13/04/03 Nicole underlined her impressive current form in the 80km Gran Premio Polisportiva - but there was no perfect birthday win.

20 today, she had to settle for 2nd place, beaten in a 2 up sprint by Oneone Wood.

An Italian National Race it still had an impressive international field and was run off at a fast pace over 25 laps around a flat 3.2km circuit today.

With most of the big names present there was action from the gun, with a variety of short lived attacks. However the 60 strong field was active and no group or individual was allowed to get more than a handful of seconds up the road.

The first serious break came when Zinaida Stahurskaya made a big attack with 12 laps to go. A group of 6 riders broke away from the main peloton behind her and it took the main bunch 4 laps to bring back the group and the Belarussian leader.

It was here that Nicole put in her big move with a classic counter attack just as the junction was made. Following her wheel in the break with 8 laps remaining were Italian Simona Parente and Wood from Australia.

The 3 worked together well for the next 3 laps and the gap went up to nearly a minute. However then Parente stopped coming through, and as she began sitting on the other two riders the gap to the main peloton began to tumble.

To protect the break Nicole launched another big attack which quickly dropped the Italian who soon slipped back into the field where Nicole's team and the Australian squad worked to sit on any moves to bring the pair back.

The gap quickly grew to over two minutes
with Nicole and Oenone working well together until it came to the time for them to contest the final sprint.

By her own admission (see right) Nicole didn't get this right. Despite all her hard work she was still feeling strong but went too early
and didn't quite have the legs to hang on.

She was beaten by a fraction of a wheel and had to settle for her second 2nd place of the season. Her first victory of 2003 (and as a twenty something!) will have to wait a little longer!!


.

"Well I'm very disappointed and frustrated because I think I should have had my first win of the season today"

"I had been suffering with a cold all week and was not at the front when Zinadia went and was concerned that she would stay away to the finish. But the main peloton were still very active and after 4 laps we caught the small group and Zinadia at the same time."

"As we merged, I made a big attack. Oenone was on my wheel and we were joined straight away by Simona"
.
"She (Simona) did not look all that strong today and when she started sitting on, the gap started coming down again fast so I knew I had to do something quickly or we would be caught, that's why I put in another big attack".

"Coming into the last lap I felt nervous. This was the biggest race that is local to us, and there was a lot of pressure for us to secure a win. I'd made the key moves in the race and was strong, people know I have a good sprint so I'm sure lots of people expected me to take it.."

"When it came to the sprint I was well positioned with Oenone in front of me and a tailwind, but I started too early. Oenone came back at me as we approached the line and she took it by about 10cm."

"To be fair to her she had worked hard in the break and took the sprint really well, but I know that I could have done better. I'm annoyed with myself for having put in so much hard work and giving myself a chance to win and then not taking it."