Racing with the Pros
Racing with the Pros – Simpson Nouvelles at GP Mazda Schelkens UCI 1.1
Race report by Beth Jackson – Team Rider Simpson Nouvelles
On June 9th, the Simpson Nouvelles U23 team competed in their first 1.1 UCI race of the year. The way UCI race categories work is that they start at a national level (think Lincoln), then there are UCI 2. Categories (these are the lowest level that offer UCI points for a result, down to 10th place), then 1. Races, with UCI points offered down to 25th, and then Pro. and WWT. races, with the latter being the highest level of competition currently on the women's calendar. The number after (.1 or .2) indicates either a single day or a stage race.
This race in particular had an impressive showing of Women's World Tour (WWT) teams, including Lidl Trek, AG Insurance Soudal, Human Powered Health, Fenix-Deceuninck, UAE Team ADQ, and Uno-X Mobility. There were also 4 Pro Women's Teams (PRW), Cofidis Women's, Laboral Kutxa - Fundacion Euskadi, St Michel Preference Home - Auber93 WE and VolkerWessels Cycling Team. All to say, it was a stacked field!
The Course for GP Mazda was an 11-lap 12.3 km course twisting its way through the outer suburbs of Antwerp, Belgium. The course was fast and flat, twisty, and speed was of the essence. There was a 150m stretch of cobbles, mandatory in any race in Belgium, but otherwise the roads were nice, most quite wide, and not too much traffic furniture. All good things. With 167 riders taking to the start line, including names like Lucinda Brand, Kathrin Schweinberger, Clara Copponi (the eventual winner) and Julie De Wilde, it was pretty cool to be lining up next to some of my idols. The race was delayed for 30 mins on the start line, and as anyone who has raced in Belgium knows, you have to get to the start line as early as possible. I was stood on the start line for about an hour, getting updates from an Aussie on St Michel who had a radio and would be updated about the time delays in French.
Due to the extreme speed of the race and the high level we were racing at, it was a HARD day in the office. We were easily covering the laps in sometimes as low as 17 mins, with the average speed of the winner being 42.6km/hr, CRAZY SPEEDS! I had a really hard day. The reality of bike racing is that there are a lot more hard days than there are good days. So did some of my teammates. Abby and I both got caught behind a crash, and while we both managed to nearly make it back into the peloton, it was too much of a chase, and it blew us both up. Milana, a guest rider, got a super unlucky puncture on lap 2 or 3 and chased for a lap behind the neutral spare's car to get back on, but with the car fang’ing it around the course at up to 60km/hr, she sadly did not make it back. Teammates Erin and Amelia put everything on the line. They raced hard, held position where they could in the bunch and made it round. With the high speeds, it was nearly impossible to move up, and the bunch would get strung out with every attack. With about 3 laps to go, a crash caused splits in the bunch, allowing an attack by all the major world tour teams to get away. As the UAE team were chasing to try and get the rider they wanted represented to the front, it meant that the 3rd bunch never made it back to the main peloton. Amelia and Erin fought gallantly, with Erin pulling a massive turn to try and get Amelia back into the group and out of the cars, but sadly it didn’t work out this time, with Erin getting pulled with 3 laps to go and Amelia with 1 1/2 laps to go.
It was an awesome fight from everyone involved. Races like this are mentally very, very challenging, not finishing races is always difficult. But I know as their teammate, I am proud of us all. We all gave it a crack against some full-time bike riders, lots of them with years and years of experience under their belts, and it was nice to mix it up with them, even if it was only for a few laps!
I know myself, trying to keep life and racing in perspective is hard. We are all here doing something we love, riding and racing bikes, and a UCI 1.1 is somewhat being thrown in the deep end (although that is not always the worst thing) and as we are all still learning it is important to remember that we do this because we love this, and it is a hard life, an unforgiving life, but on the days it goes well, it goes so goddamn well it is hard not to fall in love with it.
