Link to each race report from the list below or just scroll down to browse:

05-31-08 Montreal World Cup

Just six days after finishing the Tour de l'Aude, the Webcor team of Alex, Erinne, Christine, and Janel were on the start line of the Montreal World Cup back across the pond. We had a small team but a strong one. It is a tough course with a steep 2km climb on each of 11 laps, but Webcor likes the hard races. This race was also the last chance for our Canadian riders to earn an automatic Olympic spot as the top Canadian in this race.

Christine in her rain jacket photo courtesy of marcusurban.com click to see larger view

We awoke to pouring rain as is not uncommon here in Montreal. This made for a challenging race with all the potholes that characterize the roads of Montreal. There were also a lot of flats in the early laps as wet tires picked up the various debris that littered the downtown roads.

Unfortunately Webcor basically lost half our team in the first lap when Christine flatted and Janel stopped and gave her her front wheel. Christine had a hard chase for another lap and a half and was only with the pack for half a lap before flatting her rear wheel. By that time the pack was going too fast for her to catch back again. Janel also never made contact with the field. Erinne raced very strongly and finished 7th against a strong international field. Here are some CyclingNews photos:

Webcor warming up
Alex in the rain
Christine chasing after her flat. The look says it all…

Here is Erinne's Report:

Yesterday in the pouring rain we raced up Mount Royal eleven times. I was actually excited about the rain and thinking it might be in our favor as Alex and I trained in the rain all winter. It was also a very important race for Olympic selections as the Canadian automatic spots were still up for grabs. Unfortunately though, the race was missing quite a few key players from the International scene and I knew it would be a strange day with a race within a race for the Canadians.

So we took off, and immediately in the first lap Christine got a flat. Janel waited and gave Christine her wheel, and then Dave ran up to service (losing his shoe in the meantime and running in the wet rain in one sock). Christine got serviced first and then still chased for two laps until she finally caught the field, Janel was serviced second and unfortunately never made contact with the group again. So not a great start, but anyhow, the pace was hard and steady and once Christine got back on, I saw her for maybe 30 seconds, before I heard again that she had another flat. This time it was too hard to chase on and her race was over, (or never really started).

So it was Alex and I left. Neither one of use were feeling great the first half of the race but we were staying in good position, out of trouble and crashes and covering important attacks. Also, like Judith Ardnt said in the press conference, we just finished Tour de L’Aude last week and we are all still a little tired from 10 super hard days of racing one of the two hardest stage races in the world and travelling back to North America afterwards.

From the start High Road was being aggressive until eventually Ina Teutenberg got away early in the race and gained up to a minute on the field. This forced Cervelo to chase and others to try and bridge. Ina stayed away for about five laps but eventually got caught. The second half of the race I started feeling better until two laps to go. On lap 8 it was no longer domestics setting the pace on the hill and the winning contestants started attacking on the hill. I was able to follow everything and feeling really good.

On lap 9 I started attacking as well and then set a hard tempo stringing out the field near the top until Luperini countered. Both times up on laps 8 and 9 there was a small group of possibly five riders, myself included, that had gapped the rest of the field but although the field had shrunk significantly the group didn’t stick. After lap 9 there were possibly 10 riders in the front group and Alex was close behind in the second group. I was missing my teammates as there were lots of attacks happening.

On the 10th lap I started to cramp and up that climb I got gapped a little from the five top riders and crested the hill with the other Canadians Anne Samplonius and Leigh Hobson. We chased on quickly and then I guzzled my last water bottle and hoped I could keep my leg cramps at ease for the final climb. The final climb started slow and then at about 1/3 of the way up Luperini did a big attack. I was right on it with Judith Arndt. The three of us had a gap and then Arndt took over the front and kept the pace super hard. I lost contact with them a few hundred metres from the top and seriously couldn’t sleep last night because I was replaying the top of that climb over and over. That was my assured Olympic spot that rode away and had I not been fatigued and starting to cramp, I know I would have been there for a medal. Anyhow, Luperini and Ardnt stayed away and Ardnt won the World Cup. The chase group of eight didn’t completely chase that last lap. Instead Kristen Armstrong, Emma Pooley, and I attacked multiple times trying to get away for the 3rd spot that was still up for grabs. But it came down to a sprint. Kristen was leading into the final 180 degree corner with Leigh second wheel and I third. I wanted to take the inside but then Sara Carrigan came flying by and messed up the line Kristen and I wanted to take. Leigh got around to the outside of us and had good speed still going through the corner. She started sprinting and we couldn’t come around any more. I finished 5th in the sprint for 7th overall.

Back to the index

05-25-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 9

The Tour de l'Aude finished Sunday with the traditional Limoux-Limoux stage. This stage is deceptively difficult and often has an effect on GC. This year was no different with Trixie Worrack attacking on the main climb to initiate a breakaway with three of the other top five riders in the race: Judith Arndt, Susanne Ljunkskog, and Nicole Cooke. The break stayed off and Trixie got her 3rd place overall back.

