“I was really looking forward to this race,” said Evelyn. “Its an excellent course with some great technical sections, some wide open sections where the wind played a big part and quite a lot of climbing.

“It was the longest time trial I’ve ever done which was really good for me to experience, and the fact that it finished at the top of a really hard climb suited me perfectly.

The race was a battle between Stevens and NOW Novartis rider Alison Powers who started 30 seconds behind Stevens. Being a powerful rider and a former downhill skier, Powers made her move on the technical descent and was able to catch Evelyn mid way through the course. The terrain and a battle of wills saw a cat and mouse battle between the two all the way to the base of the climb.

“I had a feeling she was going to make some time on me early in the race and I knew i had to stay patient and stick to our plan. We had been over the course and the plan quite a few times in the days leading into the race and I knew I had to keep my pace up to the climb and then give everything on the climb.

“It was exciting to have that battle and great to race in front of a great crowd in California.”

Next up for Evie are the National Championships next week in Chattanooga.

The first 10 days after the crash passed fairly fast as I was so out of it that I pretty much slept 18h a day and for the short periods I was awake I mainly sat in a dark room with no noise around me as I was just not able to handle anything else. At least I had good company from Sophie during this time as she guarded my bed like never before. I guess that was a sign that I was in pretty bad shape and she felt it.

I tried to get on the bike about 10 days after the crash to see where I stand but had to realize that I wasn’t able to even roll around the field. I got nauseous and my eyes could just not handle the speed so I went back home into the cave to recover from 30min outside. I was able to take the dogs on some walks and those walks pretty much kept me sane during the 5 weeks after the crash. I am pretty good at resting during the season but this injury is for sure testing me as I wasn’t even able to watch TV, be on the computer or be social in public…..everything seemed to be to much to handle in one way or another and as I heard so many horror stories about concussion I thought the best way to get better is to really stay away from it all and hoping I make it back quicker because of it!

I have gotten better over the past weeks but being on the bike right now is not called riding in my definition. I pretty roll around and reaching 2h last weeks was a little victory for me. Pretty scary to say that this was huge as I feel so far away from the days when I was an athlete.

Being in Sea Otter was for sure good for my mind as it meant I could be around bike riders and soak in the vibe. I although felt a bit more alive as the days were busier then in the past weeks but they again made me realize I am not good yet as I had some relapse in symptoms from using my “little” brain a bit to much.  In those moments I do have to remind myself of  how lucky I am that I was able to walk away from that crash as the TV footage shows me more dead then alive on the ground. It does put this long road of recovery in perspective.

I am really appreciative of all the support the team and the girls have given me as I know I would probably have hit the wall harder without them or I would have started to early and putting myself in danger health wise.  Outside support has poured in as well and I am grateful for every little bit as it just helps staying PATIENT.

I will be meeting a concussion specialist tomorrow here in the Bay Area and have some more input on where I stand and on how much exercise I can actually built into the next weeks. Hopefully I might be able to get a bit more off a time line as that will make it easier to be PATIENT. I would say the no time line on this injury has been the hardest part of it. It is ok to rest and get better but not knowing when I will be better is rough.

Discussion about who is going to win Fleche is always based around who will have that final kick in the final 250m. “The longest 250m of your life” as Evie told me last week. Described by Gilbert as the toughest finish to any one day classic, the Mur de Huy is one tough, steep sucker. Therefore when the whips are cracking at the end of the race, the climbers are the ones left to contest the final 1.3km ascent up the Huy to the finish line where victory awaits. Last year’s finish was quite possibly one of the most exciting, nail biting finishes in the history of the women’s Fleche edition. Could Evie beat Vos, the 4 time winner, always seeming to power away with 200m to go from her rivals? Sure enough, Evie proved the better opponent on the day, out foxing Vos and blasting past the Dutch woman with 100m to go. I get chills every time I watch the YouTube clip, truly inspiring stuff. It proved to others out there, Vos can be beaten.

With the absence of 2012 Fleche Wallone Champion Evie, the team went in to the race with “no real climbing specialists”. I beg to differ, seeing though Ellen pulled off a 6^th and Lisa 12^th, that’s a pretty damn good result for a couple of non climbers in my opinion. So for me, a non climber, Fleche is not a race I anticipated doing for a few years, but when you get the call up for such a prestigious event, you get excited! It was either up or down for the 65km circuit, with no real reprieve. Particularly if you’re tailgating after the climbs, you have to push that extra bit harder to maintain contact and push straight back to the front awaiting more attacks. My SRM file from the race was an indicator of how tough the race was, with 6 climbs per lap equating to a total of 1700m of climbing.  Probably explains why I woke up 50 minutes before my alarm this morning from pure hunger!

So we move on from our amazing hotel during Fleche, (possibly with the best buffet EVER, I mean EVER) back across the border to Holland to race the Borsele time trial and road race this weekend. I hope to return to Fleche again one day, more experienced, smarter and stronger, hopefully alongside the likes of Evie, to win back her title!

In an exciting race marred with early crashes but raced aggressively from beginning to end, Van Dijk made the four person break which escaped over the top of the Kwaremont. With the break including Vos from Rabobank, Emma Johansson from Orica-GreenEdge and Elisa Longo-Borghini (Hi-Tec) the four were able to extend their lead on the Paterberg and ride to the finish with over 1’30″ on the chasing groups.

Despite much attacking in the final 5km, the group came to the line for a sprint which Vos took from Van Dijk and Johansson.

“It was a great race,” said Van Dijk. “Of course it’s always frustrating when you come second but we tried everything we could to get away from Marianne. She just has that little kick that makes it impossible to escape from her.

“I’m really pleased with the way things are going this year and today my team-mates were amazing. I really didn’t have to do a thing before the Kwaremont, so that helped a lot.”

The team now head up to Groningen in Holland for Energiewacht Tour and a group in America will race Redlands.