Mt. Hood Classic, Stage 3: Cooper Spur Circuit Race
Darren Lill and Joanne Kiesanowski take the yellow jerseys... after the climbers day

By Stephanie Chase

With 1750 feet of elevation gain per lap, once again the Cooper Spur circuit race proved a determining stage of the Mt. Hood Classic in narrowing down the fields. For both the men and women, the difficulty of the course meant the yellow jersey changed hands.

Darren Lill (BMC) took both the stage win and the leader’s jersey while Rory Sutherland (Health Net/Maxxis) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) finished second and eighth, respectively and remain second and third overall.

In the women's race Joanne Kiesanowski (Tibco) regained the yellow jersey from Tina Pic (Colavita / Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light). National road champion Mara Abbott (Discover Bicycles/Athletes for a Cure) made her presence felt in the peloton with a fourth place finish, moving her up to eleventh in the general classification.

Race copywriters had fun with the description of Friday’s stage, the “scenic Gorge time trial” but with a course profile that resembles an EKG reading of a heart attack and nearly 2000 feet of elevation gain, riders will have little time to pop their heads up and look around. Dotsie Bausch has done traditionally well on this course (Colavita / Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) as has Phil Zajicek (Health Net/Maxxis). Those who can withstand the heat and the hills stand the best chance of moving up in the GC.

Stage 3 Women’s top ten:
1 244 Joanne Kiesanowski NZL Team TIBCO 3:30:28 0:00:00
2 235 Jeanie Longo-Ciprelli FRA River City Racing 3:30:28 0:00:00
3 207 Felicia Gomez USA Aaron's Professional 3:30:28 0:00:00
4 275 Mara Abbott* USA Discover Bicycles/Athletes for a Cure 0:00:00
5 208 Julie Beveridge* CAN Aaron's Professional  3:30:28 0:00:00
6 264 Catherine Cheatley NZL Cheerwine Cycling 3:30:28 0:00:00
7 271 Tiffany Cromwell* USA Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light 3:30:31 0:00:03
8 282 Ruth Corset AUS Jazz Apple Cycling Team 3:30:31 0:00:03
9 263 Leigh Hobson CAN Cheerwine Cycling 3:30:31 0:00:03
10 201 Leah Goldstein CAN ValueAct Capital 3:30:32 0:00:04

Stage 3 Men’s top ten:
1 65 Darren Lill USA BMC Pro Cycling Team 3:48:06 
2 2 Rory Sutherland AUS Health Net/Maxis 3:48:06 
3 50 Christian Meier USA Symmetrics Cycling 3:48:06 
4 33 Freddy Rodriguez USA Rock Racing 3:48:06 
5 35 Cesar Grajales USA Rock Racing 3:48:06 
6 26 Caleb Manion USA Toyota-United 3:48:06 
7 168 Matt Shriver USA Jittery Joe's 3:48:06 
8 10 Benjamin Jacques-Maynes USA Bissell Pro  3:48:06 
9 25 Justin England USA Toyota-United 3:48:06
10 1 Phil Zajicek USA Health Net/Maxis 3:48:06 
11 44 Jesse Moore USA California Giant Berry/Specialized 3:48:06 

Women’s GC after stage 3:
\1 244 Joanne Kiesanowski NZL Team TIBCO 4:33:15 0:00:00
2 208 Julie Beveridge* CAN Aaron's Professional   4:33:28 0:00:13
3 207 Felicia Gomez USA Aaron's Professional W  4:33:29 0:00:14
4 235 Jeanie Longo-Ciprelli FRA River City Racing 4:33:32 0:00:17
5 261 Anne Samplonius USA Cheerwine Cycling 4:33:39 0:00:24
6 201 Leah Goldstein CAN ValueAct Capital   4:33:42 0:00:27
7 272 Tina Pic USA Colavita / Sutter Home p/b Cooking 4:33:42 0:00:27
8 264 Catherine Cheatley NZL Cheerwine Cycling 4:33:43 0:00:28
9 282 Ruth Corset AUS Jazz Apple Cycling Team 4:33:46 0:00:31
10 270 Kristin McGrath USA Colavita / Sutter Home p/b Cooking  4:33:46 0:00:31

Men’s GC after stage 3:
1 65 Darren Lill USA BMC Pro Cycling Team 5:20:22 0:00:00
2 2 Rory Sutherland AUS Health Net/Maxis 5:20:23 0:00:01
3 10 Benjamin Jacques-Maynes USA Bissell Pro Cycling Team 5:20:28 0:00:06
4 33 Freddy Rodriguez USA Rock Racing 5:20:32 0:00:10
5 1 Phil Zajicek USA Health Net/Maxis 5:20:34 0:00:12
6 50 Christian Meier USA Symmetrics Cycling 5:20:36 0:00:14
7 168 Matt Shriver USA Jittery Joe's 5:20:36 0:00:14
8 25 Justin England USA Toyota-United 5:20:38 0:00:16
9 64 Jonathan Garcia USA BMC Pro Cycling Team 5:20:39 0:00:17
10 13 Edward King USA Bissell Pro Cycling Team 5:20:39 0:00:17

Stage 4 Friday, May 16 Discovery Center 18.2 mi ITT
Stage 5 Saturday, May 17 Petersburg School 101 mi
Stage 6 Sunday, May 18 Downtown Hood River 75 minutes