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Race Results

Tour of Gila

Stage 2

New Mexico, USA

Stage 1    Stage 2    Stage 3    Stage 4    Stage 5

113km

Canadian Geneviève Jeanson of the RONA/Esker cycling team won the second stage of the Tour of the Gila, beating her fellow Canadian and ex-teammate Manon Jutras, now with Saturn, by about two minutes and a half.  She increased her overall lead over Jutras to about 4 minutes.

Americans Katrina Grove of T Mobile and Lynn Gaggioli of Velo Bella finished third and fourth respectively, about 4 minutes behind Jeanson.

Today’s stage was a 113-km point-to-point race, with a mountaintop finish followinf a long, 1st category climb.  The stage was highlighted by a break by Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg, eventually joined by her teammate Megan Elliott.  With a stronmg headwind, the RONA/Esker team paced the peloton to manage the gap within a 30-second range most of the time.  Then at the 85-km mark RONA/Esker reeled in the two Saturns.  About 15km from the finish, RONAS/Esker’s Karen Bockel led out her leader Jeanson out of the man field and Jjeanson followed through with an attack of her own.  Manon Jutras took Jeanson’s wheel.  In the last very steep 5 km Jeanson opened a 2’ 30’’ gap between her and Jutras.

“The team executed the strategy perfectly today, everything unfolded exactly as planned”, said Jeanson after the race.  “Meshy (Holt), Karen (Bockel), Andrea (Hannos), Erinne (Willock) and Carrie (Tuck) gave me great protection and I just had to follow through in the last kilometres. “

Tomorrow’s stage will be a 117-km road race with three major climbs.

The five-day race is held until Sunday, May 4, in New Mexico.  The race web site is at www.tourofthegila.com.

 Second stage :  Silver City - Mogollon

Stage standings

 General Classification after two stages

(unofficial)

 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. 

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