Erinne finished strongly in the next chase group with the rest of the top 10 GC riders, showing herself to be among the worlds best stage racers. Amy was well on her way to finishing her first European stage race (and a big 10-day one at that!) but a jostle in the pack caused her to hit the pavement face first and finish the race in the ambulence instead. Luckily her injuries were not severe and she should be back with the team in Nature Valley. See this CyclingNews photo of Christine and Avery:

Here is Erinne's Report:

The final stage of the Tour de L’Aude, thankfully started and ended in our home town Limoux. It all started well with us sleeping in and being able to ride to the start and see both the start and finish of the loop. It was a 70km loop and oh boy was the wind ever gusting. It was by far the windiest day of the tour and we thought the first 15km along a very small river road might be a deciding factor; so it was a bit of a fight for the turn onto that road. But even though there were attacks, it stayed together for the time being.

At about 20km into the race I was about mid field and heard a crash over to my left. I saw our little Amy flying over her bars. We heard from Karen that she wasn’t getting up, and I know all our stomachs turned. After the race we learned that Amy had been taken to the Carcassonne hospital, but well luckily and unluckily she had fallen on her face and has road rash and stitches above her lip. It sounds like it’s superficial and the face heals fast so we think she’ll have a fast recovery.

So , after us all seeing and hearing about Amy we had to continue the race. There was a GPM 2 and GPM 1 coming up quick. On the hill Nürnberger (Trixi) was the main aggressor and the field had definitely split up by the top. On the last kilometer Trixi put in one last attack that got her, Judith, Susan, and Nicole into a break. After a long descent and lots of winding small roads, those four stayed away and Judith won the sprint. I was in the next chase group about 55 seconds down, and Christine came in shortly after in the following group.

So the stage race is over. It was a great race and we will all gain incredible fitness from it. Erinne finished 12 in GC, Christine, 16th. Amy would have finished no problem had the crash not happened and Gina rode in finishing and will be ready to giv’er with her new road form at Philly.

Now the Webcor Team has all arrived safely back in North America, some have gone home for rest, and some are preparing for the Montreal World Cup this Saturday. Wish us luck!

Back to the index

05-24-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 8

Day 9 was another day of tiny winding roads with lots of ups and downs. We had some rain at the start, but most of the race was dry and the wind died down a bit from yesterday. There was one category 2 climb and one category 1 climb. There were lots of attacks all day long and DSB Bank had two riders solo away separately for a while, but no breaks would stick and in the end; it was a 37-rider field sprint won by Ina Teutenburg.

Erinne and Christine finished safely in the front group and Amy was in the field until the 2nd GPM when the field basically split in half.

Here is Amy's Report:

I've turned myself so inside out that I'm now outside in. After five days I was able to accept that everything is just tired and probably will be for the next five days. After day seven forget the pain and just be. Day nine and everything has lost all meaning. I feel gone baby gone. Yesterday almost cracked me but sometimes hitting the bottom can propel you back up, at least for one more day. It's like being in the middle of a seesaw, one leg on each side – whichever leg fails you, the opposite way you will fall.

Today's race was 119km, starting and finishing in Bram. Within 7km we hit the first climb. Gina surfed through the bunch like a turbo charged minnow, ensuring that Erinne and Christine were in good position as we wound through town and through roundabouts. Up the 2km climb my focus was surviving, so I was relieved to make it to the top attached to the bunch. With this sigh of relief came a gust of wind and my gasping of a very bad word. Cross winds came shooting in and the field was strung out 3km down the road, and I was off the back cursing deep inside the pain cave. I mingled my way through the caravan and eventually caught back on, panting like a sun-baked puppy. I then looked down a switchback to see Erinne busting a move off the front. Webcor green is marked with a bulls eye on our backs so Christine and Erinne's attacks today were quickly reeled back in.

Next, Adrie Visser of DSB attacked solo. No one put in much of an effort to bring her back because she was 40 minutes behind on GC. We gave her about three minutes and left it at that for the majority of the race. It was a steady pace until about 70km when the 2nd GPM started and Adrie's gap quickly vaporized. Christine found herself toward the back, saw a split developing and put in an enormous effort to bridge the gap to the front group. At about 75km the split had formed and no caravan mingling could bring me back to that lead group.

For a bit we had the front group within shouting range, but the gap continued to grow without a bridge. There were little attacks in Christine and Erinne's group, which were silenced by High Road's Judith Arndt and Linda Villumsen. They kept the pace hot until stepping aside for Ina's sprint finishing win. Erinne and Christine finished their 9th day strongly in the front group of 37. My group came dabbling in about five minutes behind. Gina finished with a smile, free of crashes until tipping over on her way back to the van.

One more day to this 10-day parade. My plan for tomorrow is to keep pedaling forward.

Picture green rollin'

Back to the index

05-23-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 7

There is no such thing as an easy stage over here in this Tour! There was less climbing today, but plenty of wind to make up for it. The roads are mostly 1-car width wide, so positioning is a constant battle. There are a lot of tired legs at this point, but there are also plenty of people who still want to race! An opportunistic break of 11 riders got away almost from the start. The highest GC rider in the group was in 20th place, so the group was given a bit longer leash. With only Erinne and Christine to cover attacks, Webcor missed the move but had any of the higher GC riders been in the break, it would have been unlikely to succeed. Most of the other teams were represented, though, so the gap steadily grew.

