March 14/02 11:12 am - Redlands Team Reports, 2002 Teams, Beauce, Paris-Nice

Posted by Editor on 03/14/02
 

Redlands Team Reports

Rona

Canadian Lyne Bessette (Saturn Timex) won the second stage, but her Canadian rival Geneviève Jeanson (RONA) keeps her yellow jersey, as she remains the leader of the general classification at the Redlands Classic, which promises to be a Canadian battle under the sun of California. Mari Holden (USA, Cannondale), took third place of the stage and now ranks third in GC as well.

The racers had to complete 13 laps of a 4.55 km course, ending in a short, tough, 700-meter long hill.

Saturn Timex's directeur sportif, Giana Roberge, had warned everybody yesterday. With Judith Arndt (GER), Petra Rossner (GER) and Lyne Bessette (CAN) , Saturn Timex had what it took to play cat and mouse with Geneviève Jeanson and her Team RONA.

Today's stage proved her right. Right from the second lap, the Saturns started taking turns in the attacks. With the yellow jersey to defend, it was up to the RONAs to chase. And chase they did, closing every gap for several laps.

From the fourth to the seventh lap, Arndt and Rossner attacked. First Rossner, then Arndt, then Rossner again, then Arndt once more. They opened gaps, sometimes significant, which the RONA's then had to close, while Bessette never left Jeanson's wheel. Then during the eighth lap, Mari Holden (USA, Cannondale) launched her attack and opened a gap. A real gap. The pack let her go, despite her good ranking in GC, only 1:09 behind the leader. Over three laps, the gap grew to 2 minutes - which made her the virtual leader of the race.

With three laps to go, Jeanson took the initiative and accelerated, Bessette still in her shadow. Behind them the pack stretched and eventually exploded in several groups. In front, Holden's energy was melting away like Canadian snow in Southern California. At the bottom of the final climb, 700 meters from the finish, Holden still had a 25'' lead. Jeanson and Bessette reeled her in, then left her behind 100 meters from the finish line. Still fresh, Bessette passed Jeanson and won the stage with a 4'' margin.

" I think we can be very proud of the girls today ", said Jim Williams, the assistant directeur sportif of Team RONA. " Facing a typical Saturn race tactic, they rode a very gutsy race. Manon (Jutras, CAN) and Andrea (Hannos, CAN) did a lot of work early in the race, all of them contributed. Tomorrow's stage should be very interesting."

Tomorrow's stage is 131 kilometers long and starts at Lake Mathews to finish at Oak Glen. There are three major climbs, the last one being more than 10 km long.


Saturn

In a beautiful, smog free morning, 103 women competitors raced the Highlands Circuit Race, the second stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Although a surprisingly chilly morning with very strong winds, the racing was hot, hot, hot, with Saturn's Lyne Bessette capitalizing on an impressive move by Mari Holden. In the end, Genevieve Jeanson maintained her lead of the race but not without a fighting a very tough battle.

From the beginning of the 59.5 kilometer race, it was Saturn setting the stage with yesterday's second place Judith Arndt and fourth place Petra Rossner taking turns attacking the young Canadian Superstar. Jeanson was able to respond accordingly, reeling each attack back.

However, it was a move by Holden late eighth lap of the thirteen lap race that caught Jeanson off guard and forced her to dig very deep. Holden's impressive ride opened a two minute gap on Jeanson, who in her effort to capture Holden dropped all but Saturn's Bessette. Holden, 2001 World Champion Time Trialist, held off Jeanson until the last five hundred meters. Just as Jeanson made contact, Bessette attacked, dropping Jeanson and passing a fatigued Holden on the line for a very exciting win.

However, Jeanson's strength and determination kept the Yellow Leader's Jersey on her shoulders for another day. Bessette has moved into second in the overall, and closed the gap to Jeanson by at least ten seconds, bringing her well into shooting range for tomorrow's Oak Glen Road Race. However, with others like Holden looking for race winning opportunities tomorrow will be far from another day at the office for the women's peloton at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.


