Tour de Haute Garrone, 2.9.2

See also Australian Road Champion Tracey Gaudry's excellent account Stage 1, Toulouse - Colomiers, 88 kms: Karen Kurreck reports from the Tour de Haute Garrone. We left Italy yesterday morning for the 10+ hour drive to Toulouse, France for a 3-day stage race: Haute Garronne. This is a UCI 2.9.2 race which means no UCI points on the line. This is a chance for us to race against the "other half" of the Women's international peloton - those not based in Italy. For me, it was a lot of familiar faces, although I have never done this race before. For most of my teammates except Cathy, for a change, they were on unfamiliar roads with unfamiliar riders in a country where they couldn't speak the language! We ALL miss the food in Italy!! We actually had warm sunshine in the afternoon while in the car which gave us hope of racing in good weather. No such luck! The field included a Dutch, Russian, French, German, British and Lithuanian national teams as well as various trade teams. For the start, we had the usual European cold rain. It could have been worse though - it could have been snowing! The race was 88km with 3 cat 4 and 1 cat 1 climb and 2 sprints. The climbs were not that long or steep. The wind was also a big factor. I actually couldn't tell that much difference between the cat 4 and the cat 1 climbs and the steepest climb of all was the hotspot sprint! We had 10km of neutral before the race and just as we started and were thinking that things couldn't get any worse with the weather conditions, they did! Thyere must have been an oil truck or something that dumped it's entire contents onto the road we raced on!! You could see the shimmering rainbows of the oil on the road. It was literally like riding on ice! You couldn't even stand up at all without losing traction. I passed Jeannie Longo and the Polikevichiute twins and they were looking quite distraught! People were crashing right and left in every turn. Gaps were opening up everywhere. Somehow I managed to stay upright although I had to put a foot down in a few turns (kind of like going downhill on a mountain bike!). Through all the carnage, a group of 4 got away including Clara Hughes (Canada) and my teammate Nada Christophopholi. The Ebly team eventually reeled them in and the pack came back together when the roads finally cleared. The first QOM wasn't that hard. The sprint was taken by Clara - I think she was tryong to lead out Sue Palmer, but Sue was nowhere to be seen. I don't know if the group split or not: the roads were really narrow and I never wanted to get too far back. Actually after a month of racing Italians, this peloton seemed quite tame!! There were various attacks and short lived breaks, but nothing stuck until, Geraldine Leowwnguth (riding for a French trade team, Asptt Moselle Champion) attacks and gets a gap. A group of 9 of us get clear and go after her: Clara and Sandy Espeseth from Canada, Svetlana Samakhalova (Rus), Tracey Gaudry (Aus, Ebly), Sara Symington (GB), Sandra Wampfler (Mazza), Severine Prior (France), Judith Arndt and myself. We are a fairly big group and not 100% organized, but we work fairly well together and it still takes us a long time to catch Geraldine! By the time we do, we have over a minute on the field and the first selection is made. On the next QOM, however, the group is split. I think is it Tracey Guadry who made the fist attack. Anyway, I am not feeing good at all at this point and at the top of the climb, I am about 50m off the back of a group of 6: Clara, Sara, Judith, Tracey, Svetlana and Geraldine. I can't close the gap and I am caught from behind by the other 3. We chase hard except for Sandy who sits on becuase of Clara. For a long time the gap is 20-30 sec. but then we start losing ground and the group pulls out of sight. We still have about 2 min. on the peloton. The gaps only widen. Up front, Geraldine gets away from the front group and wins solo by over 2 min!! Svetlana gets dropped out of the front group and we catch her. This actually suprised me, because she was looking very strong early in the break. In our group, We are not going slow and everyone works except Sandra who sits on but sets