June 20, 2007 (St. Paul, Minnesota) — Ivan Stevic (SCG) Toyota United and Catherine Cheatley (NZl) Cheerwine won the opening Stage 1, St. Paul Criterium, 60 mins, at the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix, on from June 20-24 in Minnesota, USA.

Women’s Race

Leigh Hobson (Can) Cheerwine – 5th place

Cheerwine was the only team with two riders in the break. Tell us about how that was an advantage for your team.
Leigh Hobson: Two is always better than one because it’s like one rider, meaning you can share the work as if you were one rider, and it’s kind of accepted that way. Also with two riders it gives us an opportunity to play off one another like we did at the end. Catherine attacked and made other people chase, it gives you a little more leeway than if you were on your own.

Were you surprised that in a relatively flat, basic criterium that the break stayed away?
LH: You know it was relatively flat but it was very technical and there wasn’t a lot of chance to move up. It’s either up or down, so I think the riders that were chasing had either all the work to do, or had to work to get to the front, so it made it tricky for a concerted chase effort.

There were eight women in the break and three of them were Canadian (Hobson, Felicia Gomez, 7th place, and Alex Wrubleski, 8th place.) What does that say about the state of Canadian cycling?
LH: It says that the Canadian Road Nationals are coming up soon! Canadians tend to be climbers and this was a little bit of a climbers’ sprint. I think we were all going for the QOM and that’s where the break went, that’s basically how it happened for us.

How good is it to have your teammate, Catherine Cheatley, in the leader’s jersey and what are you going to have to do to keep her in it?
LH: It’s always a tough thing to do at the start of a stage race, to defend the leader’s jersey, but we’re up for the challenge.

Alex Wrubleski (Can) Colavita/Sutter Home – 8th place

Alex Wrubleski went down twice in today’s stage and was checked out by a medical team immediately aftewards. Colavita/Sutter Home director Jim Williams assured me that she’s only shaken, not stirred, and she’ll be fine and good to go for Stage 2 tomorrow. Wrubleski will wear the white Boost Best Young Rider Jersey, since she is currently second to overall leader Catherine Cheastey in that category and Cheastey will wear the Yellow Jersey. Last year Wrubleski won the Best Young Rider competition by 16 seconds over fellow Canadian Erinne Willock with a second place finish in the final stage.

Men’s Race

Martin Gilbert (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast – 13th place

You like this kind of race, what was it like out there, a pretty quick pace?
Martin Gilbert: Yeah, I think the stage was really fast, lots of turns and really short circuits too. I wasn’t feeling really good today, I had a long travel day yesterday, and the Tour de Beauce just finished on Sunday – but I think it will be really good through the remaining stages. The team did a good job at the beginning covering every move, so I was just sitting on and waiting for the sprint. But it wasn’t a great day for me with good reason as I mentioned with Beauce, and traveling, and everything. It will be better tomorrow and over the next couple of stages.

Toyota United pretty much had their train rolling at the end and there was nothing you could really do about it?
MG: Yes exactly, they had a lot of riders at the end. With two and a half laps to go they hit with five or six guys, then it was pretty hard to move up after that. So I kind of tried to keep my position and passed a couple of riders on the last two laps but that was it.

Results

Pro Men (brief)

1. Ivan Stevic (SCG) Toyota United 59.24
2. Kirk O’Bee (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis
3. Jonathan Page (USA) Nature Valley
4. Henk Vogels (Aus) Toyota United
5. Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net Presented by Maxxis 0.01
6. Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe’s
7. Cesar Grajales (Col) Jittery Joe’s
8. Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling 0.02
9. Carlos Alzate (Col) Colombian National Team
10. Matty Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly 0.03
11. Frank Pipp (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis
12. Darren Lill (RSA) Navigators Insurance Cycling
13. Martin Gilbert (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast 0.04
14. Caleb Manion (Aus) Toyota United
15. Neil Shirley (USA) Jittery Joe’s 0.05
16. Nathan O’Neill (Aus) Health Net presented by Maxxis
17. Jackson Stewart (USA) BMC
18. John Murphy (USA) Health Net Presented by Maxxis 0.06
19. Jeffery Hopkins (Aus) Jittery Joe’s
20. Jonathan Sundt (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast 0.07

