June 18, 2006 — For the second year, the winner of the women’s prologue in Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix went into Sunday’s fifth stage holding the yellow jersey.

And, for the second year, that rider came away with the jersey.

TEAm Lipton’s Kristin Armstrong maintained her lead to finish as the overall 2006 Nature Valley Grand Prix Champion, holding onto the yellow jersey for the duration of the five-day event.

Unlike Saturday’s race, though, when she took victory away from Jazz Apple’s Sarah Ulmer, Armstrong only finished fourth. Instead, Ulmer took the well-earned win on the 1.2-mile criterium course that included the famed Chilkoot Hill, a 50-meter climb pitching at 18 percent.

While nearly 100 racers began the day’s race, a group of three riders — Armstrong, Ulmer, and Team Biovail’s Anne Samplonius — broke out in front after the second lap. They would remain out in front by as much as 20 seconds from the chase group, headed by Webcor-Platinum Builder’s Christine Thorburn, until the final lap.

Chilkoot Hill proved to be challenge even for the most experienced of riders.

“I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,” Armstrong said of the push up the hill.

With huge crowds on the hill yelling at the riders, Armstrong said she found assistance with her drive for the finish.

“The crowds today were awesome, especially at the finish. It really helped give me that extra push up the hill,” Armstrong said of the crowds.

The hill turned out to be the final hurdle in what was a grueling couple of days.

“I’m going to go home and put my feet up for a few days,” an exhausted but thrilled Armstrong said after today’s final stage.

Biovail’s Alex Wrubleski and TEAm Lipton’s Kori Seehofer came in second and third, respectively. Overall, Seehofer also finished second followed in third by defending Nature Valley champion Thorburn.

A gracious Armstrong was not only very impressive in her first Nature Valley Grand Prix, she was impressed by the event.

“This whole event was very well run. The volunteers did an amazing job this whole week, including the volunteer director [David LaPorte],” she said.

The other major story of the 5-day Nature Valley Grand Prix was the emergence of the relatively unknown Palo Alto Bicycle Works/TIBCO rider Brooke Miller. Miller captured Thursday’s road race in Cannon Falls and had a strong showing today in Stillwater. She was awarded the Freewheel Bike Sprint Jersey for her efforts.

Miller, who until last week was known only to diehard cycling enthusiasts, will now be a force on women’s racing scene. Her coach and legendary cyclist Linda Jackson sees big things in Miller’s future.

“Brooke has a shot at making it to the 2008 Olympics. If not 2008, then certainly by 2012,” Jackson said when asked about Miller’s chances for the next Olympic games.
Webcor-Platinum’s Erinne Willock held on to the BMC Best Young Rider Jersey.

The Great River Energy Nature Valley Grand Prix is the first event in the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series. It continues next month with the Tour De Toona and concludes in September with the Bermuda Grand Prix. Armstrong will wear the yellow jersey when the Women’s Prestige Series continues in Altoona.

Until then, Armstrong will take a few well-deserved days off, and then begin her preparation for the US Nationals.

Men’s Report

by James Lockwood

Sometimes you have to let the race go to win. At least, that is what Health Net thought in the last stage of Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix.

With three guys sitting one, two and three on the general classification – and another 26 seconds out in fifth place – the National Racing Calendar event was theirs to lose. And while Greg Henderson eventually lost the jersey finishing 12 seconds off the pace, the jersey stayed in the team and gave Karl Menzies the overall victory. And Health Net finished 1-2-3 at the end.

“It’s not often you can sweep the podium at an NRC event,” said Health Net’s director sportif Jeff Corbett.

“You can’t get too greedy,” said Menzies, who was the third Health Net rider to win a race at the event on Saturday. “At the end of the day, we wanted to get the top 3.”

While Health Net’s eyes trained on the overall standings, Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic had his eye on a little redemption for the team, which had been shut out of the podium all week and only figured once in the final sprint during the five days of racing. Early in Sunday’s race, he snuck away from the Health Net-led pack, joined forces with Team Einstein’s Jason Donald, and then worked with Jelly Belly’s Caleb Manion to take the first victory at Nature Valley for the first-year squad.

