So short, only 76km.
First stage is always hard, have two traveldays in my legs and for me it´s normal to struggel a bit on the first day.
Had two climbs in todays stage and after the first one I was in the first group together with 13 riders. The finish was uphill and my legs was a little bit in shock on the top. Especially when the other girls started to sprint…
Finished 8th 1.14 min behind Marianne Vos, who attacked 18km from the finish.

Result stage #1.

Emma

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After a long trip in car to get here it´s nice to be back… Back to where I have spent alot of time with my first professional team, Bizkaia.
Last time I was her it was to celebrate the wedding from my old teammate Maitane and her husband Joseba. Best wedding ever!
And now i´m here again, not for a wedding (I think!) but for the stagerace, La Bira. We start tomorrow and last day will be Sunday. Did this race three years back and I really liked it, even though I spent most of the time in groupetto…
Hope for some nice days of racing and some good results!

Emma 

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After L´Aude I had a welldeserved rest before going on a small block of training.
Was more tired than I thought after France and decided to take one extra recoveryday. Spent it in Antwerpen with Martin and came back even more tired, can´t remember shopping being so hard ;-)  
To come back and find the motivation for really hard training I have had help from Rocky, the complete Dvd box with all the movies. So when I´m suffering I know that someone (Rocky) is suffering even harder… All my intervals have been done in the speedbeat from Eye of the Tiger. 

My racingschedule is updated.

Emma

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Last days in the Tour was hard - very hard! Last climb on the only 71 km stage was steep and felt very long… With Ljungskog, Cook, Arndt and Worrack going full I had to see them dissapear in front of me. With two legs that felt like “wood stocks” I ended up in the group of 10 riders that was chasing… But with Worrack going full in the first group (to take back her podium place in the GC) and with my “wood stocks” in the second we didn´t have a chance :-(
Irene had to see her 3rd place in the GC be taken by Worrack. Good work from my team this day but it just wasn´t enough, Worrack was stronger and we had to accept it.
For me this Tour has been a totally new experience, finally I know what everyone has been taking about. Alot of wind, hills, climbs, dangerous descends and heavy roads… that´s Tour De L´Aude.
Coming back home with an 3rd place as best result on one of the hardest stages, six top 15 places and a 13th place in the GC I´m satisfied. Still missing out of a stage win but I´m sure it will come… and that´s soon!

Next coming up is a well deserved mini rest, before I´m on it again. First two races in Holland before I go to La Bira. Can´t wait to come down to my “Bizkaian familly”…

Emma

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Sorry for not updating, but been in the middle of no where for a long time!
And only have a short time now…
Hope you been following my Tour so that you know what has happened…
Yesterdays stage was big turning point for my team and with a earlie break that got more than 4 minutes, Irene from my team is now on 3rd place in the general classification!
So todays stage was a lot of work for keeping her there… After taking down many attacks and keeping everyone together I could sprint in to a 6th place. Happy and tired…

Tomorrow is the last day and then we go back to Belgium, so next time I write something will be then.
Keep the fingers crossed for us tomorrow :-)

Emma

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Todays team timetrail was won by the Dutch National Team only 6 seconds ahead of the big favourites Team High Road. For us, AA Cycling Team, the race was ok… 
The hardest thing for me today was to not be abel to pee (ofcourse, thanks Emma) on the doping control!
5 liter water and 2 hours later it finally worked… But with so much water in my bladder Heidi had to stop on the motorway on our way back to the hotel and after that I have been to the toilet 7 times!

Have to go again now…

Emma 

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After todays stage I feel a bit better, good legs and I did it well over the hard climb :)
But I wasn´t strong enough to be there when the real climbers attacked. 10 riders in the front and me in the 2nd group. We arrived to the finish ca 2,5 min behind the winner Nicole Cook. I won the sprint in my group and finished 11th on todays stage.
Now I look forward to a massage and then a good nights sleep before it´s time for the team timetrail tomorrow…

Found the website from the race: Tour de L´Aude.

Emma

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So short… but so painful!
Did what I could on the prologue but it wasn´t enough today. Haven´t seen any results yet but I know that I was far behind the winner.
That was my first chance, still 9 to come!
Tomorrows stage will be one of the hardest from the tour when we´re doing an 8km climb (VERY steep the last 2km) just 25km from the finish… So wish me luck!

Full results will come here.

Emma

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So it´s time…
time for the first stage in L´Aude.
3,9km prologue and I start at 16.45
Then I have only 9 days to go…

Emma

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Racing today in De Pinte was good for the team and ok for me… We had two riders in the first group and they finished 2nd and 3rd. For me the race turned into a day in the bunch. Which ment that I had time to enjoy my supporter´s club every lap :-) The club is just in the beginning and still growing, more will come in a close future…

Emma

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