World Cup Event, Round 3, CDM
BriefAustralian Women's Coach, James Victor writes:Australian Institute of Sport cyclist, Anna Wilson from Victoria, is closing in on a podum result after another good finish in Round 3 of the Womens World Road Cycling cup in Montreal, Canada. After 14th in Round 1, Sydney, and 11th last week in Philadelphia, Wilson sprinted confidently, overtaking the Italian 'Dream Team' train in the last 200 metres to win the 30-up bunch sprint by 3 lengths to take 5th place. Lithuanian, Diana Ziluite's consistency has finally paid off, after her 2nd place last week in Philadelphia, she moved to the top of the world cup standings with a great win in the Montreal round of the 1998 UCI World Cup. Olympic and multiple world champion and record holder, Jeannie Longo and 1996 World Road Champion, Barbara Heeb, set a tough pace on the first of 10 ascents of the famous Mont Royal in the heart of Montreal. This same circuit was used for the 1974 World Road Championships, in which Eddy Merckx won the professional mens road race, and again in 1976 for the Oympic Games road race course. Unsuccessful on the first lap, Longo was on a mission get clear of the group, repeatedly attacking and finally getting clear on lap 3, with Heeb (Switzerland) and Pocinskaite (Lithuania). Ziluite (Lithuania) powered solo across to the 1 minute gap on lap 6, taking just 1 lap to join the break, which hovered around the same time to the main peloton through to the finish. Attempts by the peloton to bring the lead back were ignited continuously, with no real organisation carried on to real the leaders in. As the race progressed, the peloton became more attritional on the difficult 1.8 km climb. In the last few laps, Lithuanian, Pochinskaite attacked the lead group to set up the counter move of team-mate, Ziluite, which worked to perfection. Once caught, Ziluite powered over the climb, to be joined only by Longo a few kilometres later. Heeb continued the chase, riding a tough and agressive race to finish 3rd just in front of Pochinskaite. A group of 30 riders sprinted to the line for 5th place, with A.I.S. rider Anna Wilson placing herself smartly on the wheel of 1997 World Road champion, Allessandra Cappellotto (Italy) in the last 3 km. Wilson took the sprint easily, with other Australians in the group, Tracey Gaudry and Kathy Watt. Barrow and Palmer struggled on the climb, and never regained the main group. Feldhahn had 'a bad day in the office' and lost contact with the main group on lap 6, finishing back with Palmer's group. Tadich has been dogged by a back injury this past week, and battled gamely to finally lose contact on lap 7, and then withdraw. World cup points leader before this race, Dede Demet ( Saturn/USA), struggled over the climb on the last 5 laps, and was continually found rejoining the main group a few kilometres later in the finish straight. The last lap saw Demet never regain before the finish, and miss out on points for this round. With Ziluite's consistent placings, and finally a well deserved win, she now takes the overall lead of the World Cup on 131 points. Wilson's places of 14th, 11th and 5th respectively, now move into 9th position with 44 points, whilst Tadich drops to 14th on 35 points. They are the only 2 Australians with World Cup points from 3 rounds. Previous leader, Demet, dropped to 2nd place overall on 96 points. From Anna WilsonHi Bill,Well we have just completed the third round of the World Cup here in Montreal. The course was 8.8km and we completed 10 laps. There was a 2 km climb every lap which sorted the field out pretty well! Longo arrived at the start line in a skin suit and with an aero helmet on so her intentions were pretty clear! The first two laps the pace was on up the climb and Barbara Heeb and Jeannie Longo were both very aggressive. On the second lap they both got away along with Edita Pukinskaite from Lithuania. With a lot of team support neutralising the bunch they hovered between 30 seconds and a minute for most of the race. The 7th time up the climb, Diana Ziliute from Lithuania was able to escape the field and she managed to bridge across to the three leaders by herself. Diana and Longo got a break of about 10 seconds the last time up the climb and were able to hold off Heeb and Edita. Diana won the sprint. Heeb won the sprint for third and I won the bunch kick to take 5th place. Not quite a podium finish but getting closer! Tracey Gaudry also had a good ride to finish with the main bunch, somewhere in the top 30. We now have 3 days until the start of the Hewlett Packard tour in Idaho so we will have some more news for you from there. From Rob Jones at Canadian CyclistDiana Ziliute (Lithuania) won a rainy third round of the UCI Women’s World