The racing season is underway and the US National Team is “down under.”  Well, down under the Equator, that is, racing the Women’s Tour of New Zealand.

First, let me back up.  The US National Team actually started racing in Qatar the first week of February at the Ladies Tour of Qatar.  It was a good trip and a fantastic way to start off the year.  Some exciting additions to the team this year include our director, Manel Lacambra, who joins us from the Women’s Cervelo Test Team.  It was also a great trip because we came together as a team, combining our strength, knowledge, and drive for strong teamwork and results.  It was a great group of women to race with: Lauren Tamayo, Kat Carroll, Shelley Evans, Sinead Miller, and Amber Rais.  The team worked to bring Lauren a podium result on the final stage and she powered to 6th place overall.  Leaving Qatar, we could see that the US National Team would be performing at a high level this year: we have big goals and were off to a good start.

This brings us to our current race.  The Tour of New Zealand is a 5-day, 6-stage race that will see us tackle four stages of hills & wind, one individual TT, and a criterium, all on the North Island not too far from Wellington.  It’s an honor to be here racing with 2008 World Time Trial Champion, Amber Neben, track star Shelley Evans, reigning US TT Champion Jessica Phillips, and TT/all-around racer, Alison Starnes.  The staff, Manel, Rob Love, and Nadia Zucherelli, is dynamite and driven to support us through a tough week of racing.  With this group of eight people, it’s hard to deny that we are here to win.

Today’s first stage was a 100km road race that started in Martinborough with rolling hills for nearly 60km and one harder climb at 70km before a fairly straightforward finish in Masterton.  For the first 50km, things stayed together for the most part, although a few riders tried to get away.  Much of the race was destined to come down to the climb at kilometer 70 and that’s certainly where the biggest action began.   The Australian National Team turned on the gas at the base of the climb and the bunch started to break up immediately.  Amber, Shelley, Allison and myself were in the front group and when the best climbers started to apply the pressure, Amber was able to stay close.  One rider managed to get a little distance, but with a 6km descent and a further 20km to the finish, there was little chance that a rider would stay away solo.

On the descent, Alison had an unfortunate crash.  She was banged, bruised and had to get equipment changes, but she was strong and was able to finish.  More importantly, she will start stage 2 and is motivated to continue what was a strong start to the race.

Shelley and I were in a chase group that formed on the descent and we could see Amber up the road in a group of eight.  When our chase group caught the front group, it was “game on” – with a sprinter like Shelley and a GC rider like Amber, it was my responsibility to respond to attacks and be sure that no one threatening got away.

As we approached the final 6km into the finish, it was apparent that home-team favorite, New Zealand National Team, was setting up the finish for their sprinter, Joanne Kiesanowski.  Shelley capitalized on this and expertly positioned herself near the front.  Things looked promising as we rounded the final turn: Amber was in the group and Shelley was in great position for the sprint.  When Shelley made her move, the other girls were left clawing for a draft that they wouldn’t find.  Shelley WON!

Tomorrow we start the day with Shelley in the leader’s jersey.  There will be a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, but we are an incredibly strong group of five women and we will be racing for the win.