August 25/97 10:49 am - Linda Jackson Writes!

Posted by Editor on 08/25/97
 

Live From France

Linda Jackson has e-mailed us two accounts of her Tour Feminin experiences - Stages 10 (August 22nd) and 11 (23rd). We know that the race is now over, but we thought you would like to hear about the race in the words of the 3rd place finisher herself.

Stage 10

Today was the individual time trial. This one was a little more to my liking. The course was about 30 minutes east of Marseille. It was 18.9 km, and started off with a slight rise, followed by a fast descent, a long gradual uphill section, another fast descent, and then a kicker 1 km hill at the 3km to go mark.

Zabirova won the stage in a 22:41. I was second, and gained 26 seconds on Barbara Heeb. Luperini had another incredible time trial, finishing 4th. Elizabeth Emery (USA) turned in a good ride also, finishing 6th.

We only have two days and three stages left. A friend of mine suggested going on the flat stages, since I probably wasn't going to ride away from Luperini on the climbs. There are NO flat stages left Brad!!!!!! Tomorrow is a 114 km stage that starts in Cannes, goes inland (that's uphill) and finishes in Nice. It is going to be a very difficult day with a lot of climbing and a lot of small roads. On Sunday, both stages have mountain top finishes. So we will see. Morale is high, and we will continue to try to
catch Sanson by surprise!

Stage results:
(1) Zabirova 22:41
(2) Jackson + 28"
(3) Heeb + 54"
(4) Luperini + 1:05
(5) polkhanova + 1:08
(6) Emery + 1:09
(7) A. Cappellotto + 1:16
(8) Marsal + 1:27
(9) Watt + 1:28
(10) J. Poilikiviciute + 1:37

General Classification
(1) Luperini
(2) Heeb + 2:46
(3) Jackson + 3:21
(4) Polkhanova + 4:57
(5) J. Polikiviciute + 5:45
(6) A. Cappellotto + 6:37
(7) R. Polikiviciute + 7:17
(8) Boubnenkova + 12:30
(9) Eicher-Couets + 14:55
(10) Pucinskaite + 15:25

Stage 11

On paper, today's stage looked like it was going to be difficult. There were two hotspots (which are basically irrelevant because Cappellotto has such a lead on the jersey), but there was a lot of climbing. There was a 7 km climb right out of Cannes, followed by a 15-20 km gradual climb to the Cote de Coursegoules. After a brief descent, we would climb again before a huge descent to the base of the last climb, the Cote d'Aspremont.

An early break served to calm the peleton for most of the day, and the long climbs were done in a very moderate pace. Louisa Jenkins (25th in G.C.) and Svetlana Stepanova (31st in G.C.) led an attack at the 11km mark. They were soon joined by Juanita Feldhan, (AUS,45th in G.C.) By the summit of Cote de Coursegoules (51 km) the three had a lead of about 2 minutes. The main field went over the climb at a fairly moderate pace. On the Cote d'Aspremont, Feldhan dropped first Stepanova and then Jenkins,and continued on alone. On the same hill, I tried attacking my group several times in an effort to get rid of Heeb. It is pretty hard to launch a surprise attack when everyone has radios!! Anyway, I tried, and each time Heeb just chased me down with
Luperni on her wheel. Then the three of us would be up the road, which really didn't do me any good at all!

On the descent, we caught Stephanova, and then Louisa Jenkins. Juanita had an awesome ride, and finished alone, 40 seconds ahead of the first group. The sprint for second in our group of 24 was won by Stagourskaia (Dream Team).

Australia has ridden an excellent tour. They have been aggressive in most of the stages, and today was no exception.

Stage Results
(1) Feldhahn (AUS) 3:19
(2) Stagourskaia + 40"
(3) Bengoa Perez (ESP)
(4) J. Polikiviciute
(5) R. Polikiviciute
(6) Ruano Sanchon (ESP)
(7) Eicher-Vouets(SUI)
(8) Pucinskaite (DreamTeam)
(9) Heeb
(10) Bonanomi
(12) jackson
(16) Luperini all same time.

G.C. remained unchanged for the top ten.