American Katheryn Mattis Wins Opening World Cup Road Round
American Mattis wins opening World Cup road round
GEELONG, Australia, Feb 24, 2008 (AFP) - American Katheryn Mattis outsprinted Australia’s Emma Rickards to claim victory in the year’s opening round of the UCI Women’s Road Cycling World Cup series here Sunday.
The pair broke clear during the third lap building their lead to over six minutes before holding off the peloton, led home by Germany’s Ina Teutenberg by one minute and eight seconds at the finish line.
“It’s unbelievable, it was a spectacular day,” said Mattis, who now leads the World Cup series. “The spectators were awesome and the course was really hard and my team raced great.”
Eighty five riders began the 120-kilometre (75-mile) event raced over eight laps of a circuit out and back from the Geelong waterfront.
With one kilometre left and holding a lead of over two minutes, Mattis and Rickards engaged in a series of stalling tactics with neither wanting to take the lead.
Two hundred metres from home Mattis launched the sprint and Rickards couldn’t match it, giving the 33-year-old American the biggest win of her career.
“With about a kilometre to go, it became a cat and mouse game and I am not known as a sprinter but I unleashed my inner sprinter I guess,” Mattis said.
Teutenberg showed her class by sprinting home in third at the head of the main peloton.
She lamented a missed opportunity and was disappointed by the lack of assistance given to her and her High Road teammates during the chase.
“We did everything we could, the girls were falling off the bike at the end of the race, so you couldn’t ask for more, but maybe we miscalculated and should have gone a little bit earlier,” Teutenberg said.
The next World Cup round will be held in Italy on March 24.
Categories: News, Races
Tags:
Leave a Reply