Dottignies

On Monday I raced in the Belgian UCI 1.2 race, Dottignies, a 133km course. Before the race I was told not to worry, the race was flat, no cobbles and would not be to hard. Well after doing the race, I don't know where this information came from, because this race had hills, it had cobbles, and even had a hill WITH cobbles.

The race started fast, with 200 girls all trying to get to the front, before the first narrow road, which started 1km into the race. After this came the first cobbled section, which luckily wasn't too hard or fast. However, after this we started a series of climbs, the last of which was very steep and all cobbled. I started this climb with the front group of around 30-40 riders. However on the climb I just felt like I was going backwards! Because I don't weigh much, I get bounced around a lot on the cobbles, so I don't enjoy them at all! Luckily, I was not too far off the back of the first bunch over the climb, and was with some strong girls from the AA drink and Dolmans-Boels teams who were able to get us back to the bunch.

One of the climbs on the course

After this, the course was reasonably flat, which allowed a lot of other riders to also catch up, so we entered the last circuits of the course with a peleton of 100 riders. The last 4 laps all contained a short section of cobbles, but there was no real effort to string out the bunch, with the big teams all keen for a bunch sprint. The sprint was quite difficult with a few corners in the last kilometre of the race. I finished midway in the bunch, so not the best sprint. After the race we drove straight back to France, getting to Domois at about 1am, so I was VERY tired by the time I got home. 

Riding in the bunch behind 2nd place getter, Emma Johansson

The rest of the week has been good because another kiwi, Gen Whitson has moved into the house where I am staying, as she is also riding for our team this year. It has been great being able to talk english, and feels weird to be able to talk so much after 3 weeks of just speaking french!! 

This weekend we have another big race coming up. It is the 2nd French cup race, and is in the south of France, so is very hilly. As we have lots of hill climbers in our team, we really want to win this one! So this week will be an easy one, to make sure I am ready for the race

Emma