Race Results

Tour du Grand Montréal 2004 / 

Tour of Greater Montréal 2004 

4 stages in 3 days, May 31st - June 2nd

Team Rona Review of Stage 1B

Petra Rossner (GER, Nurnberger-Versicherung) temporarily took over the Tour of Greater Montreal after outsprinting fellow German Regina Schleicher (Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan) and Norwegian Anita Valen (S.A.T.S.), completing a Criterium in front of an excited crowd in Montreal’s Little Italy.   

Rossner and most riders were credited with the same time, i.e. 1 hour, 9 minutes, 38 seconds, for an average speed of 43.08 km/h.  However Rossner won 8 bonus seconds thanks to her stage win and her time bonus sprint victory 20 laps into the race.  That was more than enough to offset her three-second deficit behind Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA, Genesis Scuba) after this morning’s prologue.  Stage winner, new GC leader, the 38-year-old veteran was also awarded the points leader and best sprinter jerseys.  

In general classification, Tina Mayolo-Pic now ranks second, 3 seconds behind Rossner.  Dede Demet-Barry (USA, T Mobile) completes this temporary podium, 6 seconds behind the leader.  In Team RONA, Katrina Grove is still 8th, 10 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Geneviève Jeanson is  21^st at 17 seconds.

The race was consistently fast, animated by the frequent sprints for primes financed by an enthusiastic crowd.  Team RONA was active in the front, especially the foursome formed by Katrina Grove, Helen Kelly, Kathryn Curi and Erinne Willock.  “Our plan was to attack one after the other and see if we could get a little group away”, explained Helen Kelly.  “We also wanted to get a good workout while staying out of trouble.  Although I almost did get into trouble in the last lap, when I was blocked by another rider and almost crashed.  I had to brake hard and it spoiled my final sprint.”    

The final General Classification should be decided tomorrow in the Rigaud stage, a 120-km road race in which the women will climb the infamous Bourget hill three times.

Team RONA (www.teamrona.ca) is a Canadian women’s cycling team in the Elite Category recognized by the International Cycling Union. The team is made up of four Canadian racers (Geneviève Jeanson, Andrea Hannos, Émilie Roy and Erinne Willock), three Americans (Kathryn Curi, Katrina Grove and Anna Milkowski), Israeli Shani Bloch and Australian Helen Kelly. The team has exercised a policy of zero tolerance for banned substances since it was founded in 2000. This policy is explicitly stated in all its contracts.

RONA (www.rona.ca) is the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, home renovation and gardening products. Team RONA receives equipment and service sponsorships from many companies, including Colnago, Biemme, Shimano, Vittoria, Bontrager, Sidi, Limar, Selle Italia, USE, Cinelli, Look, CatEye, Elite, Finish Line, Cane Creek, Saris, Power Tap, Trialtir and Cycles Lambert.

Back to top