BY JOHN REZELL
PITTSBURGH, 21 May 95
After knocking on the door for a year, Milwaukee's Dede Demet smashed down all barriers Sunday afternoon by winning the Thrift Drug Invitational, the second- richest one-day women's cycling event in the world. Demet, 22, riding for the Saturn Team, pulled away from Canadian Susan Palmer of the Vanwood Team in the final 400 meters to win solo before a crowd estimated at 50,000 along the 7.8-mile course to claim the $5,000 first-place prize.
Demet won in 1:47:41 with Palmer five seconds back. Clara Hughes (Saturn) was third at:47 followed by Maureen Kaila (Body Wise) at :55.
Jeanne Golay (Saturn) led the field sprint at 1:02 followed by Marianne Berglund (Body Wise); Julie Young (Saturn); Linda Brenneman (Cycles Veloce); Pam Schuster (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff) and Louisa Jenkins (Shaklee) "I'm just so excited," said Demet, who was second in the Liberty Classic in 1994, the richest women's event. "I just thrive on racing in front of big crowds. It's so great. It psyches me up."
Demet, the 1989 Junior World Road Race Champion and runnerup in the US National Championship road race last year, attacked 17 miles into the 42-mile race after sprinting for a mid-race honor. "We were trying to set up Karen Livingston-Bliss for the sprints, but she had a flat on the first lap," Demet said. "So I went for a couple of them."
On the fifth lap of the smaller 3.8-mile circuit, Golay gave Demet an awesome leadout for the bonus sprint. Demet crossed the line with a 100-meter gap and continued. "All of a sudden we were off the front," Golay said. "I just told Dede to keep going."
Palmer bridged up to Demet, and the pair spent the final 25 miles (58 minutes) away from the field. "I knew Saturn would try to get someone away from the field before we hit the hill," Palmer said. "And I know Dede is always so aggressive, so I kept my eyes on her. When she went I thought, 'I better go or it's over.' "
After the attack, Timex-Cannondale's Eve Stephenson spent the better part of a lap chasing the duo down. She got within eight seconds at one point, but couldn't make up the final difference before the hill. "I got close, but then in the headwind section I couldn't keep it up," Stephenson said. "I knew once we got to the hill I'd have trouble becuse those two are climbing real well right now, and I'm not."
Stephenson soon was joined by Maureen Kaila (Body Wise), Louisa Jenkins (Shaklee) and Pam Schuster (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff). That group stayed away from the peloton until the final 2K when Vanwood, Saturn and Brenneman led the chase to bring the back. Once reunited, Hughes attacked to finish third solo.
The hill is a 370-foot climb in a half-mile up Sycamore Street to Mt. Washington. The women climbed it twice. Each time Palmer tried to get away from Demet, but couldn't get a big enough gap to stay away. "Sue really worked me on the hill, but I felt pretty good," Demet said.
As the pair came into the final twisting, turning section to the finish, Demet attacked and won by five seconds. "Sue kind of hesitated, and I just went," Demet said. Demet and Palmer have been two of the strongest racers in the past month. Demet won two stages and finished fourth overall at Tour d' Laude stage race in France as a member of the US National Team.
Palmer won the Queen of the Mountain climbing competition there as a member of the Canadian National Team. Demet, a 1990 graduate of Devine Savior High School, was aggressive from the start. She won two of the mid-race sprints. "I was just feeling very strong today," Demet said. "This is a big win for me, it's huge. I've been coming close this past year, getting a lot of high finishes but not winning. This feels great to finally come across first."
Both Hughes and Golay were thrilled to see Demet ascend to the top of the podium. Hughes, for one, was proud of the Saturn team effort. "We won as a team," Hughes said. "We knew coming in to win we'd have to ride as a team, not as five individuals, and that's what we did. Once Dede was up the road, Jeanne, Julie (Young) and I did a lot of blocking. Everyone worked great."
The women were thrilled to be part of the Thrift Drug weekend. Although they went off three hours before the men, it didn't take long for spectators to begin lining the course. "The crowd was just great," Demet said. "They really helped push me."
Palmer, who won the hill climb competition on Saturday edging Brenneman and Young, said the crowd on the hill was tremedous. "All the way up the hill it was just a roar," Palmer said.
Hughes, who rode with Palmer and the Canadian National Team in France, said the early morning crowd in Pittsburgh matched any in France. "It's just great to see how people in North America are getting passionate about cycling," Hughes said. "We're coming off a real hard race in Europe, but it's easy to keep flying when you can come back to a great event like this."
