2018 @tourofcorsicana is a wrap, & with a LOT of help from @atc_racing_tx teammate Chelsea Smith ( @lucishine )& a heck of an assist from @shamacycles Angela Man (@superangieman ), I managed to sprint to a 3rd place finish from the break in today’s Road Race, and secure the GC Win!
Would you just look at that Orange in a Sea of Green?!?
The Stage Race started Saturday Morning with a short & sweet Time Trial, where despite (more likely because of) high winds, I was able to build a little bit of a cushion to take into the Crit and RR.
The twilight Crit on Saturday Evening was fast and furious, and saw the Wolfpack relentlessly attacking over & over, trying to wear Chelsea and I out, or get a move off the front without any Orange in it. We covered every last move though, and managed to keep it all together for a sprint finish, in which I sprinted to 4th, scored with the same time across the line as the leaders.
Sunday’s Road Race was pretty brutal and frustrating. The Wolfpack made a few early attacks, covered by Chelsea and Angie – I was doing my best to save myself for either the break that stuck or the sprint finish. . .”The Move” ended up going earlier than anticipated though, and I had to burn a few matches bridging up to the three WolfPack Girls up the road. . . , Once I joined them though, they simply refused to work, as they had the GC leader in the move. They would have preferred that our break get reeled back in, and that another one go later in the race, preferably without me in it. I was having none of that though – I’d burned the matches to make it into the break, and I was going to see it through, so after a few miles of trying to solicit some assistance, I resigned myself to setting tempo on the front. Even though the three girls with me weren’t doing anything at all to assist in keeping the break away, I was hedging my bets that their teammates and my teammate back in the field were doing their best to slow the pace and discourage chase efforts. After about 10 miles of towing them around, I got a bit impatient and fed up, and simply stopped pedaling altogether through the feed zone, trying to force one of them to come through. Well, one of them DID come through, attacking out of the feed zone, and catching me off guard. I resumed my comfortable tempo pace, being careful to keep the girl up the road in sight, and close enough that I knew I’d be able to reel her back in over the final miles. As we approached the final miles, the girl up the road started to fade, and I backed my pace off so that we didn’t catch her too soon – I knew that as soon as we were about to reconnect with her, the other two, who’d been sitting in this entire time, would attack me and put as much distance between themselves and me as they could before the finish line. I had to finish within 15 seconds of them in order to hold on to the GC lead. As predicted, their attacks off my wheel started flying with about a mile to go. I buried myself to stay attached, and despite getting gapped off momentarily, was able to reconnect just before the finish line – finishing 3rd, but scored with the same time as 1st and 2nd, and holding onto that coveted GC Win as a result!
It was a great weekend for @atc_racing_tx , as Jason Lewis won GC in his field as well!
Huge thanks to the other half of #TeamTracyATX (@jamieltracy …the world’s best hubby/SAG support/Crew Chief) for ALL of his support & chauffeuring this weekend!
And of course, I cannot thank my sponsors enough for all of your support! @austintricyclist @austinmassagecompany@nuunhydration @lakecycling@bradleylhouston @hollandracing@sherrifollowsu (BEMER), @vandoitco , @christopherbeancoffee@atomcomposites @cryowellnessatx@castellicycling .
#StageRace #ChickenDinner#TourOfCorsicana #womenscycling#sponsorlove
