Stage 1 – 119km

Today was a mountain stage, finishing with a mountain top finish in Guardia San Framondi.  The first 20km had a number of cobble stone sections, and we went through at least a dozen Italian villages.  The roads were really rough and we were constantly trying to avoid holes and water grids on the road.  There were so many crashes today.  Riders who were not concentrating would touch another wheel and up to 5 riders at a time would go down.  I only saw one serious looking crash where a girl somehow miss judged a hairpin turn and went straight over the cliff.

We rode a flat course for 77km and then climbed for 20km.  The climb was a reasonable gradient with at least 60 riders getting over in the front group.  We actually rode through the finish line and then headed out on another 20km loop before climbing the same ascent to the finish.  I made it over in the climb in the front group and then negotiated speed humps and hairpins as we raced down the other side before looping around to climb the same hill again.  At the 100km mark, I started to feel really dehydrated.  It was 36C and I hadn’t had enough water. I was on the wrong side of the peloton as we went through the 90km feed zone and hadn’t been able to get a bottle.  The race caravan that includes all the team cars was being held up by the slower riders who had been dropped so we were unable to get any water.  I lasted until 5km to go and then my legs blew up.  I struggled up to the finish and lost several minutes on the main group.  In our team, both Felicia and Mitta finished with the main group in the top 30, while Meredith and Tina finished about 1 minute ahead of Charm and myself.  Unfortunately Trine and Christine had mechanical problems and a crash, respectively, but they overcame these problems to only a few minutes behind us.

Tomorrow is another hilly course with another mountain top finish.  I am praying for some cooler weather and hope my legs feel strong.

Ciao

Helen.