17th Hewlett Packard LaserJet International Women's Challenge - 2.9.1

USA, June 8- 18, 2000

Stage 11 - June 18: Middleton - Boise Hyde Park Road Race, 55.2 mi/88.3 km

Anna Wilson's report

Today was the final day of the tour and I went into it with a 27 second lead over Diana Ziliute. The team was extremely motivated to protect my lead and there was only one real hurdle in the stage - a 3 km climb at the 35 km mark. The Lithuanian team made it obvious that they weren't going to concede the victory as they did a full-on team lead-out into the climb. Diana Ziliute and Jeannie Longo took off together up the climb and I could not match them.

I crested the top 15 seconds behind them, along with Sarah Ulmer, Ceris Gilfillan and Trixi Worrack. The bunch was quite a long way behind and I realised that the four of us had to catch Ziliute and Longo if I was going to hold onto the lead. So we did a 4-up team time trial for about 10 kms and finally closed the gap. The bunch was quick to catch us once that happened and the counter attacks went immediately. A break of 5 established - Jolanta Polikevicuite (Lithuania), Karen Kurreck (US National), Sanna Lehtimaki (Timex), Margaret Hemsley (Australian National) and Andrea Radkovich (Autotrader). Their lead quickly grew to one minute and it was clear they would fight out the stage placings. In the end, Karen Kurreck proved too quick for the other breakaway riders and Margaret Hemsley took second place.

Ziliute did not let me have an easy ride to the finish, putting in some hard attacks during the last 5 kms. But with team support I was able to cross the finish line on her wheel and take out the overall victory.

YEEHA!!!

Karen Kurreck's report

Today was the final stage and even though everyone is tired, it was hard racing start to finish just like all the other stages. We figured the Lithuanians would be out for blood after Anna took over the lead yesterday, but it wasn't them attacking, it was just about everyone else!

The course was more or less flat except for a 2km climb at mile 20. From the gun, the attacks started. Ina, the ever agressive, had several tries, but nobody lets her go anymore. Pam Schuster attacked several times as did Dede, some 800.com riders, Sanna and many, many others. I tried to go a couple of times and Lara and I covered what we could. I made a hard bridge up to what looked like a promising group at one point, but it didn't go.

Close to the climb, the Lithuanians started driving at the front to set up Diana for an attack on the climb - the only real way she could have a chance to get away from Anna. Diana and Longo attacked at the bottom of the climb and pulled away from everyone. Anna rode a steady tempo not too far behind with Sara Ulmer and a couple of others and I was in a group with a few riders right behind them over the top. There was a hard chase and eventually Anna's group caught the front 2 and then more groups caught from behind.

As soon as the main group was together again, the attacks started up. The pack was shattering and I knew something would go eventually. There was a small group that just got caught and I counter attacked as hard as I could (which really wasn't very hard at that point!). I knew if I was that blown, everyone else was hurting too and it was time to go.

Eventually 5 riders came up to me: Sanna from Timex, Marcia Vouets from 3 Master, Jolanta Polikevicuite from Lithuania, Andrea Ratkovic from Autotrader and Marg Hemsley from Australia. We still had a gap and everyone started working except Marg because her teammate, Juanita Feldhahn, was just ahead of me on GC. I actually didn't even know Marg was there for several miles! The rest of us were motivated and working hard. I really wanted the break to go because I could both move up on GC and I thought that if it came to a sprint with the 6 of us, I had a good chance to win.

We had about 20 miles to go to the finish when we got away and kept a steady, hard pace all the way to the final 5 finishing circuits in downtown Boise. Our time gaps kept going up, so I knew the pack wasn't chasing too hard. When we entered town, we had almost 2 minutes on the field. Then the tactics started in our group. I think Marg was the frist to try and as we got close to the finish line the first time (we passed it 5 times in total), Marcia attacked and Marg went after her and passed her right before the line and put her arms in the air! OOPs!! She slowed in embarrasment and Marcia kept going and got about a 200m gap. No one person wanted to try to close it, so everyone worked together and she dangled in front of us for about 3 laps.

I actually wanted her to stay out there for as long as possible because it kept everyone rolling through and not attacking. With 2 laps to go, we caught her and the real cat and mouse started. Sanna attacked once or twice but didn't get away. WIth 1km to go, Marcia tried again but Jolanta went after her and I went to Jolanta's wheel. Marcia kept going and the pace was still high with 300m to go and I was on a wheel and I knew it was my race. Jolanta jumped and I sat on her wheel for an instant and then punched it with maybe 200-250m to go and nobody came around and I won the stage!!

The papers have been dissing the Americans here, saying we have lost 18 straight stages in this race including last year, but at least I finally won and there was actually a good crowd to see it. One of my top goals coming into this race was to win a stage, and with only 1 to go this morning, I was thinking it wasn't going to happen, but I was really happy to have things go my way today. Our final gap was 57 sec. and I moved up 2 spots in GC to 7th. Other than that, GC didn't change.

Anna kept the leader's jersey over Diana and Sarah Ulmer, Diana took the points jersey, Longo the mountain and Snr. rider's jersey (I was 2nd in that competition), Sarah took the sprint jersey and Ceris Gilfillan took the young rider jersey. My teammate, Lara got the "Most aggressive Rider" award and Sarah got "Most improved" (she moved up over 50 places on GC.

Karen's report courtesy of racereport@vcnet.com