Lyne Bessette of Team Quark today won the tough Oak Glen stage, the Redlands Classic�s second stage, but her margin was not enough to take the yellow jersey from Team RONA�s Genevi�ve Jeanson. Jeanson finished third, about 40 seconds behind Bessette. American Christine Thorburn (Webcor) came in between them.
Jeanson stays in yellow. But her lead on Bessette is now 16 seconds. Jeanson still leads in the Queen of the Mountain competition. Laura Van Gilder (Genesis Scuba) will be wearing the green sprinter�s jersey. Quark is now leading team general classification, leading Team RONA by 1 minute 40 seconds.
�Even before the start this morning, I knew this wouldn�t be the greatest of days�, said Jeanson after the race. �My legs were heavy and didn�t turn well.� There were a few crashes and a number of women dropped behind the field as the first climbs took their toll. A compact group of about 70 women reached the last 6-kilometre climb up to Oak Glen. �Fortunately my teammates did a great job protecting me all day and delivered me at the bottom of the last climb�, recalled Jeanson. Totally in character, Jeanson set a hard tempo at the start of the climb and the peloton quickly blew to pieces. Only Bessette and Thorburn managed to stay on Jeanson�s wheel. When they reached a short descent three kilometres to the finish line, Bessette attacked. �I couldn�t change my rhythm, it was like I was stuck to the road�, said Jeanson. �I had to dig deep to save the yellow jersey, but I owed that to my RONA teammates.�
Tomorrow�s stage is a 67.6-kilometre stage, on a 15-kilometre circuit in Redlands. A massive sprint finish is likely. The Redlands Classic is made up of five stages and a prologue, and runs until Sunday.
source : Daniel Larouche, RONA Cycling Team
Put on line on March 25, 2004 by SVP