1996 Olympic TT Champion Zulfia Zabirova attacked the break with about 5km to go and soloed in for her 2nd stage win of the Tour. The remaining breakaway finished over four minutes ahead of the field. Erinne and Christine finished safely in the main group with Gina a bit farther back. Amy had the hardest day of all, getting spun off the group in the early cross winds and riding 60km or so in a small group, before dropping her companions on the final climb to ride the final 40km alone. Good thing too, because her former companions missed the time cut! She still finishes every day with a smile though!

Here is Christine's Report:

Today could have been a lighter day given the parcours called for only two category 2 climbs and three sprints. However, mother nature decided to play a role by blowing strong winds during our 108km journey through the rolling hills around Castelnaudary. With the change in direction on course, and the very narrow country roads we travel, this meant for a lot of cross winds and challenges for positioning.

Team Webcor was down to four riders starting today as Alex had to abandon yesterday to take a deserved rest after her strong racing this spring. We started out of town and within 5km were strung out single file with a raging tailwind on a very narrow, winding road that did not allow room for much movement up from the back, which frankly was only possible if you were running an 11-tooth cog. Our light-weight Amy suffered here and found herself in for a long day with only a few riders to help her. She eventually went on a solo mission the final 40km to finish inside the time cut in order to start tomorrow. Erinne and Christine fought these first 15-20km to stay in contact with the main group as a group of 11 riders escaped from the main field. The break included all the bigger teams except Menikini, who stayed together to defend Ljungskog's lead. All but one rider in the break was more than 25min down in individual GC, but the lucky AA Drink rider, Irene Van den Broek, was allowed to go down the road with this group. She was 8 minutes down in GC from Ljungskog, but only 4:45 or so behind 2nd and 3rd placed riders Arndt (High Road) and Worrack (Nürnberger), so Menikini only needed to keep the gap under 7-8 minutes. They did their job perfectly, but High Road and Nürnberger never helped in the chase, and the break finished 4:58 ahead of the peloton of 70+ riders, so Van den Broek moved into 3rd place overall in GC.

Essentially, the race in the main peloton was all about holding position through the changes of course that brought about the crosswinds. Erinne and Christine had difficult days just fighting all day, but Gina had to fight harder as she kept slipping in and out of the main peloton with the "non-climbs" of this region (ie. no stage is flat!). She was happy to have some motorpace training in the caravan to keep her track leg-speed going through this brutal block of racing!

An amazing effort by Zulfia Zabirova (Bigla) saw her leap out of the breakaway group around 15km to go into a headwind and finish solo about 30 seconds ahead of her day-long break-mates. This was her second stage victory this week. If she could climb as well, she would be winning the overall! Cat Carroll of the USA National Team took the small group sprint for second overall on the day. Arndt maintained the mountains jersey, and Monica Holler (Bigla) gained more points for the sprint competition by winning two of the sprints in the breakaway. Zabirova earned the Points jersey with her second stage victory.

Christine and Erinne eached moved down one spot on GC with Van den Broek leap-frogging ahead. Tomorrow should be another difficult climbing day around Bram. Maybe there will be better opportunities for the GC riders near the front this time!

Back to the index

05-22-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 6

Stage 6 was the first point to point race of this Tour. The course was not has hard as some, but it was the racers who made it hard.

Here is Erinne's Report:

Stage 6 of Tour de L’Aude was once again another bike race today. We are all getting a little more tired, little more sore, more hungry, more delirious and our Team Webcor is getting a little smaller. Yesterday we lost Rebecca because of injuries to her back from her crash in the TTT and today we lost Alex who despite being so much help, needs a rest and hasn’t been feeling very good this week. But, we are still four strong and ready to still give ‘er.

Today was another one of those "Mountain Stages." It had three Category 1 GPM’s, two sprints and one sprint for time, so it was a busy day. We started with a very fast road leading into the first GPM with a sharp left turn. Gina kept Christine and I up at the front in great position for the first 10km until that crucial left turn. Then the road went UP! The climb was steady but hard and at the top there was a smaller group of climbers. After that a small descent, then a small 1.5km climb, then a very long fast technical and super fun descent. Maryline Salvetat (French National Team) attacked on the small climb and Sara Carrigan (Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam) and I went with her and then bombed the descent and had 29 seconds by the bottom. The three of us rolled through on this big road until the base of the second GPM where we got caught. But in the meantime, during the break, I WON one of my first ever sprints in the sprint for time at 40-something kilometers.

On the second GPM, the race was all together again with Alex, Christine, and I all in the lead group. High Road’s Luise Keller attacked at the bottom, and Nürnberger put the chase down to bring her back. The last 2km were faster when Trixi Worrack was setting a fast pace for the GPM sprint. At this point the in the race we all got feeds and we had another big descent and nothing exciting happened until the third and final GPM.

