As my website has a brand new design now, I will also do something for my english speaking fans and friends! I try to publish regulary the news about racing, training and other stuff in this place!!

Have fun!





Chur-Arosa
Normally I had a race in Holland on my schedule. But my team allowed me instead, to race the mountain race Chur-Arosa. A 30km uphill race made more sense for me, as a flat 130km race on the dikes in Holland :-)
Like always, all the categories started together into this race. I found myself in a good group with some elite riders and we had a nice pace. I won the women's race just ahead of my team mate Emma Pooley, third got a triathlete. It was again a good training in the Swiss mountains, but it seems the snow will be back soon up there.....


Selection for World's



Yesterday, Swiss Cycling announced the selections for the World Championships in Australia.
I will race in the Time trial (29.09.) and also in the Road race (02.10.).
I'm really looking forward to this event in Melbourne (Geelong)!

http://www.cycling.ch/de/strasse/news/1088.html

 

 

Interview with Bikepure
Interview with Bikepure (in english)
http://bikepure.org/2010/08/patricia-schwager-cervelo/

 

Route de France
I never did this race before. The 7 days stage race went across France from the west to the east. The race started in the Bretagne with a 6km prologue. After, we had 3 mostly flat stages. On day Nr. 5 we had a 24km time trial on a quite hilly and hard course. I finished 11th and was very happy with my performance. The last 2 stages were more difficult because we raced trough the Vogesen. Unfortunately 2 of my team mates had to give up the race on the third race day. All the rest of the tour we raced with a team of 4. It  was still a successful tour for us. Sarah won the prologue, Lizzie the last stage and also the jersey of the best young rider.


Swiss Mountain Champion!
The race was held in Montfaucon (region of Jura) on the same parcours like last year. As usually the race was splitted in 2 parts. The first race was over 22km. We set a good pace from the start and on top of the first mountain only 1 girl was left on my wheel. On the second, longer mountain I dropped her and came into the finish with an advantage of 35s.
The second race was a pursuit race over 8km. The starting order was the same like we finished the first race. I started first, after 35s the girl behind me followed and so on. I found a good rhythm and went fullgas. In the end I won with an advantage of 1min 11s, Jennifer Hohl (Bigla Cyclingteam) was second and my teammate Emilie Aubry finished third.
Finally I also won a Swiss champion title in this season, after I failed in the TT and RR one month ago.
Of course I'm happy with my win! And it suited perfect to the 1.August, or how can you celebrate better a Swiss national day than in a Swiss champion jersey?? :-)


Giro Donne
It was the hardest Giro ever....My job in this race was to support our leaders as much as possible. The 10 days race started in Muggia (Trieste). The first 4 stages were all flat and ended up every day in a bunch sprint. The TT was also completely flat with only a few corners, a perfect full speed course for the big girls ;-) From the flat, we went directly to the hard mountain stages. The two hardest ones were: Chiavenna - Maloja - Bernina - Forcola di Livigno - Livigno and the following day from Livigno - Passo d'Eira - Passo di Foscagno - Stelvio. The last stage around Monza was flat again. The weather was really hot the whole race, summer pure!! Unfortunately the luck wasn't with us in this race. At the second day we lost 2 riders in a big crash. Sharon broke he collarbone and Lieselot had to leave the race with a concussion. Only 6 riders left and it's a big difference, we really missed them. We did our best; unfortunately we had no victory but a lot of top places.
Now I will enjoy a few easy days without my bike.....


RR Nationals
The nationals road race went over 6 laps (118.2km). Two black Cervélos against 2 big teams in white....and of course everybody was watching us. Obviously nobody really wanted to do something for the race. The slightly hilly course wasn't hard and there was also no wind. Emilie and I attacked with a one-on-one tactic to create a breakaway. Two times I was in a good breakaway. But both times they caught us back. Very often, the 2 big teams closed gaps while having own riders in the break.....I don't have a lot of comments about this, it's just super stupid!!!!
With only a few kilometers to go, Emilie and 2 other riders had a small gap. I let them go, knowing that Emilie is always fast in the sprint. And she did it!! I attacked the last time with 1km to go, but the bunch caught me back also this time. But I don't have to blame myself; I tried everything and showed a very active race. Of course I'm very happy with the victory of my teammate Emilie!
I'm really looking forward to the Giro Donne, back to real racing!


