Trust House Women’s Cycling Tour of New Zealand 2007

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                              2007 in detail  >>   Stage 6    Stage 6 Full   Stage 5   Stage 5 Full     Stage 4    Stage 4 Full     

                              Stage 3    Stage 3 Full    Stage 2   Stage 2 Full    Stage 1   Stage 1 Full

                             Startlist Announced for Tour    Australians send 2 teams across the Tasman    Sarah Ulmer & NZ team sign up    

                             Cheerwine on the way   T-Mobile to Wellington     Flexpoint confirm

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The time trial started under slightly windier conditions than the mountain stage the day before. Starting and finishing in Scorching Bay, just outside Wellington. The riders were keen to get this stage over, to allow enough recovery time before the final stage; the criterium in Wellington city centre.

Current Olympic Road Race champion Sara Carrigan (Australian National Team) was totally surprised to win the stage. As the announcer declared she had beaten current Tour leader Judith Arndt (T-Mobile) by .01, she smiled and said “Wow, I didn’t expect that.” She covered the 14km course in 17 minutes 30 seconds ahead of Arndt 17 minutes 31 seconds and Susanna Ljungskog, third place in a time of 17 minutes 35 seconds.

Sara Carrigan (Australian National Team) chatted after her win about the stage. “I rode across the line and thought ‘that was cool’, I am so excited to have won this stage. It’s hard to tell how you are going during the tour, your perceptions always off in a tour and it’s the last day, so this is a great to win, I haven’t won anything for a while.”

Judith Arndt (T-Mobile) beaten by just 1 second Arndt said afterwards, “It’s just a pedal rev difference. There are a number of good time trial riders in the tour and to be beaten by the Olympic champion is not a bad thing.” Looking to the final stage, Arndt was asked if the team was ready to win the overall tour. “We really like tour criteriums and we have a good criterium team.”

Susanne Ljungskog (Team Flexpoint) was pleased with her third place. “I didn’t feel very good yesterday, so I was more motivated today to do something. It was tough on the way back in the wind today.” Looking to the final stage Ljungskog was asked about her thoughts. “The criterium this afternoon is going to be hard but our team is used to riding them, they are more like the European style of racing which is good for us.”

Sarah Ulmer (Trust House–NZ) has been struggling with injuries for a while now and despite riding well in the Tour so far she explained that there is still a long way to go to get back to 100% form. “We are going back to the drawing board unfortunately. I have a few test coming up, I just wanted to get this tour out of the way so that I can focus on my recovery and figuring out what is wrong.”

Asked to explain the nature of the injury Ulmer went on to say, “It’s a sciatic nerve problem, we think we have isolated where it is getting caught, but the test coming up are to rule out any other potential causes. This seems to be a really common injury for cyclist; there are a number of riders with a similar problem.”

Injuries can be a mental strain when you have been at the top of a sport, asked how she was coping with this Ulmer added, “It is frustrating, but at least I am still able to race. Being here with the team has been really good and I am able to contribute a little to the overall performance of the team. This is very satisfying, so it’s not a complete lost cause, but it is hard and frustrating for my own goals. I am just taking each day at a time” 

Discussing the future of New Zealand cycling, Sarah was asked if she has been involved in the development of younger riders. “We have a young team here as well as more experienced riders, Susie Pride is now the women’s coach has done a lot of work with the development of women’s racing in New Zealand and has set up competitions paths for riders to go to and this year they have set up an overseas team to do a little bit of racing in America, so that’s been huge for the development of the younger riders. Having two teams in the tour has been great because one of the teams is full of youngsters who have only been riding a short time. The recent increase in numbers has been due to the involvement of Susie [Pride], she has a wealth of knowledge and it’s been good for her to put something back into the sport.”