Brodie Chapman and Ellen van Dijk chat through the opening stage of Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, which saw them finish second and fifth respectively.
Brodie Chapman (2nd)
“Today’s stage presented us with more Belgian than Spanish weather. It was really cold and raining and windy and so a nice debut for our young riders. The plan was a bit open and we saw Bella, Izzy and Fleur be really active in the early part of the race, following lots of moves and riding really well together with us as a team. There was a really nice moment when we all came together before a crosswinds section and the whole team was there. That’s super nice to see especially in challenging conditions. There was some rough roads and all sorts going on.
I am happy with my second place and Ellen van Dijk is well and truly back. She did an excellent lead out into the final Unfortunately I did make a small mistake in the last corner and lost her wheel so personally, I could have improve there but it was nice to sprint to a finish line again. It feels like it’s been a really long time as normally I am working for others so it was a bit of a switch in thinking but I am super happy with the support of the Team today and just really impressed by all our new riders and how they took on the challenge.”
Ellen van Dijk (5th, first race back!)
“It was nice to do the lead out for Brodie. It didn’t work out exactly as we would have wanted but she got second so that is still a good result. It was a special feeling to be back racing. It was only on the start line that I really felt that wow moment of realisation that I was really back but once the race started I was in the zone immediately. It’s just like the way it always was. It didn’t feel like anything had really changed so it was nice. I have the role of the team captain here which is a bit different for me but the young riders did really well. It’s important for them to get used to the elite peloton and they did a great job. They were really in the race, they were part of the action and followed the moves etc.
Next to that my task was to keep Gaia in contention and help her when there were echelons. Again, it was a bit of a new job for me because instead of riding the echelon, we were behind a bit to make sure we didn’t lose time and it was really good to do it like this. Everyone did there job which was super nice especially with this young team here. We are really all here to learn but we also want to win the GC and tomorrow, is a big day for the climbers so we are focused on that and then on the last day we have the TT, which I am most excited about.
All in all, it’s nice to have all the emotions that come with a race back, I didn’t realise until today that I missed all of that. The good emotions when you see your teammates doing well and also the frustration when you think this could have gone better or I could have done that differently, it’s nice to have them again. It’s nice to feel that my racing spirit was there straight away and I am really looking forward to keep going from here.”
