Santa Vall
This past weekend was the season opener, Santa Vall. A two-day stage race in Girona with 1,000 participants and over 50 elite women taking part in the race. This year’s edition was one of the strongest races I have ever been in. The elite women’s field was stacked with some of the strongest gravel riders in the world. I knew it would be a difficult weekend, however, I was looking forward to seeing what I could do, where my form was at and how I could improve moving forward. This weekend was not a “goal” race of mine, however, as always, I still wanted to perform my best. I was also excited to race as it would be my first race on my new Basso Palta, which just launched on February 10th as well as my first race in ASSOS! Looking at the race this weekend, I was most excited for Stage 1, this was the “Queen” stage, where all the climbs were and the stage that suited my strengths the most. Going into the first stage I knew it would be quite difficult. Around 6km in, we started up a very steep and hard climb and position would be key! As we made it to that climb, I was not positioned that well and everyone in front of me had to get off their bike and run. I ran as fast as I could while also trying to move past as many people as I could. Due to this I missed the first split, however, I found myself in a solid group where we were working well together to catch the front group. I started to feel stronger as the race went on, however at KM 40, my front derailleur became loose and fell off, which caused my chain to fall and become stuck in my frame. I was left with an unfixable mechanical and could not finish the day. To be honest, I was extremely disappointed as I really felt when we got to the hard climbs, I would be able to pull away and ride into a top ten position. Mechanicals are an inevitable part of gravel and unfortunately this mechanical ruined my day.
Running through one of the many water crossings!
Photo: Harry Talbot
Thankfully, I was able to start the second day. Although this stage did not suit me as well at the first stage, I still wanted to have a strong day and redeem myself from stage 1. This stage started on a steep hard, but short climb followed by a slightly technical downhill. Again, position was key. To my own fault, I was too far back when the climb started and wasted a lot of energy moving up. Once we got to the top I was sitting around 14th wheel before a technical downhill began. Unfortunately, I found myself on the wrong side of the split and the front group of around 15 riders were gone. After that I was in quite a large group for the rest of the day. With the rest of the course being flat and no other climbs to get away, there was no chance to catch anyone in front. Overall, the race weekend was not exactly what I wanted or would have hoped for. From mechanical and poor positioning on my end, this race turned into a training weekend, as well as lessons learned on what I can improve on moving forward. I have an exciting season ahead and a lot of big races to look forward to. I am already racing my first UCI race next weekend, Castellon. This is a perfect race for me with over 2,500 meters of climbing. I am really looking forward to this!
Post race with my friends, Paula and Theresa!
Photo: Ismael Lopez
I would also like to highlight all my sponsors! As I said before, Santa Vall was my first race of the year where I could test out all my new equipment and nutrition. Firstly, thank you to Basso for a great weekend. The Basso team was in full swing this weekend for the launch of the new Palta, it was great to meet all the riders, and staff of Basso and I am looking forward to a great year ahead! More exciting news is that I will be an ambassador for the Feed this year! I am extremely excited to be a part of the Feed as I can pick from multiple assorted brands for my race nutrition as well as any supplements. For this weekend I used a mix of Amacx and Maurten as well as Beet It, Nitrate shots as well as the Cherry shot to maximize my recovery! Make sure to keep up to date, I will be writing a full blog soon on how I fuel with the Feed!
Race essentials from the Feed and GURU to keep me energized for the week :)
I also want to thank the rest of my sponsors for making this weekend and season possible, again, thank you to Basso, GURU, ASSOS, The Feed, Pirelli, Fizik and Aveo! I am looking forward to being back in the mountains next week at UCI Castellon! Make sure to keep up to date here as well as my Instagram! Thank you for reading!