a hard tempo on the climbs, and Svetlana who sits on most of the time after we catch her. On the hotspot sprint, which is 5km from the finish, and is actually a steep climb of about 800m, Sandra sets tempo at the front and gets a gap. She doesn't really attack, she just has fresher legs than the rest of us. She keeps going and has about a 100m gap on us until ab out 2.5 km to go when she gets misdirected in a turn and goes from being OTF to being OTB! I took the sprint for 6th from our little grupetto and Nada Christophole (Savino) takes the field sprint for 10th. Afterwards we drove back to the dorm where we are staying to guess what: another ice cold shower! I think when I get back to the States, I will take 3 hot showers a day for a week just because I can!! 1. Geraldine Leowenguth (Fra) Asptt Moselle Champion 2.18.56 2. Sara Symington (GB) Great Britain 2.14 3. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Ebly 2.14 4. Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 2.14 5. Clara Hughes (Can) Canada 2.16 6. Karen Kurreck (USA) GS Edilsavino 6.22 7. Svetlana Samokhlvalova (Rus) 6.22 8. Severine Prior (Fra) GS Edilsavino 6.25 9. Sandra Wampfler (Swi) Swiss National Team 6.25 10. Sandy Espeseth (Can) Canadian National Team 6.59 11. Nada Cristofoli (Ita) GS Edilsavino 9.53 12. Anne Samplonious (Can) Canada 9.53 13. Rasa Polikevichuite (Lit) Lithuania 9.53 38 riders in this group Stage 2, Roquettes - Tournefeuille, 65 kms: Today was a double day: 65km in the morning, a quick lunch, a 45 minutes drive and 73km in the afternoon. The rain stopped overnight, so we actually got to start in dry weather for a change. There were 2 QOMs in the morning, but neither very long, so our task was to keep the field together for our team's sprinter, Greta Zocca. It was quite windy and we spent a lot of time in the gutter. There were a number of attacks and Catherine, Nada and I covered all of them. The only break that got any space at all was a fairly large group that contained Clara Hughes and my teammate Nada. The British team eventually reeled them in though. With 20km to go, Catherine Marsal goes to the front and rides tempo to keep the attacks down. She keeps going and going and the plan works because nobody attacks. With about 5km to go, it starts to rain - just what we need with a 70 rider field sprint through a billion roundabouts! WIth 3 km to go, I go to the front and take the speed up a notch. I get a little help from the Russians. With 500m to go, we turn right and I watch the sprint from behind and see Greta raise her arms at the finish so I know we won! Nada did the final leadout and was top 10 but I don't have any more results than that. As soon as we finish, the rain stops! 1. Greta Zocca (Edil Savino) GC: 1. Geraldine Leowenguth (Fra) Asptt Moselle Champion 2. Sara Symington (GB) Great Britain 3. Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 4. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Ebly Stage 3, Montesquieu - St. Bertrand, 73 kms: The afternoon stage ended up in quite a bizarre fashion, but I'll start form the beginning. As we get out of the car to warm up, the rain starts again. I put on all the clothes I have with me and wonder if it is enough. Lucky for us though, the sun comes back out right before the start and I shed layers. The course had 2 QOMs and 1 sprint. The finish was a steep 1km climb. It was clear from the start that Canada was going to try to set up Sue Palmer for the finish. SHe was also back in the hunt for the mountain jersey so they weren't letting anything go. Liz Tadich (Mazza) attacks early and gets a gap for a bit but is reeled in. Then before the 2nd QOM, Jacinta Coleman (Mazza), a Russian and another rider get away. They actually get out of sight. Sue attacks at the bottom of the QOM climb to try to bring them back. We catch the Russian and the other by the top, but Jacinta is still off by 20 sec. or so. Sue keeps chasing and eventually her teammates come up to help. We are going hard and Jacinta's gap actually grows to 38 sec! SHe eventually starts to fade though and Canada brings her back. For about the last 30 km of the race, Clara pretty much tempos at the front the whole