Jennie Stenerhag

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Victory in Pinse cup, Denmark

2009-06-04

I think the preparation in Italy was good!:-)

This weekend we had a 3 day stage race in Denmark on the program. It was only me and Hanna Larsson from my team and we went there together with the junior national team and 2 other girls from Sweden. We had a fun weekend with lots of laughs and good results!

On the startline were 55 girls from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. The first day startet a bit slow and after 8km I wanted things to start happening and did the first attack, after that the attacks came one after the other and we kept a good speed. We did 2 laps on a 35km course and when we passed the finish the first time 3 girls had a small gap, when we caught them I attacked and told Madde Olsson from Svanesund, Sweden, to come with me, I know that we work well together so wanted her in the break. 3 more girls came up to us and we got away from the bunch. We lost 2 girls on one of the hills so towards the finish it was me, Madde and a danish girl. I got to hear in the radio that the danish girl was a really good sprinter so we watched each others a lot at the end, at the same time as we had the junior time trail world champ (2008) chasing on her own just a few seconds behind! The final 500 meters I had the danish girl on my wheel and was beside Madde, with 200 meters to go I started the sprint and could stay clear of the others and win the first stage. I got the pink jersey to ride in for the second stage, I like pink so was really happy with this:-)

The second day was a flat stage, there were a few breakaways and some seemed dangerous so twice I had to chase on my own to make sure they did not stay away. The bunch came back together everytime and it would come down to a bunch sprint. With 1km to go a German girl attacked and my team mate Hanna went after with me on her wheel, it was perfect and she did a great job pushing to give me good speed for the final sprint. A danish girl came next to me at the 400m mark at the same time as I passed Hanna and I just managed to win by a few centimeters to keep the lead in the GC.

Since there were no time bonuses the 3 first girls were on the same second so the race was still open on the last stage. We did 3 laps with one big hill towards the end. It was a very slow race and a german girl got away early and got 3,5 minutes as most. Me and some other swedish girls put the pace up a lot on the last lap and girls dropped off one by one and we caught the german on the final climb, we were then about 10 girls left in the bunch and it would be a sprint finish again. I knew that I had to be near the front and make sure that no gaps were made to be able to win overall. I managed a 3rd in a tight sprint and the overall victory was in my hands!

Felt very good to win this race and specially to feel that my sprints are working again. Madde got a 3rd place overall so we were 2 swedes on the podium!

After the race I stayed one night in Gothenburg with my friend

Annika, she is always so nice and let me stay there when I pass Gothenburg, I wish I could see her more tho. On Tuesday I could finally drive home after 2,5 weeks away on different things. I also stopped on the way to visit my childhood friend Malin who got her second daughter when I was in Italy. Little Elin was very cute and a copy of her big sister.

Now waits 2 weeks of hard training, am looking forward to that:-)