The third GPM was by far the fastest of the day. From the bottom Nürnberger, Amber Neben, the Brits (well ALL the GC riders) were attacking each other one after the other. Near the top Susanne Ljungskog went with an attack from Sharon Laws (Great Britain National Team) and then for the last km there was a fast chase to the top until they were brought back. Now there was a fast highway descent and a small front group of maybe 15-20. Christine and Alex were chasing on together during the descent, and Alex did one last great effort. Christine was hurting from her two Time Trial efforts she had to do yesterday because of those super unfortunate flats in the last kilometers of the day. (But she did win the most "Bad Luck" award of the day for yesterday’s stage).

At the bottom of the final descent we got to a big 2-lane road that was mostly false flat to the finish for 35km. Before Christine got back, Sharon Laws and Regina Bruins (Dutch National Team) got away with one of the first attacks. Everybody was slow to react immediately, but from then on there were continuous attacks all the way to the finish. I kept looking and trying, for it seemed like there were hundreds of chances to bridge to the top escapees, but the group was now dead set against anyone else high up on GC getting away. Soon after, Christine’s group got on and then from that group Vicki Whitelaw (Australian National Team) attacked. Being 16 minutes down on GC, she was "allowed" to go and she bridged up to the other two leaders to eventually win the stage.

Christine and I finished in the lead group sprint finish. Amy and Gina also both had good days out there in their respective groups. Now we have done 7 days and have 3 to go. Tomorrow is relatively flat… so they say, but I kinda doubt it. Hopefully Christine can have a good rest and be more ready and fired up for the weekend.

Back to the index

05-21-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 5

Stage 5 was a bit flatter and many of the GC riders were hoping for an easier day with sprinters' teams to help control the race. The stage was won by High Road's super sprinter Ina Teutenberg, but she did it the hard way, riding in a break of two for about 60km and barely holding off the field by four seconds.

Christine had a hard day with two flats in the last 20km. She actually got the "Bad Luck Prize" that the race organizers give out.

Here is Christine's Report:

We came down from our 1600m alpine housing today to start and finish the day in Toulouges with a 112km circuit. Christine was happy not to face another day of racing at altitude. The course profile had three categorized climbs: a cat 2 at 18km, another cat 2 at 30.5km, and a more gradual cat 3 at 72.5km.

The peloton was a bit nervous on the narrow roads leading into the first series of climbs, which were not hard enough to lose 2/3 of the field as they had been the previous day, so positioning was paramount. Christine found herself in the dirt beside the road before the first climb but was unhurt (except her ego) and easily caught the bunch quickly with Amy dropping back to help her. The descent after the 2nd GPM was harried and quite technical. Super-descender Ina Teutenberg (High Road) and Charlotte Becker (Nürnberger) escaped off the front of the group before the bottom and were off for a long breakaway from around 45km into the race.

The front of the main bunch split a bit before the bottom of the descent, but the larger group with Erinne, Christine, and Alex caught back on once the road widened. Before the final GPM there were a number of attacks from DSB Bank, AA Drink, Gauss, and the Australia National Team – all looking for a possible stage win on this easier day for the GC riders. Without an organized chase, however, Ina and Charlotte's gap grew to two minutes before the final GPM.

After the final long, fast descent, Christine hit a sharp object that flatted her front tire. Alex stopped immediately to giver up her wheel, and Christine was chasing in the cars quickly. The team car got to Alex shortly thereafter, but she had a very long and difficult chase back onto the front bunch, which had started to pick up the attacks with the front two getting closer. After they each caught on separately, Christine flatted her rear wheel on a broken bottle through a town around 15km to go to the finish. Alex again stopped immediately to give up her wheel, and she valiantly fought to get to the caravan but never quite made it. Christine chased hard while the group was in hot pursuit of the two escapees at this point. She made contact with only 50m to the finish to maintain same time in the finish. Erinne finished easily in the front group, and Amy and Gina came in only a few minutes down. Rebecca unfortunately has had a return of her back problems with the crash in the TTT and had to abandon today. She has been doing a lot of the previous days racing with only one leg really functioning.

Ina beat Charlotte in the final sprint, and held off the chasing pack by four seconds for a well-deserved victory!

Tomorrow is another hard climbing day from Rennes les Bain to Axat with three category 1 climbs. Wish us better luck!

Back to the index

05-20-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 4

The Tour went to the Pyrenees today and it was the day of reckoning for all the GC contenders. Susanne Ljungskog proved to be the strongest rider in the race and attacked over the first climb and eventually finished over four minutes ahead of the prior race leader Arndt. Erinne continues to get stronger as the race continues and got in a break late in the race. Webcor had three riders at the front of the race and moved up to 2nd on Team GC ahead of High Road and behind Nürnburger. Below are links to some CyclingNews photos:

Erinne giving her all
Christine on the climb

Here is Erinne's Report:

Stage 4 of the Tour de L’Aude was probably the biggest climbing day of the race. The evening before, we had to leave the comfort of our great home base in Limoux and drive south towards the Spanish boarder. It was a beautiful drive through some great rock gorges and ski towns on the hills. As we were driving and still going up, Christine started looking at the bible and realized we were going to climb to 1866m three times. We were also going to sleep pretty high for the next two nights as well. Christine has a harder time than normal at altitude and was thinking it might be a hard day.

