Nature Valley Grand Prix

^{8th - 12th June 2005} 

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Review - Day 3  Thorburn averts disaster, Teutenberg finds victory in third stage of Nature Valley

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By Rick Fuentes

Christine Thorburn had everything to lose and nothing to gain Friday night. The Webcor Builder rider came into the third stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Downtown Minneapolis Classic, leading the general classification.

And with the criterium set over city streets during the 40-minute stage, getting a breakaway would be tough with so many turns in the course. More troubling, being involved in a crash could cost her the leader’s jersey.

As predicted, the breakaway didn’t come, and a crash did, in the middle of the race taking out a third of the field.

“It was a tight turn,” Thorburn said. “The woman who crashed hit the burg because of the decreasing angle of the turn.”

Thorburn went running for the pits when her bike got the worst of it.

“I thought I was going to have to get a bike change. I couldn’t roll my bike,” she said. “They straightened out my bars. Felicia [Greer] gave me her wheel.”

For Thorburn, the day was intense, but it left her right where she started in the leader’s jersey. It also left Ina Yoko Teutenberg of T-Mobile in a familiar spot, too: atop the winner’s podium as champion of the crit, a title she took two years ago.

The short course and quick race meant riders were on the redline almost immediately.

“It was a fast race from the start,” said Victory Brewing’s Rochelle Gillmore, who took second behind Teutenberg. “I wasn’t ready for the intensity. I didn’t warm up enough beforehand. I suffered most of the race.”     

Gillmore was also involved in that mid-race crash, but received a wheel change and got moving again.

The race appeared to be all T-Mobile. Their star sprinter Teutenberg launched off the front and pulled in the early laps. Then Katie Mactier pulled, followed by Kim Baldwin. There were 35 seconds in time bonuses up for grabs that would have narrowed the time gap to Thorburn.

Even climber Annette Beutler of Quark took the reins up front for a few laps, but with four laps to go it was Victory Brewing’s Gina Grain driving.

The six-turn course strung out the field and made the most of every rider’s cornering skills. Early afternoon rain dampened the roads just enough to put fear in the racers.

“It was a pretty technical course,” Quark’s Laura Van Gilder said, “and you’ve got to stay up front to make sure you’re not caught unaware.”

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Results - Day 3

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General Classification