Stage 3 – 8 March 2003 – Road Race 72 miles (115km)

We completed 9 laps of a hilly 7.8 mile (12.5km) loop around Puddingstone Resevoir in San Dimas.  The weather had warmed up to 79F (23C) and fortunately we accepted our host Josh’s offer to hand out water bottles to us from the feedzone, because we need more fluid than first predicted.  The peloton was content to ride as a group until lap 4 when Megan Elliot (Saturn) and former MTB World Champ and current MTB World Cup winner Alison Dunlap (T-mobile) took off on a slight hill.  They were quickly joined by Jennifer Stevens (Women First/Red 5 Racing) and the trio went about establishing a gap.

The course was narrow and there were at least 3 big crashes causing chaos amongst the riders.  I narrowly missed the first crash and made a decisive move to stay closer to the front and away from danger.  Shawn did a fantastic job to get me to the front after the 2 major climbs of each lap and made sure I had water when required.

The break was always in sight and with half a lap to go Rona-Esker lifted the tempo and brought the peloton back together.  The countermoves were strong and a small group containing race leader Jeanson escaped and managed to stay away to the finish with Lyne Bessette (Saturn) taking the stage win.

Genevieve Jeanson (Rona-Esker) managed second on the day to maintain her lead.  Joan and I finished 15^th and 17^th respectively and are now both in the top 20 in the General Classification standings.  Shawn finished 50^th 3.54mins down, whilst Emily rode with the peloton for 5 laps before slipping into a smaller group for the remainder of the race.