Top 10 at French Cup race!

Yesterday I had probably my best race since being in Europe, at the 4th round of the French Cup series. The race was held in Plumelec, Bretagne, on a very hard course, with a steep 2km climb that we did 9 times, finishing on the top of it.

The race was pretty hard from the start and after 15km of racing, I got into a breakaway of 12 girls. The break contained all the favourites in the race, so we very quickly gained a big gap over the bunch, and it was clear that we were going to stay away. However, we still had to get up that climb 7 more times!

Attacking up the hill

Unfortunately with 15km to go, I punctured, resulting in me having to chase quite hard up the hill to rejoin the breakaway. This took a bit out of my legs for the finish, and I ended up 7th. My team mate Claire Thomas was also in the breakaway, finishing 9th. This placing has moved me up to 7th equal in the overall standings in the series with one race to go.

Overall it was a good but extremely hard race. This week has been the first really hot week since I have been here, and the temperature during the race was 33 degrees-not my favourite conditions to race in!!

After the race we had a lovely 7 hour drive, getting back to Dijon at 2.30am. Safe to say everyone was pretty knackered by the time we finally got home!!

I am now on my way to Strasbourg to meet up with my mum who is over in Europe for work at the moment.