May 30/09 11:41 am - Montreal Women's World Cup UPDATES

Posted by Editoress on 05/30/09
 

In just under 10 minutes the 12th edition of the Montreal Women's World Cup will be underway.  There are 20 teams with a total of 112 riders are on the start list, including some of the top ranked women on the circuit. Missing are 4 of the top 5 ranked in the World Cup standings after 5 races:  Marianne Vos, Kristen Armstrong, Loes Gunnewijk and Ina Teutenberg.  Emma Johnsson is ranked 2nd and is riding for the Swedish National team, and the sixth ranked is Kirsten Wild    (Cervelo Test Team).  Both riders will be looking to move up in the ranks today.

Some names that are sure to feature are Regina Bruins    (Cervelo Test Team), Trixi Worrack, Charlotte Becker, Amber Neben    (Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung), Mara Abbott, Judith Arndt  (Team Columbia Highroad Women).  Judith Arndt is the defending champion but  is returning to racing after a broken collarbone in early March and a broken wrist in April, so her form is unknown.  Canadians of note will be Alex Wrubleski, Erinne Willock and Joelle Numainville.  Wrubleski has just come home from what she says has been a successful spring campaign in Europe.


It rained heavily last night and most of the morning, but it has now stopped and the sun is poking through.  The road is still quite wet and extremely rough after a long cold Montreal winter.

Today's race will be 11 laps around the 10.06 km circuit that starts on Ave du Parc.

Lap 1

12:09pm:  First time up the climb and Emma Pooley (Cervelo Test Team) has attacked and already has a 16 second gap on the bunch that seems somewhat uninterested in chasing so early on.

Lap 2

12:25pm:  2nd time up the climb.  Pooley is still away with a gap of 30 seconds on 2 chasers: Andrea Dvorak (Colavita Sutter Homes) and Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders).  The front of the peloton is at 50 sec, but is really spread out on the climb.  Hanka Kupfernagel (German National Team) had a mechanical on lap 1 and is now chasing back on.

Lap 3

12:48pm: Approximately 1/2 way through the 3rd lap, Pooley is still away and has extended her lead over the 2 chasers to 45 seconds.  The peloton is at 2 min, in no hurry to bring back the 3 riders off the front.

The road is drying up

Lap 4

1:07pm:  Now half way aroud the 4th lap and Pooley has extended her lead over the 2 chasers to 1:50.  Ruth Corsett (Australian National Team) launched off the front of the peloton and is 3:40 back from Pooley.  The peloton with Nürnberger at the front is at 4:05

 Lap 6-8

2:05pm:  On lap 6 a charge by the peloton caught the 3 chasers and at the same time shed a number of riders, thus reducing the peloton to about 50.

Lap 7 saw the peloton slow a bit, but there has been a continued reduction in the number of riders in the bunch.

Now on Lap 8, on the climb, Pooley has a gap of 3:40 and there are about 40 left in the peloton.

When they complete the lap there will be 3 to go

Lap 9

2:27:  Up the climb, the peloton is really starting to string out.  At the front is a group of 6 with Erinne Willock. They have brought Pooley back to 2:40 and are continuing over the top of the climb.

2:33: As they start to head back down the course, toward the lap's end, there has been some regrouping and there are now ~ 25 in the bunch chasing Pooley.

Lap 9

2:36pm:    At the end of the lap the gap 2:35

Lap 10

2:48 pm:  Emma Johansson attacked up the climb and had everyone scrambling to chase. 

Up over the top there are ~ 10 chasers able to match her pace.  The gap to Pooley is now <2 minutes, but she still looks strong and it will take a lot of effort and cooperation to reel her in.

Lap 11

2:58pm:  Last time up the climb, Pooley is maintaining a gap of just under 2 minutes.  The chase group of 10 is still trying, but making little ground on her.  Erinne Willock is one of the chase bunch and will be looking for a top 10 place.

Final

Unofficial

1 Emma Pooley    (Cervelo Test Team)

2 Emma Johansson    (Swedish National Team)

3 Trixi Worrack    (Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung)

This should give Johansson enough points to take over the World Cup lead