3 Jours de Plouay was an exciting weekend for one junior club member, Sabine Minchinton-Gilley. Besides meeting the current women's Olympic Road and World Champion Nicole Cooke she took part in the open 15Km mountain bike VTT randonnée with her mum Lynn.
The course was quite technical in places with some very rocky descents. Luckily the weather was dry as the wooded sections had many tree roots to negotiate. Parts of the course went deep in to woodland and sunglasses had to be removed to be able to see.
With almost 3Km to the finish Sabine was involved in a terrible crash. The dirt track was only wide enough for two, however two male riders in the 50Km event were racing on this flat section at full speed as their course intersected from time-to-time but they never called to her to warn they were passing. Sabine suddenly heard them and on turning her head she drifted slightly too much and they all locked bars! She could not be seen for dust, legs and bikes. She had blood pouring from her knee, ground over her helmet and a shoulder buried deep into a bike frame! She got up worried her new club kit had been damaged then wiping away tears rode to the finish.
She managed to out sprint a lad of about 12 so that she could be in before him. She had riders dropping-by the medical centre to see how she was as word got around. Back at the hotel the ice machine came in very useful.
The British Cycling Development squad were staying at the same hotel and the coaching staff were very impressed with her gutsy ride, as was Allan Piper from Team Columbia - so the weekend belonged to Sabine and, of course, Emma Pooley the Olympic & British rider riding with Cervelo who won the UCI womens GP de Plouay road race on the Saturday. Cervelo followed this up with their rider Simon Gerrans winning the UCI Pro Tour GP Ouest France on Sunday.
Dad, Kevin, luckily came away with just scratches and sore muscles. His recent trip up Mont Ventoux came in handy for some of the climbs on the challenging 50Km VTT course!
Report and photographs: Lynn Minchinton-Gilley |
