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Time for a change: The Kimberly Bruckner Journal 2003
Last year the 2001 US Road Champion Kimberly Bruckner left the number one ranked women's team in the US after two years with Saturn and joined the growing force that is Team T-Mobile. With her sights firmly set on the Worlds in Hamilton and the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Kimberly's diary is sure to provide compelling reading.
A week in the East - part two: A big team effort
Tour du Grand Montreal, June 2-4
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“We were beating the French Canadians on their own turf. This was rather exciting. ” |
Following the Montreal World Cup, we had a day of rest and relaxation before starting up the three-day Tour of Montreal. That Sunday turned out to be gray and drizzling rain. It gave Dede, Kristin, and me the perfect opportunity to check out the walking trails throughout the Mont Royal Park that we had raced in the day before. After that, it was shopping and a movie. Not a bad day.
Prologue - June 2: Arrondissement Lachine ITT, 3 km
Monday morning started off the Tour of Montreal with a short TT prologue in the nearby town of Lachine, Genevieve Jeanson's hometown. Lachine's located just a short distance down the canal from downtown Montreal, and all the competing cyclists rode the bike path to the start. Even though the prologue was only a 3 kilometer half circle on a bike path, it nevertheless set the general classification for the upcoming stages. I was the second to last to go off... I don't know how I got that lucky slot. But while I was up on the stage waiting for my clock to tick down, I heard the announcer say that Katie Mactier had the fastest time so far, with Lyne Bessette just behind her. And Genevieve was currently out on the course. As I rolled down the ramp, I figured I had quite the tough act to follow. I wasn't particularly quick in those 3km. Longer TT's are more suited to my style. But I wasn't too worried, as tougher stages were to come. As predicted, Genevieve did indeed bring home the quickest time of the day, with Mactier second and Bessette third. Amber Neben was T-Mobile's highest finisher in fifth, just a few seconds out of first. Dede finished eighth and I finished 13th. So we definitely weren't out of the running.
Stage 1 - June 2: Petite Italie Criterium, 50 km
That night was the Little Italy criterium. It's rather difficult for me to get motivated for a 50km criterium that isn't scheduled to start until 7:30pm in the evening. So I just kept telling myself over and over, "I love night crits. I love night crits." I think for the most part, that worked! I went into the race definitely more motivated than I've been in the past. At times like these, I'm always thinking that I'm so glad I'm not a guy; the guys always get stuck with late-evening/ night criteriums that seem to be about 100 km long. That would definitely not be my cup of tea. T-Mobile's goal going into the race was mainly to just stay safe. Due to the time of the crit, with the sun going down, and the make-up of the field, we all remembered this crit being a bit sketchier than most. The two final stages of the Tour would definitely set the GC, so we just had to make it through until tomorrow.
There was quite a bit of action going on at the front, with all the teams' sprinters up there duking it out. In the end, it was Gina Grain from Victory/Amoroso's taking the win over Nicole Cooke. The Victory/Amoroso's team is made up of a group of really great girls, so we were really excited for them to grab such a fantastic win. A job well done ladies! Being that the crit was in the Italian area of Montreal, I swore I was smelling garlic the entire race. And while I love the smell of garlic, it can be a bit nauseating during such an effort. But when we were finished, we were all set for dinner. And Michelle, our soigneur, had us all set up with dinner reservations. It was a late night, but well worth it.
Stage 2 - June 3: Ville De Rigaud, 111 km
Stage 2 was held a ways outside of Montreal in the small town of Rigaud. The stage didn't start until 3pm, but it was a bit of a transfer, so most teams started leaving the beloved dorms around noon. Unsubstantiated rumour had it that the race promoters had let Genevieve pick a stage and this was supposedly one of her favorite places to train. But it was definitely a beautiful, and very hilly, place to ride. The stage consisted of 111 kilometers, and three major climbs. All the climbs led up to the top of the same mountain, we were just getting there in different ways. It kind of felt like we were a ways into the backroads and back woods of Quebec. The area was beautiful with thick forests and consistently undulating terrain.
From the gun, the Saturn girls started attacking, mainly Jessica Phillips, Amy Moore, and Manon Jutras. Manon was really the only threat to GC, but RONA insisted on chasing everything, and they continued all day. They were determined not to let anything go. But I think that's what got them in the end. The second major Queen of the Mountains sprint was a killer and really broke the field up. Reaching the summit first was T-Mobile's Amber Neben, Jeanson, and Bessette. Just behind them came our group with Dede, Kristin, and myself along with Katie Mactier, Sue Palmer-Komar, Genesis, and some others. The three T-Mobile girls put in a strong chase to bring the top three back. It wasn't that we didn't believe in Amber, we just knew we'd be stronger with greater numbers. Just as our chase group reached the front, Dede told Kristin to attack and she did. No one responded and she was off and out of sight pretty quickly. The pace really slowed at that point, allowing more and more girls to chase back on. Pretty soon our whole team was again intact with Kristin up the road. Things were looking up.
