Laura Trott wins international Junior stage race

Story posted April 28; by Larry Hickmott

Last weekend in Holland at the Omloop van Borsele, a young lady who has been racing for a decade or more, Laura Trott, celebrated her 18th birthday in style, by winning an international  Junior Stage Race. In doing so, Laura beat a World and European champion in the form of Pauline Prevot and her reward is a place in the Great Britain team this week at the Gracia – Orlova supporting British Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke.

Laura Trott with the leader's jersey. See more photos

Looking back at the race which started with more than 80 riders including many national teams, Laura says she started the race rather badly, rolling in 28th on stage 1 and could tell her manager was disappointed with that ride. Being the determined young lady Laura is though, the European champion in the Team Pursuit went out for stage 2 in an aggressive mood as she explained.

“The race was on dead tight roads and I thought when I get to the front, I’m going to hit it real hard because I don’t want to roll in like I did on stage 1. I knew the course from last year so when I hit it hard, I quickly got a gap on the group. When I looked behind, I could this Belgian girl coming across.”

“She eventually caught me and I pushed on dead hard but she wasn’t really working with me. She was first year junior I found out later. So, I put my head down and decided to ride it like a time trial and keep going for as long as I could. A motorbike came alongside and told me I’d pulled 30 seconds out from nowhere and from then on, the gap kept getting bigger and bigger. I felt so strong, I didn’t want to give up.”

Laura never did give up and at the finish, the two riders had almost two and half minutes. Despite not doing any work, the Belgium never proved to be a threat in the sprint for the stage either and Laura put six seconds into her to finish off the stage and her birthday, in real style.

“I have never felt so happy” Laura said.

Her next stage, the third of four, was the time trial and Laura said she has never felt so nervous before a race. “I was putting pressure on myself because I wanted to keep the yellow jersey” she says. As race leader, Laura went off last but didn’t really know what to do when it comes to pace management. Laura came out of the start gate like she was doing a 2k pursuit, a discipline she is very used to.”

Laura is at home on the road or track and has a European title to her name in the Team Pursuit as a Junior.

Laura went dead hard to begin with before deciding to settle into a good rhythm like she had when in the break on stage 2. “When I had settled down into my rhythm, I could hear Darren (Tudor) on the car horn and I was thinking I must be going dead slow but when I flew past my minute man, I knew I was going fast.”

“Darren said afterwards I went past her like she was standing still.”

At the finish, Laura started to disassemble her bike not knowing where she had finished until her manager came over and said ‘you’ve won’. “I couldn’t believe it” Laura says recalling the moment. “I knew the European champion was there   in her skin suit and so on and she’d caught one of our riders but when I found out I’d won, that really made my day. I had been thinking I am so crap at time trialling and before the race asking myself, how am I going to do this.”

But do it Laura had. The British young lady though had one stage to get through and there wasn’t the fairy tale ending when a mass crash in the sprint, saw Laura come down along with a few of the British girls. “My team (Hannah Barnes, Hannah Manley, Ruby Miller, Harriet Owen) had been working dead well for me by keeping the pace high so nobody could get away” Laura explained.

“Then, coming into the finish, there was an attack and the French girl was in it. I knew she couldn’t get two and half minutes back on me so I thought, I’ll sit and keep myself safe. But then 200 metres from the line there was this mass crash and I went into the back of Barnes (Hannah) when the team were trying to roll in around me to prevent me crashing!”

GB with a podium young lady -- L-R, Hannah Manley, Harriet Owen, Laura Trott, Ruby Miller and Hannah Barnes. See more photos

Laura ended up walking across the line and admits the overall win was her biggest road win by miles and has given her a massive boost in confidence. Now, Laura is in the Czech Republic and lining up in this UCI 2.2 stage race alongside her sister Emma, Lucy Martin, Hannah Mayho, Katie Colcough  and the Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke.

Asked how that felt, Laura excitedly replied “It’s just crazy. It’s so huge I can’t describe it. I never thought I’d be in the same team as Nicole Cooke. I’d see her on TV and she’s like an idol and now I’m getting the chance to ride with her. And there’s going to be the likes of Vos in the race as well. The best rider in the world and I’m going to be riding in the same team as her.”

Laura and the team get to work in the five stage race on Thursday, April 29 and her manager in the race, Simon Cope, says that Laura’s main job there will be to learn. You can follow how she and the team get on by checking out the race website, http://www.gracia-orlova.cz/?lng=en

Omloop van Borsele Results 

Stage 1
  1. Talen, Rebecca  RSC de Zuidwesthoek 1 *  1:05:59
  2. van der Kamp, Laura District Oost * st.
  3. Ferrand Prevot, Pauline National Team France  * st.

 24. Owen, Harriet Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 28. Trott, Laura  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 44. Manley, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 53. Millar, Ruby  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 61. Rowson, Penny RWC Ahoy  st.
 64. Barnes, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.

Stage 2
  1. Trott, Laura  Nat. Team Great Brittian  *  1:16:48
  2. Wintgens, Marlène National Team België  *  0:06
  3. van der Kamp, Laura District Oost *  2:27
 
 30. Millar, Ruby  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 33. Barnes, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 41. Owen, Harriet Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 74. Rowson, Penny RWC Ahoy  st.
 75. Manley, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.

Stage 3
  1.  Trott, Laura 15:48.55  44.025 kph
  2.  Ferrand Prevot, Pauline  15:51.37  2.82  43.895
  3.  Talen, Rebecca 16:21.17 32.62  42.561
 
  9.  Barnes, Hannah 16:54.24 1:05.69 
 48.  Owen, Harriet  18:02.83 2:14.28 
 59.  Millar, Ruby 18:17.66 2:29.11 
 62.  Manley, Hannah 18:23.25 2:34.70 
 77.  Rowson, Penny  19:24.47 3:35.92 

Stage 4
  1 . Ferrand Prevot, Pauline National Team France  1:52:20
  2.  Klatt, Monique  National Team Germany  st.
  3.  Elzing, Karen District Oost st.
 
 19.  Millar, Ruby  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 28.  Rowson, Penny RWC Ahoy  st.
 37.  Owen, Harriet Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 38.  Manley, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 47.  Trott, Laura  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.
 53.  Barnes, Hannah  Nat. Team Great Brittian  st.


Final Overall
 1. Trott, Laura  Great Brittian  4:30:55
 2. Wintgens, Marlène Belgium @1:32
 3. Ferrand Prevot, Pauline France  @2:16

 10. Barnes, Hannah Great Brittian 3:39
 46. Owen, Harriet  Great Brittian 4:47
 55. Millar, Ruby Great Brittian
 57. Manley, Hannah Great Brittian 5:08
 67. Rowson, Penny  RWC Ahoy 6:09