THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Rossner takes stage four sprint, Saturn redefines team dominance at HP
Adding a fourth consecutive stage win at this year’s HP Women’s Challenge, the talent-rich Saturn squad continues to redefine the meaning of dominance in the peloton, seemingly taking control of any stage at will.
Long before Petra Rossner sprinted to the line to take stage four’s Stanley to Ketchum road race, it was all too clear that the Saturn women’s cycling team is, in effect, unstoppable.
And while Rossner flew across the line to take her second field sprint victory in four days, setting a new course record by over two minutes, it was teammate Kimberly Bruckner that animated the race, setting out on a solo flyer that lasted over 30 kilometers and gapped a select chase group of eight riders by nearly a minute.
Meanwhile, race leader and Saturn teammate Anna Millward sat in comfortably, finishing with the main field and maintaining her overall lead by 11 seconds over Bruckner and 58 seconds over teammate Judith Arndt.
As racers lined up in Stanley for the 60-mile stage, the weather was cool, with skies threatening to rain. Possibly to stay warm, the attacks began from the start, initiated first by the Lithuanian, then British National teams. While short lived, continuous efforts continued for the first hour of racing over the gradual rise to the base of the 8700-foot Galena Pass.
At the first hot spot sprint, five kilometers from the base of the climb, a threatening break formed containing three Rona riders including GC contender Genevieve Jeanson and a handful of representatives from all the main teams. Marked by a pair of Saturns, Ina Yoko-Teutenberg and Catherine Marsal, the group opened up a gap of 13 seconds.
Suddenly, in an impressive demonstration of team strength, the two Saturn riders soft-pedaled out of the break, dropping back to the chase to pull their GC riders Bruckner, Millward, and Arndt back to the front. Once the Saturn squad regrouped at the front of the field, they put together a textbook team time trial, accelerating their way up to and barreling through the break like a freight train.
A statement had been made, to Rona’s Jeanson and any other erstwhile GC contenders: not today.
Still, Jeanson and teammate Manon Jutras persisted, pushing the tempo up the climb and splintering the field. As the peloton climbed towards the gray clouds hovering atop the Galena Pass, the skies opened up and a light rain began to fall. One by one, the 18-rider break began to dissolve. First to go was local sensation Kristin Armstrong, who had thrown her chain at the bottom of the climb.
“By the time I finally caught up with the leaders on the climb,” Armstrong explained to VeloNews, “I was blown.”
T-Mobile’s team leader Mari Holden was the next to fall off the pace, and before reaching the summit, British National’s Caroline Alexander and Holden’s teammate Amber Neben would pop out the back.
Meanwhile Jeanson and Jutras continued to lead the climb, shadowed closely by Canadian National’s Lyne Bessette and Sue Palmer-Komar, Saturn’s GC contenders Bruckner, Millward, and Arndt, Lithuania’s twin sisters Jolanta and Rasa Polikeviciute, and Itera’s Valentina Polkhanova.
At the mile 32 summit, riders stuffed newspapers into their jerseys and tucked into the steep and winding descent together. Once the group reached the bottom of the steep descent, the course offered 40 kilometers of gradual downward gradient. Bruckner liked her chances and took a flyer, demonstrating why she’s the national road champion by immediately opening a 15-second gap.
With Millward and Arndt sitting in, the Canadian and Lithuanian pairs worked to bring down the American’s lead, which stretched to 48 seconds before she began to tire. Meanwhile, behind them the main field had reorganized, and at mile 48, a group of 20 absorbed the chasers.
For a stretch it seemed as though Bruckner might pull off a solo stage win, but as the kilometers ticked away, Bessette took the initiative, and with less than 10 km to go, Bruckner was caught. Once again, it was anybody’s race.
“I thought I might hold it,” Bruckner told VeloNews at the finish. “I was just going to keep on going, to see if the gap would pick up.”
Coming into Ketchum, it was Saturn's Petra Rossner shooting to the finish line first, fists pumping. Goldy’s Swiss rider Priska Doppmann, third overall in the World Cup standings, took second in front of Sponsor Service's Monica Valen, the 1994 world road champion.
Race Notes:
British National’s Emma Davies had quite a day. After a long, solo effort in the early part of the race, and a bike change after the descent, she had enough left over to contest the sprint, taking sixth.
Not only did Saturn’s Arndt, Bruckner and Millward sweep the individual time trial on Monday, but they broke the team time trial record set on the same course eight years ago.
Canadian National’s Lyne Bessette, sitting in fifth 2:00 back, remains philosophical about her position racing against her former Saturn teammates.
“I’m feeling better and better everyday,” the defending HP champion told VeloNews. “I just have to be patient. I’m here to race, and I have good support. It’s hard to win a tour two years in a row - wearing the number one is like having a big sign saying ‘Look at me!’” We just have to be smarter, and work with the other teams.”
