Essex Giro, 2-Day Stage Race by Iona Sewell
We arrived in pouring rain for stage 1: a 4 mile TT of the Hog Hill circuit at the Redbridge Cycling Centre. It was three laps of a twisty, up and down course. Not so good for flat-out speed but more of a “who dares wins”. I finished middle of the table. I think we were all quite glad to remain upright for the afternoon’s race.
We were all soaked through after the time trial but we were impressed that out Shutt VR jerseys dried really quickly.
Stage 2 was a criterium race: 45min plus 5 laps of the same circuit. We all thought we’d had the morning TT to get accustomed to the course… but no! We were to race in the opposite direction.
A couple of early fast laps saw the field shrink. The pace yo-yoed up and down, but no one managed to escape the pack. Steph and I finished with the bunch but missed the sprint finish: myself finishing 17th with Steph just behind.
Sarah was struggling, having just finished a week of night-shifts. She was dropped from the main bunch early on… and then the taggers-on but thanks to Steve’s encouragement she finished the stage and turned up to race the following day.
Stage 3 was a 60-mile road stage over undulating roads. This was a great course with a good hill up to the finish – long enough to stretch the field – and fast descents. I myself got caught on the wrong side of the bunch split the first time up the hill. With no one willing to work to get us back to bunch, Steph and I ended up doing the work to reach the bunch.
The hilly nature of the course meant that quite a few riders were dropped from the main bunch early on. Having resigned herself to riding a 50 mile TT, Sarah was pleasantly surprised when she was joined by a couple of other riders and had no objections when she was pulled out with a lap to go!
On the final climb up to the finish, the bunch got strung out and I came in at the tail end.
I came 20th overall (after the three stages) with Steph 27th and Sarah (who was over the moon not to have come last) in 33rd place!
Iona
Pictures courtesy of Dave Hayward
Tags: Dave Hayward, Squadra Donne, Team Rides
