Women's Elite World Cup, Round 3

Primavera Rosa

Italy, March 20, 1999

Main Index     Results     Report     Standings    

The World Cup Schedule

  • Round 1, March 7, Canberra (Australia)
  • Round 2, March 14, Hamilton City World Cup (NZ)
  • Round 3, March 20, Primavera Rosa (Ita)
  • Round 4, April 14, La Fleche Wallonne (Bel)
  • Round 5, May 30, Montreal (Can)
  • Round 6, June 6, First Union Liberty Classic (USA)
  • Round 7, August 8, Trophee International (Fra)
  • Round 8, September 9, Ladies Tour Benedon-Maas (Ned)
  • Round 9, September 26, UCI Welcupfinale Embrach (Swi)

Preview

La "Primavera rosa", is the non=official female equivalent to the famous Milan-San Remo, and is the first Europeam World Cup event for Women in 1999. It is also the first time Italy has hosted a Women's World Cup race. The competition began for 1999 in Australia (Canberra) and then moved to New Zealand (Hamilton). Unlike the Men's Competition for 1999 which has abandoned the principle of Mondialisation, the Women's World Cup will visit three continents for the 9 rounds (3 more than last year).

The Primavera Rosa will precede the Flèche Wallonne in Belgium (April 14), before the riders go to Canada and the USA. The final 3 rounds are in France, Netherlands and Switzerland.

26 teams entered the "Primavera" leave Varazze for the 118 kms journey to San Remo and trace the route of the Men's Classic. The field was depleted by the absence of World Champion Lithuanian Diana Ziliute who is suffering from bronchial pneumonia. German Hanka Kupfernagel (Greenery Hawk) and Italian Alessandra Cappellotto (Gas sport) are likely to figure in the finish along with two Italian Olympic Champions - Paola Pezzo (MTB) and Antonella Bellutti (pursuit). Frenchwomen Catherine Marsal will also be one to watch riding for the Italian team Edilsavino.

The route for the race is (with times based on 36 km/h average):

9.30 - Varazze - Piazza San Domenico - riders gather
11.00 - Start
11.14 - Vittorio Veneto
11.40 - Noli
12.28 - Albenga
12.50 - Capo Mele
13.11 - Capo Berta
13.21 - Imperia
13.40 - Cipressa
14.07 - Poggio di San Remo
14.16 - Finish - San Remo, via Roma

Primavera Rosa, Round 3, March 20, 1999, 118 kms:

