Nature Valley Grand Prix

^{8th - 12th June 2005} 

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Review - Day 2    Thorburn takes unexpected hard stage 2 at Nature Valley

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Click here to go to seperate page competition updates for Day 2  >>  Under 26 rider classification   3rd cat^y riders     Team competition  Mountains  Sprints

Women cyclists at the Mankato stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix expected a flat course – until they saw the Queen of the Mountains hill on the two-and-a-half-mile finishing circuit.

“It’s pretty flat. We’re used to mountains in California,” Webcor Builder’s Christine Thorburn said before stage 2 of the Great River Energy Bike Festival and Nature Valley Grand Prix in Mankato, Minn. “Ok, the circuit hill is a HILL. I guess have to eat my words.”

“That’s going to hurt. Especially after 75 miles,” said Shawn Heidgen of TDS-Schwalbe.

And while the 75 miles with several sprint primes in the first 60 miles looked to reduce some of the field, it was not enough to prevent Thorburn from taking her second win in two days and keep ahead of T-Mobile’s Kimberly Baldwin and Kori Seehafer.

The first hour of stage 2 chugged along at better than 24 miles an hour. Sprinters tried to wear down climbers anticipating the big hill they'd face four times before the finish line.

Strong crosswinds whipped across the course, too, and they took their toll on climbers as well. Sprinters knew they could drop their frailer competitors and they did, starting with Ford-Basis’ Kristin Danielson.

Numerous attacks failed with only Magen Long of the Bicycle Store ever getting more than 30 seconds up on the group. Then a crash at mile 32 took down TDS’ young rider hopeful Michelle Hyland, Ford’s Kele Hulser, and two T-Mobile riders, sprinter Ina Yoko Teutenberg and former NVGP champ Katie Mactier.

“They lost a lot of power when Ina crashed,” Thorburn said.

“Yeah, we were doing fine till the crash,” Baldwin said.

“I saw three people lying on the ground already,” Teutenberg said as she came around the corner. With their GC contender on the ground along with their star sprinter, T-Mobile organized to let them catch back on to the already flying peloton.

“We had to keep it controlled and steady,” said Seehafer. “We had to go up front and slow the pace down and have a presence on the road.”

While some competitors might've seen their chance, other teams complied with T-Mobile’s efforts.

“Ina’s a really respected rider,” Webcor’s Thorburn added.

Meanwhile, Quark’s Tina Pic and Laura Van Gilder, Victory Brewing’s Rochelle Gilmore and Teutenberg battled for sprint points. Gilmore also took the first Queen of the Mountains contest over Quark’s Swiss climber, Annette Beutler, and T-Mobile’s Baldwin. Thorburn was fourth up the first hill, but continued her attack onto the downtown finishing circuit.  

“I knew this would be a good circuit course for Annette,” Thorburn said, “I didn’t want to get gapped from her. The third time up Annette and I crested together, so I said let’s work.”

Thorburn and Beutler worked together to lose T-Mobile’s climbers, Seehafer and Baldwin.

“Kori and I were behind them with a big group,” Baldwin said, “and we couldn’t get anybody to help chase. Nobody wanted to pull, so we got stuck in no man’s land.”

After the third lap, Beutler exploded to the finishing line of the four-lap circuit course ahead of Thorburn.

“She just put her arms up. She thought it was only three laps,” Thorburn said. “She told me we had to go.”

“I was thinking it was only three laps,” an embarrassed Beutler said. 

“She didn’t attack, that’s one thing. Then I didn’t have too much power to follow her,” Beutler said about Thorburn taking a second stage and the leader’s jersey for a second day. “It was my mistake, and that’s the race.”

Thorburn increased her GC lead to 45 seconds over T-Mobile’s Seehafer. Baldwin is just a second behind her.  Quark’s Grace Fleury, Pic, and Van Gilder are all within a minute as is Monex’s Lynn Gaggioli.

Pic leads the Freewheel Bike Points Jersey race ahead of Thorburn and Gilmore. Beutler is holding onto the best climber’s jersey. Alisha Lion of Ford-Basis has taken the best young rider jersey after stage 2. 

All the riders talked about how tough stage 2 was and how they looked forward to a rest until stage 3’s Friday night criterium in downtown Minneapolis where the race will be flat.

“It’s not flat here,” Baldwin said who grew up in Green Bay, “I should've known that being from the Midwest. Everything rolls here.”

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Results - Day 2  

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Photos

Click on the image to enlarge    Photos - courtesy Mat Moses www.moses-images.com

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General Classification

No update yet - GC for Day 3 now available

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