 |
|
|
La Flèche
Wallonne
World Cup |
19/04/06 |
|
|
| Univega
Raleigh Lifeforce |
2h
55m 03s |
Nurnberger
Versicherung
|
@
3" |
| Nurnberger
Versicherung |
@
7 " |
Buitenpoort-Flexpoint
|
@
9" |
|
|
|
For the third time on
the vicious finale of the Mur de Huy Nicole emerged triumphant
in La Flèche Wallonne.
At the finish she immeadiately praised her Univega-Raleigh-Lifeforce
team mates and thanked the crowds for helping her to to success.
There were several breaks during the 106km World Cup race,
including an early attack by series leader Ina Teutenberg
and a later more damaging move by Olga Zabelinskaia.
However the Russian was caught, and after Nicole put in her
own acceleration on the Côte de Ahin only 28 riders
arrived in the lead group at the fooot of the infamous Mur.
The final 1km climb to the finish features gradients of up
to 20% around a string of hairpin bends.
The 2006 edition ended in similar fashion to 2005, with Oenone
Wood making the early efforts on the climb, only for Nicole
to power away from the Australian over the final 300m before
repeating the arms aloft victory salute also seen in 2003.
This was Nicole's first World Cup victory of the season, and
after 4 of the 12 races she is second in the standings with
117 points, 3 behind Teutenberg.
Nicole with
Alejandro Valverde, winner of the men's race |
|
|
"You
need strong legs and plenty of will power to win this race,
but I also benefitted from a strong team and plenty of support
from the crowd over those final lung burning metres up the
Mur."
"We have a very strong team at Univega-Raleigh-Lifeforce
with plenty of options for all races. Today's plan was to
get me in a position to challenge up the final climb, and
they worked hard to do just that."
"The final climb is only 1km long, but it's so steep
it takes longer than you think. When Theresa Senff made
the early pace on the climb and when Oenone Wood attacked
through the hairpains I just rode at the pace I knew was
right for me. I did think if either of them was strong enough
to keep that up then they would deserve the victory."
"Maybe my past experiences on this climb paid off,
but I had to switch off the pain receptors to keep the effort
going for the final few hundred metres!"
(further photos and details
are available at womenscycling.net
cyclingnews.com.
Full official results at www.uci.ch)
|
|
 |
.gif){kind=spacer}