  1. Sara Felloni (Ita)                                          3.02.52  (38.717 km.h)
  2. Gabriella Pregnolato (Ita)
  3. Chantal Beltman (Ned)
  4. Catherine Marsal (Fra)
  5. Viole Muller (Ger)
  6. Miriam Melchers (Ned)
  7. Heidi Van de Vijver (Bel)
  8. Silvia Zoller (Swi)
  9. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger)
 10. Pamela Schuster (USA)
 11. Barbara Heeb (Swi)
 12. Alessandra Cappellotto (Ita)
 13. Sonia Rocca (Ita)
 14. Daniela Veronesi (SMr)
 15. Joane Somarriba Arolla (Spa)
 16. Nicole Brandli (Swi)
 17. Sarah Symington (GB)
 18. Lanka Ilavska (Svk)
 19. Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu)
 20. Yvonne McGregor (GB)
 21. Valeria Cappellotto (Ita)
 22. Marcia Eicher Vouets (Swi)
 23. Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus)
 24. Lucia Pizzolotto (Ita)
 25. Fany Lecourtois (Fra)
 26. Roberta Bonanomi (Ita)
 27. Jacinta Coleman (Nzl)
 28. Fabiana Luperini (Ita)                                          0.05
 29. Paola Pezzo (Ita)                                               0.05
 30. Cindy Pieters (Bel)                                             0.05
 31. Luisiana Pegoraro (Ita)                                         0.26
 32. Pia Sundstedt (Fin)                                             0.42
 33. Simona Grossi (Ita)                                             0.42
 34. Zita Urbonaite (Ltu)                                            0.42
 35. Cinzia Faccin (Ita)                                             0.42
 36. Nada Cristofoli (Ita)                                           0.42
 37. Tanya Schmidt (Ger)                                             0.42
 38. Katia Longhin (Ita)                                             0.42
 39. Kerstin Scheitle (Ger)                                          0.42
 40. Vera Hohlfeld (Ger)                                             0.42
 41. Sandra Rombouts (Ned)                                           0.42
 42. Michelle Ward (GB)                                              1.00
 43. Giovanna Troldi (Ita)                                           1.00
 44. MeikeDe Bruijn (Ned)                                            1.07
 45. Sigrid Corneo (Ita)                                             1.07
 46. Janneke Vos (Ned)                                               1.07
 47. Alessandra D'Ettore (Ita)                                       1.07
 48. Zinaida Stahurskaia (Blr)                                       1.07
 49. Pavla Novakova (Cze)                                            1.07
 50. Marianna Lorenzoni (Ita)                                        1.07
 51. Svetlana Gigilyeva (Ukr)                                        1.07
 52. Angela Hillenga (Ned)                                           1.07
 53. Maira Tarraran (Ita)                                            1.07
 54. Vera Carrara (Ita)                                              1.07
 55. Fatima Blasquez Lozano (Spa)                                    1.07
 56. Marion Braven (Swi)                                             1.58
 57. Natascha Klewitz (Ger)                                          1.58
 58. Yevgenia Vysotska (Ukr)                                         1.58
 59. Luisa Palagi (Ita)                                              2.08
 60. Bogumila Matusiak (Pol)                                         3.27
 61. Vanja Vonckx (Bel)                                              3.40
 62. Ruth De Meyer (Bel)                                             3.40
 63. Evy Vandamme (Bel)                                              3.40
 64. Oksana Saprykina (Ukr)                                          3.40
 65. Valentyna Karpenko (Ukr)                                        3.40
 66. Ioulia Murenkaia (Ukr)                                          3.40
 67. Irina Chuzhynova (Ukr)                                          3.40
 68. Marika Murer (Swi)                                              3.40
 69. Denise Baumann (Swi)                                            3.40
 70. Emma Davies (GB)                                                3.40
 71. Edita Kubelskiene (Ltu)                                         3.40
 72. Sandra Wampfler (Swi)                                           3.40
 73. Rasa Mazeikyte (Lit)                                            3.40
 74. Alena Barillova (Svk)                                           3.40
 75. Julie Pekarkova (Cze)                                           3.40
 76. Miluse Flaskova (Cze)                                           3.40
 77. Sandra Misbaca (Ger)                                            3.40
 78. Ruth Ellway (Gbr)                                               3.40
 79. Gitana Gruodite (Ltu)                                           3.40
 80. Birgit Sollner (Ger)                                            3.40
 81. Monika Kotek (Pol)                                              3.40
 82. Alexandra Bahler (Swi)                                          3.40
 83. Patrizia Zulato (Ita)                                           3.40
 84. Tania Belvederesi (Ita)                                         3.40
 85. Betty Monastra (Ita)                                            3.40
 86. Serena Gazzini (Ita)                                            3.40
 87. Greta Zocca (Ita)                                               3.40
 88. Tamara Poliakova (Ukr)                                          4.18
 89. Sarka Vichova (Cze)                                             4.18
 90. Claudia Marietta (Ita)                                          6.20
 91. Marta Syryjczyk (Pol)                                           6.20
 92. Paola Bresolin (Ita)                                            6.20
 93. Eva Fortova (Cze)                                               6.20
 94. Redana Novotna (Cze)                                            6.20
 95. Cherie Pridham (Gbr)                                            6.20
 96. Sara Savino (Ita)                                               6.20
 97. Louise Jones (Gbr)                                              6.20
 98. Elizabeth Tadish (Aus)                                          6.20
 99. Sonia Kuik (Ned)                                                6.20
100. Nicole Peitzmeier (Ger)                                         8.03
101. Simona Sagramoni (Ita)                                          8.31
102. Veronique Belletter (Bel)                                       8.50
103. Olga Sverschuk (Ukr)                                            8.50
104. Kristina Obrukova (Cze)                                         8.55
105. Karin Avenant (RSA)                                             9.00
106. Magda Opyrchal (Pol)                                            9.00
107. Monica Dal Col (Ita)                                            9.00
108. Fulvia Canisa (Ita)                                             9.00
109. Ljudmila Corneo (Ita)                                           9.00
110. Chantal Polansky (Bel)                                          9.00
111. Elisa Neri (Ita)                                                9.00
112. Marinella Guarguaglini (Ita)                                    9.00

Report from Pam Schuster

155 of the World's best women's cyclists raced the last 120K of the famous men's Milan-San Remo for the first time as our World Cup #3. We started in the beautiful Oceanside town of Varazze 2 hours before the men were expected to parade through on this Italian holiday. This is a huge event and the walls of every city were lined with spectators as we sped through on our way to the selective Cipressa and Poggio climb that graced the last 25K. The pace was extremely high the whole race even though the first 60K was relatively flat. It reminded me of a really long LA ave. on the Simi ride with no lights but plenty of female aggression. The view was spectacular and I thought for one moment that I could just pretend I was on a vacation. That didn't last long as there was plenty going on just nothing going anywhere except what seemed like faster and faster.