time. Geraldine Leowenguth, the race leader rides the front as well. The closer we get to the finish, the more jockeying for position there is. It is nothing lcompared to Italy though!! With about 1km to go before the finish climb, Anne Samplonious hits the front at full speed. Clara is next and takes over the last 500m. We pass the 1-km-to-go banner right before the climb and Clara is driving at the front as only she can do. Sue is on her wheel and I am on Sue's which is exactly where I want to be. Sue attacks hard at the bottom of the climb and I stick to her wheel. We open a big gap on the rest of the peloton. With about 300m to go, the road flattens and Sue is fading fast. I attack and the road goes down for a bit and then up and around. The climb is up to an old church. The road is very narrow and there are walls on either side so you can't see where you are heading. I come to a blind turn with walls on either side and there is a sign saying 100m to go. I have a couple of bike lengths on Sue. The lead car is RIGHT in front of me. We go around the turn and the car goes straight and the marshals are pointing straight ahead so I follow the car...straight into the parking lot for team vehicles!! I see the finish banner on the right on the other side of the barricade! Sue is right behind me. I turn around and head out of the parking lot just as the next group of 4 riders goes by! By this time the lead car blocking the entrance to the parking lot. I get behind them for the last 100m. It was quite frustrating. Then I am told I am the random reserve rider for medical control, and that I have to go to the doping control which is in the church which is at the top of a REALLY steep hill. I get up there, and they tell me that they don't need reserve riders! I go back down to the finish and the head commisaire comes up and tells me that the race jury has decided to award both Sue and I the stage win!! We are given the same time as the group that was behind us. Now I am a stage winner, so they tell me I have to go pack to doping control!! I ride back up the hill and by this time I do have to pee so it is OK. I have probably done 50 or 60 drug tests throughout my career, but this was the first time I ever had a male attendent!! Only in France! This isn't exactly the way I wanted to win a stage but a win is a win, I guess. Our team was very happy with 2 stage wins in 1 day. Our manager got 2 bottles of Champagne (1 for each stage) after dinner. We had a toast and gave the rest to the staff of the Russian team - they were very pleased! I have also discovered another advantage or riding for an Italian team: they bring their own pasta! While the other teams were looking dolefully at nothing but white bread, Mystery Meat and Tater Tots, we had heaping plates of spaghetti a la dente (the Italian way) with Italian tomato sauce, parmesean cheese and Italian olive oil. Stage 3 results: 1. Karen Kurreck (USA) GS Edilsavino 2.10.24 1. Sue Palmer (USA) 2. Svetlana Samokhalova (Rus) 3. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Ebly 4. Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 5. Jolanta Polikevichuite (Lit) 6. Magali H'Lefloc (Fra) French National Team 0.07 7. Nada Cristofoli (Ita) GS Edilsavino 0.07 8. Rasa Polikevichuite (Lit) 0.07 9. Jaunita Feldhahn (Aus) Ebly 0.07 10. Sara Symington (GB) Great Britain 0.07 11. Nadia Triquet (Fra) 0.07 12. Sandra Wampfler (Swi) Swiss National Team 0.13 13. Geraldine Leowenguth (Fra) Asptt Moselle Champion 0.13 With teams trying to keep the field together for stage wins in both today's stages, Geraldine had a fairly easy job of keeping her leader's jersey and GC didn't change much. Sue now has the mountain jersey, Olga Sliossereva has the sprint jersey and Judith Arndt has the points jersey (Karen is second). Stage 4, Portet - Portet, 118 kms: The final stage was 118km with 5 QOMs. 4 of them were all in the span from 30km to 45km and came right after each other with lots of uncategorized climbs in between. None of the climbs were very long - most of them about 1-1.5km but they were pretty steep. Canada was again setting up Sue Palmer for the sprints. Clara and Sandy would string things out before the