UCI UWCT Tour of Cambridgeshire

The inaugural UK qualifier for The World Tour Final

Back in the depths of winter, with the wind rattling around the house, a weekend cycling around Cambridgeshire in June sounded like a great idea... Somewhere different to explore, a goal far enough away to keep motivation high and the opportunity to be a part of the first ever UK qualifying round of the UCI sanctioned UCWT World Cycling Tour dubbed 'The Tour of Cambridgeshire'.

With entries confirmed, the hard work was to begin - a 28km time trial (TT) on the Saturday followed by a 130km racing Gran Fondo on the Sunday - no small task! The fens are well known for making up what they lack in hills with 'wind', generally of the head- and cross- variety, so perhaps the winter preparation was ideal!

Having taken advantage of an early sign-on on Friday evening, recced the course and checked into our hotel, which was slowly being taken over by a strange combination of cyclists and wedding guests, it was time to relax. With the luxury of a late start time on Saturday, there was chance to watch some of the early riders go and listen to some early feedback from the course. Unsurprisingly, this seemed to consist mostly of the fact that it was really windy out there! Out of the arena and straight into a headwind for the first 3 miles or so... at least that meant a tailwind back though!!

The atmosphere in the arena was one of nervous excitement. With 700 starters, the precision of reporting for your timing chip, spinning your legs on the bank of turbos whilst waiting to be called to the start ramp all added to the sense of occasion. A safe exit from the arena without doing anything stupid was the first box to tick! I can certainly vouch for the headwind on the way out, but the focus was definitely on doing the best job I could, making the most of the closed roads and riding the shortest lines possible. Flying down the last hill at 60kph with the wind behind set me up nicely for the final run in to the arena and the finish line. Had I done enough...? I'd certainly done my best!

With the excitement of Saturday behind me, it was time to re-focus on Sunday morning's racing Gran Fondo. In true continental format, this saw a mass start of no less than 1,000 of us in the race pen, with a further 5,000 sportive riders in the pen behind. The wind of the day before had been replaced by glorious sunshine so keeping hydrated was my main concern. Not unlike the day before, the initial worry was rolling off the start line, around the roundabouts and onto the main road in the neutralised section unscathed! "Brutal" is perhaps the most appropriate word to describe the race that unfolded. The neutralised section was frantic, with the top riders setting out their stalls early for a place immediately behind the lead car. I was going into the red and we'd only been moving a few minutes!! The first climb helped to steady the pace; catching a few off guard and splitting the bunch. I find myself amongst a small group and the pace settled a little. Forty minutes later I found myself dropping off the back and shortly after in 'no man's land' - for the next thirty minutes a repeat of Saturday's TT ensued! Head down, pedalling hard with no shelter from the wind as I crossed the old airfield I was questioning my sanity. How on earth could anyone end up on their own in a field of 1,000 riders?! Eventually the 'swoosh' of race wheels could be heard in the distance... a chance to benefit from the shelter of other riders. I found another gear, jumped on the back of the pair of riders as they came past but with fatigued legs from a massive solo effort, just couldn't stay with them. Back to time trialling again...

Finally I was caught by a larger group and the relief was almost immediate! My heart rate plummeted from 180bpm to 140bpm - much more sustainable! We worked well to keep a good pace going and as time went by, my thoughts eventually started to move towards end of race tactics. I'd noted that there were very few females up at the front of the field and the majority appeared to be in my group. I reacted to every move from any of my fellow competitors and eventually the main group had slimmed down to just two of us ladies amongst the men. Familiarity from the TT course the day before meant that I knew the final 5 mile run in to the finish well. With 1.5 miles to go, I upped the pace a little and noted that she didn't respond, with a mile to go I laid my cards on the table and went for it - what little I had left in my legs got wound up for one final effort.

 

Was it enough? It was! The invitation to go to Denmark for the World Tour Final, as part of Team GB, subsequently arrived. Thank you Tour of Cambridgeshire for a fabulous weekend of cycling and the opportunity to make a dream come true. Now the hard work really begins!!