Moninger takes over at ‘toona; Thorburn holds jersey
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jul. 30, 2005
Saturday’s 93 mile road race featured two dirt road climbs in the Pennsylvanian hilltops and proved decisive in shaking up the men’s general classification at the International Tour de Toona, as Health Net’s Scott Moninger soloed the final 20 miles to take the stage win and yellow jersey from teammate Chris Wherry.
The women also saw a surprise winner in France’s Marina Jauantre (MS2R-Honey Stinger), who crossed the line 2:47 ahead of the chase group containing all the GC favorites, a gap small enough to leave Webcor’s Christine Thorburn in the overall lead.
It wasn’t until peloton reached the day’s first KOM up Blue Knob at 52 miles, that the men’s race really broke up. The climb, which featured a rough gravel section for the last mile saw Health Net-Maxxis and Colavita-Sutter Homes bunch their climbers at the front along with several RMCEF and Fiordifrutta riders. But it was the Health Net duo of Moninger and Justin England that crested Blue Knob with a 20 second gap on a group of chasers containing last year’s winner John Lieswyn (Health Net), yellow jersey Wherry and Colavita’s Mark McCormack.
Lieswyn put in a hard dig and bridged to his two teammates, making the front of the race look like a Health Net team time trial. But somehow McCormack was also able to bridge to the group of three Health Net riders, shutting down the break’s motivation.
Lieswyn said he never saw McCormack come across.
“With Mark there we couldn’t race full-tilt,” said Lieswyn.
“Once Mark got there, Colavita shut the gas off and our lead shot to like a minute,” said Moninger. “But obviously Mark wasn’t going to work, so he was sitting on, and then I sat on. So it was pretty much Justin and John doing the work.”
Moninger said the teams only option was to send riders up the road until McCormack failed to follow.
“We thought Chris was going to take it all the way until the end [final stage], but he really didn’t have a good day today,” said Moninger, the current leader in NRC points. “Rather than just pull guys around all day, we sent Justin up the road as a rabbit, a decoy. And if anyone wanted the stage win, they’d have to pull Chris up to Justin, and we’d have good numbers. When Justin went here was no reaction, so I went across. We didn’t get a huge lead. There was a lot of regrouping from behind so the group kept getting bigger and stronger. Obviously Colavita was chasing. So I got on the radio and said, ‘Hey we need to get one more guy up here, either John or Chris hit it across.’”
But before the second KOM, a small group of riders bridged to the three including Davide Frattini (Colavita) and Hugh Moran (Aerospace). Moninger then broke away from that group in the same section where he dropped Chris Horner last year. The Mt. Evans climbing champion had too much power for the others and simply rode them off his wheel, soloing to the finish. Behind were three riders 42 seconds back- McCormack, Hugh Moran, and teammate England.
In fact England never actually crossed the finish line. He had the unfortunate luck of T-boning an SUV whose driver froze in a police-controlled intersection in the final straight. Luckily, he was able to grab both brakes to bleed off the speed of the impending impact. But the crash completely demolished his bike and left the climbing ace with a big contusion on his arm. Since the accident occurred in the last kilometer, England was awarded the same time as his other breakaway companions.
Moninger’s 53-second cushion in the overall should be sufficient to retain the yellow jersey through Sunday’s criterium. But the fight for second place between Moran and McCormack will be hotly contested as only one second separates the two, with 55 seconds of time bonuses up for grabs in the stage.
The women’s race winner Jauantre said she was surprised by the way the day developed. Speaking through translator and teammate Magali LeFloc’h, Jauantre said, “She [I] didn’t feel very good, but it was a good idea.”
Cresting the third QOM at Sugar Run, Jauantre’s lead was still nearly four minutes as she turned into a headwind on a false flat. But once she made a 90-degree right turn into the valley that wound down through the Horseshoe Curve tunnel, the last nine miles were sheltered and mostly downhill. After someencouragement from her team manager, Jauantre realized she wouldn’t be caught.
Juantre got away on the second QOM dirt road on Maple Hollow Road. Since she wasn’t perceived as a GC threat, the rest let her go. Jauantre’s lead grew rapidly and soon passed five minutes, briefly making her the yellow jersey leader on the road. Jauantre would go on to take the next two QOM’s, her lead only shrinking to 3:45 by the final QOM at Sugar Run QOM with 12 miles left in the race. She would lose another minute by the finish.
“Every climb it would break up and come back together,” said Geneviève Jeanson, second overall on GC. “Nobody wanted to work, so I set the pace.”Erinne Willock helped Jeanson bring Jauantre’s gap down as did an attack by English-import Rachel Heal, normally a member of the SATS team but riding for Victory Brewing at ‘Toona.
The chase group eventually resigned itself for second place. And Colavita-Cooking Light’s Dotsie Cowden won the small group sprint for second, her best result of the year.
“It was one of the hardest races I’ve done,” said Cowden. “I got dropped every single climb and clawed back on.”
Magali LeFloc’h (MS2R-Honey Stinger) stole the third place time bonus, leaving the overall classification unchanged for the top six riders on GC.
Sunday afternoon’s criterium in downtown Altoona will be far from the parade stage role that criteriums often serve in stage races. First and second overall in the women’s are separated by a scant three seconds with time bonuses up for grabs every fifth lap in the criterium (the men and women race a total of 30 laps) including a 10-second time bonus for the winner. Both race leader Thorburn and Jeanson (The Bicycle Store/RONA) have shown formidable sprinting prowess throughout the week, setting the stage for an exciting finale.
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FILED UNDER: Road