climbs and Sue came through each time with the win. Judith Arndt was her main competition and she could stay with Sue but not come around her. I stuck to Judith's wheel and the 3 of us opened up a pretty big gap each climb. Tracey Gaudry was also going for the mountain jersey and was never far behind. The 4 of us tried a couple of times to keep things going after the sprints, but we were always reeled in. It was a hard section and I think the front group was whittled down to only 10-12 riders at some points. There was nobody to drive up the pace in between the climbs though so groups would catch back on. After the 4th QOM, there were some tired legs in the group and we had a group of 20-25 or so. There were a few attacks but soon everyone settled in to recover a bit, get water etc. and another group of 10-15 caught us. The last 70km were mostly flat with 1 short QOM won by Tracey Gaudry (Sue had the jersey locked up at this point). WIth about 30km to go, the attacks started and never let up until the finish. I covered what I could with some help from Nada and Sara and tried a couple of attacks myself. I got away breifly with a British rider but Germany reeled us in. Germany was trying to keep things together, presumably for Mandy Hampel to sprint. My teammate Cathy Marsal really wanted to win today given that is was the last stage and her home country an all. Our plan was to try to set her up for a flyer in the last few km if things were still together by then. She struggled on the climbs but hung tough and chased back on every time. With about 10km to go, Germany started riding tempo at the front to keep the attacks down. There was a lot of jockeying for position behind them, but I managed to stay farily well up front. There were a lot of turns and roundabouts in the last few km, so it was a good course for a late race flyer. WIth about 4-5km to go, Cathy attacks and gets a gap. Svetlana Samokhalova goes after her and eventually bridges up. Olga Slioussereva and I were at the front blocking. A British rider, some of the Germans and a few others tried to chase, but they just didn't have enough gas to close the gap. Svetlana and Cathy worked together for a bit and their gap hovered around 8 sec. On a small bridge with about 2km to go, Cathy attacked Svetlana and slowly pulled away from her meter by meter. She hung on to win by 3 sec! We caught Svetlana in the final turn with about 150m to go. Nada won the field sprint for 2nd so the team took 1st and 2nd. I was 6th. I let Nada in front of me with 3 turns to go and unfortunately 2 others slipped in behind her as well and positions didn't change much after that. Samohkalova and I were tied on time for 6th place and the tie breaker was points. I started the day 1.5 points down (Sue and I split the 1st and 2nd place points on Stage 3) but by finishing ahead on her on the last day, I got 6th place back on GC. GC really never changed much in the top 10 after the first day. 1. Catherine Marsal (Fra) GS Edilsavino 2. Nada Cristofoli (Ita) GS Edilsavino 0.03 3. Olga Slioussssareva (Rus) 0.03 4. Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 0.03 5. Magali H'Lefloc (Fra) French National Team 0.03 6. Karen Kurreck (USA) GS Edilsavino 0.03 7. Ulia Martissova (Rus) 0.03 8. Janneke Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0.03 9. Nadia Trinquet (Fra) 0.03 10. Angela Hillenga (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0.03 Final GC: 1. Geraldine Leowenguth (Fra) Asptt Moselle Champion 9.26.18 2. Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 1.48 3. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Ebly 1.48 4. Sara Symington (GB) Great Britain 1.55 5. Clara Hughes (Can) Canada 2.30 6. Karen Kurreck (USA) GS Edilsavino 5.56 7. Svetlana Samokhalova (Rus) 5.56 8. Sandra Wampfler (Swi) Swiss National Team 6.17 9. Serevine Prior (Fra) 6.25 10. Sandy Espeseth (Can) Canadian National Team 6.59 11. Nada Cristofoli (Ita) GS Edilsavino 9.34 Sprint Jersey: 1. Olga Slioussareva 22 2. Geraldine Leowenguth 10 3. Sara Symington 8 Mountain Jersey: 1. Sue Palmer 50 2. Judith Arndt 43 3. Tracey Gaudry 24 Points Jersey: 1. Judith Arndt 54 2. Karen Kurreck 42.5 3. Nada Christopholi 41