lead of 15 points and a maximum of 10 points available on the last stage, Vicki only has to finish the tour to win her first jersey in a UCI race.  Way to go Vicki!!  I’d include the sprint standings but they still aren’t being made available by race organisers. 

Vicki dropped one place to 26th on GC but, given that it was her team mate Christel that leap frogged her, Vicki can live with that. 

Tonight’s stage is the last of the tour and “only” 87 kilometres in length.  It won’t be an easy ride though with 5 categorised climbs including a cat. 1 which peaks 51 kilometres in.  With the Sprint Competition sewn up Vicki can relax and concentrate on enjoying the ride.  (Ooo I’m gonna get in trouble for that one!    )

Until tomorrow,
Dave

Another day, another stage.  Last night’s Stage 7 was one of the few point to point stages in this year’s race, going from Saint Hilarie to Montreal.  (Montreal d’Aude that is, not Montreal Canada.)  The 102 kilometre stage covered 3 categorised climbs and a couple of intermediate sprints.

Vision1 was very active, with almost every member of the team getting in a break.  It wasn’t to be though with Cervelo being very attentive on the front of the bunch, chasing everything.  Even if the break contained no threat to their GC riders.  Oh well, in the end for all their work they didn’t win the stage anyway with Vos (DSB Bank) taking her second stage win of the Tour.

Vicki was able to increase her lead in the Sprint Competition.  Both sprints came after the first climbs and second placed Monical Holler (Bigla) wasn’t able to stay with the front bunch which left the field clear for Vicki.  She didn’t have it all her own way though as Holler’s Bigla team mates tried to soak up the points and deny them to Vicki.  The results for the Sprint comp aren’t available (maybe they think Vicki has it in the bag already?!?    ) but according to the text I received, she has gained another 3 points taking her lead out to 15.  With 4 intermediate sprints remaining in the tour Vicki is by not home yet but the pressure is now on Holler to make rapid gains.  This gives Vicki the upper hand tactically.

Tonight’s stage is a real doozy.  101 kilometres from Axat to Espezel with four Category 1 climbs!  The first sprint comes after 12 kilometres of racing so should be hotly contested.  The second is after the first 2 climbs so all the points there could well go to a break… which would be good for Vicki.

I’ll update this later with the points tally should it become available.

God bless,
Dave

Stage 6 was another day for the climbers. Not being a contender for the General Classification, Vicki had a quiet day conserving her energy for the resumption of the sprint competition in Stage 7. She finished 33rd on the stage (she does like those low thirties doesn’t she!?) in a group that came in 14’43″ behind stage winner Trixi Worrack (Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung).

Haven’t heard anything from Vicki (not even a text! ) so can’t add much more about the stage.

Claudia Hausler (Cervelo) retains the overall lead. Vicki has continued her gradual ascension and now sits in 26th place.

Tonight’s stage is flatter… though flat is a relative term! There are still two Cat. 2 climbs and a Cat. 1 to get over in the 102 kilometres between Saint Hilarie and Montreal. More importantly (to Vicki at least) are the two sprints at the 54.5 and 60.5 kilometre marks. Hopefully her quiet day last night means that she is ready to go tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Dave

The Tour has hit the mountains and the climbers have come out to play.  Last night’s stage featured the first Category 1 climb of the tour.  There has only been minor shuffling at the top of the General Classification.  Vicki also constrained herself to a small GC move, gaining another position to move into 31st place overall.  Not real important in the scheme of things but hey, it’s better to be moving up rather than down.

There were no intermediate sprints last night so the competition for the red jersey remains unchanged – as it will again tonight with a mountain stage devoid of sprints.

Stage 6 is ‘only’ 92 kilometres but manages to contain the Hors Category climb up Col du Calvaire (14km long including 2km with an average of 10%) and the 1st Category climb of Col de la Quillane.  Rather her than me!!

God bless,
Dave

Stage 4 of the Tour de l’Aude was a good one for Vision1. Team leader Nicole Cooke was part of a break that stayed away until the end where she finished second to Marianne Vos (DSB) in the sprint. And Vicki not only kept the Sprint Jersey but extended her lead by 3 points.

