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UCI World Cup 2005

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Race Review - Race 11 - Final World Cup race 2005

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The final round of the Women's World Cup was completed over 117 kilometres of the  old part of town around Nürnberg.   

As the first lap was completed, Tanja Hennes (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) led the field. The speed of the race was exceptionally high, forcing a number of riders out the back of the bunch and struggling to stay in touch, Kathrin Schatte, dropped back behind the field in the second lap with a further five riders chasing the leading group. 

Within the first 20 kilometres of the race the average speed was 50 km/h. This did not deter Eine Fahrerin from the Swiss National Team from attempting to break away.

Things slowed slightly for a while in the second and third laps, but after 29 kilometres, the pace was driven up again, then the pace tailed off.  Proof of the reduced pace was the field stretched across the road width, but any such rests were short-lived. A number of riders attempted again to get away from the bunch and Sandra Missbach (Van Bemmelen-AA Drink) managed to get clear and established a lead of 27 seconds on the chasing field.  Missbach was followed by Debby Mansveld (Vlaanderen8) and Elodie Touffet (France).

After 41.5 kilometres the main field closed the gap, mainly due to the work of the German National team. Following through with a classic tactic, the German team immediately sent  Ina-Yoko Teutenberg away, but she was brought back quickly by the chasing bunch.

The speed of the race remained very high. Despite several attempts of different teams to break away no one succeeded. The average speed of the field just after the feed station on the sixth lap was 50 km/h  - being driven by two of the German national team.  It was too much for some, as dropped riders rode slowly back to the showers – the riders at the front had raised the pace to in excess of 60km/h.

At the end of the sixth lap Nicole Cooke (Team Safi) led the bunch followed by Monika Krawczyk (Poland) and Emma Rickards (Univega). The Italian team worked hard to get one of their riders away too – they sent Monia Baccaille up the road, nut her attempt to cross the gap was thwarted by the chasing bunch. Any chances of getting away were defeated by the fast moving bunch which was spread out over approximately 370metres from front to back as they crossed the line.

The French National team attacked when the pace dropped slightly and this resulted in a five rider group gaining a 100 lead. But, as throughout the race, the speed of the field increased and brought the breakaways back – this time it was the Van Bemmelen-AA Drink team, who increased the speed and brought the escapees back to the bunch.

At the end of the 7th lap, Susan Palmer-Komar (Canada) called it a day. The bunch were led by Erika Vilunaite . As the last opportunity to get food approached the French National team intensified the speed but to no avail.

The final lap saw attacks by the Van Bemmelen-AA Drink team, the Safi Pasta Zara Manhattan managed to get a rider ahead with a lead of four seconds, but with so much at stake, the bunch once again reacted strongly, with riders from the Van Bemmelen and the German national team with represent at the front. As the bunch reached the final kilometre, the teams prepared for the final Sprint, driven by Équipe Nürnberger team. They provided the perfect lead out for World Cup Leader, Oenone Wood. She was beaten in the sprint though, by a huge sprint from  Giorgia Bronzini (Italy), who took the victory with a 2-handed salute. Rochelle Gilmore was second, but it didn’t matter to Wood, who glanced across, did the maths and then punched the air with delight – she had retained the World Cup on home ground.  Susanne Ljungskog finished thirteenth, just 2 places behind Mirjam Melchers van Poppel. The overall World Cup top three was the same as it had been going into the race.  

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Post race Comments

Giorgia Bronzini  "I am very pleased. This is my first World Cup win on the road. Now I am looking forward to the World Championships"

Oenone Wood "There was a fair bit of pressure today". (The last World Cup race is her team sponsor's event) "It was hard too because the two other contenders for the World Cup jersey come from the same team and they could play (me) off against each other. The Nürnberger team worked very well and gave me a great lead-out."  Had she enjoyed her day?  "In hindsight, yes, I've enjoyed it!".

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Results - Race 11 - Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt  116km   42.12km