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Main page Results World Cup standings
By Alan Messenger
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German sprinter Petra Rossner (Saturn) has claimed her second World Cup win in a row, adding the Hamilton, New Zealand round to her victory in Thredbo, Australia last week. As she did then, Rossner outsprinted Rochelle Gilmore (Australian National Team) to take the honours in the 107 kilometre race. Hanka Kupfernagel, riding for an International Composite team, finished third in the bunch sprint.
Rossner's win moves her 50 points clear of Gilmore in the World Cup standings, but as Gilmore will probably not contest the whole series, Rossner's nearest opponent is Kupfernagel, who is 88 points behind.
The race was held over 17 laps of a fast, technical 6.3 kilometre circuit that contained several corners and a short, steep hill each lap. Saturn was aiming to keep Rossner in contention, but had to be wary of attacks from Mirjam Melchers, Hanka Kupfernagel and Susanne Ljungskog as well as the strong Australian National Team.
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Saturn spent the whole race chasing down breaks, succeeding in keeping the bunch together for the finish. Rossner did not have the benefit of a leadout, and she had a few problems getting around Kupfernagel (who jumped first) and Gilmore. With 100 metres to go, she found her legs and came around the two to win the sprint.
"I had to go round a lot of riders . I had a lot of riders in my way and my team had already done their job. I didn't have, like last weeek, five riders to lead me out," said Rossner
Nevertheless, Rossner said she was "delighted with the hard work my Saturn Team did for me today. "I had to win after they did so much work for me."
The 35 year old Olympic gold medalist sat quietly in the bunch thoughout the race while her team-mates covered the breaks. "I was trying to save my legs in the bunch and while it wasn't hard on my legs, it was hard on my nerves. There were a few crucial times when I would think 'this break could stay away forever'."
Second-placed Gilmore used her track experience in the tight finish while Kupfernagel had to work really hard for her third position. "I was alone out there with nohelp at all. I wasn't even coming here for the race. I had gone to a training camp in Italy but it was cancelled so i managed to get on a flight to Australia only 36 hours before the race there," said Kupfernagel
Round 3 of the World Cup - La Primavera Rosa - will be raced on March 23 in Italy.
Photo's by Tom Balks
1 Petra Rossner (Ger) Team Saturn 2.58.22 (36.03 km/h) 2 Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Australian National Team 3 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) International Composite 4 Alison Wright (Aus) AIS Team Australia 5 Naomi Williams (Aus) AIS Team Australia 6 Debby Mansveld (Ned) Vlaanderen-T-Interim-Eddy Merckx 7 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Vlaanderen-T-Interim-Eddy Merckx 8 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands National Team 9 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands National Team 10 Priska Doppmann (Swi) International Composite 11 Rosalind Reekie-May (NZl) New Zealand National Team 12 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen-T-Interim-Eddy Merckx 13 Melissa Holt (NZl) New Zealand National Team 14 Elizabeth Tadich (Aus) AIS Team Australia 15 Miho Oki (Jpn) Japan National Team 16 Margaret Hemsley (Aus) Australian National Team 17 Hayley Rutherford (Aus) AIS Team Australia 18 Kym Shirley (Aus) Australian National Team 19 Olivia Gollan (Aus) AIS Team Australia 20 Emma James (Aus) Australian National Team 21 Catherine Marsal (Fra) Team Saturn 0.05 22 Susie Wood (NZl) New Zealand "A" 0.08 23 Bridget Evans (Aus) International Composite 0.10 24 Sara Carrigan (Aus) AIS Team Australia 0.22 25 Vanessa Guyton (NZl) Vlaanderen-T-Interim-Eddy Merckx 1.03 26 Kimberley Bruckner (USA) Team Saturn 27 Elsbeth Vink (Ned) Netherlands National Team 1.43 28 Susy Pryde (NZl) New Zealand National Team 9.14 29 Tania Duff-Miller (NZl) New Zealand "A" 30 Nichola Solomon (NZl) New Zealand "A" 31 Ayumu Otsuka (Jpn) Japan National Team DNF Judith Arndt (Ger) Team Saturn DNF Esther Van Der Helm (Ned) Netherlands National Team DNF Tamano Nakamura (Jpn) Japan National Team DNF Sarah Ulmer (NZl) New Zealand National Team DNF Toni Bradshaw (NZl) New Zealand "A" DNF Josephine Groenveld (Ned) Netherlands National Team DNF Hiroko Shimada (Jpn) International Composite DNF Dale Tye (NZl) Cycle Surgery Team DNF Fanny Lariviere (NZl) Cycle Surgery Team DNF Emma Rickards (Aus) Australian National Team DNF Jessica Phillips (USA) Team Saturn DNF Harue Kimura (Jpn) Japan National Team DNF Kirsty Robb (NZl) New Zealand National Team DNF Miyoka Karami (Jpn) International Composite DNF Sarah Blake (NZl) Cycle Surgery Team DNF Elisabeth Williams (NZl) Cycle Surgery Team DNF Rosy Mccall (NZl) Cycle Surgery Team DNF Kristy Scrymgeour (Aus) Team Saturn Number of starters : 49 Number finishing after the deadline : 0 Did not finish : 18
Rd. 1 Rd. 2 Total 1 Petra Rossner (Ger) 75 75 150 pts 2 Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) 50 50 100 3 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) 27 35 62 4 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) 35 18 53 5 Priska Doppmann (Swi) 24 11 35 6 Hayley Rutherford (Aus) 30 4 34 7 Alison Wright (Aus) 30 30 8 Susanne Ljungkog (Swe) 8 21 29 9 Melissa Holt (NZl) 21 8 29 10 Naomi Williams (Aus) 2 27 29 11 Debby Mansveld (Ned) 24 24 12 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) 15 9 24 13 Rosalind Reekie-May (NZl) 11 10 21 14 Mari Holden (USA) 18 18 15 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) 15 15 16 Kim Shirley (Aus) 10 3 13 17 Margaret Hemsley (Aus) 6 5 11 18 Judith Arndt (Ger) 9 9 19 Elizabeth Tadich (Aus) 7 7 20 Kimberley Anderson (USA) 7 7 21 Miho Oki (Jpn) 6 6 22 Kimberley Bruckner (USA) 5 5 23 Catherine Marsal (Fra) 4 4 24 Jessica Phillips (USA) 3 3 25 Olivia Gollan (Aus) 2 2 26 Emma James (Aus) 1 1 2
