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The Kimberly Bruckner Journal 2004
Like many top riders, 2001 US road champion Kimberly Bruckner has the Athens Olympics in her sights as she returns to racing after surgery for a soft-tissue tumour in her ankle cut short her 2003 season. With her T-Mobile squad in its second year, her diary this year will document the highs and lows of the US' top women's team.
Int. Thüringen-Rundfahrt der Frauen
Wasted legs
Stage 3 - July 22: Greiz - Schleiz
Today's stage was the longest and hardest of the Tour. In retrospect, I really should have eaten pasta at the 10:45am lunch. Maybe that would have helped me be a bit more prepared for the effort that was to come.
We woke this morning to a massive thunderstorm that brought tons of rain. It made me just want to stay in bed and sleep. But the rain went away after breakfast, and although the skies looked threatening the rest of the day, it never did rain on us while racing.
I'm sharing a room with Amber on the fourth floor, and our room looks out over the mechanics' lot. It looks like a camper park down there. Shortly after breakfast, all the wrenches are out there working, laughing, washing cars, and usually spraying each other with the hose. You can hear a multitude of languages ranging from English, Lithuanian, Dutch, German, French, and Italian. And we can always hear Ken, the T-Mobile mechanic. He just has one of those voices that carries. It's great. The last few nights, we can hear the group partying after the bikes are cleaned and put away. The music is blaring and the beers are handed around. What a nice life these guys lead.
So, today's stage. The first sprint was at 17km and since it's also a time bonus sprint, the Aussies have been going for it. Olivia Gollan (AIS) took first, and since it was a long uphill drag to the line, took a split of about 15 girls with her. Things got exciting for a bit with some attacks and counter attacks, but then settled back down once the whole group came back together. The group seemed pretty complacent, even through the next sprint line at 50km. I then realized that a break of two had gotten off the front before the sprint. They weren't a threat to overall GC and the hardest part of the race was yet to come, so the girls seemed content to let them go. Natalie Bates (AIS) and Fernandez (Michelle Fanini) stayed off until about 15km to go. It was a long, hard effort for sure and they did a great job. Natalie took the sprint and mountain points each time for her teammate, Olivia.
The major split came on the second QOM. A group of about 15 pulled away on the climb with Karin Thurig forcing the pace at the front. She is a workhorse. Amber, Christine, and Kristin made that split, and Dede and I were in the second group of about 10. With our teammates up the road, Dede and I sat in the second group waiting to see what was going to happen. Since it wasn't moving too fast, more and more girls kept catching back on to our group. Eventually, Trixi Worrack and Petra Rossner, Nurnberger, came flying through our group and Trixi went to the front to pull for Petra. They were obviously out for a stage win today. Trixi did an amazing job bringing down the time gap. I couldn't tell though if the groups were going to come back together or not. Rasa Polikeviute, Vlanderen, kept attacking off our group, trying to force another split, and I, like an idiot, kept trying to close the gaps. I never should have done that. It killed my legs for later. With just about 20km to go, the main chase group caught the two girls in the break, and our group caught the main group. It was all back together. Unfortunately for me, there were still some tough little steep climbs to get over and I just didn't have the legs to make it. With 10km to go, the group went on without me. How lonely it is out there solo like that! I don't think the fans knew whether they should cheer for me or just stay silent. Amazingly, Petra Rossner took the field sprint after chasing back on to win the stage. Angela Brodtka, Farm Frites, took second and Anita Valen, SATS, was third.
I was so depleted of glycogen by the time I finished, I went straight to my backpack and took out my bag of Haribo candy. That's one way to replace the sugar. I've got to be sure my legs are ready for tomorrow!
