19th Tour de l'Aude Féminin - 2.9.1

France, May 16-25, 2003

2002 results Stage List Photos Preview Start List Past winners

The Stages

Prologue - May 16: Gruissan - Gruissan ITT, 3km
Stage 1 - May 17: Port La Nouvelle - Port La Nouvelle, 123km
Stage 2 - May 18: Rieux Minervois - Rieux Minervois, 115km
Stage 3 - May 19: Lezignan Corbières - Lezignan Corbières, 121km
Stage 4a - May 20: Thezan des Corbières - Saint Laurent de la Cabrerisse, 45km
Stage 4b - May 20: Saint Laurent de la Cabrerisse - Durban Corbières, 49km
Stage 5 - May 21: Castelnaudary - Castelnaudary ITT, 31.5km
Stage 6 - May 22: Castelnaudary - Castelnaudary, 115km
Stage 7a - May 23: Montreal d'Aude - Bram, 35km
Stage 7b - May 23: Bram - Saissac, 63km
Stage 8 - May 24: Axat - Axat, 123km
Stage 9 - May 25: Saint Hilaire - Limoux, 109km

Preview

The next major appointment on the women's calendar is the Tour de l'Aude Féminin, which starts on May 16 with a 3 km prologue in Gruissan, France, and finishes on May 25 in Limoux. The Tour de l'Aude was started in 1985 by Jean Thomas, who already had experience organising men's races. One of his motivations was to give women's racing more recognition, and together with his daughter Anne-Marie he sought the assistance of sponsors and the media to support the race. After his death, Anne-Marie continued his work, and the 11 day race now has a 50 strong staff to ensure its smooth running.

Over the years, it's expanded from 4 to 11 days, and the Tour de l'Aude is now ranked as a UCI 2.9.1 event, equivalent to the Grande Boucle (women's Tour de France). Past winners include Maria Canins, Jeannie Longo, Catherine Marsal, Leontien Van Moorsel, Fabiana Luperini, Hanka Kupfernagel, Lyne Bessette and most recently Judith Arndt, who'll be back this year with her new team Nürnberger to defend her title.

The teams list this year contains 19 squads numbering six riders each. National teams from Australia, Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Great Britain, Netherlands and Russia will take part, along with the trade teams Nürnberger, Vlaanderen-T Interim, Team GRACE S.A.T.S., Catalunya-Aliverti-Kookai, Saturn, Team 2002 Aurora RSM, Bik Powerplate, Farm Frites-Hartol, Rostex Quantum, Mazza and Velodames Colnago.

After a flat 3 km prologue time trial in Gruissan, the race features a number of hilly stages but no big mountains until stage 8. Stage 2 around Rieux Minervois has the 7 km climb of Col des Jouys (6.5%) located at the halfway point, while stage 3 contains two Cat. 1 climbs and a Cat. 2. The most serious challenge comes in stage 8 (Axat - Axat, 123 km), in which the riders will have to tackle the Hors Categorie climbs of Col de Dent (13.5 km) and Col de Garavel (11.5 km) as well as the Cat. 1 Col de Brenac. Apart from prologue, the race also features an individual time trial on stage 5 in Castelnaudary, over 31.5 kilometres.

Start List

Nurnberger Versicherung             Velodames-Colnago
 
1 Judith Arndt (Ger)                7 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus)
2 Cornelia Cyrus (Ger)              8 Volha Hayeva (Blr)
3 Margaret Hemsley (Aus)            9 Valentina Karpenko (Ukr)
4 Madeleine Lindberg (Swe)          10 Olga Slioussareva (Rus)
5 Petra Rossner (Ger)               11 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr)
6 Trixi Worrack (Ger)               12 Iryna Simonova (Ukr)
 
Saturn Cycling Team                 Vlaanderen T Interim
 
13 Ina Teutenberg (Ger)             19 Sharron Vandromme (Ned)
14 Lyne Bessette (Can)              20 Veronique Belleter (Bel)
15 Manon Jutras (Can)               21 Debby Mansveld (Ned)
16 Katie Mactier (Aus)              22 Cindy Pieters (Bel)
17 Jessica Phillips (USA)           23 Mirella Van Melis (Ned)
                                    24 Laure Werner (Ger)
 
German National Team                German National TeamMixte S.A.T.S -Home
 
25 Liane Bahler (Ger)               31 Anne Wagner (Den)
26 Katrin Beiharz (Ger)             32 Sandra Rombouts (Ned)
27 Angela Brodtka (Ger)             33 Trine Hansen (Den)
28 Tina Liebig (Ger)                34 Meredith Miller (USA)
29 Theresa Senff (Ger)              35 Christina Peick-Anders (Den)
30 Claudia Stumpf (Ger)             36 Karina Louise Sorensen (Den)
 
