By Astrid van Uden?(@astridvanuden) I have just completed my first UCI 2.2 race as the team Soigneur for Team SmartStop at the Vuelta Mexico. It was an awesome experience and very interesting way to start the year with the team. Let me tell you racing in Mexico is not easy on anybody but we all made it through unscathed (mostly) and came out with some good results. The team arrived in Mexico City two days before the race start with enough time to get settled in and organise our supplies before racing began. It is not easy travelling internationally without the team trailer full of everything you need for a race. We could only fly with the bare necessities. The Team SmartStop roster for the Vuelta Mexico was Joshua Berry, Cameron Cogburn, Flavio De Luna, Shane Kline, Jure Kocjan, Julian Kyer, Eric Marcotte and Travis McCabe, supported by DS Michael Creed, Mechanic Chris Kreidl and myself. Flavio, Jure, Eric and Travis had all come off a successful trip to the Dominican Republic for the Vuetla Independencia Nacional where the Rob Britton finished 2nd overall, the team won three stages and featured in the top ten on every stage. Stage one began in the heart of Mexico City, riders already suffering from Montezuma?s Revenge so it was going to be a tough day in the saddle. With a category one climb right of the bat, the peloton blew up and roughly 60 riders were dropped with a breakaway group of ten making their move. Jure, Joshua, Julian and Cameron were in the main group of riders, but the breakaway could not be reeled back, gaining a maximum lead of?around six minutes, this was brought slowly back down but there was not enough room on the road to bring them back completely. In the bunch sprint Joshua used the finish as an opportunity to test out his legs and sprinted in the bunch sprint?gaining?a top 20 finish on the stage Michael Creed said the start was challenging for the team but he is still happy with the way the team has been performing: ?I can see the ability and see how strong they are and that is the frustrating bit.? Stage two started on dangerous roads and for that reason the race was neutralized for 30km, during this time there were 15 flats and two crashes on a 1.5km cobbled downhill stretch. Then the attacks started: ?Breaks and counters were going for 70km, with crashes and flats,? said Michael, ?I?d bet the race was split into three groups, total carnage.? That day was the first day for feeding, finding the official feed zone was troubling for us Soigneurs so we just found a safe spot on the road to pull over and create our own feed zone. It was important for us to find a stretch of road that was at least on a slight incline and where the riders had plenty of time to spot us on the side of the road before positioning themselves appropriately for feeding. Once again the break could not be brought back and Juan Villegas from the 4 72 ? Colombia team retained the yellow jersey after winning stage one and making the break in stage two. Stage three was the Queen stage and the longest of the tour at 202km. The day started out as a disaster for me, on the way to the feed zone the van we had been given broke down as we were following the peloton in the caravan. Thankfully, the other team?s Soigneurs all helped me out and I was able to get into Optum p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies van with my feed zone supplies leaving my Mexican helper, Enrique, on the side of the road with the van while we went for help. It was a transfer day and the van held our team?s luggage so we needed to get it to the next hotel! Thankfully the Vuelta Mexico organization was very helpful in getting a replacement and the van and Enrique made it to the finish line!?I will be forever grateful to the other Soigneurs that helped me out that day, it just shows what cycling is really about. Once the van troubles were taken care of, it was what we sometimes call the race within the race. Overtaking the peloton on a stretch of highway that is wide enough for us to get safely past the riders in order to get to the feed zone and then once again to the finish line. It was our own race within the race. Travis made it into a breakaway on the stage, which managed to stay away until the base of the climb where all hell broke loose. ?It was unfortunate that McCabe had a bad day because he made the breakaway that hit the bottom of the climb with a 6 minute head start,? said Michael, ?However it shows that even though he felt bad he was willing to make sacrifices for the team and extend himself by being in the breakaway, helping out the team.? Cameron was the top placed Team SmartStop rider over the climb finishing in 13th, just 36 seconds shy of winner Diego Ochoa Camargo. ?Cogburn was a pleasant surprise,? said Michael, ?it would have been nice to be in the top ten but for his first international stage race, but with something as hectic as the days stage I am happy of how he is handling it and absorbing everything.? Stage four was an awesome experience, our Mexican rider; Flavio was in the breakaway coming into the final circuits in the town of Huamantla. Having raced there before the crowd was going wild for Flavio and it was a very exciting atmosphere. I had people coming up to from all directions in the feed zone telling me how excited they were for Flavio, they had either grown up in the same town as him, gone to school with him, there was definitely a whole lot of support for Team SmartStop in Huamantla. The breakaway was eventually caught with a couple of laps to go by the very determined Astana Continental Team. Jure sprinted to second place in the final bunch sprint to gain Team SmartStop?s first podium at the Vuelta Mexico. ?We are happy that we got second,? said Michael, ?it is a good result and it gives us motivation and the drive to aim to give him more protection in the run in to the finish line.? We also had our first casualty of the race (if you don?t count the numerous upset stomachs), with Travis hitting the deck pretty hard on the circuit course. The final two stages consisted of a 2.5km Time Trial and a 101.2km circuit race on the Avenue Paseo de la Reforma. Team SmartStop placed three riders inside the top 15 at the time trial. ?It was a good result, for not having any pure time triallists on the team it was an excellent result,? said Michael, ?we finished third on team GC on the day, which we have done a few times during this race, which again shows the depth of character and versatility of this team.? The final stage was awesome, crowds came out to witness the fast course and the atmosphere and racing was thrilling and excited. The Soigneurs set up feeding on the opposite side of the course from the start/finish line so we had the perfect vantage point of the race. But it was such a fast race that feeding rarely happened. When Jure did take a bottle from me, it was so fast I barely had time to register that it was happening! Jure was the rider for Team SmartStop who would take the sprint, his legs were feeling good, and although the stage was not suited for Jure, he finished fourth in the bunch sprint, it was a photo finish and he just missed out on third by a fingernail. USA National Criterium Champion, Eric Young won the stage for Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies. ?It was okay,? said Michael about the teams sprint train and final position, ?it was a struggle because the race didn?t suit Jure?s sprinting strengths and Shane under the weather so we were up against it from the start. ?The team was better with staying with Jure and the lead out process is improving with every race they do. Optum has been trying for years to get theirs correct and the win today shows they have years of experience working together and hopefully my riders can catch up to that soon.? Juan Villegas, who lead the six-day stage race from start to finish, won the Vuelta Mexico. Cameron Cogburn finished inside the top 20 for Team SmartStop?s top placed rider in 17th position. With two UCI 2.2 stage races under their belt, Team Smart Stop now turns their focus onto the start of the National Racing Calendar (NRC) races back home in America, starting with the Redlands Bicycle Classic in April.