Nicole has shot up into the top ten of the General Classification, sitting in 4th place 1’19″ behind the new race leader Regina Bruins (Cervelo). Vicki has moved up one place to 32nd, 5’59″ behind.

Vicki and Monica Holler (Bigla) are going tit for tat on the sprints. Vicki managed a 3rd place on the first one (21.5km in) while Monica followed her over the line for 4th. The second sprint was at 30.6km, just after the first climb of the day. Vicki was first across the line while Monica didn’t manage to place in the top five. Monica then bounced back on the last sprint (71.5km), taking 2nd place. This time it was Vicki’s turn not to gain any points. As Vicki told me in a text, there is a real contest taking place for the lead.

The top 4 in the points competition standings are:

There is a two day rest in the sprint competition as the tour heads into the mountains. (I rather doubt that Vicki will agree with my use of the word ‘rest’!) Tomorrow’s Stage 5 is yet another loop, this time out of Amelie les Bains. It has two categorised climbs: a 4.5 kilometre long cat. 2 and an 18 kilometre long (!?!) cat. 1. Ouch! Somehow I don’t think this stage is going to come down to a big bunch sprint.

Until tomorrow…
Dave

Another stage, another bunch sprint. The 116 kilometre stage out of Lezignan Corbieres followed much the same pattern as Stage 1. A rider went away on a solo break – Emma Pooley (Cervelo) this time rather than Vicki – and was caught only kilometres from the line. Ina Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) won the sprint again and Vicki finished 19th on the same time after just avoiding a crash in the last couple of kilometres.

Vicki scored another bonus second on one of the three intermediate sprints during the stage and stays in 33rd place on GC, 1 minute 34 seconds behind race leader Amber Neben (Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung). She has dropped to second in the QOM competition having been passed by Pooley who has a real chance of holding the lead through the big mountains to come.

The real story for this stage is Vicki’s efforts to hold onto the Sprint Jersey. She started the stage 9 points up on Marianne Voss (DSB Bank) but it seems that her main competition is going to come from Monica Holler (Bigla). In last night’s stage Vicki was 3rd in the first sprint, 2nd in the second sprint and 4th in the third sprint… and Monica was 2nd, 1st and 3rd. Vicki picked up 6 points but Monica was the big mover of the day gaining 12 points.

The top 4 in the points competition standings are:

It’s pretty clear that Monica has her sights set on the sprint jersey so Vicki has a fight on her hands. Maybe she needs to go on another long raid to increase her buffer.

Tonight’s Stage 4 is a 109 kilometre loop out of Castelnaudary with two Category 2 climbs (26.5km and 82km) and, more importantly for Vicki, three sprints (15km, 30.6km and 71.5km). If Vicki holds onto the jersey tonight then she will have it for the next few days as there are no intermediate sprints during Stages 5 and 6 when the tour hits the mountains.

God bless,
Dave

Last night’s Stage 2 of the Tour de l’Aude consisted of a 27 kilometre team time trial starting and finishing in Port la Nouvelle.

Vision1 finished 11th in a time of 37 minutes, 42 seconds which was 2’35″ behind the winning team, Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung.

Here is where the fun and games begin (for us statisticians at least) because the time that goes toward a rider’s GC time isn’t necessarily the time that they took to ride the time trial.  “Huh?” I hear you say.  Well the race organisers were worried that GC hopefuls could be disadvantaged if their team lacks time trialling power so they have imposed a limit on how much time can be lost depending on the position the team finishes on the stage.  For example the team who finishes second loses at most 20″ (even if they came in a minute down, say) and less is they are actually closer to the winning time, the team who finishes third loses at most 30″ and so on and so forth.

Because they finished 11th the most that Vision1 could lose to the stage winners was 1’25″.  As I said above their actual time difference was 2’35″ but 1’10″ of that is discounted.  Sounds a bit iffy really but this was what they use to do in the Tour de France so there has been a precedent.

After all the messing around with times Vicki is currently sitting in 33rd place, 1 minute 35 seconds behind Amber Neben, the new race leader. Vicki still leads both the Sprint and Queen of the Mountains competitions so will begin tonight’s stage wearing the blue QOM jersey.