Our plan for the day was to hopefully move Christine up in the individual GC and the team up in team GC. We were hoping that Alex and Erinne would have better climbing legs than they had on Stage 1. Rebecca, because of her injuries, was to take it easy, as well as Amy and Gina.

So the day started with a 20km climb, the top being at 29km and Hors Category. The bible said it was only a 5km climb but since our super director Chris Georges knows these courses better than anyone, we were forewarned. Emma Pooley and the other Brits set a hard tempo from the bottom of the climb and nearing the top it was a select group of about 35 climbers. Since there was a time bonus at the top the GPM sprint was very fast. We got gapped a little from the sprinters and Alex and I pulled a couple times to bring Christine back up.

Next was a short descent and then a GPM category 1 climb. Same thing occurred where the Brits set the pace but nearing the top Susanne Ljungskog put in a massive attack and rode away from us all. The other GC riders tried reacting but with an extremely sketchy descent following it was hard to chase. This descent had everything on it from tons of gravel, grass, stones, and pinecones, like one of those "slip and slide" mats we all had as kids and I can’t believe they put the race down it. Nevertheless, we didn’t catch Susanne and nobody seemed eager to chase. High Road would have had first responsibility but they had only two riders left in the group and it was too big a job for only one domestic, and Nürnberger and the Brits didn’t help. Therefore, no organized chase ever happened and by the third and final Hors Category climb at 54.5km, Susanne’s time gap was growing.

In the meantime, Christine was having a hard time on the climbs and pushing the power at altitude. Alex was being a huge help and doing an excellent job of taking care of her and chasing her back on after the climbs. With this we were lucky that it wasn’t a fast day and the GC riders didn’t know what to do about Susanne up the road.

So for the next 25km, lots of the riders that were down a little in GC started looking for opportunities for a break. Erinne was feeling pretty good, so was told to get in the mix and try for a break. At about 75km on a small hill, three riders broke off, they had maybe 15 seconds, when Erinne attacked to bridge with Alison Powers and Maryline (France) on her wheel. Eventually the six riders formed the break and were rolling through really well. On the descent, Alison Powers (having an 11 cog and being great at descending) broke away from the five and finish 2nd in the stage. The other five in the break continued working hard up until almost 500m to go. The final sprint was up hill and very hard. Erinne messed up the sprint by leading it and never got on a wheel when the others went flying by. So she finished 7th in the stage and moved into 12th on GC.

Christine, despite her suffering at altitude and thanks to the help of Alex, held onto her 8th in GC and both her and Alex finished in the main sprint finish.

Back to the index

05-19-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 3

Stage 3 was the flattest stage of the tour – the only stage without any QOM sprints. The sprinters were salivating. Late in the race, a solo rider slipped away – Angela Brodka (DSB Bank). A few km later, Zulfia Zabirova (Bigla) slipped away and eventually bridged up to and later dropped Brodka. Everyone looked to High Road to bring them back to set up Ina Teutenberg for the win, but they didn't. With the biggest mountain stage coming the next day and Judith Arndt in yellow, they had bigger things to think about than stage wins. Zabirova won by about 1 minunte over the peloton and Brodka barely held off the field for 2nd. The sprint was for 3rd and Gina finished 2nd in the sprint for 4th overall. Below are some links to CyclingNews photos:

Webcor at the start
Gina at the finish

Here is Gina's Report:

I wish I had a web-cam on my helmet for this particular stage. The whole day was like a video game. Apart from a 15km headwind wide open road section where the peloton was sprawled across the available pavement, the rest of the race was seen spread out single file or riders forming echelons to survive! The course had about everything in it that a sprinter would like – smaller hills, narrow winding roads, straight flat roads (with accommodating Tour de l’Aude flailing crosswinds), and town after little town where you typically power up a little hill to get to the town, dodge potholes and cement ditches on either side of the road, avoid walls and cars, manipulate snakey turns, and abrupt turns where you literally have to do a track stand to wait for people to funnel through if you are anywhere but the top 10. FUN! It's like fitting a bunch of marbles into a coke bottle. Things bunch up and once again, people stop, unclip and wait to make it through.

This is racing in France. But WEBCOR green was seen up front (for the most part) sliding their way through the maze and keeping attentive on the attacks. The race was active as opportunists launched attacks in the winds at opportune times. Most teams were looking for a stage win as GC would not be affected too much today, with dreams of the mountain stage the next day. Finally, two riders got away individually to take the win and second place. Surprisingly no one team took up the responsibility of the chase for the stage win. Instead the 2nd race was for third. After a raging crosswind section where Dombroski courageously fought back after flatting, and Rebecca was battling an injured back and numbness and tingling in the leg and arm…yet still trucking on, 15km to go appeared. We were two strong soldiers down. Missing them on the final lead-up to the finish Christine, Alex, and Errine took charge and began to set things up for the pack sprint finish. Christine helped to sandwich me between a big Dutch girl in the front, hiding me from the wind. The narrow roads, wind, and fighting peloton made the final 10km like a boxing match.

