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Round 1 - Geelong

24 February 2008, 120km

Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders Cycling Team) made a quick decision to join the attack of Emma Rickards (Cervélo-Lifeforce Pro cycling team) and it paid dividends as she sprinted for victory for her first ever World Cup win.

The pair managed to get a break of over 6 minutes 5 seconds on the peloton before the chasing bunch reacted all too late, only managing to close the gap to 1 minute 8 seconds at the finish.

The weather was kind to the riders at this year’s Geelong World Cup event. Eighty five riders started the 120 kilometre event raced over eight laps of a picturesque 14.9km circuit out and back from Waterfront Geelong and the pace was high from the gun. The starters rolled out under windy but clear conditions and an early attack from a group of eight riders forced the bunch to string out and try to close the gap. The group contained riders from the Australian Institute of Sport, Victorian Institute of Sport, Team High Road and Cervélo-Lifeforce and sensing the danger the peloton reacted and closed the break down.  

As the bunch crossed the finish line for the first time and headed back out to the back of the course another attack went. A group of eight formed again and this time they were quickly joined by another six riders. The twelve riders included a mix of teams but included a number of very dangerous riders that could contend the overall. Natalie Bates (Menikini Selle Italia), Karin Thürig (Cervélo-Lifeforce) Erinne Willock (Webcor), Carmen McNellie (USA), Katie Mactier (VIS), Belinda Goss (VIS) Suzanne De Goede (Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung) and Linda Villumsen Serup (Team High Road).  The chasing peloton allowed them to get a 35 second gap before Team High Road decided that it was too dangerous and sent Alexis Rhodes, Chantal Beltman and Judith Arndt to the front to bring the leaders back.

The break was caught quickly but a counter attack from Emma Rickards (Cervélo-Lifeforce) caught the bunch napping, Katheryn Mattis (Webcor) reacted when Chrissy Ruiter (USA), who was a lone chaser for a few kilometres, was caught. 

The pair quickly stretched out their lead and with two laps to go, the lead had stretched out to 6 minutes 5 seconds. A lack of a cohesive chase meant that the two leaders had a clear run to the finish and the peloton was forced to fight for it out for a bunch sprint. There was never any doubt who would take third, Ina Teutenberg (Team High Road) was well supported by Oenone Wood in the lead out and secured third place.

Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders Cycling Team) is best known by her maiden name, Curi and this seemed to cause a little confusion in the bunch about her talent. “I think I caused some confusion today, Emma is obviously well known but not me. We only got an invite for here two weeks ago so this is an awesome win for the team.” said Mattis. “It is a great way to kick off a year and I am still speechless. I had a good year last year and finished it off with a third place in the Tour of Ardech and rode well at Worlds. I had confidence going into the off season. I did a lot of great training and going into this year I felt confident about my fitness but when you are competing against world class athletes you never know what is going to happen. It was the roll of the dice when I saw Emma [Rickards] go follow her, I would never have guest that we would have been out there until the end for me to win this. Going into the last Km we were going slow and almost track standing but I was a little concerned about the charging peloton and I think we had about 2 minutes at that stage. I have not been in a match sprint position before so I tried to be patient and jumped with 200m to go and managed to hold her off” added Mattis. The American was asked how this win rated in her career. “This is definitely the top win for me, in 2005 I won the US National Championships and at the time that was the best result. For me I don’t think of myself as a one day racer I love stage racing but this is definitely the best win of my career.” 

Emma Rickards (Cervélo-Lifeforce) Rickard crossed the line, slamming her fist on the handlebar, obviously thinking of what could have been, but after some time to reflect the Australian was gracious in her defeat. “It is a great day for me and my team I think I bashed the handlebars because I knew that I could win this race. When you are that close your perspective changes a bit. Afterwards when you think about it you have to say ‘hey it’s a world cup and in your home country and you're on the podium and that is a great achievement.”

"I wanted that jersey so much” said Rickards “When you are so close and it is down to first or second you want to win but to be on the podium is so special for me. Our team had a great race today, we were hoping for it to go into a small group because we knew we could not win a bunch sprint with the riders we have here but we had a strong team.”

Rickards was asked to talk through the last few kilometres of the race. “Katheryn [Mattis] attacked me on the climb and I was able to close the gap quite easily and stay with her and I was surprised by her attack and said ‘let’s take it to the finish and not risk getting caught’. With 1km to go Katheryn was on the front and she moved across to force me through, I had confidence that I was a good sprinter and thought I could win but she [Mattis] was so strong and she is a great sprinter too. I think with a tail wind and she is a bit bigger than me she had the edge” added Rickards.

Cervélo-Lifeforce team car was giving race directions, Rickards was asked what was said “Manel [Lacambra] was behind me in the team car and he said just keep the pace high and keep the momentum going, not to panic and just to keep going ahead. I just had to put my head down and go ahead, I tried to get behind her a few times but it didn’t quite work, she was just too strong in the end.”

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road) sprinted for third place and was a little frustrated but not disappointed with her teams efforts today. “We gave it all today and other teams said they would help us but they didn’t. A number of other teams had 4 or more strong riders but they did not put in 100% to close the gaps. Oenone [Wood] and the rest of the team did an amazing job for me today and in the end we got third. We expected more, but it did not happen.” Talking about the final result “I am a little frustrated, if there had been a share of the work we could have brought the break back” added Teutenberg. 

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