May 19, 2011 (Gatineau, QC) – Clara Hughes (Team Canada) dominated the 17.35km Chrono Gatineau women’s UCI race despite a crash at the midway point of her race. Hughes put a gap of over ten seconds between herself and second-placed Ganna Solovey (Team Ukraine). French powerhouse Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (France) started second-last to finish 4th overall, but Hughes nearly caught her at the end of the race.

This marks the second time that the Chrono Gatineau time trial was ranked as a UCI event. The riders were clearly pleased as some of the top racers had adjusted their schedules to be able to participate. Overnight rain made the course slick and winds from the East hinted at the possibility of more rain that fortunately never materialized. The day warmed up and by the time the TT was down to the best of the elite women is was warm and humid.

The field was limited to thirty six riders, with a maximum of three per team. The race was structured with three separate start waves so that one rider in each wave had full support from their team. All of the teams elected to start their fastest riders in the final wave. The technically challenging course featured two laps of an 8.67km circuit with numerous sharp turns – the same route will also be used for Saturday’s road race.

In fact, it was one of the sharp turns that gave Hughes a problem and resulted in her crash at the end of the first lap. In a post-race interview she said that, “She just took the turn too fast…” and knew she was in trouble. She went on to say with a laugh that, “It happened on the only part of the course that had spectators.” Hughes quipped that it was part of her “welcome back to cycling”. There is no doubt that Hughes loves the sport, even as she winced from her injuries.

After the first two waves had finished their race, Lesla Kalitovska (Ukraine) had set the best time at 25:24. All of the teams now had a good sense of the course conditions and where the best lines were through the corners. Malcolm Eade, a director at Juvederm/Specialized, felt that it would be possible to shave between five and ten seconds if racers were able to find the right line noting that, “Moriah MacGregor looked particularly good as she made her way around the course.”

At 1pm the final wave started and expectations were high. It was clear that the Ukrainian team had come intending to do well and of course Canada also had high expectations with Hughes starting last. HTC-Highroad had top TT’er Amber Neben (USA) ready to challenge Hughes and Longo-Ciprelli, and she was clearly well prepared as she took the third step on the podium. Legendary veteran rider, Jeanne Longo-Ciprelli from France, is just starting her season, while Hughes has been on a tear recently winning the Tour of the Gila and scoring double gold wins at the Pan Am Road Championships in Colombia.

Much of the post-race media focus was on cycling legend Longo-Ciprelli, reminiscent of when Thomas Voeckler won the Quebec City ProTour last year. But Hughes was clearly the crowd and media favourite. She now lives in Quebec’s Eastern Townships and is comfortable in both official languages.

“I am really happy to have raced for the first time in Canada, although it was a bit more dramatic than I would have liked. It was a technical course and it just shows I have a lot of work to do to remember how to ride in the different conditions road racing and time trialing can offer. There is no control over the weather and today was the first time I can remember preparing to do a time trial in the rain. I was nervous in the morning thinking ‘I just hope I don’t crash’ and there I was, half way through the race, on the only part of the course where there were spectators with my bike sliding out from under me on the slick paint of the turnaround arrow,” commented Hughes after the race.

“The fall was completely my fault because I took the turn too fast. I had to laugh at myself when I went down thinking that my husband Peter, who rarely sees me race, was likely on that corner watching me fall. I heard the crowd shudder and then cheer for me as I got going again. I kept saying to myself ‘you can’t lose this race like this’ and it really motivated me to go hard again and push through the effort of the last lap,” she added.

This race in Canada took precedence over the Tour of California for Hughes and as the organizers had worked hard to get UCI status for the event, Hughes was determined to compete and was aiming for the win. Neben also made a point of coming up for this race and was scheduled to fly to California right after the Gatineau TT to race at the inaugural time trial event on Friday at the ToC. Most of today’s ITT racers will stay to contest the road race on Saturday which is slated to be a fast and challenging contest.

Saturday’s road race will have a larger field that will be tested with one significant climb on each lap. Look for some teams to push hard for a breakaway that will stick, while Colavita and others will dig deep to be at the front if there’s a bunch sprint. Either way the weather forecast looks good for this coming weekend’s race which augurs well for fans and riders.

Photos coming…

Results

1. Clara Hughes (Can) Team Canada 23:49.17
2. Ganna Solovey (Ukr) Team Ukraine 10.74
3. Amber Neben (Usa) HTC-Highroad 13.68
4. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Fra) Team France 49.85
5. Julie Beveridge (Can) Vienne Futuroscope 1:11.81
6. Sue Schlatter (Can) Stevens Pro Team 1:15.61
7. Denise Ramsden (Can) Juvederm-Specialized 1:25.00
8. Heather Logan (Can) Colavita Forno D’Aso 1:30.71
9. Lesla Kalitovska (Ukr) Team Ukraine 1:35.49
10. Edwige Pitel (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope 1:38.92
11. Megan Guarnier (Usa) Tibco/To the Top 1:40.84
12. Svitlana Galyuk (Ukr) Team Ukraine 1:41.47
13. Ania Harkowska (Pol) Kallisto/Wheels of Bloor 1:44.61
14. Rushlee Buchanan (Nzl) Colavita Forno D’Aso 1:45.59
15. Caroline Ryan (Irl) Team Ireland 1:49.09
16. Veronique Labonte (Can) Juvederm-Specialized 1:53.03
17. Erinne Willock (Can) Tibco/To the Top 1:53.34
18. Cynthia Nelson (Can) Reform-Body/Power 2:02.13
19. Leah Kirchmann (Can) Manitoba 2:12.95
20. Annick Dufour (Can) Stevens Pro Team 2:21.09
21. Audrey Cordon (Fra) Vienne-Futuroscope 2:31.68
22. Stephanie Skoreyko (Can) Kallisto/Wheels of Bloor 2:34.01
23. Veronique Fortin (Can) Equipe Quebec 2:35.31
24. Olivia Dillon (Irl) Team Ireland 2:36.13
25. Moriah Macgregor (Can) Juvederm-Specialized 2:45.07
26. Jennifer Stephenson (Can) Reform-Body/Power 2:57.78
27. Tricia Spooner (Can) Stevens Pro Team 3:01.96
28. Annie Ewart (Can) Team Canada 3:02.45
29. Marti Shea (Usa) Destination Cycling 3:03.61
30. Sue Palmer-Komar (Can) P-K Express/HNZ St 3:11.67
31. Audrey Sarrazin (Can) Equipe Quebec 3:24.14
32. Adriane Provost (Can) Equipe Quebec 3:45.49
33. Julia Garnet (Can) Team Canada 4:00.05
34. Allison Lampi (Can) Reform-Body/Power 4:07.39
35. Suzie Brown (Can) P-K Express/HNZ St 4:28.11