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The Anna Millward Diary
Australian Anna Millward (Wilson until her marriage in 2000) is one of the best women's cyclists in the world, and was ranked number 1 for the first part of 2000. She has won races everywhere, from time trials in France, World Cup races in Switzerland to stage races in the USA, and was the first cyclist ever to break the Hour Record under the "new" UCI rules. Anna possesses an incredible sprint and this combined with her power and determination makes her a formidable cyclist on any terrain. She is also one of the friendliest and most optimistic people you could ever meet.
Getting Petra to Number Six at Philly
First Union Liberty Classic
Today we raced in Philadelphia. In the past, this has been a World Cup race, but this year it was downgraded. However, it's still a huge race for Saturn so we wanted to do really well. One benefit from having the World Cup status taken away was that we could start with a team of eight.
Petra Rossner (Saturn) has won this race five times already. The big wide finish is perfectly suited to her amazing sprint. So we were keen to help her to a sixth victory here.
We had some drama during the first lap of the race, with Petra having some problems with her bike. She swapped bikes with Judith Arndt, since they ride almost identical positions. Judith then stopped to get her spare bike from the following car and we got everyone back in the bunch again without too many difficulties.
My team-mates Kristy Scrymgeour, Suzanne Sonye, Cathy Marsal and Jessica Phillips did most of the work on the flat parts of the course, controlling the attacks and keeping everyone together. For the first two laps, Ina Teutenberg was amazing on the major climb of the course, the Manayunk "Wall". The second time over the wall, Ina followed an attack by Susy Pryde (Talgo) and the two of them established a good gap together. The Italian Itera team did most of the work to reel them back in, but it took them a good 10km to do it.
The final time up the wall, Judith Arndt set a fierce pace and created a breakaway of seven riders. Petra Rossner and I were there to make a total of three Saturn riders in the split. Polkanova (Itera), Dede Demet (Talgo), Kim Smith (USA National) and Laura van Guilder (Trek) were the other riders in the break. It was a great move for our team and so Judith and I went to the front to force the pace and keep the break away to the finish.
Up the last little climb of the day, Lemon Hill, Kim Smith attacked hard. Judith and I were dropped and Petra was in a dangerous situation, alone with four riders from other teams waiting to attack her. While Judith and I were chasing to get back and help Petra, Dede Demet attacked. However, Petra was up to the challenge and covered the move. Judith and I rejoined the leaders and set as high a pace as we could to the final 200 metres. From there, Petra took over with a great sprint to take her sixth victory!
Laura van Guilder took second, Dede third, Kim Smith fourth, Polkanova fifth and Judith and I sixth and seventh.
Now we are off to Idaho to race the 9-day Hewlett Packard race from June 15 to 23.
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Cheers
Anna
