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GREAT BRITAIN WOMENS TEAM NEWS -- THURINGEN RUNDFAHRT

Germany, July 22-27, 2003 Reports from Great Britain Team Manager, Dave Mellor ....

Stage 7 - July 27: Gera - Zeulenroda , 111.9 km

The final stage of this very tough tour and we still were looking for the stage win. On the evening of the split stage Rachel still had enough energy to want to look at the final 20km circuit and the 1500m cobbled climb that was to covered once on entering the circuit and again 6km from the finish.

The battle for the yellow was negated slightly by a very strong wind and temperature in the high 30's and Charlotte's job of getting bottles from the car was non stop all day. The race split into several groups on the way to the finishing circuit but we had Frances and Rachel in the lead group of 40 riders and after the first climb US rider and previous World Cup winner DD Demett Barry was away alone.

Rachel bridged alone using her knowledge of the finishing circuit and it looked as though we would have a race winning break but about 15km to go the break was brought back and then disaster as Frances punctured a rear wheel on the approach to the big hill. A quick change and fantastic descent through the convoy got Fran to the back of the bunch as they hit the climb but she was stuck behind slower riders and though the front was tantalisingly close at one point no one wanted to work and we lost our 10th overall place. Rachel again showed she is learning about bunch sprinting and came in a creditable 7th.

 1 Kimberly Bruckner (USA) Team T-Mobile USA 3.21.12

 7. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team          @0.03  
33. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team     @1.28
48. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team  5.32
49. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team       10.00
 
FINAL OVERALL
 1. Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Velodames Colnago   14.46.45
 2. Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Bik-Powerplate          0.06
 3. Sara Carrigan (Aus) Bik-Powerplate              0.26.

11. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team         3.35
12. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team    4.20
49. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team 24.02
64. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team      37.33

Stage 6 Time Trial

A season goal for Frances was to get a top 10 in a high class TT field and she came up with the goods today. The course was anything but a flat UK TT course with the little ring engaged as much as the big, a 500m cobbled climb and not just your paved town centre variety, these were full on country village cobbles, a dead stop onto a 750m 42x23 climb 4km from the finish and then a 70kmph 2km twisty descent to finish over cobbles. As I said not a traditional TT course!

Frances finished 9th exactly a minute behind Sara Carrigan (Aus) from the Bik - Powerplate who has won every TT we have been at this year. Rachel Heal put in a solid ride after her hard ride this morning to finish in 17th 42seconds behind Frances. Catherine and Charlotte were told to ride round and save themselves for the final stage the 111km Gera to Zeulenroda hardest stage of the tour.

 1. Sara Carrigan (Aus) Bik-Powerplate            22.51

 9. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team  1.00
17. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team       1.42
82. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National T  4.29
91. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team    5.24

Stage 5 Schleiz to Gera 74km
Split stage today saturday with a 74km morning stage with an individual TT to follow this evening. Fran's aim this morning was to not lose any time on GC and the remaining three were to try for the elusive stage win. With such a short stage and the hills coming in the first 35km the pace was frantic from the off. Charlotte and Rachel were both in breaks but a frustrating day in that nothing was allowed to go away. Catherine Hare was getting more into the race and under orders from the other girls spent more time at the front following moves.

Her race was interrupted by a rear wheel slide on a wet hairpin bend and she hit the deck but Ernie soon had her on her way again and she was coached through the cars in the convoy by car to rider radio to safely rejoin in a few km's.

John Evans on his way to the finish phoned through details of the run in and identified a 500m climb 6km to go which would be perfect for an attack and again Rachel gave it everything but a big bunch finish was too much of an incentive for the Dutch riders with Debby Mansveld riding for the National Team and sure enough they did a perfect job and Debby won the stage convincingly.

Stage 4 - July 25: Greiz - Schleiz , 103.0 km

Another early morning drive to recce the final hill and the run in to the finish for Rachel Heal came to nothing as World Champ Suzanne Ljungskog and Valentina Polkhanova took off at the 73km GPM (Grand Prix Montagne). Charlotte Goldsmith had been working hard to keep Rachel at the front ready for the GPM but Rachel just did not have the legs to stay with the World Champ on this tough climb.

The GB plan was for Rachel to attack on a blind 100m long climb, 5km from the finish and with a long technical descent following we reckoned she could stay away. That was the plan but with two GC riders away Nurnberg and T Mobile were driving to limit their losses and even though the attack was strong reckoning a podium place was better than nothing, Rachel was not allowed much leeway. Frances Newstead finished in the same group as Rachel setting herself up for a fine top 10 GC place with a good ride in the TT tomorrow which is her race objective.

 1. Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Bik-Powerplate  2.41.44

17. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team        @51 secs
28. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team
48. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team  @5.50
61. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team  @5.50
 
General classification after stage 4
 1. Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Velodames Colnago  9.17.01

11. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team     2.32
12. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team  
50. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team  14.42
71. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team       22.50

Stage 3 -- 106 km Hermsdorf to Greiz

A ferocious wind got up just before the start and as the race got underway radio tour announced that at Gera 30km into the race there was torrential rain and flooded roads. Rachel decided to come back for a cape just as the Russian Velodames squad took the race to the yellow jersey and two Russian went up the road with two Team Stuttgart riders. The race was strung out in a long chase and we were not overly worried as the yellow jersey was with Nurnberg and with Bik & T Mobile also high on GC according to the coaching manual it was down to them to chase.

