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My season started a little bit later than what I wanted it to,
due to injuries and niggles. However, I started to overcome
these injuries and focus on the racing scene. I did a few
races such as Tour of the Reservoir, Tour De Yorkshire and
Lincoln GP to see where the form was at and get me back into
the swing of racing. Carrying on from this, our next target
was the Tour Series. I love racing the criterium series, as
it's fast, technical and hard racing.
The first round was at Motherwell. I liked this circuit as it
had a nice drag that to the finish that would allow a break to
form. Alice Barnes attacked quite early, in which I had to
react quite fast due to two other strong riders (Nikki Juniper
and Eileen Roe) chasing the attack. We managed to get together
as a four and work to stay away from the rest of the peloton.
I took a second and third in the sprints and got piped on the
line to take fourth.
We went into the second round (Redditch) second team. I was
also in the sprinters jersey as Alice and Eileen didn't participate. I was really looking forward to
this race, as the terrain suited me and I also had my family
come and support. The races started off quite steady and a few
attacks went but nothing stayed. Again, I placed myself
towards the front, followed any dangerous moves and stayed out
of trouble. The race lulled a little a lap before the sprint
lap and Nikki had had a mechanical. I saw this as my chance to
make a move and see what happened. I didn't think I had much
left in the tank, but I went and just told myself not to look
back until I got caught.
I used the descent to recover and when you are on your own you
can carry the speed and best line in and out of the corners.
Every lap I looked at my coach (Chris Newton) for information.
I think with about three laps to go I heard him say I had a 40
second lead. I had to keep digging in until I crossed the
finish line. I could also hear my parents, boyfriend and
friends from Hereford cheering that spurred me on. I went up
the climb for the final time and couldn't see anyone behind
me. It was great to get my hands in the air and keep the
sprinters jersey too. We also got best team on the night and
stayed in second place in the team rakings.
Next up, Stoke On Trent. I did this one a couple of years ago
as my first Tour Series and got lapped, so I didn't have great
memories from this course. However, they had put an extra loop
in this year, which made it a little more technical. I managed
to get two second places in the sprint laps and the pack had
whittled down to about nine. With two laps to go I thought I
would sit at the back and try and attack on the last lap from
the back and see how far I would get. But on the second to
last lap I took too much speed going into the bottom corner
and hit the tarmac. That was game over for me in that race. I
thought I had broken my elbow, so panic set in. All that was
going through my head was not being able to compete at the
Women's Tour. Luckily the X-rays showed I had nothing broken.
Few!! A couple of days of R&R and I was back on my bike.
Aviva Women's Tour - To be selected to represent Great Britain
in a World Tour race was a dream for me. I watched the Aviva
Women's Tour on TV last year and said to myself how brilliant
it would be if one day I could race in it. I was super excited
and nervous to be racing against the best in the world over
five days. It was incredibly tough racing and one that
challenged me in many ways. There were moments were it
mentally challenged me, but every day was a step forward. I
was there to learn and gain as much experience as possible and
every day brought new situations that I hadn't come across
before.
Having home crowds watching and family/ friends shouting from
the sidelines made it that bit more special. Emma came up to
me on one of the days and she said, "Annasley, did you see
that big banner with your name on it?" I was in too much of a
box to look up. It was fantastic having such great and
supportive teammates too.
Nationals were my next biggest goal. Coming out of the Women's
Tour I was tired but in good form. The time trial was the
first race. It was a great course, but also a tough course. I
enjoyed the race, but unfortunately didn't get the result I
wanted. I felt that I really needed to do well in the road
race. We looked at the course as a team and I was pleased with
the course. It was undulating and fast. I knew where potential
breaks could go, so I had to be on it and be at the top end of
the race. There were incredibly strong riders that were going
to dominate the race, so there was no switching off at ay
point. We started off with a few small attacks going, but not
getting away.
Then we turned right onto a narrow lane and up a power climb.
This was where I knew moves would be made. A few times up that
people tried to make a break, but again nothing stuck. Then on
the last big lap Dani King and Nikki Harris made a break for
it. I managed to get on the back of the move along with ten
others. We worked together to stay away and catch Sarah Storey
who was up the road. There were lots of counter attacks within
the break, but nothing went away from the break. It came down
to a bunch sprint, but I just didn't have the legs to go with
it. I managed to get tenth. I was very pleased with my race!
Thüringen-Rundfahrt – I was so nervous for this race. It was
the longest UCI stage race I had done so far in my career,
against the best in the world. The terrain was relentless and
the pace was full on from the start. I got caught in a crash
the first day, but managed to make it in the first group. It
took it out of me a little, but I had to forget about it and
focus for the next day. I had great teamies that always kept
the mood and motivation high. Towards the end of the week I
was racing on anything I had left. I was determined to finish
each stage and play as much of a team role as I could so Alice
could stay in the young leaders jersey. I was in a complete
box by the end, but I was relieved to finish such a hard race.
