Some riders would have packed it in after having struggled the way Anna Milkowski (Rona) did for the first three days of Vermont’s Green Mountain Stage Race. The first-year pro suffered through every stage, losing time to the leaders she knew she should be riding with.

On Monday, however, the former schoolteacher from Maine soloed off the front with three laps remaining to win the Burlington criterium, the fourth and final stage of the 2004 Green Mountain Stage Race.

“I entered the race with absolutely nothing to lose because I was very far down [on GC] and I really wanted to race hard and give it a shot,” said Milkowski after gutting out 3km alone on the demanding downtown Burlington circuit. “I wanted to do something in this race.”

One of New England’s best cyclo-cross racers, Milkowski said the Vermont stage race was meant to act as a base-builder for the upcoming ’cross season, but that didn’t make grinding through the Green Mountain climbs any easier. With three bad days behind her, the Rona rider attacked as the diminished women’s field saw the sign reading three laps to go, and with no organized chase, her move succeeded.

“It’s a real leap of faith to believe that a break’s going to work for you when you’ve suffered through feeling terrible for a long time,” said Milkowski. “I wanted to try even if I got blown off the back.”

Moore, meanwhile, wrapped up the overall

Photo: Chris Milliman

Quark Cycling’s Amy Moore cemented her overall Green Mountain win, the fourth time in four years that a Canadian has won the event. She admitted to some trepidation at even entering the event after enduring a disappointing race the year before, but said the demanding course would leave her well trained for next weekend’s T-Mobile International in San Francisco.

For Charles Dionne (Webcor Builders) the prospect of winning the men’s criterium didn’t seem nearly as important as the legs he took with him out of the Vermont stage race. Eager to repeat his T-Mobile of 2002, Dionne said he came to the Green Mountain event for training, and that he rode before and after every stage – even Saturday’s 103-mile brute – to maximize the training effect.

But Dionne did win Sunday’s criterium, outsprinting his former Saturn teammate and the overall race leader, Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil).

Dionne and McCormack initiated a break on lap five that increased to eight riders within the next 10 laps of the 50-lap race. McCormack had teammate Aaron Olson in the break, and with the remaining riders representing the other big teams in the race, the break’s success seemed assured. Olson led out in the final sweeping downhill corner that fed into the uphill sprint, and Dionne jumped around McCormack for a comfortable win.

“Charles is definitely faster than me and he worked just as hard as I did in the break, so it wasn’t like either one of us was fresher,” said McCormack. “My main priority was winning the jersey, and second on the stage was great. I won the sprint competition and the GC, and (teammate) Todd (Herriott) won the KOM, so it was a great weekend for our team.”

Dionne added: “Basically Mark just wanted to keep his lead in the tour. He’s going really well and Colavita did a good job. I was alone, so I had to base my game on the other guys and I did the best I could to stay close. I was following Aaron Olson and just sprinted from the last corner.”

McCormack’s overall win marks the second consecutive Green Mountain title for the New Englander.

Green Mountain Stage Race
Burlington Criterium
Women
1. Anna Milkowski, Rona, 30km in 46:5
2. Amy Moore, Quark Cycling Team, at 0:03
3. Mylene Laliberte, Equipe Quebec Team, same time
4. Julie Bélanger, Provincial New Brunswick team, s.t.
5. Zoe Owers, NHCC-Team New Hampshire, s.t.
6. Julie Hutsebaut, Terry Precision Cycling Team, s.t.
7. Liza Rachetto, Aquafina, s.t.
8. Jennifer Stephenson, Cervelo, s.t.
9. Katherine Lambden, CRCA-Aquafina, s.t.
10. Marianne Stover, Independent Fabrication-SMRT Inc., s.t.

Men
1. Charles Dionne, Webcor Builders, 50km in 1:08:18
2. Mark McCormack, Colavita Olive Oil Pro, same time
3. Scott Zwizanski, Ofoto Cycling Team, s.t.
4. Russ Langley, Team Snow Valley, s.t.
5. Andrew Randell, Jet Fuel Coffee, s.t.
6. Mark Pozniak, Team Ontario, s.t.
7. Peter Hult, Fiordifrutta, s.t.
8. Aaron Olson, Colavita Olive Oil, at 0:05
9. Dan Timmerman, Maxxis-Spokepost.com, at 0:28
10. Ryan Dewald, Team Snow Valley, s.t.

Final overall
Women
1. Amy Moore, Quark Cycling Team, 429pts2. Liza Rachetto, Aquafina, 354
3. Ann Marie Miller, Verizon Wireless, 338
4. Hiroko Shimada, Velo Bella, 328
5. Zoe Owers, NHCC-Team New Hampshire, 322
6. Suz Weldon, Wines of Washington-King 5 TV, 312
7. Katherine Lambden, CRCA-Aquafina, 308
8. Julie Hutsebaut, Terry Precision Cycling Team, 283
9. Jennifer Stephenson, Cervelo, 283
10. Amanda Lawrence, 282

Men
1. Mark McCormack, Colavita Olive Oil Pro Cycling Team, 391pts
2. Charles Dionne, Webcor Builder, 369
3. Andrew Randell, Jet Fuel Coffee, 309
4. Peter Hult, Fiordifrutta, 298
5. Aaron Olson, Colavita Olive Oil, 297
6. Dominique Perras, Ofoto-Lombardi Sports, 292
7. Peter Baker, Team Snow Valley, 288
8. Dan Cassidy, Fiordifrutta, 286
9. Joshua Dillon, Louis Garneau Racing, 261
10. Chris Brennan, JDR-Trek-VW, 256