In the sprint competition, Demet won $800 with Golay picking up $400 for second and Mari Paulson of Shaklee $300 for third. In the Saturn Teamwork Challenge climbing competition, Palmer won $1,600 with Demet second netting $800 and Jenkins third with $600.
Saturn won the team competition with Body Wise second, Timex-Cannondale third and Vanwood fourth.
Peron won the 108-mile Thrift Drug Classic in four hours, 27 minutes and nine seconds. Armstrong was second in the same time and Motorola's George Hincapie made it a clean sweep of the podium placing third, 2:24 behind. They earned $31,000 for the top three places. "He (Peron) did the lion's share of the work today, so he deserved to win," Armstrong said. "I didn't deserve to win today. He was clearly the stronger rider."
So as far as Armstrong sees it, the streak is intact. "The way I see it, Motorola has won this race the past four years," Armstrong said. "And that's all the counts."
Andy Bishop of Saab was fourth and Saturn's Norm Alvis fifth. They finished with Hincapie, who, for the first time since his return to the US, got to sit on someone's wheel rather than pull. "That was great, especially after all the work we did at DuPont and even last week in Atlanta," Hincapie said. "That was fun to just sit back and wait for the finish."
On the last lap of the smaller circuits, Armstrong yelled at Hincapie as the two groups passed on the street. "I told him you better get third," Armstrong said. Hincapie did his job. "It's great to finally get on the podium," Hincapie said. "It's a reward for all the work."
Once again the Motorola squad dominated the race with Armstrong and Peron putting on a magnificently powerful display before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 along the 7.8-mile course. Motorola's Bobby Julich covered the first major breakaway, which escaped 18 miles into the race.
A group of six riders including defending US PRO Champion Steve Hegg (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff), Brian Walton (Saturn), Brian Smith (Plymouth), Bishop, Bowen and Julich survived nearly 40 miles out front before Armstrong and Peron bridged the gap.
Just before they did, Walton attacked. "We tried to do something," Bowen said. "Brian attacked, but it didn't last too long." They pulled in Walton and then Armstrong and Peron just rolled away. "They didn't really attack at all," said Saturn's Bart Bowen, who was sixth. "They just pulled away. They were just that much stronger than the rest of us."
Alvis said chasing at that point was futile. "Our only chance at that point was to let them go out and get worn down a little," Alvis said. "But they were just too strong." Armstrong and Peron quickly got a 1:12 lead over nine chasing riders. Eight miles later it was 2:45, and the chasers were demoralized.
So Armstrong and Peron rode the final 40 miles alone, with Peron doing most of the work. "I wasn't feeling that great," Armstrong said. "Andrea just pulled me along for the ride."
Slowly the rest of the 140 starters fell by the wayside. With 30 miles left in the race, only 35 riders remained. In the end, 24 riders went the distance." "Oh my God," Alvis said. "It was just a brutal race."
Although Armstrong and Peron made it look easy, it was nothing of the sort. "That was the hardest Thrift yet," Armstrong said. "I can't really put my finger on the reason. We went up Sycamore less times and it was shorter. But it was hard."
The finishers went up the 370-foot climb over a half-mile to Mt. Washington 10 times. That's where Peron launched the attack that freed Motorola's two 23-year-old stars. "We were going up the hill and Peron just put it into another gear," Bowen said. "They just left us behind."
Peron, who spent the past two weeks training in Steamboat Springs, Colo., was just picking up the tempo on the hill. "I turned around and Lance was the only one there," Peron said.
Over the final 20 miles they discussed the final scene. Armstrong insisted on paying back Peron for his support at the Tour DuPont. "I said that's OK, you should win in front of your crowd, it's America," Peron said.
When they tried to join hands and cross the line together, Armstrong swerved and Peron went ahead alone. "I was too tired to take my hands off the bars," Armstrong said.
