Women's Cycling News Today 23 February 2006
Oneone Wood Geelong Tour Hat Trick, Melissa Holt and Svetlana Bubnenkova Share Podium. Two weekends of World Cup racing for the ladies starting Saturday with the Geelong Women's World Cup and Wellington World Cup the week after: race announcements and Wholly Bagels Women's Cycling team announced.

Oenone Wood makes it three Geelong Tour wins in a row
World ranked number one, Australia's Oenone Wood, (Team Nurnberger) has won the Geelong Tour for the third straight year finishing the four stage three day race five seconds clear of second placed Melissa Holt of New Zealand with Russian Svetlana Bubnenkova third.

Wood went into today's final stage, a 114km ride out and back from Lara, with a ten second margin over Holt and her defense of the lead was made slightly easier by the withdrawal of Austrian Christiane Soeder who had been ranked second at nine seconds but did not line up for the final stage.

"I don't think it was as clear cut as that," said a relieved Wood after being presented with the Tour leader's purple jersey for the final time. "T-mobile were attacking all day today and New Zealand had a strong team, I don't know how many New Zealanders were in this race but they seemed to be everywhere.

"Our team really had to work hard to chase everything today and towards the finish we still had to hang on just to make sure Melissa Holt didn't get too many points on me in the finish," said Wood who is hoping to take her exceptional form into this Sunday's World Cup race in Geelong. "The team's working exceptionally well, it's going to be an awesome team this year, a few different riders (including Australian road champion Kate Bates) so I'm looking forward to it all."

Warm, sunny conditions greeted the riders who raced through flat open countryside before hitting Mt Wallace, a short but very steep climb midway through the 114km stage. Wood missed an early break but her Nurnberger team mates, including Bates, worked hard to get her back up the front. Once there she made sure she stayed there and was first up the climb and stayed with the lead group until the final sprint.

The day was a hectic one for officials and medicos in particular with numerous crashes in the 122 rider field. Several riders suffered grazes and bruising and Canadian Commonwealth Games hope Lyn Bessette suffered a suspected broken collar bone after she and T-Mobile team mate 2004 World Champion Judith Arndt crashed in the latter half of the stage but no other serious injuries have been reported.

After the climb the race traveled through the bushfire ravaged landscape near the township of Anakie before the second intermediate sprint of the day outside the Anakie primary school where Holt surged clear to pick up a time bonus to cement her second place overall. Holt also knew that if she could win the stage and the 10 second bonus she might be able to wrest the race victory from Wood but the Australian was too vigilant to let that happen and made sure she was right on Holt's wheel as they headed to the line.

"Today was really great we managed to create a break and get Nürnberger to work," said Holt. "We were aggressive at the end and we tried to rally around for a sprint and the girls did well to get me at the front."

As it turned out ten time German champion, Ina Teutenberg, nullified the challenge by launching her sprint 150 metres from the line and powering home for the win.
"I just didn't have enough strength to get around Ina (Teutenberg)," said Holt who was second with Wood third.

"It was hard today but I'm happy that I got it done now," said Teutenberg who had placed second on stage two and third on stage three of the Tour but admitted today's final stage was the most testing. "It was steep, I mean I only heard stories before, everybody says I need a twenty seven (gear teeth).
"I made it up without walking so that was at least one thing," she said. "There was a couple of girls in front of us who jumped off so it was really close, I think like a tenth of a kilometre more and I would have had to walk."

Stage Result:
1 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) T-Mobile                               2.59.44
2 Mellisa Holt (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                      
3 Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung          
4 Hayley Brown (Aus) Chase Sydney - Smart - Mercedes Benz       
5 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) Univega Pro Cycling Team                 
6 Miho Oki (Jpn) Nobili Rubinetterie Menikini Cogeas           
7 Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA) USA Cycling Team     
8 Martina Corazza (Ita) A S Team FRW             
9 Jenny Macpherson (Aus) Australian National Team                     
10 Annette Beutler (Swi) ELK Haus NÖ                                         

Australians also filled three more of the top ten placings overall in a world class field. NSWIS rider and Commonwealth Games team member, Natalie Bates, finished fourth, 27 second behind Wood with her sister Kate 34 seconds off her team mate Wood's winning time in seventh place overall.

