Sunday 31 August 2008

TROPHEE D'OR: STAGE 6: FINITO!

Once again, it was a day I had looked forward to as it signalled the end of the tour. But a day that I was dredding, because it would be our final race as a team. From here, Leonie and Rochelle head to the Holland Ladies Tour, with Rochelle making a final visit to Varese to say her goodbyes before I fly home. It also marked John's last day in Europe, with his departure scheduled for late afternoon. There was much laughter on day five of Trophee D’Or…at Carlee…and the fact that she had only just realised that the Irish speak English, and that she CAN in fact check her Optus email address while in Europe?! This closely compares to the time she went to wash her hands in the mens urinal, and believed the capital of Japan to be Bangkok! Luckily her profession is in bikes!

The race went quickly, with a few moments of aggression on the road passing, before MANY moments of aggression faced us on the 5x5km finishing circuits. The attacks came thick and fast with stage victory up for grabs, and we covered what we could, which didn’t include Eneritz Echevarria’s (Safi) solo attack in the final kilometers. It seems that bike racing is a numbers game that we just couldn't win!..with Rochelle running third on the stage for yet another podium. So the tour saw us with four podiums, Rochelle second in the point’s classification, Carlee (pictured below) as the third young rider, Vicki our highest placed on GC and Tiff, Leonie and I well...we played our part! :P It was a good note to finish my season on, and once again more memories to add to the blog.

It's now 1am here in Castronno and we have just endured an 8 hour drive from France; an entertaining one at that. Nitis drove with the windscreen wipers on for 6 hours, Beth, Carlee and I found ourselves singing Madonna's 'holiday', and we had a car full of slightly older men writing their names and numbers on cardboard pieces held to their window! We woke Bridie O’Donnell on our return to the house, and she informs me that the weather in Melbourne is starting to fine up, initiating my countdown to Australia…12 days now! I have a one day race in Switzerland this weekend, and then five days to reminisce on my overseas racing experience. No doubt I'll miss everybody here at the house, but I can't wait to get home to my family. So my friends, if you don't hear from me before September 12th, it’s because I'm on a flight back down under! YAY!

Results: Unofficial Blog Page: Trophee D'Or, Stage 6, Saint-Germain-du-Puy – Saint-Amand-Montrond, 100.8kms