A major contender disappeared before the first lap was complete. Chevrolet-LA Sheriff Malcolm Elliott crashed on the first lap. By the time he got going again, he was far behind the caravan and he gave up, withdrawing. Once the first three laps on the smaller circuit were complete, the first breakaway emerged. Nine riders including Steve Hegg (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff), Kasper Ozers (Motorola), Bobby Julich (Motorola), Brian Walton (Saturn), Bart Bowen (Saturn), Andy Bishop (Saab), Fred Rodriguez (USA), Brian Smith (Plymouth) and Allesio DeBasco of Amore & Vita. They were 38 seconds ahead at the top of the climb. By the time the first of 10 laps on the large circuit ended, the gap was 52 seconds with Montgomery-Bell's Dave McCook and Darren Baker leading the chase. The group continued to gain time and dropped DeBasco during the next lap. At 19 miles into the race, the eight-rider break had 1:26 on the field with Montgomery-Bell still leading the hard-chasing field and the rest of Motorola sitting on their wheels. During the lap 10 riders went down in a crash on a descent around the 15-mile mark. Plymouth's Timm Peddie, a member of the 1992 US Olympic Road Race Team, was the most seriously injured. Others held back by the crash who fell off the pace were Chann McRae and Scott Mercer, both of the US National Team. After the sixth lap, 27 miles into the race, the breakaway was 1:54 ahead of the field, which slowed its chase. On the climb up Sycamore, Rodriguez and Ozers were dropped from the break and Saturn started forcing the issue. By the end of the seventh lap, the six-man lead group had 1:21 over Ozers and Rodriguez and 1:50 over the main field, with Montgomery-Bell and its six riders at the front of the pack. "We missed that break and had to spend a lot of time chasing," Baker said. "It just wasn't a good day for us. A lot of guys weren't feeling too well. I know I wasn't. I did too many miles last week." Midway through the lap, Walton attacked and got a gap. By the end of the lap, Walton was solo, 29 seconds off the front with the five remaining riders not that interested in chasing. The field, or what was left looking like a group of around 50, was at 1:45. On the next climb to Mt. Washington the field exploded. Motorola's Armstrong and Peron bridged. Then one-by-one, Hincapie, Saturn's Norm Alvis and Shaklee's Michael Engleman bridged and before the lap was finished, they had all joined the second group sitting 12 seconds behind Walton. As the lap ended, Frankie Andreu and Chris Horner were 50 seconds behind Walton and 38 seconds behind the Armstrong group. Next was a seven-rider group including John Lieswyn (USA), Scott Moninger (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff), Esteban Fraga (Shaklee), Darren Baker (Montgomery-Bell), Michael Carter (Navigators), Frank McCormack (Saturn), Trent Klasna (Chevrolet-LA Sheriff) and Luc Roosen (Flanders). Then Armstrong and Peron attacked and went off all alone. At the end of lap 10, 66 miles into the race, Armstrong and Peron were 1:12 ahead of a group that included teammates Andreu, Hincapie and Julich; Saturn's Alvis, Walton and Bowen, Saab's Bishop, Chevy's Hegg and Shaklee's Engleman. Another nine riders were at 3:47; a group of 12 at 4:30 and eight more at 5:46. The rest were being pulled out of contention. Eight miles later, Armstrong and Peron were 2:36 ahead of the eight chasers. At 5:21, Baker, Fraga and Lieswyn had separated themsevles from others. At 