Thursday, June 11, 2009

World Inline Cup Ostrava

The first ever World Inline Cup in the Czech Republic was a successful outing for the Bont Wheels Team with Kelly Martinez taking the victory.

The 33km race was held around a fast and smooth
3.050 meter circuit. It was a straight forward circuit, up and down the same stretch of road with a U-turn at each end. There were plenty of spectators lining the streets of Ostrava and a great atmosphere for the race.


Just before the start of the ladies race it started to rain which caused skaters to panic and quickly change their choice of wheels. The rain didn't last long though, by the time the race started the rain had stopped. With it being so warm the roads ended up drying instantly. This didn't stop the Bont Wheels Team from sticking to their plan and attacking to try break up the field. The weekend before Kelly successfully broke away from the field in Pamplona and went on to win the race so the tactic was similar for Ostrava.

Tamara Llorens launched the first attack and Cecilia Baena didn't hesitate to chase it down. Once Tamara was caught Kelly Martinez then attacked with about 25 km to go.
Only the Czech ice-speed skater Katarina Novotna was able to follow her. Katarina wasn't able to stick to Kelly for long and a 45 second gap grew between them. After four more laps the distance between Kelly and the main pack grew to 2:45 minutes.

Once Kelly was safely away the team started to attack again. With about 15km to go Tamara successfully broke away from the main pack.

Kelly proved too strong for the field and went on to win the race. Katarina held on for 2nd place and Tamara came in alone for 3rd. Alexandra was the only team member left in the dwindled down pack for the final sprint. Alexandra ended up coming 2nd in the pack sprint behind Cecilia Baena.

A great day for the team, with all the members finishing in the top 5.
Kelly 1st
Tamara 3rd
Alexandra 5th

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