23/02/2005 Geelong Women's Tour: 3^ tappa Rochelle Gilmore battuta solo da Mayolo Pic BARWON HEADS (Australia) - Canberra's Oenone Wood gained valuable time bonuses on today's third stage of the Geelong Tour to increase her overall lead to six seconds from Sydney's Kate Bates with one stage remaining in the international women's three day event. Stage 3, a 77.4km race over four laps of a circuit along the Surf Coast at Barwon Heads, was always going to be a day for the sprinters with the top ten riders separated by less than 30 seconds on overall standings. Wood, debuting with the German registered Nurnberger professional team, and Bates, who rides for the Dutch based Tom van Bemmelen outfit, started the day only one second apart and with four intermediate sprints and the finish line bonus up for grabs their teams were keen to put them in the best possible positions when it counted. In the first sprint after 15 kilometres Bates claimed first blood ahead of Wood with New Zealand's Melissa Holt third. But at the second sprint at 30km Bates was out of the placings as Wood accelerated across the line. Holt was second and Santia Tri Kusuma, the only Indonesian team rider left in the race, was third. Bates fought back in the third sprint to again pip Wood across the line with Holt ever present in her battle to move up the standings after starting the day in sixth place, 13 seconds behind Wood. Before the next sprint a crash in the field brought down 14 riders and disrupted the leaders leaving the way clear for an intermediate win to Tri Kusama. NSWIS cyclist Kate Nichols was second and Mayolo-Pic third. As the finish line loomed fans waited in expectation of a Bates - Wood showdown but instead it was 38 year old Mayolo-Pic of the Lloyd Morgan Recruitment team who set the running flying home for the stage win in front of Sydney's Rochelle Gilmore. It was awesome fast and fun and I had a great lead out from my team mates who did the job on the front for the last five kilometres," said Mayolo-Pic, the three time American Criterium Champion. "I really wanted the stage win and the intermediate sprintts were great practice runs for the final sprint. "You never know how it's going to go because it's all positioning and even though they'd (Oenone and Kate) been contesting the intermediates you never know how much they'll have left at the end." Wood managed third but didn't have her usual jump and admits her early battle with Bates took it out of her. "Kate (Bates) put the pressure on early so I really had to work hard and she tired me out so I had no answer to Tina in the final sprint," said Wood while Bates found herself in the wrong place to contest the finish placings. "I felt like I was sprinting well and my track legs let me do it a couple of times but not five and I just got a little bit lost and ran out of gas at the finish," said Bates. "I can usually get myself out of bad spots but I got stuck so not today." Earlier in the stage several riders tried to get away but were soon reeled in including Barcelona Olympic gold medallist Kathryn Watt who attacked after the third sprint. It was a shortlived lead though as reigning World Champion and Wood's team mate, Judith Arndt, of Germany mowed her down with ease. Both Bates and Wood agree tomorrow will be the real pressure day when the race contests the 112.9km loop out and back from Lara including the challenging short, sharp climb up Mt Wallace. There are two intermediate sprints offering bonus seconds on tomorrow's stage plus the 10 second winning bonus for the stage result. "Tomorrow will be a tough day again for the sprint bonuses but I'll have a go," said Wood. "We have a great team and I think we can come through with the goods tomorrow." Bates also plans to go for broke tomorrow. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day and I hope to recover well tonight," said Bates who started this week off the back of an intensive two weeks of track competition. "The climb suits me as I'm a power rider and I'd rather come fiftieth after having had a go and tried for a jersey than not tried at all." Wood also leads the sprint classification while New Zealand national team member Michelle Hyland, 20, has moved up as the Best Young Rider Under 23 after the withdrawal of South Australian Alexis Rhodes (Australian National Team) due to a stomach bug. Athens pursuit silver medallist Katie Mactier (Jayco VIS) has also withdrawn due to ill health. Overall Wood leads Bates by six seconds with her sister Natalie third at 14 seconds and South Australian Amy Gillet fourth at 19 seconds. Arndt at 20 seconds, Holt at 21 seconds, Olympic gold medallist Sara Carrigan at 25 seconds and Mayolo-Pic at 25 seconds are also all in contention. courtesy of www.cyclingnews.com Results 1 Tina Mayolo Pic (USA) Lloyd Morgan Recruitment 2.02.00 2 Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) NSWIS 3 Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 4 Jenny Macpherson (Aus) Jayco VIS 5 Tanja Hennes-Smidt (Ger) Buitenpoort-Flexpoint 6 Verena Joos (Ger) German National Team 7 Suzanne De Goede (Ned) Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink 8 Briget Evans (Aus) Lloyd Morgan Recruitment 9 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) SC Nobili Rubinetterie - Menikini Cogeas 10 Melissa Holt (NZl) New Zealand National Team General classification after stage 3 1 Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 3.12.48 2 Katherine Bates (Aus) Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink 0.06 3 Natalie Bates (Aus) Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink 0.14 4 Amy Gillett (Aus) Australian National Team 0.19 5 Judith Arndt (Ger) Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 0.20 6 Melissa Holt (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0.21 7 Sara Carrigan (Aus) Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink 0.25 8 Tina Mayolo Pic (USA) Lloyd Morgan Recruitment 9 Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Ned) Buitenpoort-Flexpoint 0.26 10 Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Lloyd Morgan Recruitment 0.33 42 Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) NSWIS 2.39 Il podio della 3^ tappa del Geelong Tour - Photo@ Mark Gunter La volata della 3^ tappa del Geelong Tour - Photo@ Mark Gunter