Chainrings

Three races, three podiums, but if you really want to talk about winning we have to talk about my 17th place finish in San Sebastian . Typically, the race did not go as planned but it did go perfectly. Off the back of two team podiums in Clasica Femenina Navarra and Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa, we had the momentum for a result; but, when the breakaway went early just after the Jaizkibel climb and I wasnt in a position to follow, I thought to myself, well, that could be it. Fortunately, Pauliena, who we had decided would mark Lucy Kennedy, followed perfectly and gave us representation in the break. As I expected, that was the winning win and suddenly our team strategy to get me on the podium was rewritten. Wheres Ash Wheres Ash! Pauliena kept repeating into the radio. Lucy Kennedy had gone solo from the breakaway while I was in the peloton slipping further out of radio range. Th...

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It may have only been 5 days of racing, but this week felt every bit as long as the first one. As the stage count increases, so does the proportion of the stage spent suffering, and we did plenty of it in the last two days. My big goal for the week was the time trial , and I saved as much energy as I could in the days leading up to it. Unfortunately for me, so did all of the GC riders. With the time trial coming after only two weeks of racing and being preceded by a rest day, a sprint day, and a GC detente day, the circumstances were far from those that led to my success in the Giro dItalia. I faced other challenges, as well: all of my energy savings had placed me near the bottom of the GC standings, which meant I would be one of the first starters. That would normally not be a problem, but the La Course by Tour de France womens race was on the course in the window that we woul...

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Everything was falling apart. I got off my bike and it was dead quiet. I had just finished the individual time trial at the Giro Rosa and, I knew it wasnt my best day, but was it really that bad Being met with silence from my team affirmed my worst fears. I had finished three minutes off the pace, out of the top ten, and it was a really hard pill to swallow. At the biggest stage race of the season, as my teammates sacrificed themselves for me, I just couldnt deliver. I rode back to the team bus, taking that silence with me. I started to spiral. Ive had tons of bad races but this felt like more. My period had arrived early, leaving me feeling completely flat and in pain. I had strange and severe stomach pain that was keeping me up at night. Even the skin was sensitive to touch. I couldnt eat and I didnt want to. I knew it wasnt true but it felt like everyone else was having a per...

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Its an excellent feeling to set a target, create a plan with my team and my coach, and then nail it - I won the Giro Rosa ! This victory has given me confidence in working toward future goals such as the World Championships or maybe even the Tokyo Olympic Games. I know now that I can be mentally and physically prepared for such significant endeavours. Winning a big stage race like the Giro Rosa, however, is extra special, even more so than a one-day race. Why Because no one can win a 10-day race without a strong and committed team - My team is Mitchelton-Scott . ADVERTISEMENT The moment that my teammates joined me on the final podium to celebrate this overall victory was one of the highlights of the ten days of racing across northern Italy. Being up there on the podium by myself wouldnt have felt right. To celebrate together was incredible, and so much fun. We went ...

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Its been a long time since I last raced 10 consecutive days, and Im sure Im not alone in my relief that we get to take today easy. The last week at the Tour de France has been extra long, and also full of long stages. Today we have enjoyed reminding each other that we are actually past the halfway point of the Tour in terms of distance already. Add in a time trial, another rest day, and the final stage into Paris and it starts to seem like were nearly done� The Tour has started well, and I mean that in a few ways for a few different reasons. The weather has been great--well, sunny, at least--which helped to calm the pelotons nerves a bit. Good course design also minimized the stress somewhat, and as a result there have been fewer crashes than expected. The team time trial and mountaintop finish also spread the race out a bit early on, which also had a calming effect. Even the borin...

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The only days of a Grand Tour in which time moves faster than on rest days are the days before the race, and nowhere is that truer than at the Tour de France . Its now the middle of the afternoon on the last day before the race, and its the first time Ive stopped moving in three days. For that matter, last night was the first since the trip began that we got a full night of sleep. Owing to the fact that this is not my first time here, none of this comes as any surprise. The Tour de France is The Big Show, after all. Between training, interviews, photo shoots, dialling in new equipment and team presentations , there isnt a lot of time left to relax. Throw in a couple of early mornings to drive to a decent location for team time trial practice, and the pre-race anti-doping controls, and were tired before the race even starts! Thankfully the schedule was front-loaded, so we could take...

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Editors note: The organisers of the 2019 Giro Rosa have been forced to cancel the summit finish on the Passo Gavia , which was to be the finish of stage 5 on July 9, due to unexpected landslides and bad weather in the area. The conditions have forced authorities to intermittently close the roads to traffic and organisers have re-routed the stage to finish at the Lago di Cancano. Here we are at the start of the Giro Rosa ! I think its the hardest parcours that the organisers have ever designed with a lot of climbing and not much for the sprinters. The addition of the Passo Gavia will be the highlight of this years race, and it will be epic, but its not the only ingredient that will make this Giro Rosa hard. It will probably be the first place where there are more significant time differences, but there will also be opportunities on the uphill time trial on stage 6 and the sum...

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