WomensCycling.net 

Race Results

Redlands Classic Stage 2

California

Race Preview     Prologue    Stage 1    Stage 2    Stage 3    Stage 4  Stage 5/Final GC

RONA/ESKER’S GENEVIÈVE JEANSON INCREASES HER LEAD AT THE REDLANDS CLASSIC 

Canadian Geneviève Jeanson of the RONA/Esker cycling team scored a brilliant win in the toughest stage of the Redlands Classic today, gaining 2’ 45” on her closest rival, American Kim Brucker of T Mobile.  She consolidated her yellow leader’s jersey and increased her chances of a final victory next Sunday.  Jeanson and her three teammates still in the race resisted repeated combined attacks by the Saturn and T Mobile squads during the first 120 of today’s 130 km; then Jeanson launched her own attack in the last, and hardest, of the day’s three climbs.  Saturn’s Lyne Bessette and Manon Jutras finished third and fourth, Bessette having beaten her teammate to the finish. 

In general classification, Jeanson now leads Bruckner by 3’ 08”, and Manon Jutras by 3’ 28”.  Lyne Bessette climbed to fourth place.  She now trails Jeanson by 3’ 32”. 

 Jeanson was apprehensive before today’s stage.  It was in that stage last year that she lost the Redlands to German Judith Arndt.  And to make it worse, against two full six-member T Mobile and Saturn teams she had only three teammates left to support her since Karen Bockel, with the flu, and Kristen LaSasso, with a broken arm, did not start this morning.

 From the third kilometer into the race, T Mobile and Saturn started to attack in unison, two at a time.  RONA/Esker’s Andrea Hannos, Magali Le Floc’h and Catherine Marsal set the peloton’s pace to manage the gaps.  After the day’s first major climb, completed with Jeanson in the lead, the field broke in pieces and the RONA/Esker leader found herself isolated in a group of 15, comprising five T Mobile and four Saturns.  For the best of the next 10 km, Jeanson had to chase by herself one attack after another, until her three teammates brought back the main field to connect with the lead group.  “In this sport, if you want to win, you want to chase”, laughed Jeanson after the race, while she admitted that seeing her teammates coming back had “spelled relief”.  

 Then yesterday’s fugitives, Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg and T Mobile’s Dede Barry, broke away together again.  The RONA/Eskers managed the gap to a maximum of 70 seconds.  When the two leaders reached the second climb, Teutenberg lost contact with Berry, was overtaken by Jeanson and the field caught up.  Left alone in front, Barry spent precious energy trying to increase her gap in her second long breakaway in as many days.

 Around km 110, Kim Bruckner and Manon Jutras attacked.  Jeanson dove on their wheels with Susan Haywood, an unattached rider.  When they caught Barry, the foursome had a 1’ 21” lead over the main field.  Four km before the final climb, Barry attacked once more, Haywood in her wake.  The three others did not go for the bait, but still caught Barry at the bottom of the climb.  Jeanson then put on the turbo.  The others lost contact – first Barry, then Haywood, then Bruckner, finally Jutras.   In less than 10 km, she created a gap of 2’ 45” and crossed the finish line by herself, happy and relieved.

“The girls (Andrea Hannos, Magali Le Floc’h and Catherine Marsal) rode so hard all day, I owed it to them to finish well”, said the yellow jersey while cooling off after the race.  “With a more than 3 minute lead in GC, I’m less worried than yesterday, but there’s no such thing as a comfortable lead.  There are still only four of us left in the race, other teams are still very strong and very difficult stages still lie ahead.” 

Tomorrow’s stage will be 73-km long on a new, “super-tough course, with very steep hills, the shortest one is 1,500 meters long”, Jeanson said.

Stage 2 :  Oak Glen Summit

Stage standings

General Classification as of stage 2

 Team RONA/Esker is one of only two Canadian women’s cycling teams in the Elite Category that are recognized by the International Cycling Union. The team is made up of four Canadian racers (Geneviève Jeanson, Andrea Hannos, Carrie Tuck and Erinne Willock), French racers Catherine Marsal and Magali Le Floc’h, New Zealander Melissa Holt, German Karen Bockel and American Kristen LaSasso.

 RONA is Canada’s leading hardware and home renovation retailer (www.rona.ca). Esker is a natural spring water from the north of Canada, sold in North America and Asia (www.eskerwater.com).

 The team also receives equipment and service sponsorships from many companies, including Colnago, Biemme, Shimano, Michelin, Mavic, Diadora, Limar, Selle Italia, ITM, Look, CatEye, Tacx, Finish Line, Cane Creek, Saris, Power Tap, Cycles Lambert and Club Médico-Sportif. 

 Send your news now......