Race Report by Jenn O’Connor
The Altura Patterson Training Cannondale team (from left) Annabel Simpson, Alli Northcott (guest), Paula Moseley (guest), Jenn O'Connor and Nadine Spearing.
This was one of our big road races of the season, and we’ve all been looking forward to it. As this was a team event, we’d bolstered our Altura Patterson Training Cannondale team with the addition of Paula Moseley and Alli Northcott, and both proved themselves great choices time and again over the course of the weekend.
Day 1 – Sunday 3rd May 2009
Stage 1 – Team Time Trial 9.7km
The whole team had to start but only the top four times counted towards the team score. Apart from Annabel, none of us had ever done a TTT before, and we’d never ridden together as a team. I start off on the front, and took off fairly steady to ensure we all got clipped in and moving together. Alli (who had never done any kind of TT) took the next turn and went off at a hell of a pace, then missed the last wheel and disappeared, so we were a rider down within the first 500m. We couldn’t afford to lose another rider, so we rode carefully. Nadine struggles with TTs and Annie and I jollied her along, while Paula with her bar extensions did the extra share on the front. We finished in 15:12, which put us in 5th place and 38 seconds down on the leaders going into Stage 2.
Stage 2 – Keysoe Road Race 80km
Our rough plan was for Nadine to try for the sprint primes, while Annie and I would try for the hill primes, and Alli and Paula would cover the breaks and look after Nadine. It all went out the window. The bunch of 80 riders were crammed into one side of the road around tight country lanes and it look two of the five laps for me to work my way to the front, and that was only because I had fearless Alli working for me, making gaps where there were none.
Things were settling down a bit, when the crash happened. I didn’t see it start, but I saw riders go down on my left, then a rider hit the deck right in front of me. I don’t know how I didn’t crash. Eight riders went down in all, with one broken ankle and a set of snapped handlebars. The race carried on, albeit a bit shaken up.
The hill sprint was not really a hill so much as a short rise, so it favoured the sprinters over the pure climbers in any case. Nonetheless, I managed to line myself up for the second hill prime and crossed the line third, for a few bonus points. I then chanced a second place in one of the sprint primes, as I happened to be one of three riders who had gotten away from the bunch back up the road.
The group inevitably came back together, and it was Paula who got a break with Julie Cook (Squadra Donne) and got away on the last lap. They were chased and caught by Natalie Cresswick (Twickenham CC), who eventually won, with Julie second and Paula third. Meanwhile, Alli and I managed to keep the rest of the bunch together, and I went for the bunch sprint up the hill to the finish securing the fourth spot. Result! This put Paula second on GC as she’d clawed back some of the lost time from the TTT by finishing in the break. I was 12th on GC thanks to my sprint efforts, and Alli lost no time finishing in the bunch behind me. Annie had bad stomach cramps and struggled through to finish, while Nadine finished behind the main bunch.
Day Two – Monday 4th May 2009
Stage 3 – Individual Time Trial 3.37km
A really short TT, with a gradual descent, a gradual climb and a flat. I think the organisers kept the time trials deliberately short so that the advantage gained by those with proper TT bikes and aero kit would not dictate the outcome of the whole event. We rode the TTs on our Synapse road bikes, although Paula had a set of tri-bars and clocked about 10 seconds faster than me and Annie (on the same time to the second) with Alli and Nadine about 10 seconds slower again. The result dropped Paula dropped back to third on GC and we knew we’d have to race tactics in the afternoon road race if we wanted to keep or better that place. There was a “Combative” prize to be awarded, and we were gunning for it.
Stage 4 – Cranfield Road Race 71km
