A Cold Fleche Walonne
by Karen Kurreck

report filed April 2001, Walonne, Belgium

Today was round 4 of the World Cup - Fleche Wallone in Huy, Belgium. Everyone who did the race last year talked about how bad the weather was and how it couldn't get worse. They were wrong!

      All the major trade teams were there as well as most national teams. There were some new faces for this round: all the Russians (Polkhanova, Bubnenkova, Koliesseva etc), the Polikevichuite twins (riding for Lithuania) and Jeanne Longo's Ebly team, sans Longo. I don't think she likes Belgian weather! The Australians Tracey Gaudry and Juanita Feldham are riding for Ebly this year and Clara Hughes and Sue Palmer were here with Canada. It was nice to see some familiar faces and be able to speak English!! Leontin Van Morsal and her Farm Frites team were also here.

      The course is a big loop with 5 climbs and ending on the Mur de Huy which is the same finish as the men. I knew it was going to be a hard day when I found a 26 cog on my bike in the morning! THe Mur de Huy is only 800m long, but it is wickedly steep and verfy narrow - there are 2 switchbacks that have to be well over 20%.

      At the start, it was cold and overcast, but dry. This suckered many people into removing layers of clothing they would regret later. I kept most of mine on knowing that if it started to rain (always a possibility in Belgium) I would really suffer. After about 15km, the raindrops started to fall. It was short-lived, however and soon turned to snow! THis lasted maybe 40km or so and then we got a mix of sleet and rain until the finish. THe snow was painful on the descents when it hit your face and it was collecting in my glasses making it difficult to see, but the rain was actually worse because then you were soaking wet.

      It was basically a race of attrition and of surviving the elements. The hills were fairly short (2km or so) and most of the attacks actually came on the flats. Bonanomi and Pregnalato of the Dream Team were very active and Hanka Kupfernagel tried to go on the climbs a few times. Clara Hughes made some attacks as well. THe only sustained break was Valentina Gerassimova (RUS) who was away solo for quite awhile. I was able to stay somewhat warm from the effort for awhile, but with about 25km to go, my body basically shut down. I couldn't really drink at all - my teeth were chattering so much it was hard to get anything down and when I did, my drink was so cold it made things worse. I could barely shift at all. Campy has thumb shifters to upshift and my thumbs would no longer function. The only way I could shift was with the heel of my hand. My quads were blocks of ice and I couldn't stand up for more than a few seconds. I had to keep reminding myself that everyone was facing the same conditions. It does seem that some cope better than others though. Clara said afterwards that she was never really cold!

      THe 2nd to last climb was pretty hard and I think we lost a number of riders there. FOr the last 10km, we were a group of 33. With maybe 6-7km to go, Gabriella Pregnalato (Dream Team) attacks and gets a gap. SHe held it all the way to the base of the finish climb, with Hanka's teammate Sanna chasing hard. I actually had a good position from the descent and with the field strung out all through town and up the start of the climb before we turned onto the Mur de Huy, I entered the finish climb in about 4th or 5th but it didn't do a lot of good since my legs just refused to respond. With about 250m to go, Luperini passes me and she makes it all the way up to 4th place! Of course at this point I was only just barley going fast enough to not tip over. The climb gets steeper and steeper and it was all I could do to turn over a 39x26. Even so, I think I passed as many people on the steep part as passed me. If you go all out at the bottom here, you just don't make it to the top.

      Hanka Kupfernagel won, followed by Edita Pukinskaite (Dream Team) and Cindy Peters (BEL). I ended up 12th. Hanka has clearly been the strongest rider in all the WOrld Cups and she actually raced smarter this time and finally won. My teammate Nada Christophole was there until the 2nd to last climb and she covered a lot of earlier attacks in the race.

      After the race, we went back to the shcool dorm where most of the teams stayed. I had a barely luke-warm shower and put on all the dry clothes I had brought. We got a "lunch" at the dorm consisting of cold tuna salad, cereal and pound cake. I can't wait to get back to Italy! Then we took off in the van to get some of the drive out of the way - it's about 14 hrs back to Perignano. I am writing this report in the van and everything is covered with snow. SOmehow I don't think our team van carries chains...I really can't wait to get back to Italy!