TT Nationals
The TT course was 21.7km long and hilly. I was the last rider in the starting order. There was only one goal for me today and I gave everything! In the finish my time was beaten by just 0.45s.......unbelievable!! Of course I'm super disappointed, again second! It's hard to say what went wrong exactly. For sure, I hadn't my best day and also my cold last week wasn't good for the preparation. I just hope I will have more luck on Saturday!
But no worries, I will come again next year! Bring it on!!!!!!


Trentino
Unfortunately, I got a cold just 2 days before the start of the 3 days stage race. Not the best preparation of course....but the Giro del Trentino is one of my favourite races!
In the first stage we had to climb the Mendelpass, a long mountain with also a long downhill after. Emma attacked and went solo to the stage win. I was in a group of 20 on top of the Mendelpass. In the downhill I went pretty fast and ended up in a group of seven. I finished 7th in this stage. Stage 2 had a mountain right after the start. The rest was nearly flat but racing through a thunderstorm and heavy rain kept us busy. It came to a bunch sprint and I moved to 6th in GC before the final stage. The last stage was hard and it was even harder due to the bad weather conditions. It was raining hard and it was cold with a temperature about 10°C.....if this is the summer of 2010, then something is really wrong!! I couldn't follow the pace, when Judith Arndt attacked on the mountain and formed a group of 12. My good place in GC was gone.....Bummer!! It made no sense for me to finish the race like this and so I took the shortest way to the hotel. Good recovery is now important for the upcoming races. We showed great team work in the Trentino, Emma won the GC!


Emakumeen Bira or the race in the rain
The 4 days race in the Bascue Country is a very nice race. But this year it wasn't so beautiful, because it was raining every day. It looks like the summer has forgotten this part of Spain....
Our goal was clear: Claudi wanted to win the GC and for this we needed good team work! Unfortunately we lost Lizzie after two days due to a crash. From there on, we had to race with only 5 riders. Get well soon Lizzie! In the last stage Claudi showed a super performance on won the GC of the stage race, Wow!!
My highlight was stage 3b, a mountain TT over 6km. I finished that stage in 10th spot and was very happy with this result.


Durango
The one day race was a preparation for the upcoming stage race. It happened not so much in the 4 laps at the beginning of the race. There were a few attacks, I also tried it, but there was no breakaway. The 2 long mountains at the end of the race had to bring the decision. Over the first mountain I was at the front. After I tried to go in a breakaway but that didn't worked out. On the last mountain I could not keep the pace of the Top Ten riders. I was in the group just behind them. With 1km to go, I attacked but the group caught me back.....place 24. for me.


Worldcup Valladolid
The worldcup race Nr. 6 this season took place in Valladolid (Spain). The course was kind of boring; except the 2 final laps and a mountain. Mostly it was a wide road, sometimes a little hilly and only a few turns. The race went like we have had planned. Lotte was in a 3 riders breakaway and won the race! Super for our Team!


Race weekend in Switzerland and Germany
At the weekend of Pentecost I did 2 races. The first race was a national time trial in Estavayer (Switzerland). It wasn't a big competition but the 13km TT was a good test for myself. I won the TT, my teammate Emilie was 2. and 3rd got Shannon Koch (bikeimport.ch).
The next day I raced in Merdingen (Germany). From our team were 3 girls in the race (Sarah, Emilie and I). 7 laps (84km) were on the program. Our goal was to have an animated race. And so we made it like this: in the 2. lap we made a fast pace up the mountain and like this we had a group of 15 riders. After all the riders saw that they better had to work with us, the group worked well. Two laps later we rode up the mountain again a little bit faster and the front group became smaller (6 riders). Sarah and I were also in this group. In the last lap we were only 4 riders left. In the fight for the victory our group splitted up in 2 and 2. Sarah won the race ahead of Pia Sundstedt. I lost the sprint against Jennifer Hohl for 3rd and became 4th. But we did a lot for the race and that's very important for me.


