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Back on track: The Marion Clignet Journal 2004
French track legend Marion Clignet retired from racing in 2000, intending to become active as an advocate for women's sport. But after two years off the bike, and perhaps inspired by the other female champions she's encountered while working as a presenter for French TV, Clignet returned to the velodrome in 2003 to the velodrome in a determined comeback. After a solid year building a foundation, Marion's back competing at thehighest level in 2004.
Welcome to sunny Madrid!
The hardest decision I had to make was while packing. Do I bring more short sleeved and lighter stuff (Spain - sunny right? warm?), or do I pack the winter stuff, fleece, etc? At the last minute I decide to go with one t-shirt and the cold weather gear, you just never know. Besides you can always take clothes off as you go, putting 'em on is a little harder. Nothing like intuition, got off the plane and it was effin freezing in Madrid. Cold air blowing and all out wind to boot. Yeehah, this is going to be fun.
Am on my third week of changing my treatment for epilepsy, so far so good. Aside from feeling nauseous and a bit tired the first three days of the switch all has been okay. Can train hard, haven't had any side effects (unless turning blue from cold at the start line would count) and am starting to feel like my good old 'young' self.
Stage 1 - March 24: Valladolid-Valladolid, 88km
So the Vuelta Castilla y Leon started off with a bang on Wednesday. A 78km circuit was changed to 88 at the last minute and gale force winds were on! The peloton pretty much split in half with groups forming here and there. A group of 15 took off on the GPM [mountain top] at km 35 or so and held off until four kilometres to go. The pack was back to 70 riders (with other groups 5-20 minutes down) I moved to the front with two km to go, with no pretension of leading myself out for the sprint mind you, I just wanted to avoid crashing as I was getting that 'intuitive feeling' in the pack. With 1km to go I'm stuck in the middle again and start to move around. 500m to go, hot on Susanne Ljungskog's wheel when fate would have it the crash was right in front of her taking her out and leaving me to slalom through bodies to the finish. Regina Schleicher won the field sprint after a superb lead out by her Safi Pasta Zara team mates with her team mate Bronzini taking second and Rochelle Gilmore taking third.
Stage 2 - March 25: Toro-Zamora, 104 km
104km with some nice hills and guess what? More wind and cold!
I think one of the harder things about this race is that the stages start in the late afternoon. I like to get it over and done with. Anyway, we're off with a sprint at 8km out and, if I remember correctly, GPMs at around 25 and 45 km. The climbs were a little longer than yesterday and the winds as ferocious. I found myself dodging a crash on a small climb, putting me towards the pack on the descent, not a good place to be before the climb. I managed to move up a tad but not enough to make it past mid pack. There was a small split and once towards the top with help from Stacey Peters (T-mobile), Leah Goldstein (Aude-Basis), and some strong Spanish riders we caught back on to form a peloton of about 55 with a pursuit group of 20 or so not far behind. I even managed to break my heart rate record this year with a whopping reading of 158!) With 20km to go attacks started here and there when the duo of Katherine Bates (Ton Van Bemmelen Sports) and Anouska Van Der Zee (Farm Frites Hartol) attacked hard with about 5km to go. The pair worked perfectly (as I kicked myself saying, darn - wish my legs had reacted when they went!) and they came in 17 seconds ahead of the field with Bates taking the victory and a very strong Regina Schleicher taking the field sprint for third. As for me, I did the body slalom thing again when with 600m to go another crash sent bodies flying in front of me. I'll get this down soon enough.
Because Van Der Zee finished ahead of Bates on stage 1 she became the new race leader.
Stage 3 - March 26: Zamora-Salamanca, 104.3 km
Day 3. Why change when the cold is working so well? Make it colder. I opted for the first time in a long while to race with long sleeves and leg warmers and was glad I did. In the first few kilometres the Farm Frites team took hold riding at the front to protect their race leader as well as (so I figured out later) their sprint jersey worn by young talent Adrie Visser. The first sprint was about 6km out on a slight ascent and of course I had completely forgotten about this and was quietly thinking to myself as they began the lead out that if they were going to keep this 'tempo' pace for the entire race they were going to do so with out me, let alone ride me off the back! Once I made it to the back I realized that I could safely get back on.
The GPM was going to be 66km out with a last sprint at 81km and the final at 105km. The climb itself wasn't very hard but the road to it was probably better suited for my mountain bike. I figured because of the wind any action would happen at the last sprint. In any case, this was one of the hardest races I've done in a long time. The wind was, if I may permit myself to so boldly say fucking evil and made for a full on effort all day long. I spent a good part of the day riding up the gutter, through gravel, avoiding sand, bumps, two crashes, and quite often riding into the wind to catch a wheel before it got too far away.
Finally, while heaving in air, to be quite honest sucking in any air I could get, we got over the GPM and finally to the last sprint. Sometime around there Mirjam Melchers motored off in superb fashion putting an eventual 1'49" on a narrowing but very strong field. With still 20kms to go the peloton seemed to be a straight line with gaps here and there. I was in there among many others, some were fighting hard not to get dropped or blowing, breathing deep, and somehow managing to get back on. Ten km to go and I managed to move up to the front line holding a temporary spot there until about one and a half km to go. I was done and did want to save at least a tad for the world cup on Sunday so I small-ringed it from there. From where I was I couldn't see the finish, but Mirjam won the stage and GC with Kate Bates riding to a superb second place on GC and Anouska Vanderzee in third.
And then, the world cup
And last but not least, what's even better when cold weather works in Madrid? Snow! And a downtown crit course for 120km! The world cup was indeed that. A fun course, though when you've raced hard for three days and are a bit blown well, it's the same for everyone so never mind that. The course was full of turns, a bit of wind, a few descents, a small climb and a U turn, a few roundabouts and another short rise. A good race though nothing managed to stay away. The race came down to a field sprint with German rider Angela Brotka taking a superb sprint over Melchers and Wood with Oenone Wood keeping the world cup jersey.
Just for the record, I wont be choosing Spain as my vacation spot this year.
