It was just another day at the office for Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker), who soloed off the front of the pack 12 miles into the 76-mile third stage of the Tour of the Gila on Friday morning, tacking an additional 5 1/2 minutes onto her overall lead.

But Gord Fraser (Health Net) had to win his race in company, pouncing at the line on Steve Cate (Mathis Brothers) and Todd Wells (Hyundai-Mongoose) like a famished tabby on a pair of field mice, showcasing to whoever is paying attention that he is to be considered a racer of note in domestic cycling and is in top form early in the season.

For Fraser to finish that strong after such a grueling stage was impressive. The Inner Loop Road Race crossed the Continental Divide three times, and with the weather warmer than during the past two days, the heat baked the climbing life out of many a rider's legs. Worse, a couple of the descents were so steep that you could smell the clutch of the Trek-VW All-Stars team vehicle from half a mile behind it.

But Fraser owes this one to teammate Mike Sayers, who was the relentless aggressor today. Every time a break went off the front, Sayers jumped. “I knew I was burning matches, but I said screw it, and just went,” he said of his attempts to make some kind of heroic move stick.

About 40 miles into the stage, Sayers pounded away at the front of a three-man break that stayed clear for a while. "I think it was a good break," he said. "I just didn’t have enough guys with me.” One of the guys he did have with him was Tecos rider Antonio Aldape Chavez. But with Tecos entertaining designs on the overall win, Chavez wouldn’t work, much to Sayers's frustration. “The damn Tecos guys wouldn’t pull through,” he said.

Gord Fraser had the legs today.

Photo: Casey Gibson

The climbs were pulling riders off the back of the main group all day. Only about 30 remained in the chase pack when it collected Sayers and his two breakmates. Race leader Drew Miller (Trek-VW All-Stars), as he had been all day, was present at the front as they came up the final, extended climb. Riders continued to push the pace up the climb, especially Team Tecos, but key GC players Sayers, Fraser, and Miller all calmly matched every effort.

The race came down to the final sprint. Fraser, after a hard day working with his team to keep pressure on the GC leader, had enough left to put every other wheel a bike length back as he crossed the line.

Jeanson says bye-bye ... again

There would be no major surprises in the women’s race. Team Rona attacked aggressively at its first opportunity, and after only six miles of racing, Jeanson broke away, trailed only by Manon Jutras (Saturn).

"Manon stayed with me for a little while," Jeanson said. "I worked hard to drop her. And finally did. After that, I just kept going.”

How long did it take? "Until mile 12," Jutras said, marking the spot where she finally fell off Jeanson’s wheel. "Today I just didn't have the legs (to stay with her)."

You would think that the cycling-strategy bible would call for Jeanson to sit in the pack today and protect her four-minute lead. But Jeanson said:, “Sometimes you need to take an opportunity to make the race. There are not many races where I'm able to break away like that.” Since the course suited her and she was physically up to the challenge, she thought, "Why not?" And off she rode on a quest to get in a strong race-pace training ride.

Jeanson said she kept a close watch on her heart-rate monitor, making sure she didn’t blow herself up and squander her lead. She needn’t have worried too much - Jeanson had built a 10 1/2-minute lead over the rest of the field at the final feed zone, 15 miles from the end.

A few miles behind, Jutras was back with the pack. "With 16 miles to go I felt I could give (an attack) a try and see what happens," she said. "I wanted to get my workout, just like Geneviève, so I broke away."

A group of about eight women caught her, and they matched each other’s accelerations up the final climb and down the long final descent into town, and thus the race for second in the women's event came down to a sprint finish. Lynn Gaggioli (VeloBella) was the victor, with Karen Bockel (Rona-Esker) third.

Tuning up for the mountain bike season

One of the interesting quirks about the Tour of the Gila is the presence of so many mountain-bike pros.Coming just two weeks before the NORBA National Championship Series season-opener in Big Bear, and featuring five days of hard racing - three of them with tons of climbing - the Gila is a great way for the knobby-tired crowd to blast any remaining rust off their legs. Present at today’s starts were national champ Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Mary Grigson, Chrissy Redden, Sue Haywood, Walker Ferguson, Andreas Hestler, Todd Wells, Chris Sheppard, Kelli Emmett, and Melanie McQuaid, to drop a few names.

Even though he’s working as a domestique to race leader Miller, Travis Brown, former U.S. Olympian and U.S. national cross-country champion, says the Gila is showing him that he’s ready for the off-road season to begin.

“We’ve had to work hard, and this is a great training ground for me to be ready for Big Bear,” said Brown. Kelli Emmett (Hillenbrand Racing) agreed. “This is a hard race with lots of action," she said. "It’s great prep. Then you get a two-week break.”

When asked how affected they are by the nasty news from the mountain-bike world, Brown admits he’s concerned. “It’s disappointing,” he said. “The rumors that there isn’t going to be prize money at NORBA’s is a problem.” And there's more at stake than a few bucks - there's a minimum purse required for UCI points. No UCI points means limited opportunity to be awarded status for the 2004 U.S. Olympic mountain-bike team. With a baby due in August, Travis had intended on focusing his efforts on domestic races and not traveling so much to point-rich international World Cup events.

“Olympic selection is definitely affected," said Brown, who has a suggestion for giving U.S. racers a forum to secure Olympic berths. “What we need now is a single-day national championship or a national series.”

And now, back to our regular programming

Miller and Jeanson remain atop their respective leader boards. The men’s race is still open, with only 34 seconds between Miller and Sayers. Among the women, Jeanson has a commanding 9:36 on Jutras, who seems safe for Sunday’s award ceremony with Grove at 12:10.

Both current GC leaders are seeking their third Gila win. Jeanson has taken the last two, and should she close out the race as she is expected to, it will be the first time in the event's 17-year history that anyone has won three consecutive Gilas. Miller won the race as a younger pro in 1991 and again in '94.

And just in case you're wondering what happened to Angetti Sheldrake (5280/Subaru), he finished safely in the leading bunch and retains his 2:22 second lead in the Category 2 GC. His father, Bart Sheldrake (Schwab/Cody), after sacrificing himself to the cycling gods on behalf of his son yesterday, is still in the race and riding hard.

Tomorrow’s downtown criterium should be a showcase for the sprinters. Expect Health Net to dominate the race and give Fraser the lead at the end. Saturn will be working for Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, who should get a chance to test her sprinting form.