WIC Biel

Last Sunday was the World Inline Cup in Biel and also the first stage of the Swiss Inline Cup. Switzerland used to be the hub for skating marathons with races on nearly every week for about a 3 month period. Races were held around city streets, beautiful lakes and through great valleys. There were thousands of participants, big crowds, top teams, cow bells and of course a party to finish. Unfortunately Biel didn't have the same atmosphere this year.

The course from previous years which ran through the city streets was changed and we were racing outside of the city in a semi industrial area. No more racing through the shopping district and people cheering you on from cafes and bars. The weather didn't help either it was around 10 degrees, the wind was chilly and there were a few showers for the earlier races.

The original course was changed before the speed men and women raced because it was deemed as being too dangerous. Below is the map. The green area was a motorway over bridge. It wasn't long, but the climb was pretty sharp. So the red section was the main issue, coming down off the bridge and turning 90 degrees left on a one lane road. So we ended up racing around the yellow rectangle which was no more than 1km a lap and fully flat.


The men and women were racing at the same time which was a bit messy around such a small circuit. I was looking forward to a harder race having to go over the bridge twice every lap, I thought that may help break the field up. Unfortunately all it takes is for one person to do something silly on a corner like that and it can bring a group of people tumbling down, so the right decision was probably made. Early on I tried quite a few attacks but was pounced on pretty rapidly. Nathalie, the Alessi team and the Ferarra team tried a couple of times and Tina had a go but no one was ever fully committed to try end the race in a breakaway. Nothing ever got to the stage where it looked serious. After about half way I decided to stop attacking. I thought if somehow I did get away with the men constantly lapping us it would be easy for the women to hop on the back. There were only one or two attempts after that.

Photos - Stephan Keel www.skate4fun.ch

After half way the race slowed right down and looked like we were in for another pack sprint finish. The last corner coming into the finish straight was a little tricky because there was a traffic island on the exit so you couldn't drift wide and then a straight run of about 400 meters to the finish. I could see teams were going to block on the final corner but there wasn't much I could do about it because the lead out started pretty early.

Nathalie and Sabine got to the front with just under one lap to go. Once they moved everyone started scrambling so I had to use a bit of energy to regain a good position. Nathalie wound the pace up with Sabine behind her and Giovanna and the Alessi team lined up behind them. I was behind the last Alessi skater and it was either Tamara or Tina behind me. Nathalie moved over just before the last corner and let Sabine go with Giovanna on her wheel. The rest of the skaters stopped at the corner so I didn't get a clean run though. By the time I got past the skaters and out of the corner Sabine and Giovanna had a bit of a gap. I caught them down the straight and tried to pass on the left but I had already used my burst to catch them and the road was narrowing. I was getting closer to the barriers, the road ahead wasn't getting any wider and my legs weren't going to move any quicker so I slotted back in behind Giovanna. Sabine won, Giovanna 2nd and myself 3rd. Full results available at datasport, click here to view.

Photo - Ferrara Inline

Even though there were plenty of break away attempts in the mens race none of them were able to stay away. One of the Alessi skaters still had a reasonable gap with about 3 or 4 laps to go but he was reeled in. Scott done a big lead out for the Powerslide team but Nayib was able to get past the whole team going into the final corner and went on to win, with a gap back to second place getter Yann.