Always the crowd pleaser, Canadian Genevieve Jeanson surprised a few people and turned a few heads when she pulled off another World Cup win in Montreal this weekend. She won Saturday's race in similar style to her 2004 victory, taking the win with an uphill sprint finish in the final 300 meters of the race.

The international women's field of just under 100 riders found the 12 lap, 99.6km event to be something of a race of attrition. The field stayed together for the first 10 laps of the race, despite a series of early attempts to break away. The attacks that did happen were futile and all of them were chased down by the day's current World Cup leader, Susan Ljungskog, and her team, (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint).

Ljungskog and her team did their darndest to control the day in an effort to preserve a slim four-point lead in World Cup standings over Nurnberger Versicherung rider Oenone Wood.

"Buitenpoort was riding really defensively today," said Wood. "They were trying to keep it (the pack) together, obviously for the jersey."

It was slow going for much of the day

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Despite Buitenpoort's team tactics, Canadian Jeanson was one rider that was not intimidated. She was continually at the front of the field, testing out the competition.

"It was so slow that even though I was at the front I wasn't using much energy. A couple of times I pushed a faster pace, just to unclog my legs and in order to say 'I'm going,' to see who's following me! We were going at 13, 14 kilometers an hour. And last year I remember when Jeannie Longo was there she was going 20km up the street. I was like 'Oh my Gawd'. They were responding to my pace, I was upfront and the minute I was like 'I'm going to slow down' everybody was slowing down. A day like that you can't do much stuff when it's going slow, you just follow I guess."

With two laps to go the main field had split into two small groups with many riders stringing out along the course. During the last lap two attacks by Lynn Gaggioli (BioVail) shook the pack up. The lead group of riders, a pack which had decreased down to about fifteen women, caught her halfway up the final climb.

Gaggioli tries her hand

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

With 300 meters to go, Canadian Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) launched an attack. At the same time Jeanson was rolling it up for her own attack. Ultimately, Willock blew up, probably 50 meters short of her goal, to watch Jeanson take over. "Genevieve flew by, she was in the big ring, she's the only one that does that in the big ring!"

Although Jeanson had the strength to kick it into overdrive, she still had doubts about holding it to the end.

"I was so scared that somebody was going to jump me just at the line. I don't know if you saw my face and the way I was pedaling but I was giving it everything, every ounce of my 110-pound frame. I was putting it down on the pedals just to go faster!"

Wood was there for the sprint and managed to get around Ljungskog to claim second place. Ljungskog's teammate Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) rolled into third position, followed by Quark's Annette Beutler. Ljungskog sprinted across the uphill finish into fifth.

Although Wood was leading the World Cup last year when she came to this event, she placed 44th, taking her off the list for this year's favorites to win. "I wasn't really fit last year when I came to the World Cup. I had just been on a holiday. Had a mid-season break in Portugal, hadn't done much training before I came here. I was in a world of hurt! This year I did Tour de L'Aude just before this, completely different. I had really high training."

Amber Neben

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Melchers-Van Poppel seemed to have had paced herself throughout the race, aware of the pain the hills would cause over time, in order to claim third place.

"Maybe it looks like the pack stayed together for a long time but it was pretty hard anyways. We were chasing attacks by Genevieve and also I tried once, and Amber (Neben), my teammate, and there were a few other attacks. And you can see from the back of the peloton that a lot of the girls were dropped. That's the thing about this kind of race, when it's really hard with 12 hills, you try to survive. If you have the good legs, you know you can only win at the top!"

Wood's efforts in the final sprint gave her enough points to move into the World Cup Leader's Jersey. The women go on to compete in their next round later this summer in Great Britain. Top Ten Results
1. Genevieve Jeanson (ACDA-RONA) 2:55:43
2. Oenone Wood (Nurnberger Versicherung) :02
3. Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) :04
4. Annette Beutler (Quark) :04
5. Suzanne Ljungskog (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) :04
6. Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) :04
7. Judith Arndt (Nurnberger Versicherung) :04
8. Christine Thornburn (Webcor) :04
9. Edita Pucinskaite (Nobili Rubinetterie-Menikini Cogeas) :04
10. Dorte Lohse Rasmussen (Team S.A.T.S) :04