Brick-by-Brick, and Cobble-by-Cobble

Cynisca Cycling and the Le Samyn des Dames

To be clear, this is not Disney, and we are not writing a Cinderella story. There is no magic, no fairy godmothers or pumpkins turning into carriages. This is Cynisca’s story, a team racing at the highest level. So, if you came here thinking that a wish can make victories happen, think again. In the world of the Europe Tour, it’s toil, sweat, and tears that make victories happen. And, in homage to their namesake, the women of Cynisca have undertaken that challenge with zeal.

This year, Cynisca was invited to participate in the Le Samyn des Dames, a UCI 1.1 held in the French-speaking Walloon Region of Belgium.

Samyn is a 122 km race starting in Quarengon before heading 20 km to a circuit that the women would lap 4 times before the finish in Dour.

The race featured 956 meters of elevation, but the real obstacle came in the form of cobbles and, even more critical, cobbled climbs. According to team captain Alexis Magner, the four cobbled sectors were a decisive element of the course, each of the four times the peloton ripped across them. Alexis emphasized that the entrance to every cobble sector was a positioning battle, “which meant that it was a constant fight to stay at the front.” The Cote de la Roquette and the Cote des Nonettes were the most critical sectors. Neither climb was punishingly long, but they would play a massive role in how the race developed, and deciding the winner.

The field included seven World Tour squads, with the out-and-out favorite being Team SD Worx and Lorena Weibes (spoiler alert, she won). Cynisca was one of ten Continental squads to take the line. Six women started for Cynisca, including the Americans— Chloe Patrick, Alexis Magner, and Tess Edwards, alongside Canadian Kaitlyn Rauwerda, Belgian super sprinter Febe Poppe, and Irish phenom Caoimhe O’Brien. With so much World Tour talent, according to Alexis, the goal was to get riders up the road and make an imprint on the race. “These races are so hard that if you don’t attempt to go up the road, it’s only a matter of time before you’re spit out the back,” she said.

Chloe Patrick came in fresh off a seventh place at the UCI 1.Pro Vuelta CV Feminas in Spain, scoring Cynisca’s top result of the year so far. Just behind her was Alexis Magner’s twelfth in the same race and fourteenth at the UCI 1.1 Clasica de Almeria. According to Chloe, “The Vuelta CV Feminas was a race that was perfectly suited to me. It was flat and fast, and the course made it easy for my teammates to shelter me. So while it was a more highly rated race (than Samyn), I knew it didn’t quite compare to the brutal nature of really any race in Belgium, so it’s hard to set expectations based on that.” After a brutal outing at Omloop het Hageland two days before, Chloe had one plan going into this race— fight till the very end.

The Walloon roads do not favor the meek in the peloton. Racing along the roads can be daunting, with many twists, sharp turns through small towns, and road furniture. In addition, the cement that makes up much of the road surface features a midline crease that, at times, is wide enough to catch a tire. For that reason, much of the race features a precarious “split peloton” with pace lines on either side of the road.

Unfortunately, riders don’t always get to pick their lines, and crashes are commonplace. Chloe credited part of her result to good luck in deftly avoiding crashes and mechanicals, as well as to good positioning. Her goal was to stay near Alexis, especially in critical moments like the climb up the Nonettes. “If I'm with Alexis, I've got my positioning down,” she said. Unfortunately, both Febe and Caoimhe would succumb to crashes and have to withdraw from the race.

Febe referred to the crash as a minor setback on her way to bigger results down the road. “Cycling is full of ups and downs, and crashing is just part of the sport. You accept that risk from day one,” she told us. Unfortunately, in a race like Samyn, because it is so fast, even a small delay due to a crash can put a rider out of contention. Thankfully, both Febe and Caoimhe are medically cleared and back to training for the next events on Cynisca’s packed European schedule.

Belgian racing is a game of centimeters, and the margin between a good move and a costly error can be razor-thin. Narrow corners leading into the cobbled climbs saw riders overcooking the entrance and running into the muddy grass alongside. In the final two circuits, the race became a constantly churning battle for position. Fortunately for us, Cynisca replaced their formerly all-white helmets with a blue livery featuring a distinctive golden laurel. The choice made it easy to spot Alexis near the front and Chloe Patrick behind her.

In these final laps the climbs up to Roquettes and Nonettes made the final selection. While the Roquettes only averages 3.6% over its 500 meter distance it served as a solid prelude to a more prolonged paved climb, and ultimately into the more challenging Nonettes, a 300-meter-long 3-star sector. “Once the sector starts, it’s just full gas and hope for the best until the top of the hill, where you can reassess a little,” Chloe opined. On the third lap up the Nonettes, a sizable field split happened. However, within minutes of cresting the top, the front group paused, and a very intentional chase welded things back together.

On the fourth and final time around the circuit, the race leaders didn’t hesitate. On the final time through the Nonettes, Alexis admitted that she was not quite where she wanted to be in the front of the group. She was also hampered by cramping after well over 100 km of intense racing and couldn’t make the final elite selection. Alexis would finish just 26 seconds down on the winner, and Chloe would make it to the line just over 2 minutes back.

Remember, this is not Disney. This is reality. There was no fairytale ending for Cynisca this time around, but the result was encouraging nonetheless. Ryan was less than 30 seconds from the win in a world-class field, on the very cusp of the type of result that Cynisca is hunting for. A few positions and a handful of watts at the critical moments are all that stand in the way of a coveted win or even a spot on the podium. As Alexis explained, “Each one of these race experiences is a building block . . . Take what you learned, make a brick, and add it to your structure. The key is to be patient and keep trying. Keep showing up.”