Eventually, attacks soon started back up as girls noticed Genevieve was at a disadvantage, having lost quite a few of her teammates on the climb. Bessette attacked with Amber and Magli LeFloch (RONA) right on her heels. It was a strong trio and they too were soon gone. The three quickly swallowed up Kristin and once there were two T-Mobile girls in the break, Kristin told Amber to just sit on and she would do a majority of the pulling. The girls had about a 40 second gap as they came into the third and final climb to the finish. Kristin was so tired from pulling that she fell off the pace and finished in our chase group. Magli LeFloch won the sprint, and Amber finished second, gapping off Lyne by two seconds. Those seconds were to come in super handy in the overall GC. Lyne had finished ahead of Amber in the prologue, but due to bonus seconds and the finish, Amber was now in the leader's jersey. T-Mobile was winning the stage race! And we were beating the French Canadians on their own turf. This was rather exciting.
Following the stage, the race promoters staged a dinner at the coolest place called The Sugar Shack, a famous place where they serve the absolute best maple syrup. When we first sat down at the big oak tables, I thought the bottles on our tables were full of red wine. I could have used some right then too! But I came to find out they were filled with maple syrup - even better! I think we dipped everything we ate that night in the maple syrup and it tasted delicious. They totally sold us on it too; we headed straight to their "general store" on our way out and all bought more maple syrup to bring home. Flying home the following Monday, I was carrying my liter flask of maple syrup in my carry-on bag because it was too heavy to put in my check-in baggage. But they stopped me after x-raying my bag in security and asked me to remove the "flask". I was horrified they were going to take it! I pleaded with the guy that it truly was maple syrup in the container and not flammable liquid. I finally persuaded him and went along my way. But wow, that would have stunk if they had taken it.
Stage 3 - June 4: Ville De Terrebonne, 80 km
Going into the final stage, we were now the defenders of the very neon-yellow leader's jersey. Amber was going to be very easy to pick out in the bunch! Our race wasn't until 6:15pm and was only 80 km. We used the morning to spin out our legs on the trainers and get the blood flowing for some kick-ass that evening. As we were lined up, waiting for the gun, I think all our hearts were fluttering with nervousness. Bessette was only two seconds behind Amber, and there were bonus seconds up for grabs at four and two laps to go, as well as at the finish. The course was a 10km circuit that we would race eight times.
Gina Grain was also in a hot contest for the sprint jersey over Diana Ziliute (Acca-Duo), so there were several battles going on within this race. Nerves were high. We really needed to be on our game to protect the leader's jersey. The rest of the field still wasn't even that far behind since we had ended up with only a 34 second gap in yesterday's stage, so it was still pretty open. But to sum it up, T-Mobile really rode an awesome race. Every single girl played such a huge part in controlling the race, chasing down attacks, and protecting Amber. And Amber did an amazing job of staying on the heels of Jeanson and Bessette every lap when they attacked up the climb about half-way through the circuit. She even took bonus seconds by finishing second in the first sprint. She's a sprinter now!
The race was fast, furious, and very active. The most unfortunate part of the race was the mid-race sprint for the sprinter's jersey. After winning or taking second in the sprint, Gina Grain somehow ran into another cyclist and flipped over. Because the start/finish line was on a bit of an uphill, many of us saw her go down. Her whole team dropped back in the hopes of helping her chase back on to the field. Since we had the leader's jersey and could make the call, we tried to slow down field, curb attacks, and allow Victory/Amoroso's to bring Gina back. But unfortunately, Manon Jutras attacked and we couldn't let her go. In the chase, the speed picked up too much for Gina to get back on. With the time that she lost and unable to gain sprinter points at the finish, she lost the jersey, but with her determination and smile, she definitely deserved it.
Going into the finish, Amber stayed right on the heels of Bessette, not letting her gain even a second, and brought the victory safely home. It was definitely a team effort and could not have been won without the help of everyone... Stacey, Kim, Dede, Kristin, Amber, and me. It was a super satisfying victory. Riding that wave of enthusiasm, we now head down to Philadelphia in the hopes of breaking the six-year winning streak of Petra Rossner in the Liberty Classic.
Cheers!
Kim
