Stage 4 – Beaver Medical Group Downtown Criterium – 60 minutes

Today is the last day where sprint points are available so whoever accumulates the most points today, wins the sprinters jersey for 2003.  The 3 sprints to be contested were held at 45 and 30 minutes to go and 5 laps to go.  Each of us wore lime green Sockguy shoe covers that not only matched my jersey and looked good but helped us find one another in the peleton.

The pace was exceptionally fast right from the start and I was struggling to stay towards the front.  Usually I am able to sit comfortably in the top 10 but I kept slipping down to 20^th wheel.  I am so grateful to Joan who sat in the top 10 for the entire race and covered every dangerous attack for me.  She rode so strongly and prevented a number of potential breaks from forming that would have been detrimental to our green jersey.

When the bell rang signifying sprint points on the next lap I was back in about 17^th position.  I tried not to panic but I had a lot of ground to make up in one lap when the speed was hovering around 45km/hr.  I waited until the back section of the 9 corner course and moved right up to 5^th wheel.  On the 2^nd last corner, Nicole Freedman (Basis) moved past me so I jumped on her wheel and she led me through the last corner.  I let her tow me to the line for this sprint and took 2^nd, giving me another 5 points.  This put me 9 points ahead of Freedman.

Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) was away in a solo break for the 30min sprint so she claimed 7 points and I finished 2^nd, earning another 5 points.  Freedman was badly positioned and didn’t earn any points in this sprint so I was now 14 points clear of her and with only 1 sprint remaining, had the jersey won.  I didn’t need to contest the final sprint but finished 4^th in it just in case I had made an error with my maths during the race.

And so the sprint jersey is mine for 2003.  It was a great team effort and I am humbly grateful for the 100% commitment from Anne, Shawn and Joan over the past 4 days to help me win it.