Schedule for Europe

This week I head to Europe for the UCI World Cycling Tour qualifying event and finals.

I leave on Wednesday 4 September in the afternoon, landing in Toulouse France on Thursday 5 September at 10:30am. From Toulouse, I make my way down to Vielha Spain, in the Pyrenees, for the UWCT qualifying event.

Saturday 7 September is the first big event - the UWCT qualifying event in the Pyrenees. It is the Val d'Aran Cycling Tour, a 142km ride with around 3,600m of climbing. It is very similar to Stage 9 of the Tour de France this year, with five mountain climbs, four of them Category 1, and even following some of the same roads. However, the Val d'Aran is only 142km long, compared to Stage 9 of the Tour, which was 168km. Not much relief! I need to finish in the top three women in my age category to qualify, which should be possible as last year only three women finished the event across all age categories!

Here is the Val d'Aran Cycling Tour event website: http://www.valdarancyclingtour.com/?q=en.

The next competitive event I am doing in Europe is the UWCT individual time trial final. This is held on Friday 20 September in Cavedine in the Lake Valley (Valli dei Laghi) in Northern Italy. The time trial is 24km long, with one Category 3 climb. 

The UWCT road race final is on Sunday 22 September. It is held in Trento, Northern Italy. The race is 112km long, with three climbs, including an "Alls Category" or "Outside Category" climb for the last 20km of the race. Yes, that's right, 20km all uphill to the finish. What fun! :) 

After the road race final, I have one rest day, then I head home, arriving home in the evening on Wednesday 25 September.