August 28, 2003 (Saint-Amand-Montrond, France) – In the Trophée d'Or held in Central France, the Golden fleece changed shoulders twice today, as young Volha Hayeva was awarded it at the end of the morning stage, but lost it by dinner time to Australian Olivia Gollan. After a time trial that finally created gaps among the leaders, Gollan's lead is still a mere seven seconds over Kupfernagel and 13 seconds over the very fast Russian Zoulfia Zabirova. After this time trial RONA/Esker's Magali Le Floc'h is 13th in General Classification, 1' 35″ behind the leader.

The field obviously rode the morning stage to conserve energy for the early evening time trial. Among the few things worthy of mention, there was a break by Nicole Freedman, who stayed in front by herself for a good 30 kilometres, 30 to 50 seconds in front of the peloton. Toward the end, occasional showers, the first rain here in four months, generated crashes due to the slippery roads. Among the victims were Golden jersey Alison Wright, who lost 1:04; Juliette Vandekerkhove, who was injured and wouldn't start the next stage; Martina Ruzickova, who took then ambulance to the hospital; and Meshy Holt, for whom the crash resulted in mechanicals that forced her to rally the finish at snail pace and lose 3'26″ to the lead group in the last three kilometres. Strong sprinter Sarah Ulmer eventually won the stage in a mass sprint, in front of her teammate and fellow Kiwi Joanne Kiesanowski and American Nicole Freedman, who was obviously fresh after her solo ride. RONA/Esker's Magali Le Floc'h and Catherine Marsal finished in the lead group, respectively 9th and 13th. “The last few kilometres were very dangerous and I chose to ride carefully”, explained Le Floc'h at finish. “The road was so narrow, so slippery, you had to watch where you were going!”

The night stage showed how relevant weather can be in a time trial. On a very winding and technical course, rain started to fall after about half the contestants had started. First to go, the ones who were trailing in G.C. had the dryness advantage, while others had to ride the 12.1 km under monsoon-type rain, and others still escaped the rain, but not the shiny wet pavement. The World Time Trial champion is here and achieved an excellent time, but not good enough to make top three, as she was bested by Kupfernagel and two Australians: Olivia Gollan, who won the stage and took the Golden Jersey, and Alison Wright, obviously not shaken by the morning's crash. Among RONA/Eskers, Karen Bockel and Erinne Willock achieved the best times, 43″ and 1'12″ behind Gollan respectively. Tomorrow, the Avord-Avord stage, the longest stage (114.4k) of the race but a flat course, that should not have much impact on G.C., unless the wind creates surprises.