Bay Criterium No 2 – Barwon Heads – 3^rd January 2002

Conditions: No rain, some sunshine, strong winds, 22ºC

The circuit today was a 1.1km square loop.  The start / finish line was about 400m long, and was well situated along a busy cafe lined street in Barwon Heads.  As usual, it had a fairly solid cross headwind to sprint into.  The two corners after the start / finish line both had roundabouts and traffic islands to negotiate, with the second one being really tight.  Although there were no crashes today, there were a few abusive comments on these corners.

The pace was again really fast today.  Those badly positioned or having trouble with the fast tempo were quickly dropped from the bunch and eventually lapped, with all lapped riders having to withdraw from the race.

Both the Victorians and New South Wales girls were aggressive with their attacks, although no breaks stayed away more than a lap.  With 3 laps to go, Liz Tadich (Vic) launched a strong attack and stayed about 50m in front of the bunch.  The bunch swept her up as we took the bell lap and the race came down to a frantic bunch sprint.

In order, the podium winners today were Rochelle Gilmore (NSW), Alison Wright (ACT) and Joanne Kiesanowski (NZ).  Emma Rickards (of the Carnegie Club) negotiated the bunch sprint well to finish in 5^th position.  Although unintended, I found myself right in the middle of the bunch on the final corner and unable to come around in time, finished somewhere around 20^th.  Positioning and/or a good team lead out are quite important to have any chance in a bunch finish.

So again, NSW showed their strength and secured the leaders jersey after day 2.  However, tomorrow’s race, (which is officially the Australian Criterium Championships), is a technical course and with Anna Millward (Vic) back racing, let’s see if we can get a few Victorians up on the podium.