May 31, 2004 – Petra Rossner (GER, Nurnberger-Versicherung) temporarily took
over the Tour of Greater Montreal after outsprinting fellow German Regina
Schleicher (Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan) and Norwegian Anita Valen (S.A.T.S.),
completing a Criterium in front of an excited crowd in Montreal’s Little
Italy.

Rossner and most riders were credited with the same time – 1 hour, 9
minutes, 38 seconds, for an average speed of 43.08 km/h. However Rossner
won eight bonus seconds thanks to her stage win and her time bonus sprint
victory 20 laps into the race. That was more than enough to offset her
three-second deficit behind Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA, Genesis Scuba) after this
morning’s prologue. Stage winner, new GC leader, the 38-year-old veteran
was also awarded the points leader and best sprinter jerseys.

In general classification, Tina Mayolo-Pic now ranks second, three seconds
behind Rossner. Dede Demet-Barry (USA, T Mobile) completes this temporary
podium, six seconds behind the leader. In Team RONA, Katrina Grove is still
8th, 10 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Geneviève Jeanson is 21st at 17
seconds.

The race was consistently fast, animated by the frequent sprints for primes
financed by an enthusiastic crowd. Team RONA was active in the front,
especially the foursome formed by Katrina Grove, Helen Kelly, Kathryn Curi
and Erinne Willock. “Our plan was to attack one after the other and see if
we could get a little group away”, explained Helen Kelly. “We also wanted
to get a good workout while staying out of trouble. Although I almost did
get into trouble in the last lap, when I was blocked by another rider and
almost crashed. I had to brake hard and it spoiled my final sprint.”

The final General Classification should be decided tomorrow in the Rigaud
stage, a 120-km road race in which the women will climb the infamous Bourget
hill three times.