“I wasn’t dangerous for [Health Net] in the break, so the they let me go,” Stevic said.

The win was important for him and the team, said the Toyota-United rider who was edged off the podium in stage four by 2 inches.

“Day after day, we were just not doing good,” he said. “We were pretty tired coming from Philly.

“This was the best way to finish the stage race. We needed this for the morale.”

Stevic gave credit to Manion for pushing the pace and maintaining the gap that allowed the two to finish one-two on the stage.

“To be honest, I was suffering a lot,” Stevic said. “I think he used a lot of energy in that effort.”

Manion, though, threw the accolades back to Stevic. “I guess the best man won at the end.”

Not only did Stevic suffer from the effort – the 1.2-mile course featured a 50-meter finishing climb of 18 percent – so did Navigator Insurance’s Shawn Milne, who was with the duo half of the race but failed to match the effort of Manion’s when it counted. Sitting 54 seconds back on GC, he could have been a threat for the podium, but at that moment, tactics changed for Navigator’s , and with about five laps to go, the Navigators best placed GC rider, Bernard Van Ulden, attacked out of the lead group to bridge to Milne and try to shake things up.

“I was feeling pretty good,” Van Ulden said. “I took a couple of hits. I wanted to go down fighting.”

Sitting fourth, he was the biggest threat to a Health Net sweep, and they weren’t going to let him go. Menzies quickly marked Van Ulden, and any chance of the young Navigator’s rider finding a place on the podium quickly dropped.

“The only thing that worried us was if we got complacent and let Van Ulden slip away,” said Health Net’s Nathan O’Neill, who finished third overall.

Menzies, who had been working all day near the front to protect Henderson, said the attack was nothing for him to match since the team had not been pushing the pace but just marshalling the front.

“I was never tired,” he said. “We knew what we had to do. We knew we had to mark Van Ulden.”

Others noticed the pace – or lack there of.

“For me, it was a game of wait-and-see,” said Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home’s Jonathan Page, who took third on the stage. “People weren’t attacking. For me, I like to race my bike, not sit on the back of Health Net.”

Navigator’s director sportif, Ray Cipollini, gave credit to Health Net for their strength and tactics.

“The made no mistakes all week,” he said. “The opportunities we had were limited at best. We did what we could wit the resources we had.”

Maybe the only mistake was made by Henderson, who misinterpreted the results at the finish and looked a bit disappointed when he learned that he lost the jersey.

“I just thought we had to finish with the bunch,” said Henderson, who collapsed at the top of the final climb up the hill. “The last lap was so hard.”

Still, he found consolation with the fact that the jersey stayed with the team, something they held all week.

“To have the yellow jersey go to a teammate is fine,” he said.

Menzies said he was happy to have the jersey, although he saved his jubilant spirit for the podium where he celebrated with Henderson and O’Neill.

“It’s so close. This team is so tight. Who’s in the jersey doesn’t really matter,” he said.

Results

1 Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) 1.00.23
2 Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly) 0.02
3 Jonathon Page (Colavita Olive Oil – Sutter) 0.03
4 Karl Menzies (Health Net pb Maxxis) 0.04
5 Frank Pipp (Targetraining) 0.05
6 Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada)
7 Brian Dziewa (Mercy Cycling)
8 Paul Esposti (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) 0.06
9 Nathan O’Neill (Health Net pb Maxxis) 0.07
10 Frank Dierking (ABD)

24 Gordon Fraser (Health Net pb Maxxis) 1.11
43 Martin Gilbert (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada) 4.36

Final GC

1 Karl Menzies (Health Net pb Maxxis) 6.36.37
2 Greg Henderson (Health Net pb Maxxis) 0.04
3 Nathan O’Neill (Health Net pb Maxxis) 0.11
4 Bernard Van Ulden (Navigators Insurance) 0.19
5 Frank Pipp (Targetraining) 0.40
6 Jonathon Page (Colavita Olive Oil – Sutter) 1.18
7 Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance) 1.20
8 Gordon Fraser (Health Net pb Maxxis) 1.29
9 Matt Rice (Jelly Belly) 1.42
10 Shawn Milne (Navigators Insurance) 1.57

