Tasmanian cyclist Amy Cure has revealed how a tearful heart-to-heart helped salvage last year’s team pursuit Olympic campaign.
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Cure was among the riders injured in a high-speed training crash just three days out from competition in Rio de Janeiro.
In a blog for her new road team Wiggle High5, the West Pine 24-year-old explained that the 60km/h crash left three of the team battling from hematomas, bruises and a lot of missing skin.
Qualifying in an impressive third place gave the team a valuable rest day before a loss to the US denied them a medal chance.
“This was a massive blow to all of us,” Cure said. “We had come so far and now the chances of standing on that podium were not possible.
“I could feel the pain from every member in the team. It was really hard to deal with. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew our fighting spirit was not about to be over. We had one more round to go to battle it out for fifth or sixth position.”
Cure said the tight-knit team of fellow Tasmanian Georgia Baker, South Australian Annette Edmondson, West Australian Mel Hoskins and Ashlee Ankudinoff, of NSW, regrouped in the village.
“I knew I had to say something. Everyone was so upset. I pulled the girls together to have a chat. I didn’t know what I was going to say until it came out of my mouth.”
Cure said she told her teammates: “We have sacrificed so much in our lives to be here, we have been here for each other when we’re having a bad day. Sometimes it’s more about the journey than the end result, what has happened sucks a lot, but let’s go out there, keep our heads high, and finish off what we started.”
The multiple track world champion added: “I did not know what to expect but there were a lot of tears from us all. I think it was what the team needed at the time. We were all sad about what went wrong and we needed to focus more on what was still to come. We ended up coming home with that fifth place.”
Cure bounced back from the disappointment by getting engaged to Belgian cycling physio Anthony Pauwels, signing a two-year road contract and winning a bag of medals at the Oceania and national omnium titles.
Having ridden the women’s Tour Down Under in Adelaide and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong, Cure is in Adelaide training for upcoming track world cups in Columbia and Los Angeles before the track world championships in Hong Kong in April and Tour of California in May.