The manual should be rewritten as the breakway stayed away for 70km with the GC teams either unable or unwilling to chase and so the yellow jersey moves to the Russians tomorrow with Yulia Razenkova leading Judith Arndt from Team Nurnberg by 38secs. It was a frustrating day for us as we had been out early to recce the finish circuit but as the break was away with over 1 1/2 minutes lead with 10km to go our dress rehearsal came to nothing and we save our energy for another day. Catherine Hare our triathlete had a very good day coming in in the same group as Charlotte and only lost a minute and a half to World Champ Ljunskog.

Stage 4 is again a hilly 103km from Greiz to Schleiz.


 1. Christine Soeder (Aut) Team Stuttgart              2.34.20

19. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team       1.21    
34. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team                            
57. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team    2.21    
71. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team                         
 
General classification after stage 3
 1. Yulia Razenkova (Rus) Velodames Colnago            6.34.30
 2. Judith Arndt (Ger) Equipe Nï¿½rnberger Versicherung  0.38
 3. Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Velodames Colnago       0.53

12. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team       2.28
13. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team                            
54. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team    9.39
72. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team         17.47

Stage 2 - July 23: Zeulenroda - Hermsdorf, 127.9 km

It was a good day for GB on stage 2 when two of its key riders, Rachel Heal and Frances Newstead got into the race winning break. It was a classy break with the yellow jersey Judith Arndt (Nurnberger) and World Champion Suzanne Ljungskog (Powerplate Bik). In the sprint for the stage, Rachel and Frances both finished just outside the podium places with fourth and fifth, proof if needed, that both have good form for the up coming World Cup races and Track Championships.

Here's the report from GB Manager, Dave Maellor.... Stage 2 of the Thuringen Rundfahrt was 127km from Zeulenroda to Hermsdorf. The route was very technical, hilly and littered with cobbles through the small German villages. After a very early start this morning where I drove Frances and Rachel to recce the TT stage for later in the week we had a quick turnaround back at our hotel and headed for the start.

A break of ten riders went away early and quickly established themselves and with Frances safely with them the group soon built a lead of 50 seconds. Rachel and Charlotte had sensed the danger and Rachel bridged with World Champion Suzanne Ljunskog, Valentina Polkanova and DD Demet from T-Mobile.

The breaks lead grew slowly but then became a little disorganised and combined with Nurnberg chasing, as they had only one rider in the break yellow jersey Judith Arndt, the lead came down to 13 seconds. Rachel and Frances were given the order to attack straight away if the break were caught but instead decided to encourage the others to get organised and after putting in a couple of big turns the lead was 6 minutes at the finish line.

With 20km to go the talk on the radio was all about how to win and Rachel took off with one of the three Russian girls and was quickly joined by eventual winner Chantal Beltman (Ned - Acce Due) but the lead never reached more than 20seconds and going into the last few km's Frances led into the final corner at 1.5km with Rachel letting a gap open to see if Fran could TT into the finish.

The other riders in the break were quickly onto Fran and so it came down to a sprint. A hairy moment when someone put a pedal into Ljunskogs wheel meant that the sprint was not super clean but encouraging with Rachel 4th and Fran 5th.

Charlotte Goldsmith was safely in the bunch, Catherine Hare was doing great until a touch of wheels meant that both of hers ended up bent and a double wheel change was required. Penny Edwards short of racing was eliminated as the group she was in were to far down on the road for the Police to control the saftey of the riders.

Tomorrow is Hermsdorf to Greiz 106 vey hilly km's.

 1. Chantal Beltman (Ned) Mixed Team                3.22.43
 2. Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Farm Frites-Hartol                            
 3. Deirdre Barry (USA) Team T-Mobile USA                               

 4. Rachel Heal (GBr) British National Team                             
 5. Frances Newstead (GBr) British National Team
38. Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr) British National Team 6.11
78. Catherine Hare (GBr) British National Team      12.57

STAGE 1, TEAM TIME TRIAL
On the eve of flying to Germany for Thuringen Rundfahrt, I received a call from Sara Waller that she could not fly as her husband (Howard) had been rushed into hospital and so we started with 5 riders in the first stage Team Time Trial. After travelling here with temperatures in the high 30's according to the car temperature gauge this stage was a moderate 25 degrees and was ridden in pouring rain and thunder!

We had decided that our goal for this race is again to win a road stage and so even though Frances Newstead and Rachel Heal were on full TT bikes, we were going to try and ride a controlled race and finish as a complete team even though this would put us down a bit on GC.

New girl Catherine Hare, the European 2003 U23 Triathlon silver medallist who placed 9th at the National Road Race is getting to take part in her first international Road Race and Penny Edwards back from a months break, were put under pressure at 5km to go and I told the others, Frances, Rachel and Charlotte Goldsmith to keep going when the elastic finally snapped. After the slowish first part of the race, we were never going to be in contention finishing 13th of the 18 teams over 5 minutes down on pro team Nurnberg who destroyed the field winning by 2 minutes from the Russian Velodames Colnago pro team. But as most of us team managers had argued for a bonus system rather than real time for the result of this test we are standing at 1.15 down on the Nurnberg time of 37 mins 19secs.