Stage 3 is a 116 kilometre loop out of Lezignan Corbieres. It’s another rolling stage with a big bump in the middle which rates as the second Category 2 climb of the tour. Vicki hopes to hang onto the Sprint jersey and will see how things pan out for the QOM classification.

Till tomorrow,
Dave

Close.  Oh so close!

Stage 1 of the Tour de l’Aude was a 116 kilometre loop starting and finishing in Rieux Minervois.  It was a rolling stage with a Category 2 climb cresting at 55 kilometers covered.

Tour de l’Aude Stage 1 Profile

Vicki said in her post after the prologue that Vision1 was raring to get the racing underway.  She wasn’t fibbing!  Vicki attacked after 23 kilometers raced and proceeded to stay away on a solo break for the next 90 kilometres.  At the start of the climb (kilometre 53) Vicki was 1 minute 45 seconds ahead.  The peloton chased hard on the ascent reducing Vicki’s lead, only to have her pull away again on the descent.  At Villegailhenc (kilometre 82) Vicki reached a maximum advantage of 3 minutes 50 seconds.

Team Columbia-Highroad, one of the two strongest teams in women’s cycling today, began to chase in an effort to bring the stage down to a bunch finish for their sprinter Ina Teutenberg.  Teutenberg is quoted in cyclingnews.com as saying “it was a real team effort today, in the last 40 kilometres all the riders had to work very hard to pull back a break… We made a decision before the stage, and the result was that half the squad essentially did a team time trial today chasing down the breakaway.”

Vicki conferring with Vision1 Manager Stefan Wyman

Vicki put up a fight but was slowly reeled in.  Her lead was back to 1 minute 45 seconds with 17 kilometres to go, then 58 seconds at 14 to go, then 20 seconds at 10 to go and finally Vicki was caught only 4 kilometres from the line.  Teutenberg went on to win the sprint ahead of Martine Bras (Selle Italia-Guezzi) and Marianne Vos (DSB Bank).  Vicki finished 37th with the same time.

Whilst she missed the stage win Vicki didn’t walk away empty handed.  Being out front meant that Vicki won all three intermediate sprints and the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) sprint on the first categorised climb of the race.  This means that she goes into Stage 2 with both the Sprint jersey and the QOM jersey.  I’m not 100% sure of the precedence of the jerseys but I think Vicki will start tomorrow’s stage in the Maillot Bleu (Blue Jersey) of the QOM classification.

The intermediate sprints carry time bonuses which means Vicki picked up 6 seconds during the stage and moves up to 18th place in the General Classification, 20 seconds behind the new leader Ina Teutenberg.

Stage 2 is a 27 kilometre team time trial.  This will be a real test for Vision1, who are up against team time trial power houses Columbia-Highroad, Cervelo Test Team and the Dutch National Team.  It’s going to be a case of trying to limit their losses.  Seeing as there are no intermediate or QOM sprints during the stage, Vicki will get to keep her jerseys into Stage 3 on Monday.

I am afraid that work will drag me away from my computer this week.  I will continue to update Vicki’s blog when I can but it is likely to be in the evenings rather than the mornings.  You will just have to be patient and contain your curiosity for a few more hours.

God bless,
Dave

Hi all.

Well, it’s tour time so I’m back again with updates on Vicki’s progress in the 2009 Tour de l’Aude.

Last night the tour started with a flat 3.9km prologue.  For those new to bike racing, a prologue is a short time trial at the start of a tour.  It is used to decide who will wear the leader’s jersey on the first stage.  Whilst the race was flat and short that doesn’t mean it was easy!  Riders have to go flat out the whole time with no chance to rest.  If your legs aren’t about to blow by the end you haven’t worked hard enough!  To add to the fun, the wind was up making for a head wind out and a tail wind coming back.

Linda Villumsen of Columbia-Highroad won the prologue in 4 minutes 52 seconds – an average speed of 48.08 kilometres per hour!  Vicki averaged 45.14 kph to finish 19 seconds back in 30th place.  I haven’t talked with her but I suspect she won’t be particularly excited about her result.  Vicki is a time trial specialist but these short, flat ones aren’t really her thing.

Tonight’s 166 kilometre Stage 1 starts and finishes in Rieux Minervois.  It’s a rolling stage with one category 2 climb 55 kilometres in.

Until tomorrow,
Dave