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Besette takes Nature Valley opener
Men's race kicks off on Thursday
Under sunny skies on an afternoon that had seen rain in Minneapolis earlierin the day, Canadian Lyne Bessette took the opening time trial of the NatureValley Grand Prix, held along the Mesabi Trail in Virginia, Minnesota.
The Quark rider posted a time of 11:23.90 (28.5 mph) over the narrow,rolling and often falsely-flat 5.4-mile pedestrian/bike path, 2.16 secondsfaster than RONA’s Katrina Grove, whose early time of 11:26.06 had heldup for most of the afternoon.
After a hard-luck performance at the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia,where Bessette had multiple mechanicals followed by a crash while tryingto return to the pack through the caravan, the woman from Québécwas pleased with her ride.
“It’s a cool course,” Bessette said of the Mesabi Trail, an opinionthat differed from many who felt the narrow path was deceptively difficultto corner at high speeds. “I’m ready for a break after the Tour de l’Aude,Montreal and Philadelphia, but I wanted to come back because this is sucha great race with great courses. I’m happy to take the race lead. I preferto defend the jersey.”
One of the riders who found the course a bit tricky was French veteranJeannie Longo-Ciprelli. Racing for the local Nature Valley-Penn Cycle squad,Longo-Ciprelli placed fifth, 25 seconds down, citing flu problems earlierin the week as another hindrance. In third was Lynn Gaggioli, in Minnesotawithout the assistance of her T-Mobile team, at 5 seconds back, with VictoryBrewing’s Sandy Espeseth in fourth, 20 seconds down.
While Bessette and Grove hold an early lead, Grove pointed to the race’sabundance of time bonuses as reason not too get overly excited just yet.For three of the following four stages, 30-second time bonuses go to thewinner of each stage, with second-place taking 20 seconds and third taking10 seconds. Intermediate time bonuses of 15, 10 and five seconds shouldkeep things lively on the course as well.
“It’s neat,” explained Quark team director Giana Roberge. “You’ve gotto be a pretty good all-around rider to win this race.”
A iron-mining town located 100 miles south of the Canadian border, Virginia,Minnesota, will see racing continue Thursday as the pro men’s field takesits turn over the Mesabi Trail at 8:30 a.m., followed by the 80-mile IronRange road race at 4 p.m. The women race a 71-mile version over the IronRange at 1:35 p.m.
RACE NOTES:
• Unlike earlier reported, Webcor Builders’ star rider Chris Hornerwill not be racing in Minnesota when the men's race starts on Thursday. “He’s training for the Olympic Trials[held in Redlands, California, June 19],” Webcor’s team director Jay Gumpexplained. “I’m not sure how his name got on the start list.”
Instead, Gump said the team will likely wait and see how things shakedown in the time trial, and likely on into the first road stage, beforechoosing a team leader.
“Justin England is going really good,” Gump said. “If he puts in a goodTT they’ll probably ride for him, but they’ll have to see who gets in abreak and how it looks after the road race.”