Training race at Cham
Because my program changed once again, I race for training reasons the national race in Cham. It was a typical Swiss race, I showed an active race but it ended up in a spint behind the Lithuanian solo winner. I'm glad I don't have a lot of these national races in my program.
After the race, I rode with my bike back home. At least it was a good training day!


America
Because I wanted to ride a stage race in May, I travelled to America (Arkansas). I started in a composite team at the four days Joe Martin Stage Race.
The first stage was a 4km mountain- time trial. Due to problems with my bike (my bike was too light) I nearly missed my start.....only 1 second after my start time I sat on the bike! I finished in 10th spot. The next two race days were 103km and 113km long. Both stages had mountains in the profile and the race was very similar. There were a lot of attacks and groups during the race but both ended up in a bunch sprint. The last stage was a criterium. We had to race 1 hour on a 2.3 km course. The lap had 12! corners and up to the finish was a steep hill. A real American race! :-)
It was fast from the beginning and very soon, the bunch was splitted up in several groups. Unfortunately I missed the first group. I finished the stage race as 25th. 
But it was worth to come over for this race, I'm happy to have this stage race in my legs. A big thank you goes to our host family! Thanks Jon, Sandra&the girls for your great support during the race week!


GP de Suisse Magali Pache
The first Time Trial this year....and I was very motivated for it! It gives even more motivation, as we ride on the super fast P4 TT bikes this season. The course was 23, 4km long and identically with the 3rd stage of the Tour de Romandie. The lap around Moudon was hard, right after the start there was a mountain of 4km on the profile. After it went up and down all the time, the last part was a fast downhill back to the finish. I fnished 7th and I'm happy with this good result. My special TT-training is paying off already! Way to go!! :-)


Borsele/ Roeselare
The last time for a while, there were again 2 races in Holland and Belgium on my program. On Saturday I did the race Omloop van Borsele. A typical flat, Dutch race with a lof of wind. Already after 10km we started our team work and the whole bunch was broken. A group of 16 riders went away. They made it to the finish, despite never having a very big gap. There was a lot of work in the peloton to control all the attacks. Kirsten won the race!
The race on Sunday was in Roeselare (Belgium). A 136km race with hills, twice we had to climb the famous Kemmelberg a steep mountain with cobbles. But the hills were too early in the race, so the peloton came together again. At race kilometre 80 I went in a breakaway with 2 other riders. The bunch caught us back 1.5km before the finish line. Kirsten won the bunch sprint. Our team showed very good team work in these two races.


Günzach
Because I live not so far from the Allgäu and it fitted well in my race schedule I started at this race. It's also the home race from my team mate Sarah and she was happy to have some support. The race was held on a hilly lap. The race distance was 102km, so we had to ride 11 laps. I was in many groups in the first half ot the race, but they never succeeded to stay away. Then Sarah and Trixi Worrack went away and this break was good. After that, the speed in the bunch was slow. Sarah won the race! Due to the cold conditions I had cramps in the second last and last lap. But I finished as 16th.


