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Montreal World Cup |
27/05/06 |
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| Univega
Raleigh Lifeforce |
st |
Nurnberger
Versicherung
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@13" |
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Nicole maintained her
overall series lead with her third podium of the 2006 series.
She was narrowly beaten by her closest overall rival Judith
Arndt who took her first victory in this year's competition.
The Montreal course was modified to have slightly longer laps,
covered 11 times rather than 12, but the large crowds had
to wait until the latter stages for much action from the biggest
ever World Cup peloton of 120 riders.
The early laps were rather lack lustre with no attacks, just
a steady attrition rate of tired riders either falling off
the pace, or pulling out completely. One early departure was
defending World Cup Champion Oenone Wood currently third in
this years standings. The Australian climbed off after 3 laps,
and only 49 riders finished the full distance within the time
limit.
With three laps to go French rider Elodie Touffet (Nobili)
made a break. She built up a lead of around a minute and a
half from a further twenty riders, including Nicole and Judith
Arndt.
Touffet maintained her lead until the final ascent of Mont
Royal apporaching the finish, but was swept up as the two
main protagonists played out the decisive last few kilometres,
shattering the chasing group in the process.
Arndt launched her move around 200 metres from the line, and
although Nicole was able to take her wheel the German just
held on to take the victory.
50 points for second place move Nicole on to 269, 49 ahead
of Arndt after her 75 points for winning. The next round is
on July 28th in Sweden.
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"This
was a strange race. It was very negative, and I was quite
surprised that there weren't more attacks."
"Having said that I know from my own Univega-Raleigh-Lifeforce
team mates who'd ridden the Tour de l'Aude that there was
a little tiredness as a cosequence, and I think looking
around at some of the other European riders that was probably
a factor in the slow racing."
"From that point of view it shows that we made the
right decision for me not to race for a week and a half
in France, and it paid off with another podium place here.
I finished 2nd just as I did here in 2003, and the key to
success in the series is consistent placing."
"At the finale today I was able to follow Judith's
move, but couldn't quite come round her and she deserved
the win because she was the strongest in the sprint on the
day."
"I'm delighted to still be in the leaders jersey, and
with five races to go it's going to be very interesting.
We have a two month break from the World Cup now and the
remaining rounds include a variety of different races, including
for the first time a team trial."
"That's going to make it a fascinating conclusion,
but I'm confident that with the team we have we can play
a major part in that."
(Full official results at www.uci.ch.
More photos at mitchophoto.com)
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| Overall
Standings after 6 rounds of 12 |
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| Univega
Raleigh Lifeforce |
269
points |
Nurnberger
Versicherung
|
140
points |
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