Wendy's International Cycling Classic - NE

Ohio, USA, July 24-29, 2001

Stage 1 - July 24: Powell Cycling Classic, W: 58km

Autotrader.com team report

The Powell Cycling Classic kicked off the series with a 36 mile, 12 lap, 3 mile loop on central Ohio's rolling terrain. Although this course had no major climbs, the extreme heat and humidity played a major roll in the outcome of the race. The AutoTrader.com Team, along with help from Saturn, Team Intersports and 800.com set a hard pace right off the line. Several break attempts were made throughout the race with the AutoTrader.com team present in each one. However, none were the right combination to succeed. With two laps to go, the prime bell was sounded for a "gamblers prime". On the back side Saturn's Kristy Scrymgeour attacked the field and found herself with a 10 second gap. Scrymgeour rounded the final turn onto the straightaway finish with a 10 second gap but was confused by the prime bell and she mistakenly threw her arms in the air for what she thought was the race victory. She took the prime, but was soon swallowed by the hungry field. With one to go and all the major threats in position, it looked as though the fans were going to see the first field sprint of the series. However, Clara Hughes (Saturn) was solo first out of the last turn. The field was not far behind chasing hard into the sprint. Hughes held off the field by threads as she crossed the line in first with VeriZon's Laura Van Gilder in 2nd. Nicole Friedman rounded out the podium with a 3rd place finish. AutoTrader.com's Tina Mayolo was the teams top finisher mixing it up in the sprint for 5th place.

Results

1 Clara Hughes (Saturn)
2 Laura Van Gilder (VeriZon)
3 Nicole Friedman (Credit Sussie)
4 Kerry L.Soracz (Schmatz-Boise/Cascade)
5 Tina Mayolo (AutoTrader.com)

Results

Coming!