The Tour of Greater Montreal

After celebrating Rona’s Montreal World Cup win, we rolled our legs over very slowly on Sunday, along the lake frontage in Lachine, near Genevieve’s home.  It was incredible windy but so picturesque with many people out sailing, jogging and cycling.

The Tour of Greater Montreal is made up of 4 stages over 3 days with the first day being the double stage event.  Stage 1 was a 3km prologue on a narrow bike path in Lachine.  Tina Pic (Genesis) rode like a demon to clock up the fastest time and don the yellow jersey.  Katrina finished in the top 10 while the rest of Rona all finished within 10sec of each other.

That evening we raced a fast and furious 4 corner criterium in the Little Italy area of Montreal.  With generous bonus seconds up for grabs, Petra Rossner (Nurnberger-Versicherung) won the criterium, and took the overall lead from Pic.  Rona featured actively in the criterium but it inevitably came down to a bunch kick.  The GC is still tight with Katrina Grove, Geneviève Jeanson, Erinne Willock and I within 28sec of the leader.

Stage 3 unfolded under a cold heavy rain with temperatures of only 11-12° celsius.  The course was mostly rolling, but included 3 ascents of Bourget hill, a 2km climb that steepens to 22% in a few places.  Many thought the peloton would explode up the climb but the rain made it difficult to attack in the steeper parts of the hill.

I got into a break after 35km with fellow Aussie Alison Wright (Nobili Rubinetterie) and Canadian Amy Moore (Quark).  We worked hard for 70km and our biggest lead was 2mins 40sec but after Moore dropped Wright and I on the final climb over Bourget our break was doomed.  The remains of the chasing peloton swept up Wright and I with 10km to go, while Moore was caught 4km from the finish line.  Judith Arndt (Nurnberger-Versicherung) won the 111km stage in 3hrs, 36mins, averaging 30.8km/hr.  Arndt now has an 11 seconds advantage over T Mobile’s Dede Demet Barry, and Canadian Lyne Bessette (Quark) is third in the general classification, 12 seconds back.
The final stage consisted of 8 laps around a 10km road circuit in Terrebonne, North of Montreal. With 19 bonus seconds for any one rider, between the intermediary sprints and the stage win, the overall race was far from over.  Petra Rossner, Arndt’s team-mate and one of the best sprinters in the world, won the three intermediary sprints – and a total of 9 bonus seconds – thus minimizing the take for the contenders. It was up to Arndt to prevent any serious break to form. She had to chase herself several attempts to leave the pack. The race was not particularly aggressive, but a few riders attacked several times but each time the pack prevented anything from materializing.

The field completed the 80km in 2hrs1min with Regina Schleicher (Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan) crossing the line ahead of Anita Valen (SATS).  In the overall classification, Arndt took the victory with a slim 5-second lead over Anita Valen (SATS), while Lyne Bessette (Quark) finished 3^rd.  Rona’s Katrina Grove finishes in 6th place overall, 16sec behind Arndt. Geneviève Jeanson and Erinne Willock, finished respectively 15^th and 17^th, 30 and 35 seconds down.  Genesis Scuba won the team general classification 16 seconds ahead of Team Rona.