G.S.Mazza                           Team 2002 Aurora Rsm
 
37 Alexandra Bahler (Swi)           43 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu)
38 Aline Camboulives (Fra)          44 Eneritz Iturriaga (Spa)
39 Blandine Camus (Fra)             45 Nataliya Kachalka (Ukr)
40 Marika Murer (Swi)               46 Fabiana Luperini (Ita)
41 Caroline Payot Podevin (Fra)     47 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu)
42 Béatrice Thomas (Fra)            48 Luisa Tamanini (Ita)
 
Team Catalunya Aliverti-Kookai      Australian National Team
 
49 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe)          55 Olivia Gollan (Aus)
50 Baukje Doedee (Ned)              56 Lorian Graham (Aus)
51 Katie Brown (Aus)                57 Emma James (Aus)
52 Marianna Lorenzoni (Spa)         58 Christine Riakos (Aus)
53 Anna Ramirez Bauxel (Spa)        59 Emily Williams (Aus)
54 Marta Villajosana (Spa)          60 Alison Wright (Aus)
 
Canadian National Team              British National Team
 
61 Nicole Demars (Can)              67 Emma Davies (GBr)
62 Gina Grain (Can)                 68 Penny Edwards (GBr)
63 Anne Samplonius (Can)            69 Charlotte Goldsmith (GBr)
64 Katy St Laurent (Can)            70 Rachel Heal (GBr)
65 Carrie Tuck (Can)                71 Frances Newstead (GBr)
66 Erinne Willock (Can)             72 Sara Waller (GBr)
 
Mixed Farm Frites-Va                French National Team
 
73 Mirjam Melchers (Ned)            79 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra)
74 Arenda Grimberg (Ned)            80 Karine Dalmais (Fra)
75 Sandra Missbach (Ger)            81 Delphine Guille (Fra)
76 Miho Oki (Jpn)                   82 Sonia Huguet (Fra)
77 Esther Van Der Helm (Ned)        83 Sandrine Marcuz Morrea (Fra)
78 Olga Van Velzev (Rus)            84 Virginie Moinard (Fra)
 
Bik Powerplate                      Rostex Quantum Koni
 
85 Sharon Van Essen (Ned)           91 Lada Kozlikova (Cze)
86 Sara Carrigan (Aus)              92 Barbora Bohata (Cze)
87 Andrea Bosman (Ned)              93 Jana Kabrtova (Cze)
88 Francis Linthorst (Ned)          94 Martina Ruzickova (Cze)
89 Kirsty Nicole Robb (Nzl)         95 Julie Pekarkova (Cze)
90 Anita Valen (Nor)                96 Lenka Valova (Cze)
 
Dutch National Team                 Russian National Team
 
97 Chantal Beltman (Ned)            103 Nathalia Boyarskaya (Rus)
98 Ghita Beltman (Ned)              104 Appolinaria Bakova (Rus)
99 Loes Gunnewyk (Ned)              105 Elena Babikova (Rus)
100 Bertine Spykerman (Ned)         106 Ekaterina Malohura (Rus)
101 Minke Van Dongen (Ned)          107 Oxana Kostenko (Rus)
102 Corrien Van Haastert (Ned)      108 Svetlana Denisenko (Rus)
 
Spanish National Team
 
109 Cristina Alcade Huerta (Spa)
110 Rosa Maria Bravo Soba (Spa)
111 Maria Mercedes Cagigas (Spa)
112 Leticia Gil Parra (Spa)
113 Rosa Membrives Gimenez (Spa)
114 Maribel Moreno Allue (Spa)

Past winners

Year      First                       Second                    Third

2002 Judith Arndt (Ger)         Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu)
2001 Lyne Bessette (Can)        Judith Arndt (Ger)         Susanne Ljungskog (Swe)
2000 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger)    Mirjam Melchers (Ned)      Géraldine Loewenguth (Fra)
1999 Lyne Bessette (Can)        Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger)    Heidi Van de Vijver (Bel)
1998 Fabiana Luperini (Ita)     Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Catherine Marsal (Fra)
1997 Linda Jackson (Can)        Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus)  Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel)
1996 Aleksandra Koliaseva (Rus) Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus)  Catherine Marsal (Fra)
1995 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Rasa Polikiavichute (Lit)  Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus)
1994 Catherine Marsal (Fra)     Rasa Polikiavichute (Lit)  Alexsandra Koliaseva (Rus)
1993 Jeannie Longo (Fra)        Leontien Van Moorsel (Ned) Marion Clignet (Fra)
1992 Julie Young (USA)
1991 Leontien Van Moorsel (Ned) Catherine Marsal (Fra)     Inga Thompson (USA)
1990 Catherine Marsal (Fra)     Leontien Van Moorsel (Ned) Denise Kelly (Can)
1989 Cecile Odin (Fra)          Nadejda Kibardina (USSR)   Sara Neil (Can)
1988 Jeannie Longo (Fra)        Maria Canins (Ita)         L. Brambani (GB)
1987 Maria Canins (Ita)         Tamara Poliakova (Ukr)     Jeannie Longo (Fra)
1986 Phyllis Hines (USA)        V. Lafargue (Fra)          A. Iakovleva (USSR)
1985 Jeanette Parks (USA)