20 Martin Gilbert (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada) 8.53

Women

1 Sarah Ulmer (Jazz Apple) 48.56
2 Alex Wrubleski (Team Biovail) 0.04
3 Kori Seehafer (TEAm Lipton)
4 Kristin Armstrong (TEAm Lipton) 0.10
5 Anne Samplonius (Team Biovail)
6 Christine Thorburn (Webcor-Platinum)
7 Laura Vangilder (TEAm Lipton)
8 Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita/ Cooking Light) 0.18
9 Mara Abbott (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) 0.20
10 Erinne Willock (Webcor-Platinum) 0.22

15 Betina Hold (Webcor-Platinum) 2.14
22 Karol-Ann Canuel (Equipe du Quebec) 2.53
24 Emilie Roy (Equipe du Quebec)
29 Amanda Shaw (Team Biovail) 2.59
33 Felicia Gomez (Webcor-Platinum) 3.04
45 Alison Testroete (Team Biovail) 5.51
46 Leigh Hobson (Victory Brewing Team)
48 Tara Ross (Victory Brewing Team)
59 Jennifer Trew (Team Kenda Tire) 6.59
63 Joelle Numainville (Team Biovail)
66 Julia Bradley (Team R.A.C.E.) 9.47
67 Marie-Pier Bédard (Equipe du Quebec)
DNF Gina Grain (Colavita/ Cooking Light)
DNF Kirsten Robbins (Victory Brewing Team)
DNF Stephanie Bourbeau (Team Biovail)
DNF Lisa Sweeney (Colorado Premier Training – Colnago)
DNF Joanie Caron (Equipe du Quebec)

Final GC

1 Kristin Armstrong (TEAm Lipton) 8.03.50
2 Kori Seehafer (TEAm Lipton) 1.04
3 Christine Thorburn (Webcor-Platinum) 1.08
4 Alex Wrubleski (Team Biovail) 1.22
5 Erinne Willock (Webcor-Platinum) 1.38
6 Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita/ Cooking Light) 1.40
7 Sarah Ulmer (Jazz Apple) 2.04
8 Mara Abbott (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) 2.18
9 Anne Samplonius (Team Biovail) 2.38
10 Laura Vangilder (TEAm Lipton) 3.40

11 Felicia Gomez (Webcor-Platinum) 6.24
19 Betina Hold (Webcor-Platinum)
20 Emilie Roy (Equipe du Quebec) 10.29
23 Amanda Shaw (Team Biovail) 10.54
29 Leigh Hobson (Victory Brewing Team) 13.02
32 Karol-Ann Canuel (Equipe du Quebec) 13.19
45 Joelle Numainville (Team Biovail) 19.09
51 Tara Ross (Victory Brewing Team) 22.37
54 Jennifer Trew (Team Kenda Tire) 26.05
58 Alison Testroete (Team Biovail) 28.43
63 Marie-Pier Bédard (Equipe du Quebec) 35.25
67 Julia Bradley (Team R.A.C.E.) 46.09

Best Young Rider Classification

1 Alex Wrubleski (Team Biovail) 8.05.12
2 Erinne Willock (Webcor-Platinum) 0.16
3 Mara Abbott (Rio Grande/Sports Garage) 0.56
4 Michelle Hyland (Jazz Apple) 6.05
5 Katharine Carroll (Victory Brewing Team) 7.45
6 Emilie Roy (Equipe du Quebec) 9.07
7 Kathleen Billington (Conneticut Coast Cycling) 9.32
8 Karol-Ann Canuel (Equipe du Quebec) 11.57
9 Rosara Joseph (Jazz Apple) 13.56
10 Rebecca Larsen (Aaron’s ) 14.49

11 Joelle Numainville (Team Biovail) 17.47
15 Jennifer Trew (Team Kenda Tire) 24.43
16 Alison Testroete (Team Biovail) 27.21
18 Marie-Pier Bédard (Equipe du Quebec) 34.03