THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Jeanson, Horner ride away with GC at Redlands
There wasn’t a good deal of bike racing to speak of, in either the men or women’s events, during Sunday’s fifth stage at the Redlands Classic. In fact, the parallels between the two races, held over a twisty, hilly and technical 7.5-mile loop, were the most remarkable story on an otherwise unremarkable closing day of racing.
In the women’s 8-lap, 62-mile event, overall leader Genevieve Jeanson (RONA-Esker) attacked up the first hill on the first lap and simply never looked back. A brief chase ensued by Saturn’s Manon Jutras and Lyne Bessette, second and third on the GC, respectively, and T-Mobile’s Amber Neben and Kimberly Bruckner, fourth and fifth overall, joined the pair.
However, as Jeanson has proven all week long while building up a six-minute lead heading into today’s stage, her climbing prowess is simply untouchable, and the combined might of the GC’s next best was no match; she led the field by one-minute heading into the second climb, and three minutes atop it. After a tired Bruckner fell off the pace, the possibility of Neben taking 1:30 out of Bessette had been forsaken, and the trio of chasers resigned themselves to ride in the remaining laps together.
By the third time over the 3-mile, 450-foot climb, Jeanson’s lead had grown to an implausible 5:55, and course commisaires began a discussion over race radio about the possibility of a race-shortening situation should Jeanson lap the entire field. In the end, she came in 6:39 ahead of Bessette on the stage, whose second-place stage time bonus edged her just ahead of Jutras on the overall.
Only 21, an on-form Jeanson is clearly the strongest woman in North America, beating former national and world champions and recent World Cup race winners at will. Her overall win of nearly thirteen minutes says it all, yet many question her decision to push so hard, so often and so early.
When asked why she would attack the field so early on in the stage, while already holding an insurmountable GC lead, Jeanson answered, “It was what I was told to do,” adding, “if I am going to be able to race in the women’s Tour de France someday, I need to get used to racing hard day after day.”
Total Domination, part II
In the men’s race, a similar outcome unfolded, as Saturn’s GC leading Chris Horner, Nathan O'Neill and Tom Danielson hammered a tough pace up the first climb, unexpectedly finding themselves with a thirty-second gap over a shattered field. By the end of the day, that gap grew to twelve minutes.
“It was never our plan,” Horner explained. “It was a tactical error that the teams made, to give us that kind of gap. [Jonathon] Vaughters and Prime Alliance were setting it up for [David] Clinger to get the KOM jersey, and Vaughters hit so hard all the way from the bottom that he broke the field, and I think he just tired everyone out. When the three of us went across the [KOM] line, Vaughters sat up, assuming that, like normally, after the sprint everyone’s just going to sit up. The three of us kept going with Clinger, and once we looked back, Danielson was like ‘Vaughters isn’t here! Vaughters isn’t here!’ It was like a thirty-second gap, and you just don’t give first, second and third a thirty-second gap. I believe Clinger probably could have stayed with us, but they probably called him back, to help pull the field back up to us.”
For the first few laps, the leaders’ gap hovered around one-minute. With seven laps remaining in the 12-lap affair, Prime Alliance attempted a last-ditch effort to chase, putting Danny Pate and Matt Decanio on the front in hopes of bringing their GC contender, Vaughters — fourth overall and just six seconds behind Danielson heading into the stage — onto the podium.
“The first three or laps,” Horner continued, “we were questioning whether or not we should go back. I just needed a little more information from the field — I wanted to know who was on the front. Prime was basically the only team that had a chance at pulling it back, and once I knew that it was Danny Pate on the front, and he was by himself, then I knew he was their last domestique rider left. Once I knew Danny was off, that was it, because who else is going to pull it back? It’s all the leaders then, and everyone is going to be afraid of losing fourth and fifth on GC.”
And so it was not to be for the chasers. As the tough week of racing caught up with the field, combined with the prospect of another tough week following at Sea Otter, the day became a race of attrition. In the end, only 27 of the starting 110 finished; the majority of others were pulled and given pro-rated times.
“Once the G.C. guys were out of the way,” Horner said, “from then on it was just victory laps.”
