April 17, 2010 – Apeldorn, Netherlands – Brooke Miller of Team TIBCO/To the Top continued her strong riding on the European tour, taking advantage of exceptional teamwork to finish 4th in the bunch sprint at the end of the 141km Ronde van Gelderland in Holland Saturday. Miller’s teammate Emma Mackie also posted a fine 10th place.
“We wanted to be aggressive and involved in the race and not just reacting to everyone else,” Miller said. “With nearly 200 riders and narrow roads, we wanted the race to be hard, so we attacked early.” Very early, in fact – as soon as the 7 km neutral rollout ended. Miller was the first to go, but everyone on the team was involved – Megan Guarnier went, then Mackie and Ruth Corset. “Everyone was involved,” Miller said.
“The team showed today that they are as strong as any of the top five UCI teams in the world,” said team directeur sportif Chris Georgas. “They took initiatives to create opportunities consistently throughout the race.”
Team TIBCO kept the pressure on until the race reached the dyke about 20 km into the race, when Guarnier put in an attack that saw her off solo for 15 km.
“The first part of the race, we countered each other and it was fast and a lot of fun,” Guarnier said. “We were in control of the race. Each time we attacked I noticed it was taking longer and longer for the TIBCO rider to be brought back.
“The dike wasn't as windy as it had been in previous years, so we continued to attack,” she continued. “After Brooke was brought back on the narrow road along the dike, we were spread out and I was along the side. I attacked and quickly got a gap. I sat at 20 seconds for a while, and then I got up to almost a minute. I was out riding solo for over 30 minutes. I was riding steady tempo, hoping that I would put the other teams on the defensive and start to whittle the field down, or someone would bridge up to me, with another TIBCO rider.”
It ended up being the former, but when Guarnier was broght back, Team TIBCO didn’t let up.
The second time up the main climb, Corset set a blistering pace that shattered the field. Unfortunately, a crash caused Miller to get gapped off the front group, which also contained Joanne Kiesanowski and Mackie of Team TIBCO.
Miller, Devon Haskell and Guarnier were forced to bridge up. With Emma Johannson (Red Sun) attacking over the top of the climb and getting a gap with Liesabet De Vocht (Nederland Bloeit), a re-grouped Team TIBCO joined Cervelo Test Team in the chase. Guarnier, Haskell and Mackie were doing the bulk of the chasing with Cervelo, while Kiesanowski and Corset were positioned to counter-attack when the break was caught.
The front duo were reeled in with about 13km to go, however it was on a downhill section that didn’t provide a good launching pad to the Team TIBCO duo to make any moves off the front. “It made me so proud to have our girls racing to determine the race,” Miller said. “Seeing the team racing so well made me even more motivated to pull off a good finish.”
The final 12 km into the finish proved to be chaotic. With 8 km to go, someone crashed in front of Miller, forcing her to bunny-hop a curb and ride on a traffic island before rejoining the pack. The final couple kilometers saw a lot of jostling for position. “I was marking Kirsten (Wild, Cervelo) and Rochelle (Gilmore, Lotto Ladies) was right on her, too,” Miller explained. “I had been expecting to have to fight with Rochelle for Kirsten’s wheel, but then Jo came up and she did a great job of moving me around. So I let Rochelle and Kristy (Broun, Australian National Team) fight it out for Kirsten’s wheel.”
Kiesanowski took Miller up the left side onto the 400-meter, cobbled finishing straight, with Wild, Gilmore and Broun moving up the right. “I tried moving around on the left, but a rider in front of me moved left and took me to the curb,” Miller said. “So I had to sort of stop and then re-start my sprint before I could really open up and I didn't have a clean shot at the finish.”
Which led to her 4th place finish behind Wild, Gilmore and Broun.
“I was disappointed to not be on the podium,” Miller said. “I know that I am a better sprinter than 4th in that race, but I feel very hungry and optimistic. It was so awesome to have the team race so well – really inspiring. “It was a hard race to keep good position with that many riders in the field. But we were all up front in great position. Devon rode great yesterday. She had been struggling a bit with moving in the tight pack, but she was animating and in great position today. We’re all excited to race Fleche. It should be exciting. Everyone is really pumped at how well the team raced yesterday.”
“It’s only a matter of time before they score a big victory in Europe,” Georgas concluded.
Photo: William Meertens
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