Drentse 8
With 141km it was one of the longest races of the whole season. But the race course here in Drenthe is totally flat. Like always the race was very fast. As we raced without sprinter in our team, we had to be active. I did a few attacks and we also tried to break the bunch with the use of our team strenght. But the sprinter teams controlled everything. In the last lap, the bunch was splitted up into several groups. In the first group were 11 riders, including 3 of our team. This group went till the finish. I finished in the next group, which was very close behind.
For now I've seen enough flat roads....and I'm looking forward to ride some real mountains soon ;-)


Races in Belgium
I did 2 races in Belgium. The first race on the program was on Easter Saturday. We started with 4 riders from our team. It was just a national race, but a good (race) training to get some speed in the legs and for testing our teamwork.
I didn't race in Flanders at the next day. As I don't feel so much at home on the cobbles, I wasn't super sad about that. ;-)
On Easter Monday we did the race in Dottignies. We worked really well together as a team. Kirsten won the race in the bunch sprint. We all were very happy with this race day.


Worldcup Alfredo Binda
We made the final preparation for the first world cup race of the season in the area around Varese. The course of the race was different for this year. With the long mountain only once in the profile, we had 2 new, short laps at the beginning of the race; each with a steep hill. Afterwards we raced 4 of the usual hilly laps. The race was fast and after half of the distance, the bunch was much smaller. The "right" breakaway was also already gone. Two of my teammates were in there; unfortunately we had no podium place at the end. I did my job for the team and finished in the bunch. Due to my healt problems ahead of the race where I had to take anitbiotics, I was happy with my performance.
Next stop is Belgium.....!


Race weekend in Belgium and Brainbike Florida
The week after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad I stayed in Belgium. It was a week with real Belgian training, thanks to my teammate Lieselot! :-)
To complete the Belgium week I did 2 races at the weekend. In the race of Saturday I was very active. In the final I was in a breakaway which went for the 3rd place. It was very close; I just tried a little too early and became 5th. In the race on Sunday I finished in the bunch. It was already freezing cold on Saturday but on Sunday I felt really cold and I had to fight to finish the race.
But now I'm in Florida where it's warm. The Brainbike event there from Cervélo is again a very good experience!
Finally I will go back home next week.....I hope the snow is gone by then!


Training camp and start of the race season
To have a good preparation for the classic race Omloop Het Nieuwsblad we stayed 1 week in Mallorca. Thanks to the nice weather we had 7 days of good training. From Mallorca we travelled directly to Belgium. To adapt to the harsh weather conditions of the north, we did there 2 more trainings. The race than was 125km long and very similar to the Tour of Flanders. That means short, steep climbs and loads of cobbles. I finished my first race of the season in a big group as 56. That was ok for me, it's only end of February and races like this are not made for me....
This year unfortunately, the international race schedule looks very slim for March. To make the best out of this situation, I'm staying 1 week longer in Belgium. Like this I can do 2 more races. That I don't get bored afterwards, I will fly to Florida for 1 week. But not for holidays or Disneyland, no; I have to go there for a sponsor event from my team.
But I'm really looking forward to the start of the real race season!!


Brainbike
On my schedule were again 2 weeks in Portugal. This time not only for training, we also had a special job to do: Brainbike. Like every year, Cervélo dealers from Europe met for their meeting. Thereby the dealers also could ride and test several Cervélo bikes. We had to ride with them on this rides. A new experience, it was fun but we also found out that the life of a bike guide isn't always that easy. :-)
Now I'm again back home for 3 days. It's still cold winter here and so I'm very glad that we will go for another team training camp to Mallorca. My first race of the season will be in Belgium at the 27. February. I hope by then it will be less icy and snowy weather!!


Cervélo Test Team Training Camp
Like Last year, the whole team met for a 2 week training camp at the coast of Algarve. Next to the training, we also had a few meetings with our sponsors. They gave us a lot of information's about the material that we will use. A very important point in the schedule was the team presentation. We will have 5 new riders in the women's team for 2010 and our sports director is also new in the team.
A special experience was the éRide, an easy training ride together with our sponsors and the media. Despite the rainy weather it was a successful event!
Now I'm back home in the snow for a few days. Fortunately I will leave soon again to the south!


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!