Erinne and Alex took over for the last 5km. Jostling for position and following late attacks, WEBCOR maintained their position up front. Back in the car, Karen thought something was wrong as I was blabbing in the radio communicating to my leadout girls. “Erinne, I am behind you, Erinne I am off, Alex to the right Erinne Up UP, Alex GO GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGGO! The final 1km came and WEBCOR clearly had the control over their sprinter. Like clockwork and like what was discussed in our pre-race inspection of the final few kms, Erinne took it from about 1km to go driving the pace on the front. Alex was my final leadout kick, and in true Alex fashion she powered her way up the side and began her full on sprint at about 600m to go. Just when I was going to jump around her she kicked again!!! HOLY LEGS BATMAN!! She kept going and going to where we talked about dropping me off, while fighting off a raging peloton behind us. I could see the final corner where there was a 200m to go sign. A split second mistake by me, where I should have told Alex to pull off to the right blocking in Diana Zilute (the eventual pack sprint winner); I was stuck in the wind and Diana had the advantage going into the corner. We blasted the sprint Watt by Watt and despite my mistake, I was hungry to beat her. But I guess I need to save my appetite for another sprint finish. Too bad it wasn’t for the win, but being my first European sprint finish in years, I was sure lucky to have such an awesome team to lead me out. The team rocked and I look forward to the next leadout for the win. Meanwhile, our two down soldiers trucked on to the finish as the high pace made it almost impossible to catch up after flatting; Amy and Rebecca made it in. And to further illustrate the intensity of European racing, Amy saw a pedal and a saddle on the road coming into town. There’s no road but the hard road!!!!

Back to the index

05-18-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 2

It is rare for women to get a chance to do a Team Time Trial in a stage race and the Webcor team was looking forward to this stage. We did two practice sessions here in Limoux as a team, and also rode the technical first and last 3km of the course as a team before the race.

The plan was for the strongest riders on the team to take 30 second pulls and the weaker riders to take 10 second pulls, but hold the same speed and work as long as possible. The course was extremely windy and TTTs are notoriously dangerous and unfortunately we had a crash in the first 5km with Rebecca going down hard. She got up immediately, but her chain fell off in the crash and we made the call to continue on without her instead of waiting. We were down to three riders in another few kilometers, but still finished a respectable 6th out of 19 teams. Times are scaled by placing for individual GC, so for 6th place, we lost 1 minute to the winning team, the Dutch National Team. (Our actual time was about 1:36 behind them).

Here is Erinne's Report:

Stage 2 of Tour de L’Aude today was the Team Time Trial. We were hoping it would be a decent chance for us to possibly make some time on Menikini (Susanne Ljungskog) and USA (Amber Neben). That would allow for Christine to move up in time on GC.

We started at Port La Nouvell,e which is a town on the east coast of France and a very windy area at that. It was a 27km loop around with some technical roundabouts and corners, but the most technical and difficult part was staying u right and forming the echelon. We started out of the blocks with Gina leading us around the first 180 degree corner. Than the next 2km consisted of three or four roundabouts and those all went smoothly. We hit the first straight stretch of road and at the same time hit the first bit of cross wind. We got a little confused with the direction to pull off and I guess some crossing of wheels was happening and someone bumped and our Rebecca went down pretty hard (she’ll have some bad bruises as it was a hard impact with no slide but we’ll take good care of her so that her recovery is quick). So after that there was a hesitation about whether to wait for Rebecca or to keep going. We were hoping for Rebecca to be our fourth strong rider so we wanted to make sure she couldn’t get up fast enough to get back on before leaving her, but her chain fell off in the crash and it took her a little too long and we had to take off without her.

After the crash we took a left onto a very straight road with a head/cross wind. Even with the wind we were still flying pretty fast at about 47km/hr. Unfortunately some of the girls had a big effort after the crash and the head wind was very strong, so within another couple of kilometers we lost Amy and Gina. We were now down to three riders with still about 20km to go. It was smoother with only three of us rolling through as it was just easier to organize. At about 15km there a pretty good hill in the course and Christine pulled Alex and Erinne up that at a very good and steady pace. Once the descent was over, we luckily and finally turned into a very needed tail wind!!! It was about 10km to the finish now in either tail/cross or full tail. We were going fast. So we went as hard as we could and then the last 2km Christine again took over the majority of the pulling until the finish.

As a result we finished 6th out of 19 teams with a time of 37:20. We put 5 seconds into Menikini, but unfortunately Christine moved from 7th to 8th in GC because two riders from Nürnberger and High Road bumped ahead of her. But on the bright side we are hoping that those two riders will eventually have to do work for their team leaders and Christine will once again be able to move ahead. Alex is now 17th and Erinne 18th in GC. And we have now moved up to 4th in Team GC.

