Stage 3 – 60 minute criterium

Today’s team plan was to ensure Joan retained her 10^th GC placing.  There were a few riders only seconds behind Joan, so we had several girls marked to ensure they didn’t get into a break and gain any valuable seconds, and thus push down Joan’s GC position.  The course was a clockwise L shaped course that has big wide open corners, allowing the peloton to ride at a high tempo for the entire race.

I jumped into an early break with Leah Goldstein, Laura Van Gilder and Cybil Diguistini (Diet Rite) but sat on, as Cybil was just behind Joan on GC and I didn’t want the break to stay away.  The break was soon caught after 3 laps.

A short while later, a 9 rider break which included Tina Mayola-Pic (Diet Rite), Nicole Freedman (Basis), Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) and Joan (TDS) quickly got out to 45sec on the peloton.  I sat at the front of the peloton and helped to control any attacks and to gradually slow the pace.  We were happy that Joan was in the break and keen to see her get a top 10 in a criterium.

Unfortunately, Ina got paper caught in her wheel, stopped to have it removed and was told by an official that her incident was not deemed as a mechanical and she wasn’t allowed a lap out.  Without a Saturn rider in the break, the Saturn train quickly got to the front of the peloton and starting driving.  With 5 laps to go, the field was all back together.

The pace stayed high right through to the finish.  Joan helped position me for a 9^th place finish, while both Shawn and Joan finished in the top 20.

Results:

9^th Helen Kelly                             TDS
18^th Shawn Heidgen                        TDS
20^th Joan Wilson                             TDS