The men's second stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic was raced on the same technical and windy course as that of the women. Held on the fast course with many corners, and a sharp pitch at the start finish line, even race leader Chris Horner's (Prime Alliance) dominating strength was not able to contain the attacks from the large men's field.

It was a move early in the 18 lap race that forced the hand of the powerful Prime Alliance Team. Second place Trent Klasna seized an opportunity in what many thought was too early in the race, breaking away from the field with Dave Zabriski (US Postal Service) and Mike Sayers (Mercury). Skeptics mumbled that the wind and the small size of the break could not hold off the cohesive and determined Prime Alliance Team, but Saturn's Klasna was motivated.

As the gap slowly etched it way to the 20 second mark, Klasna's teammate Harm Jansen attacked on the hill, making contact with Klasna's group. From there the gap opened to 35 seconds, with the cost to Horner's Prime Alliance team soon evident as they lost all but two men off the front of the chasing bunch. The foursome held off charging Prime Alliance Team, but Horner was not to be deterred from his mission. In the final kilometers, it was Horner and teammate Danny Pate bringing Klasna back to the bunch in time for the final sprint up the climb to home. And, in what was an amazing effort, Horner jumped hard, clearing everyone, and celebrating his much deserved win by bike lengths in front of second place John Lieswyn (7-Up). Roland Green (Canadian National Team) finished in third.


Attention Teams!

This is the last chance to get your team info included in our 2002 Canadian Teams report. E-mail your info to news@canadiancyclist.com by Saturday 5:00 pm EST.


Beauce

The GP Cycliste de Beauce has gone to a UCI 2.3 ranking for 2002. This is indeed a testament to the quality of the race, however, it does pose some potential problems for teams wishing to enter the race. 2.3 ranked races are open to UCI registered teams (Sympatico is the only Canadian UCI team) and national squads only. Thus, no provincial squads, and no local Canadian teams. Beauce has apparently applied for an exception, but no answer from the UCI yet.


Paris-Nice - France

Stage 4 - Pertuis to Toulon 175 km

1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 4:21:54
2 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali at 0:28
3 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 0:32
4 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 0:37
5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 0:45
6 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0:55
7 Aitor Garmendia (Esp) Team Coast 1:00
8 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 1:08
9 Stephane Heulot (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 1:13
10 Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Alessio 1:28
11 Felix Garcia Casas (Esp) Bigmat.Auber 93 1:41
12 Dario Cioni (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1:57
13 Steve Vermaut (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 2:13
14 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) Phonak Hearing Systems 2:17
15 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 2:24
16 Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole 2:26
17 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 2:30
18 Inigo Cuesta (Esp) Cofidis 2:44
19 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2:45
20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour 2:52

27 Alex Zuelle (Sui) Team Coast 3:29
30 Fernando Escartin (Esp) Team Coast 3:38
36 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites 4:00
63 Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 8:59
115 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 25:07

GC

1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 17:33:23
2 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali at 0:06
3 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 0:49
4 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 0:54
5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 0:56
6 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 0:58
7 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1:08
8 Aitor Garmendia (Esp) Team Coast 1:22
9 Stephane Heulot (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 1:29
10 Felix Garcia Casas (Esp) Bigmat.Auber 93 2:03
11 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport 2:35
12 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 2:49
13 Inigo Cuesta (Esp) Cofidis 2:50
14 Aitor Osa (Esp) iBanesto.com 3:00
15 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3:05
16 Aleksandr Sheffr (Kaz) Alessio 3:23
17 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport 3:26
18 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Esp) iBanesto.com 3:33
19 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Esp) Phonak Hearing Systems 3:33
20 Alex Zuelle (Sui) Team Coast 3:34

23 Fernando Escartin (Esp) Team Coast 4:02
28 Richard Virenque (Fra) Domo-Farm Frites 4:23
47 Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 9:16
114 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 33:46