Kate Nichols, who was injured in last July's road accident in Germany, has regained her form and confidence and secured an impressive ninth place overall at 44 seconds.
"I've been really pleased with the Tour I think it's my best ever," said Nichols. "I was stoked with how I went in the prologue and I was up there in the crit and in a the road stages I picked up a few sprint points just to try and move up a few places overall and finish in that top ten."

Wood also won the Sprint Classification. The Best Young Rider Classification went to the youngest rider in the event, 17 year old Tiffany Cromwell. who finished 37th overall 1min47sec behind Wood.
The riders will now have two days to recover and prepare for Sunday's opening round of the 2006 UCI Women's Road World Cup Series. Wood has won the last two series' crowns.

Final General Classification                                
1 Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung   6.11.03
2 Mellisa Holt (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                   0.05
3 Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus) Russian National Team           0.16
4 Natalie Bates (Aus) New South Wales Institute of Sport     0.27
5 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) T-Mobile                                              
6 Sarah Ulmer (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                    0.29
7 Katherine Bates (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung     0.34
8 Kristen Armstrong (USA) USA Cycling Team                       0.38
9 Kate Nichols (Aus) New South Wales Institute of Sport       0.44
10 Judith Arndt (Ger) T-Mobile                                                 0.47
11 Annette Beutler (Swi) ELK Haus NÖ                                      0.50
12 Olivia Gollan (Aus) Nobili Rubinetterie Menikini Cogeas          0.53
13 Tamara Boyd (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                   0.54
14 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Team Cheerwine/Bicisport                          
15 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung                        
16 Jenny Macpherson (Aus) Australian National Team                  0.55
17 Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA) USA Cycling Team                            0.56
18 Edwige Pitel (Fra) Japan Businessman Cycling Federation        0.58
19 Kori Seehafer (USA) USA Cycling Team                                      
20 Kimberly Bruckner Baldwin (USA) T-Mobile                                  
21 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) Univega Pro Cycling Team                         
22 Susie Wood (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                      1.00
================== 1:00 ================
23 Sarah Duester (Ger) Univega Pro Cycling Team                        1.01
24 Rosara Joseph (NZl) Team New Zealand                                 1.05
25 Sally Cowman (Aus) New South Wales Institute of Sport                     
26 Michelle Hyland (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                 1.08
27 Toni Bradshaw (NZl) Bike New Zealand                                      
28 Hayley Brown (Aus) Chase Sydney - Smart - Mercedes Benz     1.09
29 Emma Rickards (Aus) Univega Pro Cycling Team                        1.11
30 Emma James (Aus) Chase Sydney - Smart - Mercedes Benz                     

Geelong Women's World Cup119.2km
(8 laps of the 14.9km circuit)
Saturday 02/26/2006
The World Cup round will be raced from 10am on Sunday February 26th with 139 riders representing 17 nations contesting 119.2km (8 laps of the 14.9km circuit) in a bid to become the first cyclist of 2006 to wear the World Cup Leader's Jersey. The field is the largest ever assembled for the opening round of the World Cup

Headlining the start list is world ranked number one cyclist, Oenone Wood, from Canberra who has claimed the Series Crown for the past two years and is fine tuning her preparation for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Wood, who won the Geelong round in 2004, rides with the world's top ranked team Nurnberger. The team will also include new recruit, Australia's Kate Bates, who was recently crowned Australian Road Race Champion.

2004 World Champion, Judith Arndt of Germany returns to Geelong as the world ranked number three but this time with her new T-Mobile Team. Joining her in the team is four time American Champion Kimberly Bruckner-Baldwin and ten time German champion, Ina Teutenberg. The Univega Pro Team boasts 2002 Comonweatlh Games road race gold medallist, Nicole Cooke. The Welsh rider also claimed the silver medal at the World Championships in Madrid in 2005. New Zealand's reigning points race champion on the track, Joanne Kiesanowski is also on the Univega roster.

