Tracey Gaudry

The Tracey Gaudry Diary 2000

The Local East Coast Australian Time is

• Last year's diary
• Australian road titles (January 16)
• Canberra to Cooma (February 26-27)
• Time out Down Under (March 2)
• Tour de Snowy (March 4-9)
• Canberra World Cup (March 12)
• National Individual Time Trial Championships (March 18)
• BMC Criterium & Tour of Williamette & more (April 9-20)
• The Tour of the Gila (May 3-7)
• Back to Italy: Giro del Piave, Giro del Trentino (May 14-21)
• Montreal World Cup (May 28)

Montreal World Cup, 12 x 8.4km laps

Canada, Sunday, May 28, 2000

How quickly time flies! We were already at the 2000 edition of one of the highlights of my 1999 season. Last year I was on a mission to win, this year I was on the mission to continue my form building for later in the year. A star-studded line up included almost all of the top twenty riders in the world as well as each of the winners of the three World Cup Events held already this year: Anna Wilson (Saturn), Genevieve Jeanson (Canada) and Diana Ziliute (Acca Due). This World Cup, by far the toughest on the circuit, was going to be a doozy with many contenders for overall honours.

My voyage to Montreal consisted of the usual delayed planes and re-routing of flights, but this was nothing compared to the debacle of last year (I'm sure I could salvage that story from my archives if anyone is interested). I was back in the fold with Timex and looking forward to racing. The race was pretty well controlled by GAS right from the gun, with Pregnolato and Bonanomi clearly trying to set things up for Sundstedt and Luperini, the stars of my previous two weeks racing in Italy. The pace was hard but manageable, though the mountain sprints on the second, fourth and sixth lap caused some major damage to the bunch.

The climb was long and the rest of the circuit was fast but allowed little recovery if you weren't in the main field. Things truly hotted up after halfway, with Pia trying to go away on the climb with Stajkiana (Acca Due), but they were reeled in. Timex had been riding well up until now, with Mari, Kim and myself in the front group and Sanna and Odessa quickly regaining contact with the front shortly after the climb. I had a go a while later and Ziluite went with me. Anna Wilson and the Saturn team were pretty active on the back sections of the course, hoping to set things up for Lyne Bessette but again nothing was sticking.

By the ninth lap, the field had been whittled down to about twenty-five and I knew the onslaught was about to come. In exactly the same fashion as in Trentino, Sunstedt and the diminutive Luperini simply put the foot down hard and powered away from the whole field up the 1.9km climb. I think Ziliute managed to get across to them, but was dropped a lap later. If that lap was tough, the next was just as hard as Melchers (Rabobank) and two other Dutchies attacked up the climb with Bessette (Saturn) and others trying, but failing to go with it. The much heralded showdown between French Quebec's two stars, Lyne Bessette (last year's favorite and my main competition back then) and Genevieve Jeanson (the young protégé who stole the show at this year's Tour de Snowy) didn't eventuate with Jeanson cracking under the pressure in the top class field, and Lyne not making the crucial break.

What was left of the field was now decimated. I was off the back of the small chase group over the top but scrambled back on. The Dutchies and Ziliute were just up the road, and Lyne and I tried to organise a chase in the ten-strong bunch. Nobody wanted to do the work, despite no-one having any teammates up the road! I was appalled and so Lyne and I worked throughout the rest of the lap. I promptly blew up as we hit the climb for the second last time. One Dutchie was reeled in by our group.

I mustered everything this time to regain contact before we hit the top and then attacked. Noone would help work, but wouldn't let anyone go anywhere. Crikey! Do they want to race for 6th place? With one lap to go, there was no catching the breakaways without blowing it on the final climb. I rolled through and conserved until we reached Mont Royal. The bunch hesitated, no-one wanting to push the pace hard. This was good for me. I rode at the front at my own tempo, waiting for the right time. Still no-one moved. At 400m to go I gave it everything and drove up the rest of the climb, not giving anybody a chance to get even the slightest sit on my wheel. Last year I did this to win the race, this year I did it to win the sprint for 6th.

My form is steadily on the way back up. Pia Sundstedt had earned line honours with a sterling ride, from Luperini. Ziliute came in for third followed by Melchers who has gone from strength to strength in the last two seasons.

Results