Ronde van Gelderland was full gas from the gun. And I mean full tilt, flat out, on the rivet from the word go. We raced for the FULL 140km’s. It was game on from kilometer 0, no waiting around to save the legs. It’s great, really, and it makes the racing so much safer when the peloton is strung out, especially in Holland where the roads are so narrow, there’s random objects here and there to dodge, and riders are darting every which way to take the shortest line through the roundabouts and turns. Sure, there were a few crashes but the girls know how to handle their bikes, which is a good thing since most of them have no fear and do what they want, when they want. Give them an inch of space, and they’ll put their wheel there. Don’t like to race with your elbows out? Forget about holding your spot then. Being one of the bigger girls in the peloton, I certainly have an advantage but it’s still not easy. You’ve got to like to fight. And fight like hell we did. How our legs would feel after stepping off the plane 2 days prior we weren’t sure, but we rode a fantastic race. Kristin Armstrong (she’s been here racing with the national team for a week already but today she raced in Lipton colors) put herself in the break (that would have stuck had 2 of the main driving forces not taken a wrong turn causing teams to start the chase) so we had it “easy” for 45km’s or so, but once the break was caught we hit full speed again. Since there were 9 Americans in the race between Lipton and the national team, we knew we had to work together since we were our only friends in the peloton, so to speak. In the closing 10km’s we traded turns on the front to keep the pace high for our sprinters, Brooke and Brenda. Brooke is definitely getting this Euro racing down as she rode across the line in a strong 6th place, while the rest of us rolled across somewhere in the front group of about 40 out of 200 starters - not bad. And, Brenda, this being her very first race on European soil (and her first trip to Europe period) should be stoked with her 24th place on the day - she’ll get the hang of the sprinting style here in no time. All the Americans rode a strong race and it was especially nice to have such a big group of friendly faces in the peloton.

All that being said, we did have a few unfortunate mishaps on the day. While winding along the narrow dike, somone put a derailleur in Lara’s front wheel. As she was going back for a wheel change, Thomas was involved in a car accident and never made it to her. Fortunately, Jim was 1st car so he gave Lara a new wheel quickly but she still had to chase by herself for 15kms along the dike. Lara put in a huge effort to catch the peloton, which was no small feat considering how fast we were rolling, but later abandoned due to cramping. Still, she put in a fine performance that she should be happy with. Thomas, on the other hand, came away with a few dents to the front of his car (he’s using his own Volvo to get us around this trip), but apparently there was even more damage done to the other car, so he’s wasn’t so happy. However, all in all, it was a good day that we can all be proud of and write down in the books as a hard race that we handled very well.

After all that we put our bodies through yesterday, we have been rewarded with a peaceful rest day today. We we flew in to a sunny and warm Pisa today and are now staying at the SRM/USA Cycling house in Lucca. Boy oh boy, this place is amazing! We are in a little mini paradise up on a hillside overlooking the mountains, there’s a pool in the yard lined by lemon and olive trees, planters from Napolean’s sister outline the perimeter of the house…we are sitting on the veranda taking it all in as we type away on the computers. Oh, did I mention that Mario Cipollini lives next door? Yup. He’s been making regular appearances at the house so I am sure we’ll be meeting him soon.

Soon enough it will be time to walk to the gelateria and then maybe around 9 o’clock we’ll consider eating dinner. Ah, the laid back life in Italy will suit us just fine for the next 2 weeks.

Ciao
-MM