Post Race News

After four days of exciting racing I got on the plane home from Italy as Great Britain’s most successful rider having won two gold medals from the two events I competed in at the World Road Championships.

My first event was on Friday 11th September and was the 20k Road Time Trial held over two laps of a circuit in and around the village of Bogogno, just 15km north west of Milan. The preparation camp I’d had at the circuit just 3 weeks earlier proved valuable and the rolling nature of the course with a challenging 2 kilometre climb towards the end of every lap meant there was plenty of opportunity to gain time on opponents.

Having crashed on a training ride just three days before the start of my first event I was pleased to wake up on the morning of the event feeling better than in the previous days and my 10.05am start time meant I was to benefit from reasonably warm conditions.

My warm up for a Road Time Trial starts about an hour prior to the start of the event and first I spend 10 minutes loosening my legs on the rollers, a static machine that allows the bike to move freely on the moving cylinders. After this I work through the gears gradually picking up the cadence and as a result increasing my heart rate to where it will be during the actual race. This second section usually takes around 10-15 minutes and then the final time up to the half hour mark is for me to loosen my legs off again and finish the warm up feeling ready for action!

It was 25 degrees C, for my event at World Championships, and as the Paralympic Gold Medallist from Beijing, I had the privilege of going off last, with my rivals starting one minute apart in front of me. Within the first lap I had caught all but 2 of the girls in my race and then as I continued to the back end of the course for the second time, I started to catch the American who had started a minute in front of me. Greta Neiminas is still an under 23 years age group rider and improving quickly every year. I knew she was in great shape and would provide the strongest challenge, so it was a relief to get her in my sights. I was followed throughout the Time Trial by a Great Britain team car and my coach Gary Brickley who was on race radio supporting. Gary was also joined in the car by our head mechanic Pete Taylor who is also an experienced bike rider. I was wearing an ear piece so Gary could talk to me and remind me about racing line, call me into the corners and help ensure I could lap riders safely, as he also had a loud haler on the car to communicate with others on the course! All riders are entitled to a team car, so it can get busy on the course. Fortunately for me there were no difficult moments and Gary talked me through the technical areas, telling me to keep the pace steady as I was leading the event by a strong margin. In situations where there are technical areas of a course, it makes no sense to ride on the limit and risk crashing as you can quickly lose the time already built up.

As I crossed the line I was one minute and two seconds ahead of Greta and over two minutes ahead of third placed rider and former World Champion in the event from 2006, Claire McClean of Australia. It was a brilliant feeling to swing my race bike in to the Great Britain team pit area and shake the hands of all the people there who had helped make it possible for me to win.

Two days later and after supporting my team mates, Great Britain had 1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medals and it was then my turn again to try and add to the medal haul. The second event was my 60km Road Race and being the only female solo rider in the British team, I would ride the event on my own. It was a tricky race as the number of women in Paracycling events has dropped in the last couple of years, so the small bunch meant it was hard to find a way of springing the element of surprise for an attack.

The race was over 6 laps of the same circuit we had used for the Time Trial and this meant we would ascend the climb at the end of each lap 6 times. I hoped this section of the course would give me plenty of opportunity to get away on my own. In the first lap I stretched my legs up the climb, stretched the group out and tried to dispatch some of the weaker riders out of the back. This didn’t quite work, so I went back to following wheels and waited for the end of the second lap. This time I chose to wait as long as possible on the climb and then just when we were inside 500m from the top of the climb and hugging the left hand side of the road, I launched an attack up the right hand side and quickly gained a gap. By the top of the climb I was almost 10 seconds up on the chasing riders and by the time I crossed the start/finish line, 1 kilometre later, I had a promising lead of around 15 seconds.

I pushed on up the short rise after the start/finish line and then focused on keeping my pace as high as possible on the next section of the course as it was the only part of the course where the speed could stay constantly above 30mph. At the next corner I had gained another 5 seconds and as I worked hard up another short rise I saw the commisaires car had pulled over so they could sit behind me. In bike racing this usually happens when a breakaway has 30 seconds on the chasing riders, so it filled me with confidence to have it happen so soon after I’d made the attack. As the following two laps stretched on in front of me, I gradually built my lead until I entered the final two laps with over a minute gap on the chasing riders.

The bell sounded to mark my approach into the final lap and I had backed off my pace by this point as I was 90 seconds ahead and knew I couldn’t be caught unless I had a puncture or crashed. So I backed off to make sure I didn’t take any unnecessary risks but to maintain the lead I already had.

By the time I started the climb of the last lap, I knew I was going to win and could hardly control the grin that was spreading across my face! I descended into the village again for the final time and flew past the large group of supporters that had gathered at the entrance to the village. I rounded the final bend and crossed the line with my arms held aloft in victory! It’s every road racers dream to win and be able to cross the line with arms held aloft and I made sure I enjoyed every minute.

Despite my easing up in the last lap I had stretched my lead further and my chasing rivals finished one minute and 55 seconds down and the podium turned into a repeat of the Time Trial, with young American Greta in 2nd and Aussie Claire in 3rd.

Following on from my win, Great Britain added another gold in one of the men’s road races and then a further bronze from development tandem pairing Bex Rimmington and Lora Turnham, who have only been riding together for 8 weeks! It was a surprise but very well earned medal, ahead of some more experienced pairings, including one from Great Britain. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my team mates and being able to share in our combined success.

The training hasn’t stopped though and as soon as we landed I was back on the bike, as I have the National Women’s Time Trial Series Round 6 to ride on Saturday 19th September and then the track work starts next week, with the World Track Championships just a few weeks away.



Sarah Storey OBE
Scottish Widows Ambassador for the London 2012 Games