Tenerife
The next 10 days I am in Tenerife. I can do my training here in nice weather, together with a part of the Cervélo Test Team. The timing for this training camp is perfect, because right now it's real winter in Switzerland. Of course I will be at home to celebrate Christmas and New Year.


Wintertraining
Since the beginning of November I'm back in the training. The mild weather is perfect for the rides on my roadbike. Of course I'm also doing my training in the gym of my sponsor Gymnastica Fitness Aadorf. But there are also some different activities on my training schedule. The first team meeting for 2010 took place at the last weekend.
I'm looking forward to the next season, where I will ride in the jersey of the Cervélo Test Team again.

 

 

There is only one race left in the 2009 season….the World's in Mendrisio. For me it's a very special race, because we will race in my home country! I hope for a good race with a lot of spectators and a great vibe! My final preparation is on and of course I also will check the course. It will be a very hard race because we have to do 9 laps (124.2 km), the start will be at 9 AM! If you are not able to come and see the race in the south of Switzerland, watch it on TV! Eurosport will send it from 9.30 AM!


From summer to autum
In August, my focus was on good training. I raced Holland hills classic, which was a pretty good race for me, our team showed there a very active competition. The week after I had a cold…..which was not really planned. Due to this, I had to cancel the two Swiss races which I had on my plan for the following weekend. Luckily the cold was gone fast also due to the very hot and nice weather conditions in Switzerland. Next stop was in the Bretagne for the World cup race in Plouay. We made a hard race and our Emma won the race, super! After another week at home, September begun and I left for Holland. For me this is always the border from summer to autumn…..and of course it's also the start to the final part of the season. The Holland Ladies Tour will never be one of my favourite races……it's just too flat and windy for me. But of course I did my job for the team there and it was also a good preparation for the World's. One week later, the last race with the Cervélo Test Team for this season came up with the final World cup in Nürnberg. We controlled the whole race, our team did a perfect job. Kirsten won the bunch sprint and we were all super happy! It was a great day anyway, because we also won the final classification for teams in the World cup 2009! Wow!
 

 

Swiss Mountain Champion!
The Swiss Mountain Championships was my first race after the Giro.

The race was split into two parts. A hard 22km race in the morning with a finish on top of a mountain and in the afternoon a pursuit race up the same hard mountain over 8km again.

In the morning race we attacked in the only downhill in the course and could start the last mountain with a time advantage. So I finished 40 seconds ahead of my team mate Emilie and 1min12 over third placed Sereina Trachsel. In the afternoon it was hard but I used the chance to gain more time over my rivals. With our super light bike it was a feeling like flying up there. In the end I won 1min29 in front of my team mate Emilie and 3min02 ahead of third placed Sereina Trachsel.

A good start back to racing for me! The trainingcamp in the Vosges with my Belgium team mate Lieselot and her friends was a perfect preparation! Dank je wel! ;-)


 

Summertime
It's been a while since my last update! I did a lot of races in the last weeks. After a short break to recover from Tour de l'Aude, I started racing again. First stop was in the Basque country for the Durango-Durango and Emakumeen Bira races. After that we went to the north of Italy to participate at the Giro del Trentino; one of my favourite races. Unfortunately the Giro del Trentino was this year only a short race of 2 days, but I felt good and finished 14^th.

It was time for the nationals! First the time trial and 3 days later the road race. In the TT I finished second behind Karin Thürig. I was very happy with the silver medal! The RR was not a very hard course and a strange race like always at nationals. It ended up in a sprint, without medal for us.

Then, the Giro was calling, and I looked forward to go to Italy! 10 days of racing with many transfers and lots of stories, it would be possible to write a book about all this…

It was always very hot and our slogan of the tour was "the more hot the more happy"! Our team was very strong and except for 2 days we kept the maglia rosa always in our team.

But it also needed a lot of work to defend the leader position. For this I went "easy" in the TT to save my energy for the other stages. It was great to bring the Maglia Rosa save to the finish after 10 long and hard days! A super victory for Claudia but sure it's a victory for our team too. I was also satisfied with my performance because I could work a lot for my team and was still able to finish 34^th in GC.

