Monday 4 March
Stage 1 Khancoban to Tumbarumba 76.1 kms
I rode as part of the Australian National Team consisting of Margaret Hemsley, Kim Shirley, Amy Safe, Emma Rickards and Vanessa Crawford.
The first stage started at 10am. It was already warm and the climbing would certainly heat things up. After listening to the local school children sing “Pedal, pedal” we were on our way. The course was quite undulating and the bunch was aggressive, with constant attacks from very early in the race. An attack over a big wide climb at the 31km mark caused 7 riders to slip away, amongst them Doppmann, Melchers and my teammate Hemsley. I was just off the second bunch who were chasing hard. It took a solid chase for me to get back on. I had just got into the bunch to recover when another sharp hill loomed up. I threw my bike into the little ring, dropped the chain and managed to jam it as I tried to get it back onto the big ring. Damn!! I jumped off to fix it, and was quickly pushed off by the AIS mechanic. I chased hard, but my efforts were futile. I hovered off the group and couldn’t bridge the gap. Another group of 8 formed around me and we rode the remaining 25km together. We worked reasonably well together but ended up losing 9min22 on Melchers, who took today’s stage from Priska Doppmann and Marg Hemsley. I finished in 37th position on the general classification (GC).
Tuesday 5 March
