June 3/03 8:19 am - Tour du Grand Montré;al: Team Saturn Report

Posted by Editor on 06/3/03
 

Tour du Grand Montréal
Courtesy Saturn

Jeanson continues to roll in Montreal - taking morning win at Prologue
It's Victory Brewing for the win in the afternoon with Gina Grain

The Tour of Quebec kicked off today in the Montreal area. A UCI ranked stage race of three days, the first day featured a double day with a morning prologue of 3.5 kilometers and an afternoon criterium. Hot off her convincing win of the Montreal World Cup Saturday, Rona's Genevieve Jeanson is certainly the woman to beat, but given the courses of the Tour it will not be an easy task. Possibly the most likely to challenge the young Canadian is the Saturn Team who finished second, third and fourth to Jeanson in the prologue. With 97 competitors, the race has quickly become respected as one of the better races on the calendar.

The prologue was a short test held on an out and back course. Jeanson completed the 3.5 kilometers in a time of 3.52. Second was Saturn's Katie Mactier, four seconds off of Jeanson's time. Only a second behind Mactier was Saturn's Lyne Bessette, and Manon Jutras, also from Saturn rounded out the top four, seven seconds off the winning time.

The afternoon's stage was a downtown criterium fondly named the Petite Italy, so called because it is in the center of Montreal's Little Italy and is a local crowd pleaser. After 50 kilometers of racing it was Gina Grain (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's with the win over Nicole Cooke. The race was fast and from the gun with lots of cash primes on the line and a Yellow Jersey still only seconds out of reach. The main peloton stayed together despite pressure applied by the Great Britain National Team, Saturn, and Acca Duo O.

In the final lap, everyone was gunning for the line, with no established lead-out for any of the teams. Grain found a solid wheel and was able to come by Nicole Cooke in the finish for a well deserved win for her Philadelphia based Victory Brewing Team. Third was another Canadian rider, Erin Carter. Jeanson managed to hang on to the Leader's Jersey by mere seconds and will start today's 111 kilometer "very hilly" road race starting at Sanctuary de Rigaud and finishing at the Sucrerie de la Montagne where the riders will stay for a famous maple syrup dinner at a sugar shack.