Final preparations for the World Championships

Whilst the whole training year is always geared up with the major competitions in mind, the specific training and preparation for a major Championships starts in the final month before the event. This year the Para-cycling World Championships have been split into two events, with the Road events starting in Bogogno, in northern Italy on 10th September and the Track events being held on our home track in Manchester from 6-8th November.

More about the track in a few weeks time, as for now all eyes are on the 9.7km circuit in the Piedmont region of Italy.

Specific preparation for the World Road Championships started on August 19th, when the team flew to Milan and transferred to what will be our team hotel for the duration of the Championships, on Lake Maggiore, just a 30 minute ride from the start.

Checking out the course in detail and also making use of the hilly terrain surrounding the hotel was the purpose of the camp, preparation is everything when it comes to a new road course and whilst the course is not very complicated, there are some challenging sections, it is imperative all riders become familiar with the technical aspects.

My six days at the course saw me complete 20 laps of the circuit [I’ll do two laps for the Road Time Trial and then six for the Road Race]. Throughout these training laps there were specific pace holding laps, cornering practices, hill climbing techniques and attacking practise for the Road Race. On this camp though, the road was open to traffic, so the fine tuning of all these areas will come when the circuit is closed for a day or two prior to the event.

Following the final session on the course, my coach and I made the seven hour drive to the location of the World Masters Road Championships in St Johann in Tirol, Austria. A location better known for being a popular ski resort, the Event would prove to be one of the final big events prior to racing the Para-Cycling Event in Italy.

With the first race less than 24 hours after our arrival in Austria it was imperative we checked out the course and registered with the start officials. My first event, on Wednesday 26th August, was to be the 20km Road Time Trial, on a stretch of road about 4km north of St Johann. This was a simple 10km route heading north followed by a turn to retrace the route and finish at the same point as the start. With the sun beating down, my 12.03pm start was going to be a hot affair, not least because the reigning World Champion in my 30-39 year age group, was breathing down my neck starting a couple of minutes after me. All competitors were set off 30 seconds apart, which proved to be a great motivation and I caught my first rider at the 3km mark! My legs were doing exactly what I needed them to do and I turned at halfway with a slim advantage. As I powered to the finish, passing more riders in the process, I could sense I was up on the course record of 27 minutes and 16 seconds. I crossed the line in 26 minutes and 58 seconds and became the first woman in any age to break the 27 minutes barrier. The reigning World Champion also recorded a course record of 27 minutes and 4 seconds to take silver, whilst bronze was inside too, 27 minutes and 14 seconds! I was to be crowned World Champion for the 30-39 year age group, a result that indicated my form for World Para-Cycling Championships was coming along very well.

There was only 24 hours to rest up before my second and final event of the Championships, the 30-39 year age group Road Race, starting in the centre of St Johann on Thursday 27th August. A small but quality field of 29 riders took to the start, including many of the European National Champions in our age group. It was another 30+ degree day and the course took us straight up a climb in the first 3km of the race. It was towards the top of this climb I hit the front with the intention of creating a breakaway group and as we descended from the top, a group of five other riders had come with me. We worked hard to create a decent gap on the rest of the field. The 1 minute and 30 seconds gap we created stayed there for most of the race and with the twisty nature of the roads meant we were out of sight very quickly.

A wrong turn, caused by bad marshalling almost cost us our lead, but we worked hard to take the gap out again and the six of us charged back towards St Johann trying to work out how the medals would be decided. I tried several attacks in the last 3km but none of them worked and I was eventually counter attacked by the reigning World Champion, who seemed to get a decisive gap with one of the two Italians from the group on her wheel. There was still time for one big effort and I charged across the gap and tried to use my strength to sweep past the two leaders. Unfortunately the Italian found another level and clawed me back to take the sprint on the finish line, but I had enough in my legs to hold off the reigning World Champion who took bronze.

It was a huge result for me, considering my inexperience in road racing and another indicator that the form for the Para- Cycling World Championships was coming together at the right time.

To supplement the racing at the Master’s Championships there were two elite races for men and women, which gave me a 3rd opportunity to race prior to the flight home. A bigger field of women started the 76km race with the youngest being just 18 years old and the oldest being almost 60! It was to be very much a procession with the Austrian teams in the race trying hard to get a rider away, but no one succeeded. For me and some of the other lone riders in the race it became apparent we would need to team up and get away as a group and as the second lap started I attacked up the climb and managed to get another gap on the main field, with another 5 riders on my wheel. It was almost a re-run of the previous race!!

Again the gap to the main field quickly went out to around 90 seconds and we were battling much stronger winds and again working out how to get the medals sorted out on the line. Unfortunately for me, I was leaving for the airport prior to the medal ceremony for the event, so it wasn’t fair of me to contest the final sprint. Instead I offered to lead out the American, Leslie Jennings, who had come 3rd to me in the previous race and we teamed up in the final 4km. I sheltered her on my wheel for as long as I could manage, allowing her to recover from the breakaway effort and get prepared for the final sprint in the last 200m. In the final kilometre of the race I wound the speed up notch by notch so I could gradually get up to speeds in excess of 30 miles an hour and deliver the rider for the final sprint. It worked as well as if we’d practised it before and Leslie powered past to win the sprint by a wheel length on the line.

So it ended being a great week of racing and within a couple of hours of the finish I was at the airport to fly back to the UK and prepare for two final domestic races before the trip back to Italy for the biggest event in Para-Cycling since Beijing.




Sarah Storey OBE
Scottish Widows Ambassador for the London 2012 Games