Meridian Blue rounded out the Aussie summer season with a mission over to Aranyaprathet in Sa Kaeo privince in Thailand for the 2025 Tour of Thailand. This UCI 2.2 race is traditionally a sprinters’ event and this year the three flat stages set a similar tone.
A small team of Mia, Kirsty, Jess and Rhylee meant that we were represented by the Maltese National Champion, The NZ U23 RR National Champion and the NZ U23 ITT National Champion.
This was MBC’s first UCI graded race, with a total of 91 competitors from 14 different countries. Our goals were to be competitive in the Teams Classification and work towards stage results.
Stage 1 was hectic in weather that approached 37 degrees and over 60% humidity. The weather was not the main challenge, but rather the well organised Asian teams. The best we could place was 6th in the first intermediate sprint that we contested and then 23rd at the finish for Mia. The final 1km was chaotic and the team did well to stay upright after 5 crashes on a slippery surface that included two dips, three corners and a car park. We landed 13th on Teams Classification.
Stage 2 was less daunting with a single turn on the final 500m. Another strong showing in the intermediate sprints had Mia finishing 6th in each context, but just out of the time bonuses that would determine the final standings. The intermediate sprints were well supported in lead-outs from Kirsty, Rhylee and Jess. In a mix-up in the finale Rhylee ending up sprinting against Mia for 9th and Mia finishing in 10th. The strong finish had all riders inside the top 20, and MBC finishing 3rd on Teams Classification.
Stage 3 was held on an 8km circuit, that included a tough gravel section through narrow village streets. We had a plan to attack the peloton after the first intermediate sprint, in an effort to get some riders up the road. With an average speed of 42km/h this was always going to be hard, particularly with the focus of most teams on the bunch sprint at the end.
Despite some heroics from Kirsty and her teammates, nothing was able to stick off the front and the invetibale bunch sprint followed. On the last corner, Mia had a big body check cutting onto her line, nearly binning it and then struggling to make ground to contest the finale. All riders again finished inside the top 20, leaving MBC as the second best team on stage 3.
