April 18/98 13:09 pm - Pezzo Wins, Sydor Second

Posted by Editor on 04/18/98
 

We just got off the telephone with Chrissy Redden (Ritchey), who filled us in on the women‚s race in the second round of the Cross Country World Cup, held in Silves, Portugal earlier today. She said the course was very fast and not too technical, making for a race that had some real road-style racing, with small packs of riders. Although there was not much singletrack, there was a long climb shortly after the start-finish, and the descent was quite fast and difficult. Behind Pezzo and Sydor it was Alison Dunlap in third.

The race started very quickly, with a group of 7 going off the front - Paola Pezzo (Gary Fisher), Alison Sydor (Volvo-Cannondale), Alison Dunlap (GT), Laurence Leboucher, Chantal Daucourt, Caroline Alexander (Ritchey) and Alla Epifanova (Volvo-Cannondale). Chrissy and Melanie McQuaid were in the chase group behind with Margarita Fullana, until McQuaid flatted, had a slow change and lost a lot of places. Alexander flatted on the first lap, and dropped well back also. Also dropped from the front group were Daucourt and Epifanova, although Daucourt came back later to pass Chrissy for 6th. Chrissy also said that Lesley Tomlinson had a poor start, and then flatted, putting her well back. Interestingly, Sue Palmer was missing from the start line - particularly surprising given her fine result earlier in the week at the Fleche Walloonne.

Although we have no times yet, the top seven were:

1. Paola Pezzo
2. Alison Sydor
3. Alison Dunlap
4. Laurence Leboucher
5. Margarita Fullana
6. Chantal Daucourt
7. Chrissy Redden

More news and results as it becomes available.