Belgian UCI races, 13-20 Aug 2023

This trip was the first time I was going out to race with Torelli. I had planned to do 3 UCI races and some kermesse but that wasn't to be. Within an hour of arriving at the team house I began to notice my lips going numb and starting to swell. I was due to go race a kermesse that evening but when I arrived at the race my face had swelled more so I decided to head to the chemist instead. They gave me anti histamines and told me to take one a day until the swelling went down. I sat out of this race as I knew it wasn't worth risking it and there was another one the day after. Except I wouldn't make it to that either. I woke up just after midnight not being able to feel my hands, which had swelled along with my face. I could barely open my eyes and my lips were very swollen. I was also covered in a red rash. I began to feel faint so I got taken to hospital. They confirmed it was an allergic reaction and quickly put antihistamines through an IV. Once the swelling and rash had gone I got discharged with an epipen. By this point I had also missed the second race I was due to do which would mean I'd be going straight into a UCI race. 

Grote Prijs Yvonne Reynders soon came around and whilst I didn't feel 100% ready I was looking forward to being back in the pro peloton. The race got underway and it was quite hectic. The roads were narrow and there were lots of corners. Positioning was key and for the first lap I got it pretty good but on the second lap I began losing a couple of positions out of the corners as I was lacking some of that kick. I found myself out of position and caught behind a crash. After a long chase through the convoy I managed to get back in. I began moving back up through the peloton and was then caught behind another crash. This time I was stopped for a little longer and despite working with a small group we never made it back to the peloton and unfortunately it was a DNF for me. Despite this there were still plenty of positives to take away from the race. 

After this race I moved out of the team house which seemed to calm down my allergic reaction. The days leading up to Konvert Koerse were fairly straightforward. There was only one occasion of a slight rash and a little bit of swelling. We got to the race and signed on then went to ride the first part of the course for a warm up. There were plenty of corners and narrow roads, so I was a little bit apprehensive how the legs would do after the last race. There was also a section of cobbles noted in the race manual, this also made me have questions as I hadn't raced with my hand pain free on cobbles for several years after my earlier injury.  

The race began neutralised and I managed to move up to the front which put me in a good position for the first section of narrow roads. We then got to the cobbled section on the big lap and to my surprise my hand didn't have any discomfort. For the rest of the big laps I had good positioning and was comfortable in the bunch. It was a really hot day and by the time we got to the local laps this started to catch up with me. The pace also picked up as the lap was quite short and most of the roads were narrow. I noticed myself starting to slip back but I desperately wanted to finish as I hadn't finished a UCI race since 2021. On the only wide road I moved up on the outside with some girls from Cofidis. We then came round to get the bell and from this point I was just hanging on in there the best I could. I ended up finishing in the main bunch in 64th place.

There wasn't much time to recover as it was go time again the day after in GP Oetigen. My legs were pretty gubbed from the day prior and I hadn't slept well so I had low expectations for this race. I was given a job early on in the race to help a team mate through the bunch and set her up for an attack. I got my job done and then just hung in there as long as I could which wasn't very long at all. I began slipping backwards up the cobbled climb and then fully lost touch up the main climb on the course. I was surprised to find myself in good company at this point with some top riders but the cut off wasn't long at all and we were quickly pulled out of the race.  It was another DNF, but I can be pleased as when I went to this race in 2022 I couldn't even start because the cobbles caused too much pain to my hand. 

Despite the drama and DNF's, I enjoyed my little trip to Belgium and hope I can make more trips out there next season.

Kim Baptista