Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) showed once again why she is considered to be one of the best women cyclists in the world by decisively beating a world-class field at the Montréal World Cup on Saturday. British strongwoman Nicole Cooke (Ausra Gruodis-Safi) finished second to Jeanson and extended her overall lead in the World Cup.

The 8.2km circuit around and up Mont Royal has been used repeatedly for some of the most celebrated races in cycling-the world championships (1974), the Olympics (1976) and multiple World Cups. This year, the women had to ride the 1.2km climb 12 times, with the finish at the top of the climb.

The race sported an impressive lineup: in addition to Jeanson and Cooke, the starters included Judith Arndt (Nürnberger Versicherung), winner of the of Tour de L'Aude Feminín; Lyne Bessette (Saturn), second at Tour de L'Aude; Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba-FFCC), second in the Flèche Wallone World Cup; and world champion Suzanne Ljunskog (Powerplate-Bik).

The race began with single breakaway attempts, but all were reeled in on the climb. As the race wore on, attrition began to take its toll, shrinking the front group. However, Jeanson, Arndt, Bessette, Cooke, Ljunskog, T-mobile teammates Kimberly Bruckner and Amber Neben, and Sarah Carrigan (Powerplate-Bik) were all at the front.

With two laps to go, T-Mobile upped the pace and sent Bruckner and Neben off, but Jeanson's Rona-Esker squad used Catherine Marsal and Magalie LeFloch to bring them back - first Bruckner and then Neben. On the final climb, Neben and Saturn's Mactier had a nine-second gap, but Jeanson exploded in the final kilometer to surge by them and take the victory in front of a partisan crowd of at least 30,000.

Jeanson's Rona-Esker team masses at the front on the Mont Royal climb.

Photo: Casey Gibson

Jeanson was surprised that neither Ljungskog nor Cooke were able to stay with her. "The last lap was slow,” she said. “Susanne Ljungskog was on my wheel the whole lap. I had to break to make sure she would not go first.

“At the bottom of the climb I was between Ljungskog and Cooke, it was a good position to be. When I went with 700 meters to go, I was surprised that no one was there."