Individual Time Trial
Iona writes... Yesterday's second stage was a short 3.4km uphill TT. It made a difference from all the previous years' downhill TT's. We had ridden the course the previous day.
I finished at the back of the main bunch, in 40th place, on Stage 1, so I was to set off about mid-field. Lining up for the start, I could hear the commentator announcing the previous riders' times. They were in the region of the low 7 minute mark and just as I was about to set off, Helen McKay went sub-7 minutes.
I set off and had a good start. I managed to get into a good rhythm. It was only a short climb, only wished it could have been longer!
As I got close to the top, I heard a helpful call of 200m to go! That really helped, as despite having ridden the course before, I was still unsure as to how far off the line I was, as you couldn't see it until it was too late to push any harder.
I crossed the line in 6 minutes 44 seconds. Now just to wait for the results.
I rode back down the climb to find that I had led the standings in the TT just briefly, before another rider went faster.
Results out, I was hoping for a top 20, as the downhill TT of previous years has never suited me. So I was quite pleased to find that I had finished 14th. This meant that I now moved form 40th to 14th on GC.
Iona
