The Tracey Gaudry Diary 2000The Local East Coast Australian Time is
World Cup Round 1 (20 laps x 5.1km - 102km)Canberra, Australia, March 12, 2000
A sunny day greeted us for the premier World Cup event for 2000. The circuit is a fantastic one for strong riders and Timex was well recovered and hyped for the event. I felt great this morning as I warmed up and was eager to get the race underway. We had a pretty solid team plan and I hoped we would be able to dictate the race. Setting off a little past 9am, the small but enthusiastic crowd cheered us through the first few easy laps. After 4 laps, there had been a couple of small crashes but nothing else major was happening in the surprisingly reserved field. I motioned to my teammates to get the ball rolling with some aggressive moves, as this would also help to gain confidence and settle the 'big race day' nerves. Not much was happening yet, and so I launched a huge attack down the back straight and gained a gap of 50m immediately. I drove extremely hard, and glanced under my shoulder to assess the reaction. The Dutchies were chasing like crazy. They caught me after a couple of km and I merged back into the bunch to recover. Just as expected, I was a marked rider. I motioned to the Timex girls to get aggressive, as the bunch would have to be softened up if I or Mari were to go anywhere. Odessa seized a great opportunity and attacked solo while the bunch was napping. They let her go and she steadily gained a 1 minute cushion on the field. This was superb, and Odessa was riding strongly enough to maintain a winning pace. She was away for nearly 50km and was only brought back after being pursued alternatively by the Dutch, Canadian and Saturn riders. With about 5 laps to go, this was prime time for us to go on the attack again. I was still feeling good but fought with my instinct and held back, being notoriously known for burying myself early in a race often to the detriment of a place at the finish. Timex rode at the front but had lost a little of the spark that was evident earlier, thus the bunch didn't tire as expected. It seemed that everyone was waiting for someone else to make a move. Every small move I made was marked and so I sat in waiting. It seemed that a bundle of nerves, mixed communication and a tire blow-out upset our team plan at the 11th hour. Effectively the strongest team, we were only let down by the short amount of time we had raced together. As we were half way through the last lap, I cursed myself for not putting it all on the line, as I have been known to do in the past. It took a massive attack last year to split the bunch and I should have done that again. Still we were up for the bunch sprint, and as a rider attacked with Anna on her wheel, I jumped onto Mari's wheel with her chasing hard with a nearly flat tyre! Crikey, I didn't know she was in that much trouble!
As she got to Anna, she rested, unable to go again. It was still 1.5km to go. I was in a spot of bother, not having any momentum from the chase, and the bunch swamped us completely. With 1km to go, Sanna came alongside but it was all too late. She couldn't get out of the bunch, nor let me out for a clear run. For Timex the race was already over, as Anna and the Dutchies drag-raced to the line. Anna deservedly won, using her nouse and taking advantage of a sedate, negatively ridden race, and earned the valuable World Cup points to retain her newly gained World Number 1 status. Despite my extreme disappointment in not capitalising on some good fitness gained from the Tour de Snowy, I was philosophical about the race, knowing that experience counts for a lot, and that Timex learned a big lesson the hard way today. Given the strength and commitment of our team, we will be much the wiser for it next time. |
