May 21, 2011 (Gatineau, QC) – It’s a beautiful sunny day in Gatineau and the 103.4km Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau Hydro-Québec women’s road race is underway as 77 riders from 14 teams representing 10 countries are on the start line. The riders will complete 11 laps of a 9.4km circuit and we’re picking up the action at just over the 1/2 way point into the race.

Lap 6
A break of 7 riders has a 50s lead on the pack – Leah Kirchmann (Team Canada), Erinne Willock (Tibco), Karol-Anne Canuel (Vienne-Futurescope), Moriah MacGregor (Juverdem-Specialized), Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita), Barbara Guarashi (Colavita) and Lesla Kalistovska (Ukraine).

Lap 7
As the leaders come thru to start the seventh lap with 4 to go the gap has dropped to 23s.

The break has been caught… and Denise Ramsden (Juverdem-Specialized) has attacked with only Kirchmann responding.

Lap 8
With 3 to go Ramsden is out solo with 15s on Kirchmann and the pack is behind at 22s.

Lap 9
Ramsden has extended her lead to 45-50s – Kirchmann was caught by the pack and now three riders have a 10s lead on the pack and are trying to bridge to Ramsden – Catherine Cheatley (US) Colavita, Julie Beveridge (Can) Vienne-Futurescope and Ukraine’s Ganna Solovei – they’re at 80km into the race with 23km to go.

The pack has now reacted to break…

Lap 10
With 2 laps to go it’s Ramsden with 42s as Beveridge and Solovei are trying to advance but Cheatley is apparently not working with them at 32s. Tibco is leading the charge behind to catch the break…

The pack has caught the 3 riders and they’re chasing down Ramsden still with about a 40s lead.

The gap is closing fast and now down to 10s…Ramsden is going to be caught with about 3km to go to the last lap. Ramsden is caught with Tibco’s Carley Taylor doing much of the work to bring the pack up to her and now she’s faded.

The pack is together at the final lap approaches

Lap 11 Final
It’s Colavita at the front driving the pace for Georgia Bronzini (Ita) with Tibco there as well – veteran Canadian National Team member for many years Sue Palmer-Komar (P-K Express) is at the front in 5th.

It looks like it may come down to a bunch sprint…

The pack is still together with Colavita and Tibco continuing to hold court – Clara Hughes (Team Canada) is beside Palmer-Komar near the front as well. Elisabeth Albert (Equipe Quebec) flatted but is trying to get back on.

It’s still groupo-compacto as the pace will likely pick up – the riders are at 99.5km – only 4km to go.

All attacks have been run down – the riders are in single file and the pace has picked up – only 700m to go – a Team Canada rider has attacked – we think it’s Hughes.

Results

1. Georgia Bronzini (Ita) Colavita 2:38:45
2. Joelle Numainville (Can) Tibco
3. Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA) Colavita
4. Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Canada 2:38:47
5. Ielizaveta Oshurkova (Ukr)
6. Veronique Labonte (Can) Juvederm-Specialized
7. Karol-Anne Canuel (Can) Vienne-Futurescope
8. Clara Hughes (Can) Team Canada
9. Megan Guarnier (USA) Tibco/To the Top
10. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Fra) West of Quebec Wheelers