May 31/05 3:09 am - Tour du Grand Montreal: Stage 2 (Crit) Report, Photos and full results

Posted by Editoress on 05/31/05
 

Tour du Grand Montreal
By Leigh Hargrove

Stage 2: Petite Italie criterium, 50km

Photos by Andrea Brewer

The second stage of the Grand Tour du Montreal took place in Montreal's Little Italy, a fifty-lap criterium filled with primes and lots of Canadian action!

With Webcor Builders in the leader's jersey, most of the European teams were happy to watch the local North American trade team work hard in today's criterium. A lot of attacks came from World Cup leader Oenone Wood's team, Neunberger Versicherung as well as Nobili Rubinetterie-Menikini and Team S.A.T.S. Local teams Diet Cheerwine, Quark, Ellicycle Sport and RDCA-RONA were active in chasing down anything that flew up the road, however a lot of the cash primes went to Neunberger, Nobili, Quark, and RDCA-RONA.

The pack remained together despite several attempts to break it up. Lyne Bessette (Ellicycle Sport expert Louis Garneau) made a successful attack with 19 laps to go, opening up a fifty-metre gap on the pack within her first lap away.

Guest riding on Bessette's team is BC native Lisa Sweeney, who immediately rode to the front to block. "Once she was off the front I thought she had a good gap so I looked at Geneviève Gagnon, my teammate, and we looked at each other and went to the front where we needed to be. Webcor was trying to chase it down; we just tried to mess it up. Quark was at the front trying to chasing it down too...so yeah, we tried to help her stay away but Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) just went to the front and Boom, she single-handedly pulled it back, she's so strong."

Willock, riding for Webcor Builders, was riding in defense of the yellow jersey rider on her team, Christine Thornburn. Bessette remained off the front for 8 laps until Webcor reeled her back in.

Bessette was excited about the team's efforts in Monday night's race. "My girls! I didn't expect anything from them because they don't have much experience. But they did great, they were at the front. Lisa said when they caught you I went but I had no legs. It doesn't matter, at least they had the passion to do it!"

Fellow Canadian Willock also noted Sweeney and Gagnon's efforts. "They were great, they did a lot of work to help Lyne out, they were quite strong and that was impressive because they are young Canadians."

Willock's teammate Betina Hold (also Canadian) initiated the chase that ultimately put Lyne Bessette back into the field. Hold has been living in California for the last couple of years and is excited to race with the international field in Montreal. "It was really fast, but having some of the Europeans here was nice because they yelled at the squirrelly riders, so I thought it was pretty clean. It was fast, but it was in control. If you did a nasty move you got yelled at, and taking the corners when there was a little respect going on and there were some good wheels to follow!"

Although Bessette's attack was one of the highlights of the evening, Nurnberger Versicherung's Oenone Wood win was definitely another. After a five-lap train led by her teammates put her into a position to win the race, Wood mistook the 2nd last lap for the last. She threw her hands up in the air, thinking she had won; yet there was still one more lap to go! "The lead-out today, although I blew it a bit, the girls did an awesome lead-out... When I got to that first corner I looked around and I realized everyone was still racing and I thought 'oh no!' Then I was lucky and I got into a good position, third wheel..."

Bessette noted how quickly Wood's team reacted. "They kept riding fast, her team, and she just got back in line!"

Third place rider Rochelle Gilmore (Team S.A.T.S) was impressed by Wood's quick recovery after she realized her mistake. "Oenone was amazing and I'm glad that she won after what she did."

Joanne Kiesanowski (Nobili Rubinetterie-Menikini Cogeas) was somewhat flustered by the mistake Wood made, but still managed to hang on for second place. "For the finish, she sprinted a lap early, I thought, yeah, I got a good chance here! I got a good lead out sitting in behind a Quark rider...So, after that lap, I came around her as she went around the corner, but I didn't have the legs and Oenone did it again, she is so strong."

Gilmore pointed out that Canadian Bessette rode a strong race. "I think Bessette was always there, making moves. She was chasing everything down, she was attacking and she was always at the front. That was interesting. Obviously Nurnberger was controlling, they have just got the strongest team here, no doubt...I think the strongest team in the world...with five laps to go, nobody could even come near them!"

Willock was right up in the action for the majority of the race. "Nurnberger was doing a train for Oenone I'm guessing - ha-ha- all we were doing was trying to hold wheels. Christine and I, but we're not sprinters, and we get pushed around, so we were doing our best to stay up there and try to get some time bonuses, didn't happen today, so we held onto the yellow jersey and that was awesome." Willock finished 14th, Hold in 28th, and ultimately, their teammate Christine Thornburg finished 20th, and hung onto the yellow jersey.

Recent World Cup winner Geneviève Jeanson (ACDA-RONA) finished fourth in the sprint finish.

How did Sweeney fair in the end? "I was just staring at the cog-set ahead of me, just to make sure I was in a decent finish. I wanted to have a good finish; I didn't have much left of my legs. But, I followed Lyne's wheel at the end, she's such a good racer; she'll always be there in the end." Sweeney finished 19th in the bunch sprint, Bessette 17th.

Sweeney is excited to be racing in Montreal for Bessette's Ellicycle Sport expert Louis Garneau team. "This is my first international criterium besides Gastown. Lyne was nice enough to give me a spot racing for her team; I really wanted to do this race. Having a World Cup in your own country, and having the European girls coming here is great...She's really into developing younger riders and she's really helpful. She's just a really great person!"

Canadian rider Julie Bélanger (Diet Cheerwine) and the rest of her teammates were very active in chasing down a lot of the early race breaks. Belanger made it into the top 10 with a 9th place in the final sprint, a personal best for the young rider at this event.