Pro Women

1. Catherine Cheatley (NZl) Cheerwine 1.00.13
2. Shelley Olds (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm 0.05
3. Teresa Moriarty (USA) Flanders/MBRC 0.09
4. Stacy Marple (USA) Team Tibco 0.15
5. Leigh Hobson (Can) Cheerwine
6. Kristin Armstrong (USA) TEAm Lipton
7. Felicia Gomez (Can) Aaron’s Pro Cycling
8. Alex Wrubleski (Can) Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
9. Laura Van Gilder (USA) Cheerwine 0.37
10. Brooke Miller (USA) Team TIBCO
11. Kori Seehafer (USA) TEAm Lipton
12. Nichole Wangsgard (USA) Team Group Health
13. Brenda Lyons (USA) TEAm Lipton
14. Lara Kroepsch (USA) TEAm Lipton
15. Lauren Franges (USA) TEAm Lipton
16. Iona Wynter (Jam) Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
17. Kelly Benjamin (USA) Cheerwine
18. Rebecca Larson (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling
19. Helen Kelly (Aus) Webcor
20. Carmen McNellis (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling
21. Betina Hold (Can) Cheerwine
22. Sarah Bamberger (USA) Cheerwine
23. Katie Mactier (Aus) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
24. Kristin Sanders (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team
25. Marni Hambleton (Can) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
26. Catherine Walberg (USA) Team Kenda Tire
27. Victoria Bastide (USA) Team TIBCO
28. Virginia Perkins (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm
29. Meredith Miller (USA) TEAm Lipton
30. Sarah Caravella (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team
31. Robin Farina (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
32. Anna Milkowski (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
33. Christina DeKraay (USA) Harris Teeter Naturals
34. Leah Guloien (Can) Team Group Health
35. Debbie Dust (USA) Team Kenda Tire
36. Rachel Heal (GBr) Webcor Builders
37. Mara Abbott (USA) Webcor Builders
38. Amber Rais (USA) Webcor Builders
39. Heather Labance (USA) Advil ChapStick
40. Catherine Powers (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team
41. Katharina Weber (USA) XPlane/Team Revolution
42. Kathleen Billington (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
43. Beverley Harper (USA) Webcor Builders 0.58
44. Kirsten Robbins (Can) Advil ChapStick
45. Marisa Asplund (USA) Team TIBCO 1.43
46. Alison Littlefield (USA) Contender Bicycles 1.45
47. Tricia Bailey (USA) Team Group Health 1.48
48. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
49. Natalie Klemko (USA) Advil ChapStick
50. Betsy Galenti (USA) America’s Dairyland 1.53
51. Susannah Pratt (USA) Ryan Collegiate 2.01
52. Jadine Riley (USA) Team Group Health 2.04
53. Megan Elliott (USA) ABD Cycling Team
54. Katie Lambden (USA) Team TIBCO
55. Moriah MacGregor (Can) Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
56. Lisa Dunnwald (USA) Team Group Health
57. Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Col) Colombia National Team 2.08
58. Courtenay Brown (USA) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
59. carrie cash (USA) XPlane/Team Revolution 2.12
60. Susy Pryde (NZl) Jazz Apple Cycling Team
61. Rushlee Buchanan (NZl) Jazz Apple Cycling Team
62. Sarah Tillotson (USA) Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light
63. Laura Charameda (USA) Advil ChapStick 3.07
64. Liza Rachetto (USA) Team TIBCO
65. Corie Berrigan (USA) Team Kenda Tire
66. Alison Shanks (NZl) Jazz Apple Cycling Team
67. Heidi Goldberg (USA) Team Kenda Tire
68. CarrieAnn Kopernik (USA) Nova Cycle Sports Foundation
69. Devon Haskell (USA) Ryan Collegiate
70. Susan Peithman (USA) ABD Cycling Team
71. Julie Bishop (USA) Harris Teeter Naturals
72. Madeleine Puissant (USA) Nova Cycle Sports Foundation
73. Arielle Filiberti (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
74. Erica Allar (USA) Ryan Collegiate
75. Hannah Banks (Aus) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
76. Martina Patella (USA) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
77. Holly Borowski (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm
78. Andrea Myers (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
79. Rachel O’Connell (Aus) Cheerwine
80. Heather Sborz (USA) Arizona State University
81. Kristin Wentworth (USA) Team Kenda Tire
82. Marjan Huizing (USA) Team Kenda Tire
83. Sharon Allpress (USA) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
84. Casey Cessna (USA) Nova Cycle Sports Foundation
85. Kate Ligler (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm
86. Abby Lyn Cooper (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm
87. Andrea Luebbe (USA) Ryan Collegiate
88. Kathryn Clark (USA) Harris Teeter Naturals
89. Tamyra Barnard (USA) Team Kenda Tire
90. Kim Geist (USA) TEAm Lipton
91. Katheryn Curi (USA) Webcor Builders
92. Michelle Kiesanowski (NZl) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team
93. Jill McLaughlin (USA) ValueAct Capital Cycling Team
94. Rebecca Much (USA) Targetraining Womens Team
95. Annie Lux (USA) Harris Teeter Naturals 4.01
96. Anne Guzman (Can) Team Kenda Tire
97. Patria Lanfranchi (USA) Team Group Health 4.16
98. Kristin McGrath (USA) Ryan Collegiate