Positioning for the climbs was also very challenging but I looked forward to the time when I wouldn't have to continue to ride with all 155 of my good buddies. It ended up being a fairly large group of 30 riders at the end with Luperini and Paola Pezzo loosing 5 sec to the hairy scary sprint for the World Cup points. I don't know how we all stayed upright the last kilometer. I backed off after seeing double tangles. Karen Kurreck took an unfortunate tumble and after chasing back on to the group used her better judgement and got in a car after the endorphins wore off. She is OK and after a little rest has many more Italian World Championships to look forward to as she spends the next 8 weeks here in Italy.

Mari Holden hit something on the descent after the Cipressa. She skillfully saved herself from the over-the-bars trick but wasn't as lucky when she got a flat a few minutes later. Even though it is obvious that the Dream team(accuadua O-Lorena) had a good day by taking the top spots they actually rode a good race too. Pregnolato took the only early race flyer I ever saw get clear for more than a few secounds early in the race. Bonanomi was also very aggressive on the climbs trying to make a repeat of last week. Looks like as a team they weren't dreaming today either.

Individual Standings after Round 3:

                                                            #1      #2      #3   Total

 1. Anna Wilson (Aus) Australian National Team              75      30       0     105
 2. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Greenery-Hawk-Berlin            50      24      15      89
 3. Sara Felloni (Ita) Ghia Dream Team                       6       6      75      87
 4. Roberta Bonanomi (Ita) GC Accadue O-Lorena Camicie       0      75       0      75
 5. Gunn Rita Dahle (Nor) Norwegian National Team           21      50       0      71
 6. Chantal Beltman (Ned) Netherlands                       18       0      35      53
 7. Gabriella Pregnolato (Ita) Ghia Dream Team               3       0      50      53
 8. Alessandra Cappellotto (Ita) GAS Sport Team             27      15       9      51
 9. Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Australian National Team             9      35       0      44
10. Yvonne McGregor (GB) Great Britain                      11      27       1      39
11. Sarah Symington (GB) Great Britain                      35       0       4      39
12. Susy Pryde (NZ) New Zealand National Team               30       0       0      30
13. Catherine Marsal (Fra) Edilsavino                        0       0      30      30
14. Pam Schuster (USA)  Street Skills International          0      18      11      29
15. Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands                        5       0      24      29
16. Karen Kurreck (USA) North American Team                 24       4       0      28
17. Viole Muller (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger-Emmi                0       0      27      27
18. Sanna Lehtimaki (Fin) Greenery-Hawk-Berlin              15       8       0      23
19. Kerstin Scheitle (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger-Emmi            1      21       0      22
20. Barbara Heeb (Swi) Equipe Nürnberger-Emmi                0      11      10      21
21. Heidi Van de Vijver (Bel) Belgian National Team          0       0      21      21
22. Silvia Zoller (Swi) Equipe Nürnberger-Emmi               0       0      18      18
23. Rikke Sandhoj-Olsen (Den) Greenery-Hawk-Berlin           8       9       0      17
24. Mari Holden (USA) Ghia Dream Team                       10       1       0      11
25. Megan Hughes (GB) Great Britain                          0      10       0      10
26. Sonia Rocca (Ita) Alfalum Wm Aurora                      0       0       8       8
27. Michelle Ward (GB) Great Britain                         7       0       0       7
28. Jacinta Coleman (NZ)  GS Mazza-Tege                      7       0       0       7
29. Daniela Veronesi (SMr) Alfalum Wm Aurora                 0       0       7       7
30. Joane Somarriba Arolla (Spa) Alfalum Wm Aurora           0       0       6       6
31. Elizabeth Tadich (Aus)  GS Mazza-Tege                    0       5       0       5
32. Nicole Brandli (Swi) Swiss National Team                 0       0       5       5
33. Sara Carrigan (Aus) Australian National Team             4       0       0       4
34. Zita Urbonaite (Lit) Lithuanian National Team            2       2       0       4
35. Anne Samplonius (Can) Street Skills International        0       3       0       3
36. Lanka Ilavska (Svk) Swam Hooch                           0       0       3       3
37. Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu) Lithuanian National Team         0       0       2       2