5:36 were six others and the rest allowed to continue were 6:00 behind. At this point, only 30 riders were contining. Armstrong and Peron advanced the gap to 3:30 on the next lap. But when they were down to the final two laps on the short circuit, the trio of Hincapie, Alvis and Bishop had closed within 2:00. It stayed that way through the next lap to the finish. Bowen was sixth, leading a group of five at 3:18. He was followed by Andreu, Hegg, Julich and Engleman. Baker was 11th with Fraga 12th, both at 5:25. Horner and Frank McCormack were 13th and 14th at 8:33. Kirs Wiatr of Guiltless Gourmet was 15th leading a group of nine at 10:21. Julich won the Saturn Teamwork Challenge climbing competition with Hegg second, and Walton, Armstrong and Peron tied for third. FINAL RESULT - WOMEN
Length: 42.20 Miles Avg Speed: 23.51 MPH
1 32 DEMET Dede SATURN 1:47:41 1:47:41 2 56 PALMER Susan VANWOOD WOMEN'S 1:47:46 @ 5 3 34 HUGHES Clara SATURN 1:48:28 @ 47 4 14 KAILA Maureen TEAM BODY-WISE 1:48:36 @ 55 5 33 GOLAY Jeannie SATURN 1:48:43 @ 1:02 6 1 BERGLUND Mariann TEAM BODY-WISE " " 7 35 YOUNG Julie SATURN " " 8 103 BRENNEMAN Linda " " 9 13 SCHUSTER Pam CHEVROLET-L.A. S " " 10 9 JENKINS Louisa SHAKLEE " " 11 46 STEPHENSON Eve TIMEX-CANNONDALE " " 12 53 JACKSON Linda VANWOOD WOMEN'S " " 13 41 CHARAMEDA Laura TIMEX-CANNONDALE 1:49:00 @ 1:19 14 113 MORROW Kim " " 15 43 PRYDE Susie TIMEX-CANNONDALE " " 16 44 RICHARDSON Carme TIMEX-CANNONDALE " " 17 2 CASSON Yvette TEAM BODY-WISE " " 18 61 CHATHAM Catherin WORLD T.E.A.M. " " 19 45 SAMPLONIUS Anne TIMEX-CANNONDALE " " 20 7 ODIN Cecile FRENCH NATIONAL 1:49:52 @ 2:11 21 4 BLACKWELDER Broo TEAM BODY-WISE 1:50:49 @ 3:08 22 62 DEKRAAY Christin WORLD T.E.A.M. " " 23 94 PUGH Molly TREO " " 24 3 TRETSCHAK Tiffan TEAM BODY-WISE " " 25 18 OVERGAAG Daniell " " 26 54 KURRECK Karen VANWOOD WOMEN'S 1:51:23 @ 3:42 27 5 CLIGNET Marion FRENCH NATIONAL " " 28 101 ALBERT Heather 1:52:49 @ 5:08 29 6 HUGUET Sonia FRENCH NATIONAL 1:54:13 @ 6:32 30 51 BLACK Chloe VANWOOD WOMEN'S 1:54:20 @ 6:39 31 91 COOPER Stace TREO 1:54:26 @ 6:45 32 11 NICHOLSON Christ CHEVROLET-L.A. S 1:55:25 @ 7:44 33 55 MILLAR Kathleen VANWOOD WOMEN'S " " 34 12 RENNER Molly CHEVROLET-L.A. S " " 35 25 BREEZE Bonnie TEAM COLUMBUS " " 36 93 HANSON-HINES Jul TREO 1:56:28 @ 8:47 37 8 DESBOUYS Severin FRENCH NATIONAL " " 38 116 TANNENBAUM Audre 1:56:49 @ 9:08 39 74 MACKIN Karen BRUEGGER'S BAGEL 1:57:04 @ 9:23 40 73 GROVER-TAVARES L BRUEGGER'S BAGEL " " 41 109 HERZENBERG Karen 1:57:11 @ 9:30 42 92 FREEDMAN Nicole TREO 1:58:27 @ 10:46 43 83 DUFF-MILLER Tani TEAM COLUMBUS 2:00:02 @ 12:21 44 10 PAULSON Marie SHAKLEE " " 45 119 WILLINGMYRE Darc 2:00:06 @ 12:25 46 110 HOPKINS Colleen " " 47 106 FARELL Julia " " DNS 22 HEIDE Kim NAVIGATORS DNS 23 VAN GILDER Laura NAVIGATORS DNS 42 DUNLAP Alison TIMEX-CANNONDALE DNS 52 LANGTON Kim VANWOOD WOMEN'S DNS 71 BERCHTOLD Kathry BRUEGGER'S BAGEL DNS 85 BRESLIN Stephani TEAM COLUMBUS DNS 107 GOODMAN Cynthia DNS 112 MARSHALL Cory DNS 118 WICK Karen DNS 120 COMPTON Katie DNS 121 QUIGLEY Jane DNS 124 GYORY Dana DNS 125 BASHEARS Brenda DNF 15 NEKRITZ Elaine DNF 16 MASON Lisa DNF 21 BINNEY Cheryl NAVIGATORS DNF 24 RAMIREZ Cassandr NAVIGATORS DNF 31 BLISS-LIVINGSTON SATURN DNF 72 GEORGE Susan BRUEGGER'S BAGEL DNF 82 BRAMBURGER Lori TEAM COLUMBUS DNF 84 HAYDEN Renee TEAM COLUMBUS DNF 102 BOTE Michele K. DNF 104 COLLAZO Maria El DNF 105 DIAL Jennifer DNF 108 HEFLER Susan DNF 111 HORNER Ellen DNF 114 PETTIT Kimberly DNF 115 STRUZIK Lorie DNF 117 TKACH Suzanne