March 8/98 23:37 pm - Canadian in France, UCI Rankings

Posted by Editor on 03/8/98
 

Canadian in France (courtesy Lynn Barry)

Heather Cole from Whitby, Ontario, arrived in France March 4, and had her first two road races of the season March 7,8 1998.

March 7 - Route De La Briche Vendee was a 100k road race in Nantes, France. The race was calm for for first 30K, and then numerous attacks resulted in a break of 5, including Cole. They were caught with about 25K to go. The strong crosswind whittled the group down to about 15, with Heather finishing 12th. Her comment was that " I didn't have anything left for this sprint".

March 8 - Route Du Pays Du Muscadet, also a road race of about 100K. As with the day before there was a peleton of 60 - 70 riders. There were teams from France, Spain, and Switzerland. The race was very animated, and Cole made a number of attacks before finally getting away on her own, for about 25K. She managed to stay away until about the 80K mark, but the pack brought her back. The race ended with 5 circuits in the finishing town, with Heather finishing 13th.

Heather commented that overall it was a bit of a shock to her system, after her winter training in Ontario.