THE HOLLAND HILLS CLASSIC 127k

 12TH AUGUST

 Get me out of this caravan!!! My last words to Jez before we packed the car up to find a hotel!!!  We where both on the verge of returning back home to the UK as we felt so rubbish and I was sure I would not even finish the Holland Hills Classic with how I was feeling right now.   So we packed the car again and headed of to Holland in search of a hotel.   We headed to Maastricht centre and followed signs for hotels and managed to find a nice one for the night but much to our dismay they stop cooking food before 10pm so we had a nice bowl of cereal for dinner! perfect pre-race food...........

It was vital that I got as much rest and sleep and good food if I was going to even think about starting the race on Sunday!  So I did just that slept ate and relaxed.  We went for a spin around Gulpen where the race was set to start on Sunday.  It is a beautiful area with allot of cyclist which was nice to see. 

I met up with the team I was guest riding for RSC DE ZUIDWESTHOEK.   They are nice bunch of girls very welcoming.  The team Managers Eric and Jolanda de-briefed me about the course and said I had to keep up front for the first climbs as they where very narrow.   I did not know the circuit so I wanted to get one lap done to see what it was like .  The first lap done and it was a really nice circuit with 1 main climb and 4or 5 more smaller climbs.  I was apprehensive before the start as I was unsure of how I would be feeling after a bad week of sleep etc.  I did not feel as bad as I thought but was not feeling fresh enough to be to active so I decided to keep near to the front and try and keep with the first group as there where enough good team like T-Mobile, Flexpoint, DSB-Bank and AADrink to do the chasing. The race split on the first lap at the climb with only 70 or so girls in the main bunch now.  Sara Carrigan of Lotto got away with a Therma skin care rider and they got a lead of around 1.30 secs but then the teams chased them down with DSB attacking on the main climb on lap 3 which split the bunch allot.   Only 15 or so girls could keep up the pace including but then we caught them again after the climb to regroup this team the main bunch only 50 or so riders.   With the escapes back in the bunch the race settled for a bit before we hit the final finishing circuit which was different to the previous 4 laps.  The World Champion Marrione Vos had an unfortunate bash or Mechanical as her rear mech fell off of got ripped off but her team got here back into the bunch with no problems.     The last lap had a very hard climb in it which I kept hearing in my race radio .  So I tried to get closer to the front before we hit the climb as it was only 4k then to the finish.  My legs gave out on me and I could not get anymore out of them so I just kept it going to the top but could not move up any more.   Vos, Ljunskog, Beltman and Graus got over the climb first and descended to the finish with Vos taking the win, Ljunskog 2nd and Graus from Nurnburger 3rd.   I came in 1minute behind in 35th place.  I was happy with my ride considering how I felt before hand but a part of me was frustrated with myself as I wanted to do better.....    A great race and it was good to see other Brits in the race.    

Now I head back to the UK for the National Championships then I return to Holland for the Holland Tour where I will be guest riding for RSC DE ZUIDWESTHOEK Dutch team again before I return to Italy for the Giro Del Toscana with my team.

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