800 miles after leaving home, Barney [my husband and Horizon’s mechanic for the Tour of Limousin] and I arrived in Gueret which was to be our home for the duration of the race. We checked out the course for the time trial straightaway as it was only 6km from where were staying and that was the first shock to the system.
Sarah Storey - by Christophe Deluche
Having never competed in a Women’s UCI Professional stage race before I had expectations that we might be riding on roads similar to those that we see during the men’s Tour de France, but this is where I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Time Trial course, whilst a perfect length for me at 17.2km long, was also nothing like any other Time Trial Course I have ever ridden and I was grateful for having done some of the trickier rounds of the Rudy Project as like them, stage 2 for the tour would be on a very sporting course! There was also a lot of loose gravel on the course which thankfully got swept by the time we were using the roads for the race.
Stage One was a 2 hour drive south of the school where we stayed and arriving early gave us the chance to drive the 10km loop that would be used for the first 40km of the race. It was certainly not my ideal start to a race, as the first 3km’s were straight down a twisty descent! I would have loved to have moved the start to the bottom of this descent so that the race would have started up the first of two 1st category climbs on the lap!
The first climb was long but fairly gradual and then the road dropped away on an even more technical descent to a dead turn left before the start of a GPM. With four GPM’s in the first 4 laps we knew it would be hard fought. When the race got underway, despite my good intentions and starting at the front with Helen, I soon got shoved off her wheel, then Alex came past and try as I might I got shoved off her wheel too! It wasn’t the best start and got worse when 8 girls crashed right in front of me and I found myself trying to avoid the mayhem whilst being lent on from the left by a French girl.
By this point I was out the back and chasing on my own for 2 hours! I passed some of my team mates who were in smaller groups and surviving well and then when I reached Alex I sat up and we allowed the girls at the front to tow us in, whilst thinking about the Time Trial on stage two.
Sarah Storey in TT - by Christophe Deluche
Although the TT course didn’t look very inviting during the recce’s I was ready to test myself again some good time triallers. One of my main aims for the Tour had been to make sure I learnt something that would stand me in good stead for returning to the paracycling peleton and there was no doubt this TT course would be a great opportunity. Warming up with Britt, Alex, Annie and Penny there was a good team spirit and fortunately the rain showers passed before we got underway.
The course didn’t really have any flat sections, like much of the other roads we used during the Tour and there were several tight corners, some tight sections through a tiny hamlet and then a long narrow climb where I managed to catch my 3 minute girl. The final few km’s were again twisty and rolling, but with all the gravel gone, it certainly felt a lot better than the days before. As I tried to hammer my way up the final climb, I knew the last 3km were down a quick descent into the finish and so I tried to leave everything on the hill!
Crossing the line after a quick corner I was leading for about 90 minutes with my time of 26m 31s and ended up 15th after the whole field had been through, the winner was only 51s up so I was quite chuffed to have got so close. I’d also had the chance to ride in the Australian team car for the final hour, behind Shara Gillow and Ruth Corset, both finished in the top 10 and it was interesting for me to see how effective they were out of the saddle on the climbs compared to me.
As I was waiting to see the final results, the organiser came over to talk to me and asked me about my world title for the paracycling road time trial. After a couple of interviews for the French press I was asked to attend the final presentation where the Event honoured me for being a world champion and I had my photograph taken with all the jersey winners of the race and stage. It was a complete surprise and I had to do a short interview on stage in French!
Sarah Storey - Limousin Podium
As Stage 3 came and went we were still a full set of six riders and it was interesting to see the sign on for the final stage as there were quite a few teams who didn’t have their full team in the race anymore. For us Horizon Girls it was fantastic to be there as a team on the start of that final stage, we knew we’d been through some tough stages and with 172 riders starting, it was the biggest field most of us had ever ridden in!
Stages 3 and 4 saw my steep learning curve get steeper. I was so cross with my start in the first stage so on stage 3 I made sure I concentrated on what was happening ahead and after a few climbs I’d made it towards the front and was only dropped 12km from the finish by a really nasty descent. I always knew my descending skills were less good compared to many others in the field, but it was a real eye opener how quickly these girls could go downhill and something I was determined to improve on before the end of the tour. Riding with the other Horizon girls in the bunch was great and Annie nearly caused me to fall off my bike laughing when I passed her on a climb, that girl should be on the stage!
Stage 4 gave me plenty of opportunity to get downhill faster and whilst I was by no means brilliant at it, and did end up in ditch after someone crashed in front of me again, I was much better than the previous days and didn’t get dropped until the descent that was labelled in the route details as being “dangereuse”! It was pretty fast, twisty and with a building at the bottom that would be the thing to stop you if you over shot the tight left-hander, a little tricky! I soon chased back on and started the four finishing circuits with the leaders which included my team mate Helen who had been up at the front all race and riding brilliantly.
The last few laps were basically 6km uphill and 6km going down, so again a great opportunity to get on with the job and “man up”! I stuck to the bunch and descended on the wheels for the first time, moving up on the hills and only losing one or two places on the downs. Each lap one or two riders got dropped as the pace just got faster and faster. What was strange for me, was that there were 70 riders in our group, yet it felt small! Normally 70 riders would be a big field for me!
Sarah Storey after crash - by Christophe Deluche
Crossing the line was a relief and each day I’d moved up the GC to finish 87th overall at the end.
When the final presentations got underway I was asked to attend as I’d been given an endeavour award by the motorbike marshals for my efforts to stay in the race all week! I had a photo with all the guys who’d been looking after us during the race and then they all started checking out my braking system on the race bike!
With a long journey ahead we all left pretty quick and were left to mull over what had been a tough Tour for us all but we’d all made some big steps forward and were looking forward to cracking on with the next challenge!