 

 

Joining Bike Pure!
Since a short time, I'm a member of Bike Pure. Bike Pure is a non-profit cycling organisation for riders, teams and fans taking a stand against Doping in cycling.

Why I joined Bike Pure? We have 100% the same opinion: no Doping!

In the fight against Doping, we must to set signs. Bike Pure is a clear sign for a clean cycling sport!! Have a look on www.bikepure.org

 

Time Trial GP de Suisse
As some of our team riders are out of competition (due to illness and crashes) we had to change the race program. I received a call 1 week before the race, that I have to participate in the international time trial GP de Suisse. Our mechanic had to hurry up building up a TT-bike for me. Cervélo engineer Damon came to check and optimize the positions we have on our TT-bikes. This was very helpful and really interesting! The published profile of the TT-course showed not really the truth. After testing the course we knew: these are going to be hard 15 kilometres. The first part was mostly uphill, the second part downhill. The time trial was very well organized as they used all the infrastructure of the Tour de Romandie. The Pros did later on a Team time trial which was stage number 3 for them. The first part I did very well, in the second part I lost some time. The strong crosswind was not so comfortable in the downhill. My time was good enough to finish 8th. For sure, this is a good result, also because I only did 2 trainings on my new, fast Cervélo P3. Now I know that there is still room for improvements!!

 

Easter in Holland
Instead of eating chocolate eggs or having a big Easter brunch, I did three races in Holland over Easter. If you have ever been in the area of Drenthe you know: it's flat, windy and they have some nice (and also bad) cobbles there and all looks a bit similar. In fact I forgot that there is one mountain! Not a natural one (no joke!!) but it's still challenging. To climb up the "rubbish hill" you need the small chainring in front! It's a short, narrow road with a gradient of 23% and some sheep's next to the road up there. With 140km distance, all 3 races were long. This races in Holland are not my favourite races and so I worked for my team. It is a great feeling to do my job for the success of our team!! In the first race, our sprinter Kirsten finished third, the second race was just a training for the upcoming Worldcup. The Worldcup was a hard and nervous race, with a lot of crashes. Sarah became fourth after making the final breakaway.

As I like Holland so much, I stayed the 4 days between those races and the next one at the house of my dutch teammate Kirsten.

Finally I found out: Holland can be also very nice!! :-)

Back at home I will enjoy now a piece of my Easter chocolate! Mmmhhh!

 

What happened already in the new season?
The year started with the team trainingcamp in Portugal. The 2 weeks there were great; it was very interesting to meet all the other riders, the staff members and sponsors. We also got a lot of information about the material we will use.

A very important point on the schedule was our team presentation!

After a few days at home, the first race of the season took place: the Ladies Tour of Qatar. It was the first Tour of Qatar for women cycling ever. How to describe the race there?

Sand, flat terrain, wind (uhhh…..lots of wind!), camels, a very nice hotel and also a different culture.

All in all a new but pretty cool experience for us. We won the tour with our sprinter Kirsten, a very good start in the new season for our team!

From the desert we went back home and straight after down to Tuscany. I like the area there very much. It's a great place for training, not a lot of traffic, good weather and of course the yummy Italian food! Perfect to work hard on our shape for 3 weeks!

At the end of this camp we raced the GP Brissago in the south of Switzerland. I felt good and finished the race as 11th. Ten days at home and Tuscany called again, but this time for racing! GP Costa Etrusca, three one day-races in a row, on the roads we knew very well from the trainingcamp before. All our team members raced strong and so we won the first and second race. It's a great feeling to control the race like we did there and to know we are the best team!!

Now I'm back home in Switzerland and in training for the upcoming races. I just hope the springtime is also coming to Switzerland very soon! I would say we had more than enough snow and cold for this winter isn't it??

Till next time!

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