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The Emma James Diary 2004
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Welcome to one of Cyclingnews' up-and-coming female talents, Australian Emma James. Emma has spent the past two years with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) team based in Italy, and in 2004, she has graduated to a full professional contract, firstly with Team S.A.T.S. and now with Bik Gios. She's a gutsy rider who's decided that she'd rather be testing the waters of professional cycling than testing the salinity of the Sydney's waterways as an environmental scientist - which used to be her previous occupation before Emma decided to take the plunge.
7th Holland Ladies Tour - 2.9.1, Netherlands, August 30-September 4, 2004
I'm a survivor
I have survived my last week of racing in the Netherlands for 2004. The Holland Ladies Tour is known for nasty crashes in the rain and wind. I have memories of gutter-ball action in this race when I did it in 2001, and numerous crashes on dead straight roads. I can't say I was really looking forward to this tour.
Stage 1a - August 30: Kampen - Kampen, 102.3 km
First day, first stage, more rain and wind than you can imagine! Truly incredible! I finished up in the second group, two minutes down on the top 30 riders in the front group. Debby Mansfield (Vlaanderen) won the stage.
Stage 1b - August 30: Kampen TTT, 12.5 km
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Later that evening, we had a teams time trial. I was all excited about it, fresh from our win with the Prune Team at Trophee D'Or in the team time trial with a group that had never ridden together. Belgian rider Ludivine Henrion was with part of that winning combination, and was part of the Bik team for this race. Similar conditions with wet roads; I was sure we would do well - get four across the line in a respectable time - even if we didn't match the strong Farm Frites and Nurnberger teams.
Well, it didn't go quite how I imagined! I worked hard through the circuit, and filled gaps when other riders in the team were suffering. I thought we did OK for most of it, particularly considering it was a technical course in wet conditions! It all ended badly for me as I slid out on the last wet and oily corner (roundabout) - still trying to make every second count, even though we ended up two minutes off the winning time! We finished with five riders, and I rolled across the line 20 seconds later, once I had dusted myself off. Slow speed crash in the end, more damage to my pride than anything else. Great to see Cyclingnews got detailed photo coverage of a moment I was hoping to forget quickly.
Stage 2 - August 31: Borger - Stadskanaal, 123.3 km
Next day we had cobbles on the menu. We had raced over some of it in the Tour of Drenthe in April, so I was hoping to do ok. I wasn't feeling too bad physically and knew it would split to pieces almost as if the peloton was racing over climbs! I was happy with my position in the group coming onto the cobbles, but I ground to an absolute halt on the first section! I thought I must have a puncture! My tyres were way too hard and slicks were not the best choice for wet cobbles! I managed to ride the later sections a bit better, but I can't describe how bad the start of the right-hand side of the first section was! Serious fist-like, sharp and slippery stones with gaps in between, so your momentum is lost entirely if you don't maintain your speed. So easy to talk about.
I was dropped, and chasing back through the cars on the cobble sections. Riders were using the bike paths that ran parallel to the cobble sections, but I knew they had written a special rule about disqualifying riders for not riding the course as they wanted you to. It was the same in the tour in April... I had not heard that today, there was only a 30 second penalty for using the bike path! You could avoid a total of about 10k of cobbles and accept a 30s penalty?!!! If I had known that I would have opted for the bike path, and tried to minimize the damage to my wheels and not risked slipping on the wet cobbles. I would love to know who made up the 30 second idea - and which teams knew about it before the start!
It all went pear-shaped from here. I was chasing back with groups of riders, catching the weaker ones ahead who had used the cycle paths instead of the cobbles. Most of the team cars had passed us, and I had given up the thought of getting back to a decent group for the day. I was disappointed to be out of the racing for the day still with 60km to ride, and I was amazed at how the race was being run!
