Looking at fast riders on the start sheet I soon realised that I needed to race up front, not wanting to get caught behind riders. At the debrief they told us there was going to be a neutralised section although I soon realised after half a lap that this wasn’t the case, so I worked my way through the bunch to the front where I followed the wheels of Sarah Byrne and Hannah Barnes. The pace was reasonably slow so I tested the waters, attacking off the front a couple of times, as did a few of the others, but there was no chance of anyone opening up a gap. There was no dominant team and cyclists were willing to chase to stay in with a chance for the win. Luckily I had most of the other Maxgear cyclists there to help when there were attacks. Coming up to the finish was reasonably slow. We were all looking at each other and for the best position for the finish. The pace picked up and strung out into a line, then we started to sprint for the up hill finish. Unfortunately I never saw Laurie bun starting her attack but the pace she came past the front of the bunch made sure no one was going to catch her. She had lots of spare energy from sitting in for most of the race and had a great leadout from her team. Hannah Barnes then attacked from just behind me with another rider on her wheel, taking me by surprise. So it left me to crawl past Sarah Byrne to take 4th position just in time for the line.
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