Alex 6th at Drenthe World Cup

Alex Wrubleski (Webcor) (2nd from right in photo) rode courageously today to secure Olympic Qualification points for herself and Canada at the Drenthe World Cup today. As you can see from her report...it was a gutsy performance.

Today was definitely the fastest and most furious race I have ever done! After Thursday's race, I didn't think it could get much harder. The pace wasn't as hard for me because I wasn't in a break all day but the terrain was unforgiving and need for good positioning was crucial. The race was 136km and consisted of 3 sprints at the end of 3 cobble sections, 3 premier sprints and 3 G.P.M sprints. People went full on from the start, I guess because the first G.P.M was 9km into the race. I clipped handlebars and hit so many wheels before that GPM just to stay in good position, that I really started to scare myself. Now when they said that there were 3 cobble sections in the race bible, we all thought that it meant like 500meters or so. But each section was 2-4km, and they were more like boulders! Haha I was sure that something had to be broken after that, either on my bike or my body. Going into the first Cobble section 38km into the race, I was probably top 40 (out of about 170), and the rest of the Canadians were a bit behind me. The gaps opened up immediately and by the end of the first cobble section the breaks were formed!! The first break had about 10-12 riders, the second had about 10 and I was in the third with about 8 riders. We could see the other groups 15-20 seconds ahead, and we were all working to catch them. The rest of our team were one group behind me with 40+ riders (including Suzanne Do Geode, and Marianne Vos). Since those 2 girls missed the breaks their teams drove it. After 2 more nasty cobble sections, and after over half the race had passed, we were caught by the large peleton behind us, which Anne was with. Now Nurnberger and DSB Bank went to the font for Suzanne and Marianne, to try and catch the front group. It didn't seem like it would be possible because the winds were so strong and there weren't that many of them chasing. But when a break of 3 riders went off the front break, they slowed, and we eventually caught them! So now there were 3 riders off the front and about 40-50 riders in our pack. So the fight for position never ended. Right before we entered the city circuit, we caught 2 of the girls. Chantal Beltman had attacked them and dropped them. Now some teams were sort of chasing and some were attacking, and it split up the field into 2 , I was in the front bunch with about 24 riders.. In the last 5km, I went with nearly every attack because I didn't want to lose any opportunity. None of them stuck and the moment I saw the 500m sign I jumped and into the turn before the finish, I knew that I went fairly early but didn't want to wait and risk getting boxed in or anything. I saw Vos, Ina, Suzanne pass me by 200m, and then Rochelle Gilmore passed me on the line. So I ended up 6th.I don't think this race report really sums up what we went through out there today, but I just wanted to bring up the main points. I was very happy with this result, as was the rest of the team. CiaoAlex