I was with one other girl on the right hand side of the road when a team car from the 'Westerland' team in the Netherlands tried to overtake us. He had the whole other side of the road clear - and he still managed to stuff it up. He was going fast, and I sensed the front end of the car close to me. I moved further to the right but he clipped me with his side mirror. I went skidding for metres, sliding, sprawled out on the road. The bit that amazed me even more was that he just kept driving! Didn't even slow down! I crawled out of the way of the next cars coming, and then got help from people who knew me (third car to pass I reckon!). They picked me up off the ground and helped me get my bike sorted. I had no motivation to continue, but had no idea of how to get back other than to follow the circuit - still a long way from the finish. A short while later, I was joined by riders from behind, and we rolled in together. I was as miserable and angry as you can imagine.
The driver of the car claimed that he had stopped! Then when enough people said that he didn't (because they were the ones to help me off the road), he said he saw I was OK, so didn't think he needed to stop! I never even got an apology. Bad karma all round. I complained to lots of people. The race organisation, jury, UCI, police... no response. The penalty for assaulting someone with your car in a bike race: relegated to the last position for the following day in the order of cars in the convoy. I thought he should be chucked out of the race for being an incompetent driver, not stopping at the scene of an accident, and having no skills to deal with situations with 'the pressure of the racing'.
Bruised, battered, stiff and sore. It is annoying with skin of on my leg and arm on the left hand side, but not too sore when I ride - so at least all the training could still pay off with a good result in the next couple weeks to leave me satisfied with the season!
I am glad I was not more seriously hurt - lucky it was not worse.
Stage 3 - September 1: Zoeterwoude - Scheveningen, 86.8 km Stage 4 - September 2: Leende - Leende, 125.1 km
The next couple of stages I just tried to survive, a few digs when ever the opportunity arose, but generally just keeping myself out of trouble.
Stage 5 - September 3: Heerlen - Heerlen, 97.2 km
The second last day was the only hilly stage of the tour, in Limburg. It was much more fun than cobbles and flat roads, and thankfully the weather had improved for the second part of the week. Eneritz Itturragia (Let's Go Finland) attacked early in the stage, and stayed away all day. A chase group including Katia Longhin (Fanini), Modesta Vesulinaite (Safi-Pasta), Natalie Bates (Ton van Bemellen) and Priska Doppmann (Let's Go Finland) formed about halfway through the race, and they developed a good gap back to the main field. There were no teams willing to chase back the breakaway riders. The tempo for the main field was still fairly strong, and it was a good effort from the riders who managed to stay away. Eneritz won the stage in style, solo after an incredibly long break away.
On the final climb the split came in the main group with Nicole Cooke, Trixi Worrack and Mirjam Melchers taking advantage of the steep 'Eysbosberg'. The chasing group of ten over the climb included Chantal Beltman (2nd on GC, with Vrienden Platterland), three of Chantal's teammates, Ghita Beltman (Biskaia), Judith Arndt (Nurnberger), Arenda Grimberg (Therme), and me (Bik). The Platterland girls drove it for the last ten kilometres to try to pull back the gap the top three climbers had established on the last berg. They did it well, our group only 18 seconds behind Melchers, Worrack and Cooke in the end. I was 16th for the day, and not feeling too bad. I am looking forward to some racing with a bit of terrain for the end of the season!
Stage 6 - September 4: Haaften - Haaften, 118.8 km
The final stage was 120k in Haaften. A flat stage today with good weather and it was not particularly windy for Dutch standards. Plenty of time on the dijks of the Waal river and a technical and fast finish that I remember from a criterium three years ago. I was keen to get in an early break and had a stab, but was chased back. There was a bit of action for a while with counter-moves going, and eventually Ghita Beltman (Biskaia) put in an impressively strong attack, with Sandra Rombouts (Farm Frites) looking like she was having to give everything just to hold the wheel. I regretted not going with it when I saw her flying up the left hand side of the bunch. Ghita was the only one working and still managed to hold off the field until the last 20 kilometres of the race! She was rewarded as the most aggressive rider. The final stage was won by Georgia Bronzini (Safi-Pasta) in the sprint after a couple of hectic circuits at the end.
Good to get to the end of a long week, and a long year! More news from the next race as soon as I have worked out where I can get a start and how I can get there.
Cheers,
Emma
