Well today was a better day. Stage 2 of the Women’s Tour of New Zealand consisted of a 114km jaunt between Masterton and Palmerston North. General consensus is that it’s the toughest stage in this year’s tour – not what you want to face less than 24 hours after hitting the deck. Being the masochist she is, Vicki hit the start line hoping for a better day than yesterday.
The weather wasn’t conducive to feeling safe with a light rain that made the roads greasy but didn’t manage to wash the oil off. There were plenty of crashes in the bunch on the wet roads and hairy descents, including one that took out the defending champion Amber Halliday. Vicki managed to avoid all of them and finish with the front bunch. Despite feeling stiff and sore off the bike Vicki was able to sit in ok and even try being a bit active. Her good form is still there even if it’s been blunted by the crash. One of these days the ducks are going to line up in a row… surely!?
Vicki is still sitting 40th on GC – pretty much out of the running.
Tomorrow is a double header with a flat 87km stage in the morning followed by an 11km time trial in the evening. It’ll be a bit of a strange TT as no time trial equipment is allowed – standard road bikes only. This is done to save the international teams from having to lug TT bikes half way around the world and often leads to some unexpected results.
I have to admit that at this point I’ll be happy just as long as Vicki keeps the rubber side down.
Until tomorrow,
Dave