I was very excited for National Crit Champs! I love crit
racing and really wanted to do well in this. The course was
fast and had a nice little power climb in it, but it wasn't
demanding in regards to technicality. It started off quite
fast. A few moves went but nothing really got away. The pace
then settled mid race and Claire Rose drove it on the front
for quite a bit of the race. I tried to make a break myself,
but quickly got pulled back. We all had our eyes on certain
riders, so any dangerous moves never got away. I knew it would
come down to a sprint finish. My sprint isn't that great, but
positioning was key. I got onto a good wheel, but
unfortunately wasn't able to deliver the result I was hoping
for. I was gutted to get sixth, but with every disappointment
come new opportunities to reflect on performance and learn.
Ride London – The Prudential Ride London race was a fantastic
race last year and I knew it would be another great race this
year. Racing against world class teams, in the middle of
London... Ace! It was fast from the gun. I got into a few
early moves at the start and kept towards the front. The
streets were packed with people and the support all the way
through the race was electric. There were few tight spots on
the course and switchbacks, which made the race that bit
harder/challenging. However, it also made it that bit more
exciting and nerve racking too. There was a crash on the
finishing straight, which I narrowly avoided to finish 36th. I
enjoyed every moment of that race!
Finally onto the two biggest races of my career. First out of
the two was Europeans, which was held in Plumelec. This was a
hard, wearing down course. We started off with a neutral half
lap. This was a bit chaotic as there were a few crashes to
dodge. I could feel the tension, but once we were released the
race got going. My job was to protect Alice Barnes and make
sure she was in every major move. She was in good form to get
that u23 title, so I was determined to do everything I could
as a domestique. The first four and a half laps were pretty
good.
However, disaster struck when Alice came down. Unfortunately,
she wasn't able to get back on her bike. By this point there
was only Abby-Mae Parkinson and myself left in the race for
GB. I went back to the GB car to ask what was going on and
what I should do. I was told to do the best I could and that I
was racing for myself. I had burnt out most of matches by this
point, so I just tried to hang on till the very end. I was
happy with how I raced this race and I leant a lot from it. I
thought that that was my racing season over. But this wasn't
to be. I was told that I was going to be one of eight riders
to be selected to go to the World Road Race Champs in Doha.
EAK!
Doha, here I come. I was so happy to have the opportunity to
race not only in Doha, but also to race against the worlds
best with the 2015 World Road Race Champ (Lizzie Deignan) as
our captain. We got there and goodness the heat was something
else. On average it was about 39 degrees, so not the typical
weather conditions I am used to racing in.
We had about five days to get used to the heat and get the
legs spinning before race day. The daily ritual was to be
weighed before we went on the bikes and after we finished to
make sure we were keeping hydrated. It took its toll on us
after a while… Race day came around pretty quickly. I was so
nervous and when I get nervous I go quite. However, most of
the girls in the team are bubbly, love to play music and have
a chinwag. This gave me a bit of a distraction and not think
too much into the race. We had these amazing energy ice
slushies and ice vests to keep us cool.
Then, it was time to hit the battlefield. My job was to cover
any early moves and dangerous attacks. Nothing really went for
ages. Luckily we had radios, so we could communicate to the
car and between each other. I stayed towards the front for a
lot of the race. I found myself speaking to Lizzie before Vos
made her attack. I chased it down, before bridging across to
another attack. I thought I had nothing left, but about ten
minutes later I had to chase down another attack. I managed to
get it and we got caught. Dani King made a big move too, so
our job was to sit towards the front and cover anything that
tried to chase her down.
In the last two laps I was hanging on and using anything I had
left in the tank. The race picked with about half a lap to go
and my legs just couldn't go with it. I crossed the finish
line and all I wanted to do was sit down and get a cold drink.
That I got, FEW! We rode back to the hotel and got some well
earned grub down us. We were over the moon with fourth from
Lizzie and the whole team performance.
Overall, I think it's fair to say it's been a pretty big
learning curve all round this year for me. Completing two
WorldTour races, four UCI races, getting a Tour Series win, a
top ten the National Road Race Champs and competing in at the
European and World Road Race Championships. If someone were to have
said that to me at the start of the year, I would have said
they were dreaming. Especially after an injury prone winter.
I'm looking forward to getting stuck into my winter training
now and see what next year brings.
I have recently announced that I am an ambassador for For
Rangers. This is an amazing charity, which is very close to my
heart. This charity works to train rangers to the top level,
providing equipment and technology so that they can protect
our greatest mammals in Africa and Asia from extinction. I am
very excited and privileged to be working with this charity
and I hope that people will take a couple of minutes out of
their day to read more about what
For Rangers do and how they
can support them. You can follow For Rangers on
Twitter and
Facebook.
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