Cup, topping Olympic champion Jeannie Longo (Longo-Ebly) of France in the final sprint after 88.8km.The win moves Ziliute, 22, into the overall World Cup lead after three of six events. The two riders both managed to bridge to an initial two-rider break-away of Barbara Heeb (Quebec Tour Air Transat) of Switzerland and Edita Pucinskaite (Lithuania). Heeb and Pucinskaite attacked on the third of 10 trips up Mount Royal. Longo quickly bridged to join the pair and by the end of the fifth lap, the lead was 55 seconds. Ziliute joined the lead group on the eighth lap and the additional rider helped boost the gap to 1:25. The tow Lithuanians forced the pace with Pucinskaite making an attack at the beginning of the final lap. Longo chased Pucinskaite down and the four riders were together again. Ziliute then attacked, and only Longo could follow, setting up the final sprint. Longo went first with about 1km to go, but Ziliute stayed with her until the final 30m when the Lithuanian -- second at last week’s First Union Liberty Classic -- jumped to the other side of the road and passed Longo for the win. Heeb was third, followed by Pucinskaite. Anna Wilson (Australia) won the field sprint for fifth, 1:15 behind Ziliute. The top American finisher was Pam Schuster (Saeco-Timex), in 20th place. Julie Young (Shaklee) was the only other American in the main chase pack. She finished 34th. Dede Demet (Saturn), the World Cup leader coming into the race, finished 37th, 3:09 behind. With the win, Ziliute moves into first place in the World Cup with 131 points. Demet is second with 96. The fourth round of the Women’s World Cup is the Trophee International, Aug. 9, in France. That event is just prior to the Tour Cycliste Feminin, the women’s Tour de France. Montreal, 10 laps of 8.8 kms, 88.8 kms:1. Diana Ziluite (Lit) Lithuanian National team 2.29.00 (35.75) 2. Jeannie Longo (Fra) Longo EBLY 0.02 3. Barbara Heeb (Swi)Quebec Tour team 0.23 4. Edita Puchinskaite (Lit) Lithuanian National team 5. Anna Wilson(Aus) Australian National team 1.15 6. Nadia Cristolfi (Ita) Sprint Mimosa 7. Susy Pryde (NZ) New Zealand Saeco Timex 8. Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Dutch National team 9. Catherine Marsal (Fra) Sprint Mimosa 10. Heidi Van de Vijver (Bel) Quebec Tour team 11. Vera Hohfeld (Ger) Dream Team 12. Jolanta Polikeviciute (Lit) Lithuanian National team 13. Leigh Hobson (Can) Quebec Tour team 14. Pia Sundsted (Fin) Sprint Mimosa 15. Allessandra Cappellotto (Ita) Dream Team 16. Gabrielle Pregnalato (Ita) Sprint Mimosa 17. Svetlana Samokhvalova(Rus) Russian National team 18. Rosalind Reekie-May (NZ) New Zealand National team 19. Valeria Cappellotto (Ita) Sprint Mimosa 20. Pam Schuster (USA) Saeco Timex 21. Valentina Gerassimova (Rus) Vizir Carpet Russian Roulette 22. Kathy Watt (Aus) Power Bar team 23. Zulfia Zabirova (?) Camicie 24. Line Besette (Can) Canadian National team 25. Zinajda Stagourskaia (?) Camicie 26. Linda Jackson (Can) Saeco Timex 27. Geraldine Loewenguth (?) Longo Ebly 28. Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Vizir Carpet Russian Roulette 29. Louissana Pegorabo (?) Camicie 30. Roberta Bonanoni (Ita) UC Vittorio Veneto-Mimosa Sprint 31. Meyke de Bruijn (Ned) Dutch National team 32. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Australian National team 33. Rasa Polikeviciute (Lit) Lithuanian National team 34. Julie Young (USA) Shaklee 35. Joanna Lawn (NZ) New Zealand National team 1.15 36. Zita Urbonaite (Lit) Lithuanian National team 2.55 37. Dede Demet (USA) Saturn 3.09 38. Yvonne Brunen (Ned) National team 5.38 39. Cybil Di GuistinI (Can) Elita 5.38 40. Jacinta Coleman (NZ) New Zealand National team 41. Tina Mayolo (USA) Power Bar 6.04 42. Evi Gensheimer (Ger) Longo Ebly 43. Alena Barillova (Slo) 10.13 44. Louisa Jenkins (USA) Shaklee 45. Sandra Rombouts (Ned) Dutch National team 12.13 46. Nicole Freedman (USA) Shaklee 14.01 47. Kim Palmer(Aus) Australian National team 14.09 48. Jennifer Evans (USA) Shaklee 49. Marie-Eve Mochel (?) Longo Ebly 50. Kathleen Millar (Can) 51. Cheryl Binney (USA) Shaklee 52. Anne Samplonius (Can) Quebec Tour Air Trans 53. Heather Cole (Can) Quebec Tour Air Trans 54. Melanie Nadeau (Can) Elita 55. Melanie Dorion (Can) Elita 56. Sophie St-Jacques (Can) Elita 57. Karen Kurreck (USA) Saturn 58. Heather Albert (?) Power Bar 59. Angela Hillenga (Ned) Dutch National team 60. Marie-Josee Gervais (Can) Quebec Tour Air Trans 61. Maureen Kaila Vergara (?) Shaklee 62. Annie Gariepy (Can) Elita 63. Kim Langton (Can) Elita 64. Juanita Feldhahn (Aus) Australian National team 65. Emily Robbins (USA) Saturn 14.09 66. Allyson Fox (Can) Ontario 17.27 Did not finish: Karen Barrow (Aus) Liz Tadich (Aus) Rebecca Bailey (NZ) Sarah Ulmer (NZ) Maria Hassan (NZ) |