Anne-Marie Miller is old enough to know better, but the 49-year-old Verizon Wireless-Wheelworks rider still thought a solo breakaway in Sunday’s Mad River Road Race might be worth a shot.

The third and most demanding day of the 2004 Green Mountain Stage Race, which started and finished in Waitsfield, took the elite women’s field up two major climbs in the Green Mountains, with the finishing ascent of the insidious Appalachian Gap the nail in many riders’ coffins.

Miller knew she couldn’t climb with the leaders and instead chose to hit the base of the App’ Gap climb with nearly four minutes in hand over the dwindling field. The climb took a toll on the Manhattan-based personal trainer, but she held on to win by a meager 15 seconds over Hiroko Shimada (VeloBella) and race leader Amy Moore (Quark Cycling).

“With 10 miles to go I looked around and no one was behind me,” said Miller. “I knew I wanted to get as much of a gap as I could so I could ensure a higher placing. With 2k to go it got really hard – I didn’t want to look behind me.”

Preceding Miller’s successful breakaway, bad luck scuppered a potential winning move. Race leader Moore and Johanna Buick of New Zealand formed a potent duo, but two flats by Buick forced Moore to sit up rather than risking her overall race lead with a long solo effort. Miller had no such reservations.

While the winning break in the women’s race started before the last climb, the deciding move in the elite men’s race began less than a kilometer from the finish of the 103-mile stage.

Herriott and Scott Zwinzanski (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) drove the day’s major break, staying off the front for more than 90 miles, including the Bethel Mountain and Middlebury Gap climbs.

McCormack repeats at App' Gap

Photo: Chris Milliman

But the real race started when defending champion Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil) caught a dangerous duo – Dominique Perras (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) and Charles Dionne (Webcor Builders) – in the final grinding kilometer of the race, which boasts a sustained 19-percent grade, and dropped both for a repeat win at the top of App’ Gap, snatching the yellow leader’s jersey from Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee) in the process.

“When I came up to them I had so much momentum I just kept going,” said McCormack. “You could tell they were dying. The racing really started with 5k to go. That’s when everything broke up.

“It was nice because we had two riders, Todd [Herriott] and Tyler [Wren] in that first break. I was able to chill out. I could tell Dominique was struggling because he kept looking back in the strong headwind on the last climb, and I just kept moving up from group to group. I didn’t waste any energy getting up to them.”

Dionne tried to chase McCormack as the savvy New Englander made his final move, but the initial effort with Perras had left him punchless. The Canadian said said his form is “totally there,” but added that he’s fatigued from training for the upcoming T-Mobile Invitational.

“This was a great last effort before San Francisco,” said Dionne, who won the race formerly called the San Francisco Grand Prix the weekend after the last time he raced in Vermont.

Perras, who faded to fifth at the finish, wondered whether he had tried to go from too far out. “Maybe that was a mistake,” he said. “But it was a beautiful road stage.”

The Green Mountain Stage Race concludes Monday with a criterium in downtown Burlington.

Green Mountain Stage Race
Stage3
Men
1. Mark McCormack, Colavita Olive Oil, 103mi in 4:29:40
2. Charles Dionne, Webcor Builders, 4:29:44
3. Peter Baker, Team Snow Valley, 4:29:52
4. Dan Cassidy, Fiordifrutta, 4:30:00
5. Dominique Perras, Ofoto-Lombardi Sports, 4:30:06
6. Aaron Olson, Colavita Olive Oil, 4:30:06
7. Peter Hult, Fiordifrutta, 4:30:10
8. Joshua Dillon, Louis Garneau Racing, 4:30:13
9. Ian Dille, Team Snow Valley, 4:30:29
10. Dan Vaillancourt, Louis Garneau Racing, 4:30:31

Women
1. Ann Marie Miller, Verizon Wireless, 64mi in 3:24:38
2. Amy Moore, Quark Cycling Team, 3:25:05
3. Hiroko Shimada, Velo Bella, 3:25:25
4. Lea Davison, Balance Bar-Devo, 3:25:28
5. Liza Rachetto, Aquafina, 3:25:53
6. Suz Weldon, Wines of Washington-King 5 TV, 3:26:06
7. Zoe Owers, NHCC-Team New Hampshire, 3:26:16
8. Katherine Lambden, CRCA-Aquafina, 3:26:18
9. Johanna Buick, 3:26:23
10. Rosanne Lent, Skirack.com-Provisions International, 3:26:26

Overall
Men
1. Mark McCormack, Colavita Olive Oil
2. Charles Dionne, Webcor Builders
3. Dominique Perras, Ofoto-Lombardi Sports
4. Peter Baker, Team Snow Valley
5. Dan Cassidy, Fiordifrutta
6. Aaron Olson, Colavita Olive Oil
7. Andrew Randell, Jet Fuel Coffee
8. Joshua Dillon, Louis Garneau Racing
9. Peter Hult, Fiordifrutta
10. Chris Brennan, JDR-Trek-VW

Women
1. Amy Moore, Quark Cycling Team
2. Liza Rachetto, Aquafina
3. Ann Marie Miller, Verizon Wireless
4. Johanna Buick
5. Hiroko Shimada, Velo Bella
6. Lea Davison, Balance Bar-Devo
7. Zoe Owers, Team New Hampshire
8. Suz Weldon, Wines of Washington-King 5 TV
9. Katherine Lambden, CRCA-Aquafina
10. Amanda Lawrence