South African Robyn de Groot says it seemed the stars were aligned for her when she won bronze at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Grachen, Switzerland, on Sunday.
The 36-year-old finished two minutes and 40 seconds behind winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of France in the elite women’s race. Slovenia’s Blaza Pintaric was second.
“It has all been a little bit of a blur. I felt extremely happy, surprised and absolute gratification after crossing the line,” said De Groot.
“I got to share [the moment] with some of the people closest to me, although for sure my family were back home and I would’ve loved for them to have been there.”
She said the best way to describe what happened was that everything came together in perfect harmony.
“I felt calm at the start, I felt calm throughout the race – even when the pressure was on – and it just felt like the stars aligned.
“My main goal for this year and the whole focus of my recovery and rehabilitation was for this event, so it was really a sweet feeling.”
Robyn de Groot won bronze at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Grachen, Switzerland, on Sunday. Photo: Robyn de Groot/Facebook
With race number 49 on her back, and knowing she had not raced enough during the year after missing key events between January and July while recovering from vascular surgery, she knew it would be tricky to work her way forward at the start.
“The pace was high and fortunately we had some climbing to do as we did the start loop and headed towards the first single-track descent.
“My start was good and I found myself hitting the first descent in a good position. I guess that was where Ferrand-Prevot and Pintaric already made a break.
“On exiting the downhill single-track in the valley I was still with a select bunch chasing the leaders. We caught up to Adelheid Morath and Ariane Luthi who were just ahead too.”
She said from there the pace remained really high as they pursued the leading riders.
“Slowly riders started to drop off and for quite some time until starting the first major climb up to Torbel there were five of us. But as we climbed this was whittled down to Morath, Elizabeth Brandau and myself.
“We mostly stayed together, with one of us dropping off from time to time as we went through various ‘bad’ patches. We all kept clawing back and fighting to stay together.
“I was also aware that should [Germans] Adel and Elizabeth race as a nation, I would need to ensure I conserved as much energy as possible so I could cope with any team tactics as we got closer to the finish line.”
De Groot said she had a really bad moment just before they started the second technical descent down to Kalpatran in the valley.
“I knew Adel and Elizabeth are XCO riders, so I had to keep chasing within my limits to avoid losing time to them.
“The support I received at the water points as a South African was touching and kept my motivation high. Also staff from other nations and riders encouraged me through, giving me time gaps to the two German riders.”
She said she kept calm and rode within herself and started to feel better as she found the energy to keep pushing through.
“I rode alone in the valley from Kalpatran to St Niklaus, which is where I saw my coach Barry [Austin] in the valley and what he said to me I will never forget.
“He shouted, ‘go Robs, close the gap – that’s the podium!’. Until that point I had thought the three of us were battling it out for fourth, fifth and sixth. I hadn’t realised it was for third, fourth and fifth.
“Immediately I closed that gap and the three of us started the long winding climb out of the valley together. I knew my coach was watching from down in the valley and I knew what a journey this had been and how hard we had worked. It was worth pushing that little bit harder.”
De Groot said nearing the end of the long climb they hit what was called “The Wall”.
“I can tell you in training and the recce I rode most of it with two brief moments of jumping off and running. But on the day that was impossible. With all the climbing in our legs, none of us could ride up it and all three of us started what felt like a portage at a snail’s pace.
“I lost a little time to Adel and Elizabeth and the two of them crested that and were on the tar road a little before me. Within the finishing loop I noticed that Elizabeth was taking strain and I knew it would be better to go to the line with just one of them from a tactical perspective, so I used the pace.
“We managed to drop Elizabeth and from then on it was Adel and me. We hit the final 5km sign. I felt calm, excited, and focused on riding as smoothly as possible.
“It was an XCO-style of trail and I knew Adel has experience in this terrain. I just followed smoothly and tried to make sure I stayed as close to her as possible.”
She added that one of the staff helping her in the race with feeding was on the trails in the last 5km and shouted to her, “this is your medal!”.
“That’s when I was sure we were now racing for the final step on the podium. Adel managed to get an eight-second gap on me as we exited onto the finishing straight on the tar road. Again I saw another one of the staff members who had been supporting me on the course in the tech zones. He shouted, ‘go, go, go!’.
“That was when I put my head down and gave absolutely everything I had to catch [her]. I just managed to go past Adelheid before the finish line. I did it – and there was my coach standing to welcome me in.”
She said it was an honour to race against such a top-rate field.
“We respect one another, we race hard, we battle it out and at the end most of the riders have become friends.”
De Groot said Ferrand-Prevot, who recently won the XCO World Championships in Mont Sainte Anne, stood out for her.
“For sure she was the favourite, but beyond that we have walked the same journey.
“We both had vascular surgery in January this year. Our coaches put so much effort into researching and planning our training leading up to our goals.
“When you can race without having a limitation due to injury that is just bliss. It brings such happiness and gratitude on a daily basis that I think we have both just really enjoyed being able to see how hard we can push ourselves. It was lovely to share the podium with her.”
De Groot said there were exciting developments ahead for the next season, but first she would return to SA for more racing.
“It has been a long while since I have been in SA, so I’m looking forward to getting my feet back on the African continent.
“Europe has been amazing. It has been my trump result and I have had a wonderful time but I do look forward to coming home to my family, friends and all who have supported my career over all these years.
“Next up is Berg & Bush with my dormakaba team and I’m looking forward to racing that with Amy McDougall. We’ll also be racing Wines2Whales and potentially a few one-day races if they fit into the calendar for the 2020 prep which starts after a little break.”
