Course Description:

The course was a challenging 19.5km circuit, so challenging that I think it discouraged early racing.  The start finish was on a 7% hill.  We moved in a general upward direction for a few minutes before taking a hard left onto a fast downhill.  At the bottom of this downhill, we made a fast right from a two lane road onto a one lane road that started climbing immediately.  This was the steep climb…maybe 2 min long and 13% at it’s steepest.  At the top, we made a left and things continued to move upward for a few more minutes before turning left and dropping down another fast decent.  The lead in to the next climb was straight and the road did not narrow.  Up we went again, about 8-9% for a few more minutes before we turned right and dropped fast down for a few km’s.  On the back side of the loop, things flattened a little, but it still felt like a false flat downhill all the way back to the little town at the bottom.  We made a quick right and rolled through the only true flat section of a few hundred meters.  The 3km to go mark was in the middle of this section.  Basically, the last 3km were up or false flat up back into the start/finish.

The Race: 7laps, 133.7km

On the steep climb in the middle of the race.

It started like every other world championship that I have raced…fast.  For the first two laps, the abundant supply of nervous energy carried the pace of the peloton.  In addition to the adrenaline filled butterflies in everyone’s bellies, the wet roads for the first hour added to the need to stay completely attentive yet relaxed.  It was very important to stay safe and settle into the race without expending too much energy.  I managed to stay away from the typical early crashes while moving within the flow of the group.  My big race experience helped me to shift my brain into a mode that allowed me to zone out the chaos while staying completely in tune with everything that was going on around me. 

From the beginning, the Italians were dominant all over the front of the race.  They raced very well together all day.  They were definitely the strongest and most unified group of 6 riders, and the end result proved it.  The Germans used Hanka to control for Worrack and Arndt, while the Dutch were strong around their leader Vos.   On the American front, Curi and Franges patrolled the front.  They rode fantastic support.  Kristin maintained good position all day, too, poised to ride for another medal.  I tried to stay protected and near the dangerous riders while waiting for a moment late in the race to take a risk and/or help Kristin.

As I mentioned earlier, I think the difficulty of the course actually made the early racing less aggressive.  The only early major move was started by the Italian Guderzo and was quickly covered by 3 other riders, including Katheryn Curi of the USA.  This was a dangerous foursome, and it was not given much breathing room.  Aside from that move, there were a few other attempts that were very quickly absorbed, but nothing else threatened until the USA set me up with less than 2 to go. 

When we rode through the start/finish with 2 laps remaining, I had the sense that something could happen this time around.  I noticed my teammates Lauren Franges and Kristin Armstrong going to the front on the left the side of the peloton.  I was on the right side near Katheryn Curi, and with her help, moved up onto Lauren and Kristin’s wheels.  After having been all over everything on the front all day, this was Katheryn’s last important contribution.  I was set on Kristin and Laurens’ wheels just before we turned left onto the downhill.  Lauren went down fast, taking Kristin hard into the steep hill.  Kristin attacked hard at the bottom.  Things were completely strung out and starting to separate.   Cantele surged off of this, and I followed.  As soon as I realized the two of us had a gap and that Kristin had expended too much at the bottom to come with us, I hit the gas too.  We were gone.  What a perfect set up by my teammates!! 

Risk.  To win a risk must be taken somewhere. With 30km and change to go, I took mine.  I had gotten away with the Italian Cantele who many were calling the favorite to win.  This was almost a perfect scenario.  The two of us were able to get a gap of up to 28 seconds, the largest gap of the day.  Both Cantele and I rode.  I think we both knew it was all or nothing, and if we could make it back around to the start/finish climb, there was a good chance that we could land on the podium.  The unbelievable Hanka Kupfernagel, though, put in a huge 5km effort on the downhill to bring us back.  We were caught at the bottom of the climb, about 2km from the start/finish.  I was sucked up into this chase group that was still 68 riders

The attack.

Off with Cantele.

Away we go.

Do they make these handlebars in carbon??