May 26/01 6:55 am - Wedge Report (Stage 7), Midi-Libre, U.S. Nationals

Posted by Editor on 05/26/01
 

Wedge Report

Stage 7; Dungarvan-Bunclody 170km

Today was the last road race, but it was one of the hardest yet. There were 6 KOMs in the last 60km, and it was up to the Germans to control. They set the pace from the start, riding tempo in the flat and rolling terrain. Once we got onto the finishing circuit, the hills started, and it got crazy. I had flat legs up to that point, and thought I was done for the day, but the blaze up the first KOM got me fired up. There were two dangerous riders up the road, Brit Paul Manning, and South African Nick White. We thought the Germans would hunt them down, but they all detonated and left the yellow jersey to defend on his own. On the hardest climb, I fell off the back a bit, but came back hard on the next one and made a gap over the top with Julian Winn from Wales. In the descent, a group formed, with Bluesky (Jason Crookham), and about 12 others including (Dominique) Perras and two of his teammates.

We chased but couldn't catch the leaders. Bluesky and I tried to gain a second at the end, but he got blown off my wheel, and I launched into the police cavalcade in the last corner and blew the sprint and nearly went poopey. Oops. Bluesky ends up 7th in the stage and falls to 5th overall, while I got 15th and moved to 10th overall. The Brit took the jersey.

It's is not quite over yet though, as Bluesky is tied for 4th, and I am tied for 9th with 5 other guys, and it can be decided by placings in the crit tomorrow. They are calling for rain, very heavy rain tomorrow for the crit,
you can probly see my grin from there.

Peter Wedge


Midi-Libre - France

Stage 5 - Rignac to Mende 188.5 km

1 Sven Montgomery (Sui) La Francaise Des Jeux 4:09:02
2 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis at 0:05
3 Iban Mayo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:09
4 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0:20
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Deutsche Telekom 0:25
6 Uani Etxebarria (Ven) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:28
7 Ramon Gonzalez Arrieta (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:41
8 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Esp) iBanesto.com 0:44
9 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-World Online
10 Stephane Goubert (Fra) Jean Delatour both s.t.

19 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) Mercury-Viatel 1:25
20 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Credit Agricole s.t.
65 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Mercury-Viatel 5:20
74 Jamie Drew (Aus) Mercury-Viatel 6:00
76 Phil Zajicek (USA) Mercury-Viatel 6:50
102 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Mercury-Viatel 12:30
113 William Frischkorn (USA) Mercury-Viatel 25:18
DNF Laurent Chotard (Fra) Mercury-Viatel

GC

1 Sven Montgomery (Sui) La Francaise Des Jeux 19:15:10
2 Iban Mayo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 0:10
3 Uani Etxebarria (Ven) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:23
4 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 0:34
5 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 0:51
6 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) Mercury-Viatel 0:54
7 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0:55
8 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-World Online 1:05
9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 2:04
10 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Credit Agricole 2:09

51 Jamie Drew (Aus) Mercury-Viatel 6:24
53 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Mercury-Viatel 6:51
80 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Mercury-Viatel 13:49
93 Phil Zajicek (USA) Mercury-Viatel 21:42
115 William Frischkorn (USA) Mercury-Viatel 39:55


Bruckner Takes Women's U.S. Road Title
Courtesy Team Saturn

REDDING, Calif. -- Kimberly Bruckner of the Saturn Cycling Team won her second gold medal of the 2001 National Cycling Championships Saturday, handily taking the road race crown to match the time trial title she captured Thursday.

The 29-year-old from Boulder, Colo., finished three minutes ahead of Amber Needam of Irvine, Calif., who had escaped with Bruckner on the second of four laps in the 68-mile race. When the two approached the major climb on the 14-mile loop for the final time, Bruckner eased ahead and never looked back.

Her winning time was 3 hours, 6 minutes and 7 seconds.

Adding to Saturn's success on Saturday was Suzanne Sonye, who took the field sprint for third place, while Larssyn Staley, a 16-year-old member of the Saturn Development Team, won the Under 23 title.

"I'm in shock," said Bruckner, a former triathlete who switched to cycling four years ago and did not expect to win both titles this week. And with only one teammate in the race, she thought she would be outgunned by some of the larger teams.

"There was a climb on the circuit and I attacked on the first lap and it didn't really go. I didn't feel that good," said Bruckner. "But Suzanne came up to me and said to just keep attacking on the climb because it would string things out.

"When I attacked on the second lap, Amber came with me and Pam Schuster and Mari Holden looked like they were going to come too, but they
couldn't stay with us.

"So it was just the two of us, and we worked really well together." Holden and others tried to organize a chase, but were unsuccessful and when the lead duo reached the base of climb for the final time, they had a 2:10 gap. At that point Bruckner could see that Needham was starting to falter. "My pulls were getting longer and when we got to the bottom of the climb she said to go," said Bruckner, who then finished the race alone.

With her victory Saturday, Bruckner now moves back into the lead of the National Racing Calendar (NRC) standings, which ties together key American races through a points system. Unofficially Bruckner now holds a 250-point lead over Genevieve Jeanson, a 19-year-old Canadian who surpassed Bruckner in the standings earlier this month. Bruckner previously held the NRC lead from April 1 to May 1.