March 26, 2004 – Lyne Bessette of Team Quark today took the yellow jersey from RONA's Genevieve Jeanson in the third stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, in Southern California. Jeanson is now second in general classification, trailing Bessette by about 27 seconds.

Bessette had a 16-second deficit this morning at the start of Stage 3. She finished third in the stage, thanks to a three-member breakaway that crossed the finish line 39 seconds before a chase group that included Jeanson. American Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile) won the stage, and Canadian Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba) came in second.

Today's stage covered 67 kilometres around a 15kilometre course with one climb. Early in the race, a break formed with four riders, who increased their lead up to two minutes. Bessette attacked during the third lap, Armstrong and Palmer Komar took her wheel. Jeanson missed the boat. The Bessette trio bridged to, then dropped the four riders in the break. They increased their lead over the field to about 50 seconds. Jeanson eventually chased, together with Magali Le Floc'h (Quark) and Christine Thorburn.  But it was too late.

“I got nobody to blame but me”, said Jeanson after the race. “Yesterday I had a stupid crash on my way back from the stage, and I was aching all over today. I couldn't go full throttle. That'll teach me not to look where I'm going!”

So the suspense will last until Sunday. Tomorrow's stage is a 60-minute criterium in downtown Redlands, not likely to cause upheaval in the overall standings. But Sunday's stage will be on a challenging course and could generate time gaps that will seriously impact general classification.

Stage 3 :  Panorama Road Race 1. Kristin Armstrong (USA, T-Mobile) 2. Sue Palmer Komar (CAN, Genesis Scuba) 3. Lyne Bessette (CAN, Quark)

General Classification 1. Lyne Bessette (CAN, Quark) 2. GeneviËve Jeanson (CAN, RONA) 3. Christine Thornburn (USA, Webcor)