Stage 12 – Trelaze – Gorron 129km

The commissaries took us down the wrong ride during our neutral section and so we had to do a U turn.  For some reason my radio wasn’t working today, so during the commotion of all the team cars doing U turns, Meredith had a quick look at my radio and tried to get it working.  I couldn’t hear or receive any information from our Director so it felt strange riding a stage without knowing what the other riders were being told.

Only 5km into the stage, my back wheel exploded.  The one day I didn’t have my radio working and really wanted to let our mechanic know I needed a wheel change.  I pulled over and took out my back wheel and waited.  Our car was one of the last cars to get to me.  Chad did a really fast wheel change and pushed me out.  I built up speed and then our team car pulled up beside me.  Chad lent out and told me to hang onto the car while he adjusted my brake callipers.  Our team car was driving so slowly and I was falling further and further behind the peloton.

My other team mates didn’t know I had flatted so no-one dropped back to me.  I knew I had to get back on.  I didn’t want to ride 75km alone and with the flat open stages it was possible to lose a lot of time and risk getting time cut.

I dug deep and rode as hard as I could.  I skidded through a roundabout but luckily kept it upright.  It only took me 10 minutes of chasing to get back to the caravan and then I used the cars to get back on.  After this effort, I sat in and rested for a while.  I wanted to conserve energy and have a dig at the end.

The Biskai team set such a strong tempo that most riders were content to sit in and wait for the sprint.  With 5km to go, a Road Runner rider attacked and as she was caught, her team mate tried a solo dash to the finish at the 3km mark.  This rider was the World time trial champion and to her credit she held off the chasing peloton to win the stage.  My team mate, Katrina, broke away with 2km to go, but we caught her in the final 50m.  Fellow team mate, Mette had found the right wheel and finished 4^th behind Alison Wright (Aust) again.

And the best news of all – only 2 stages left – yippee!!!