After taking one for the team at the Canada Summer Games, Sudbury native Emily Marcolini was more than slightly thrilled to hog the top of the podium, all to herself, at the "Bike the Bruce Time Trial" Provincial Championships last week.
Competing in the Elite Women division, Marcolini covered the 30 km course in a time of 42:05, 34 seconds better than second place finisher Lindsay Sferrazza from Toronto.
Back in action just a few weeks after participating in the Summer Games, Marcolini was anxious to build on her performance in Winnipeg, one which would see her finish seventh in the time trial, 14th in the road race, and 10th in the criterium.
"In the road race and the criterium, I was riding as a support person for my one teammate, Katherine Maine, who actually ended up winning silver and bronze," Marcolini said.
"We were super fortunate with the team that had been selected for Team Ontario. We all ended up clicking really well. We knew that Katherine was the strongest and most experienced rider of the five of us, she was the one who had the best shot at a medal. It was very easy for us to make a plan around that and execute it."
That plan, however, would not go uncontested by rival provinces. "Other teams, in particular Quebec at this race, they were launching attack after attack after attack," said Marcolini.
"We would have one rider at the front and they would chase her down. They would bring her back and our next person would go. They were definitely the team to watch."
While there may have been plenty of motivation for the local cyclist heading into provincials, others factors were not exactly lining up in favour of the graduate of St. Benedict Secondary School.
"I got back from Summer Games, hadn't been feeling that great, and really didn't decide I was going to this race until about two days before," Marcolini confessed. Thankfully, her base of training over the course of the past several months served her well.
"I knew that I was likely going to podium, but I didn't think I was going to win," she said. "When I looked at it, on paper, I thought I would be third. The first five kilometers, I rode fairly conservatively, but I kept feeling better and better as the race went on, so I kept pushing harder and harder."
"I did not expect my time to be as fast a time as it was," Marcolini said. "I usually struggle to break 40 km/hour in time trials, and my average speed was 42.8 (km/hour) in this one."
Looking ahead, the former OCAA cross-country champion will tackle the Green Mountain Stage Race next, travelling to Vermont and competing from Sept. 1 - 4.
She has been entered as a "guest rider" with NCCH (National Cycling Centre Hamilton), a development team that wanted to enter a squad of U23 cyclists.