Tomorrow’s stage is the only day without GPM’s so it will most likely be a sprint finish were we will hope for Gina to have fast legs, or if it’s a breakaway day than we will look for opportunities to have a possible stage win or to have someone move up on GC.

Wish us luck and thanks for reading Stage 2 of the Webcor Tour de L’Aude Race Reports!

Back to the index

05-17-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Stage 1

This tour started out with a bang with an H'ors Category climb in the first road stage. It was a good test of who will be climbing well here and who will not. Christine had a good day, finishing in a select group of five riders just 30 seconds behind the lead five riders of the race.

Here is Christine's Report:

Today's 113km stage was going to be one for the climbers with an "above category (HC)" climb coming about halfway into the stage with the first crest at 69km, a fast, twisty descent and more climbing before a long, sweeping descent back into our start town. There were two intermediate sprints on the flats for time (3,2,1 seconds) and then time at the main GPM (climb peak) of 3,2,1 seconds.

Our plan was to watch the primary GC contenders, but possibly have Alex go for the intermediate time bonuses. Alas, Menikini had other ideas (looking to put Susanne Ljungskog, their top prologue rider and l'Aude winner last year while riding for Flexpoint) and started a 4-rider break with their lieutenant Sigrid Corneo being joined by three other non-GC threats (Monica Holler of Bigla, Helen Wyman of Swift, and a Lithuanian national). They took off at km 6 and stayed off until the road went uphill starting around 50km, and continued uphill getting steeper and steeper through km 69. We really rode quite slowly until the climb, at which point team USA started a lead-out for their captain, Amber Neben, but they were unable to take her far up the climb, so she began setting steady tempo. Emma Pooley (Great Britain National Team) was the first to attack perhaps 7km from the top, but no one flinched and Amber steadily brought her back. The road pitched up quite steeply at 67km with grades at 15% for much of it. Susanne Ljungskog attacked and shattered the climbing group of around 30 riders. Over the top, Judith Arndt (High Road) took the honors, and a group of four formed off the front including Arndt, Ljungskog, Trixi Worrack (Nürnberger), and Sharon Laws (Great Britain National Team). Christine regrouped with five others over the first quick descent, including Neben, Carla Ryan (Australia national), Nicole Cooke (Great Britain National Team), Louise Keller (High Road), and Claudia Hausler (Nürnberger). Since the latter three had teammates in the front group, Neben and Christine did the bulk of the work chasing with Ryan helping when she could. They made good progress for awhile, bringing the gap down to 22 seconds at one point, but it ballooned a bit again in the final km's. Cooke, stating she was willing to work at 5km to go, actually virtually attacked with her rested power, and then bridged across to the lead group and in fact won the sprint with help from Laws! Christine lost 43 seconds to Cooke's winning time, and she now sits 7th in GC behind the front five from today and Neben.

Erinne and Alex were in the next group over the top of the climb, which grew to 23 riders by the finish at 2:40 down from the winner. Rebecca and Gina conserved from the climb onward, and poor Amy suffered a puncture on the descent without a neutral support car to give her a wheel change for many minutes. She hung tough to catch a small group by the finish and stayed out of the time cut.

Tomorrow's stage is the Team Time Trial. Webcor team is in 5th overall, and we look forward to improving on both team GC and individual GC with a great group effort tomorrow!

Back to the index

05-16-08 Tour de L'Aude Cycliste Féminin Prologue

The Webcor Builders women are now in Southern France racing the 10-stage Tour de l'Aude. This is one of the most prestigious stage races for women on the international calendar. The race started with a 3.9km flat prologue time trial.

Here is Christine's Report:

The Webcor Women are now in the l'Aude region in France for the 10-day classic stage race known as the Tour de l'Aude, now in its 24th year. Our director, Karen Brems, raced here in the late '90s and provided some entertaining race reports from her era! We have a wonderful host and co-director, Chris Georgas, who is a friend of cycling – particularly women's cycling – and is providing us food and lodging in Limoux and stellar race previews each day. We have spent the past 10 days between the Berne World Cup and this race start relaxing and training on the amazingly beautiful roads around Limoux. Our "team" consists of Karen and Chris directing, Avery May as soigneur, and Dave Drumm as mechanic, and riders: Amy Dombrowski, Gina Grain, Rebecca Much, Christine Thorburn, Erinne Willock, and Alex Wrubleski.

Generally, this hilly stage race suits most of our team's strength, and this year, instead of a long individual time trial, we have a team
time trial that will also count towards individual general classification time. Today, however, was a very short "prologue," or opening individual time trial of 3.9km length. We did one non-technical, flat circuit from the town of Gruissan near the Mediterranean coast and close to the Spanish border. The weather threatened rain from the start and did sprinkle on the final few riders, but the winds were quite strong and steady the whole afternoon. We had no mishaps with the course or bikes (minus Amy's TT bike that was still in transit through the Paris airport – she arrived Wednesday afternoon!).

