StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
I knew her name, courtesy of Olaf, I knew they were riding buddies, but nothing else…until, obviously, those first few days, the rockstar comment from James Hayden, checking out her Strava history…and it was clear that her performance wasn't just luck, she had a remarkable aptitude for this kind of riding and she'd put the work in to get to this extraordinary level. I think even if Bjorn and Jonathan had been fully fit,Well done to Fiona.
There are three reasons why I was less than completely surprised she won.
I've not done the maths but it may well be that, given there are far fewer female entrants, women may have a better success rate than men across the top half dozen ultra-races. This ties in with men having an advantage in events where explosive power is helpful, but, as the benefit of this tends to zero with longer events, it appears that the male advantage also tends to zero. It was noticeable to me riding this year how the women's field is so much stronger than in 2016. I regularly met and was passed by women riders, and this just didn't happen three years ago where only Emily Chappel was in the front half of the race.
- One is that she is a friend and regular riding companion of @redfalo and he has been telling me how good she is for the last couple of years.
- The second is that, having recently moved to Dresden she has ridden a lot with Bjorn Lenhard, and he has reported her dropping him on climbs.
- Finally, women have a very good record in winning ultra-races with Lael Wilcox in TABR 2016 and Sarah Hammond winning Race to the Rock on all three occasions it has been run.
FWIW Fiona was the first person to win TCR on a carbon bike and the first German winner.
she'd have given them a run for their money, at least. Whatever she does in future on the cycling front is going to be worth watching…