Nature Valley Grand Prix, Minnesota
Nature Valley Grand Prix, Minnesota
Team Rona stayed with the Falks, long time family friends of mine in Middleton, Wisconsin, en route to Virginia in northern Wisconsin, for the first two stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. After fuelling up on pasta, salad, grilled chicken and salmon we were ready to race hard and see if we could put on a good show.
After the 8km TT, Katrina Grove (Rona) was only 2 seconds behind the Canadian race leader, Lynn Bessette (Quark). All of Rona placed in the top 26 out of a field of 120 women, with the top 20 in GC being separated by only a few seconds. The race lead was definitely within our reach and became our goal as we prepared for stage two.
The second stage, a 140km flat road race saw no change in the overall GC. Erinne Willock (Rona) spent 40km off the front in a solo break before being reeled only metres before the final intermediate sprint. The stage finished with 6 laps of an incredibly rough circuit. With a 30 second time bonus awarded to the winner of the stage, things got a little crazy in the closing 1km with at least 6 riders falling. Team mate Andrea Hannos was a victim of this crash, cracking her Colnago frame, and suffering some bad road rash. She remained in good spirits, however, especially after Katrina scrubbed her road rash and hand fed her spaghetti and meatballs in the bath! Paul, our mechanic, had the challenge of building Andrea a new race bike by tomorrow morning.
The Stage 3 criterium was declared a neutral stage to the overall GC due to thunder, lightening and heavy rain. Even riding in the 15 minute parade criterium was dangerous with one nasty fall causing a Quark rider to abandon the tour. Erinne Willock also slid out on a corner but with so much rain, luckily she was only slightly bruised.
Stage 4 was a hilly 130km with temperatures up in the mid 30’s (Celsius). Our aggressive riding forced Quark to work hard today and even over the hilly terrain, the peleton remained largely intact. Some of our time was spent helping Andrea move to the front to contest the intermediate sprints. Unfortunately at the end of the day, Andrea trailed by 6 points behind Gina Grain (Victory Brewing), and with only one sprint (worth 5 points), in the final stage, was unable to win the jersey.
With 1km to go, there was confusion in the peleton as a rider followed the lead car off the course to the right, instead of going straight ahead. I had studied the race bible and continued straight, opened up a little gap, but couldn’t hold it. Andrea finished a close 3rd and with bonus seconds moved into 8th in GC. However, Lynn Bessette finished second, picking up bonus seconds and increased her overall lead.
The final stage was a brutal 50 minute criterium that had a 20% climb in it on every lap. After 20 laps of this climb my legs really started to scream. With a brutal pace set by Erinne Willock, Katrina Grove and Katheryn Curi, the front group dwindled down to only a handful of riders. A Swiss rider took the stage win while Lynn Bessette clinched overall victory ahead of Katrina Grove. Erinne Willock won the young riders jersey and also finished 4th overall. Katheryn Curi finished 9th while Andrea Hannos and I finished 29th and 31st, respectively.
Now I am back with the Falks, enjoying some wonderful training in Middleton, Wisconsin – North America’s mid west, known for its diary farms and cornfields. Without cars and pollution, these quiet country roads are a cyclist’s paradise. I am thoroughly enjoying a few weeks of hard training, great food and wonderful hospitality, before the next block of racing takes me to Massachusetts, Vancouver and Pennsylvania.