Overall, we were pleased with this start. Christine, who favors the longer time trials, finished 9th at 7 seconds behind the winner, but
importantly close in time to the likely GC contenders. Rebecca had a strong ride for 24th at 15 seconds, and Alex and Erinne finished strongly at 20 seconds and 25 seconds, respectively, behind the winner, Katie Mactier of Australia (former World Champ in the 3km pursuit on the track), who finished in 5:02 and favors this distance.

Second place went to another pursuit rider, Ellen Van Dijk of The Netherlands, and US rider Alison Powers found her previously strong prologue form to round out the podium in 3rd, just 2 seconds back. Gina and Amy had good rides considering their lack of time trial bikes.

Tomorrow's stage includes one of the race's longest and hardest climbs, but it crests 70km into the 113km course, so it will be
interesting to see how the fresh peloton races. You can bet the Webcor women will be looking for a hard race!

Back to the index

05-04-08 Tour de Berne World Cup

The Webcor Builders team of Alex, Erinne, Christine, Gina, and Rebecca raced the Tour de Berne World Cup in Lyss, Switzerland this weekend. It was a beautiful course with a view of the Swiss Alps at the top of the climb. The view was only enjoyed on the pre-ride of the course, not during the race though!

The course was much more difficult than we had expected than in the previous years of this race. Each of the four laps started with a 6km climb. Alex proved her versatility again by finishing 4th, only inches away from the podium. Here's a CyclingNews photo of:

Alex in the finishing sprint

Here is Alex's Report:

4th again. I have spent the last three weeks racing in the European Peloton, on the unforgiving cobbles of Holland, and the narrow windy roads, fighting for position every second of the race with a death grip on my handlebars, scared to even take a sip of water… The racing has definitely been an experience and has made me a faster and tougher racer.

After finishing the first portion of my 2-month long trip in Europe with the national team, Erinne and I took a day trip by train from Stoumont, Belgium to Berne, Switzerland to join our team Webcor for the Berne World cup. We arrived there a few days early, so we tried to make good use of our time by checking out the course, the country, the town, and maybe do some shopping…? Turns out that Switzerland is the most expensive place in the world! So after spending $200 each on groceries in three days, we decided to spend our time in our hotel room on the Internet, and hand washing our clothes.

Two days before the race, our three teammates, team staff, and Chris Georges (acting director sportif and host for our European trip) joined us in Berne.

The race was 136km long divided into four laps of 34km each. Each lap had a 6km climb with a GPM/QOM at the top and a sprint at the start/finish each time through. After pre-riding the course we knew the climb would determine the outcome of the race and we had three riders here capable of making any moves that went on the climb. Since the finish was on the flat, I was probably the best shot for the sprint finish, so our plan was for the girls to cover the moves and save me for the finish.

The climb started only 4km into the course, so needless to say the field shattered in the first 10km of the race. Many of the climbers were not well positioned going into this first climb and Cervelo drove it up until there was only Christiane Soeder, Kristin Armstrong, Nicole Brandli, and me. Since I was there, I went and got the first GPM sprint. We had a pretty big gap over the top and Cervelo just kept rotating through until the gap grew to 40 seconds. Since it was so early in the race, and Nicole wasn't pulling through, I didn't either. High Road chased for the whole lap until we got caught right before the start/finish of the first lap.

On climbs #2 and #3, the climbers were better positioned, Cervelo and Bigla drove it up these climbs usually with about six of us by the top. But over the top, the break never lasted longer than 5km because nobody really wanted to work. People only attacked and nothing stayed away. On the 2nd and 3rd lap about 5km over the top, a group of about 20 riders caught back on with Christine and Erinne. There were several attacks which they covered and brought back.

As expected on climb #4, riders like Kristin Armstrong, Nicole Brandli, and Amber Neben made their last attempts to get away or at least form a very small break that they could ride away with. Suddenly Susanne Ljungskog came out of nowhere and flew by us immediately creating a fairly big gap that nobody attempted to close. This time at the top there were about 10 riders that had managed to hang on in hopes of making that winning break to the finish… But again over the top nobody was willing to work, so there were some more unsuccessful attacks.

Our group stayed off the front for about 10km or so this time, and eventually a group of about 15 more riders caught us – including Erinne and more teammates for Cervelo, Bigla, and High road. Once these riders caught on, Suzanne got reeled back. Many more attacks were launched by Cervelo, Bigla, and Flexpoint. Then Susanne went again and got another gap. Nobody chased her. For the last 5km of the race, riders like Kristin, Amber, and Priska attacked but didn't get away.

The chase on Susanne was over and the left turn (1km to the finish) came very quickly. Cervelo had two riders giving Kristin a lead-out, and I tried to squeeze in behind them taking some wind. The leadout died and riders started swarming. I stayed near the front on about 5th wheel into the last turn (500 meters before the finish) unsure of when to jump. Judith Arndt went first, and behind her was Mirjam Melchers van Poppel. I started coming up on the left, but both girls kept veering to the left until there was a loud scream of a girl getting squeezed into the guard rails behind me. Across the line it was only cm's apart and I got 4th.

Somehow they seemed to forget me on the results, but now that has been fixed.

And next up for Webcor is Tour de L'Aude.

Back to the index

Link to race reports for February-April 2008