Back in a bid to defend her 2005 Geelong victory is NSW cyclist Rochelle Gilmore who's team will also boast Commonwealth Games mountain biker, Emma Colson. Two time World Champion (2002-2003) and currently world ranked number two, Susanne Ljungskog of Sweden will be looking for early season form and points after her 2005 efforts saw her finish second overall in the Series behind Wood.

Japan's Miho Oki, who placed third in the 2004 Geelong World Cup will join Australian Olivia Gollan in the Italian registered Nobili Rubinetterie team. Athens Olympic Champion, Sara Carrigan will line up in QAS colours this year while Barcelona Olympic Champion, Kathy Watt will have support from fellow Commonwealth Games team member, mountain biker, Claire Baxter in the Eunectes team.

2004 Olympic points race champion and bronze medallist in the road race Olga Slyusareva heads the Russian team which makes its Geelong debut in 2006. Another Olympic gold medallist, Sarah UImer, will also line up in Geelong. The Athens individual pursuit champion and world record holder will race with New Zealand as she finalises her preparation for the Commonwealth Games where she is targetting the road time trial.
Geelong World Cup Site.        Geelong World Cup Start List

Wellington Women's World Cup
Oenone Wood early favourite
Defending World Cup champion, Australian Oenone Wood is shaping as one of the favourites to take out next week's New Zealand leg of the women's cycling World Cup in Wellington.
The teams for the race on Sunday March 5th, and the preceding three-day Trust House Cycle Tour have now been confirmed by Race Director Jorge Sandoval.

Wood will be racing as part of her German professional team, Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung. Other top contenders include 2005 world champion Judith Arndt from Germany, riding with the German T-Mobile team, and two-time world champion Susanne Ljungskog of Sweden, who'll race with a composite international team.

Three teams have been entered by BikeNZ, including the Trust House New Zealand National Team, which features Olympic track champion Sarah Ulmer and top Kiwi contender Melissa Holt.

Sandoval says with national and professional teams from 19 countries making up the field, this is arguably the country's biggest women's sporting event this year.

The event launch takes place at the National Library Auditorium, 58 – 78 Molesworth Street, Wellington on Wednesday 1st March at 11.00am. This will include the presentation of teams and media opportunities.

For further information please contact:
Race Director: Jorge Sandoval 0274 464 300 / 563 8904
Event Director: Eddie Bright 04 460 9692 / 021 891 006
Website: www.cycletournz.com

Wholly Bagels Cycling Team presented by Unichem Perham Pharmacy:
Roster UCI Trust House Tour of New Zealand &
Wellington Women's World Cup.
Wholly Bagels, in association with presenting sponsor Unichem Perham Pharmacy, has announced it's team for the Wellington (New Zealand) UCI World Cup of Cycling and Tour of New Zealand to be held in and around New Zealand's capital city during the first week of March, 2006.

The Wholly Bagels (Women's) Cycling Team has been raised especially for participation in these two events, building on the on-going individual sponsorship of several developing Wellington athletes by the independant bagel cafe chain. The aim of the team is to provide the best possible platform for a group of developing cyclists to get as much as possible out of the rare opportunity of having the world's very best female cyclists racing on home soil.

The team combines the experience and leadership abilities of Wellington cross-country mountain-biker Robyn Wong (Olympian and 2006 NZ Commonwealth Games Team member) and American Category One road cyclist Robin Farina (on exchange from Team Kenda Tyre, USA), with some of New Zealand's most talented up-and-coming women cyclists.

Wholly Bagels is a sponsor of the Trust House Tour of New Zealand and Women's World Cup events themselves, in addition to supporting the Wholly Bagels Cycling Team.
The team includes three riders from (host city) Wellington City: Nicola Johnson, Robyn Wong and Pernille Fletcher.

Team Manager, Karl Kane:  "This team will give our two established elite-level riders (Wong, Farina) a chance to take on a supported leadership role, and offer our development riders, some are very strong all-rounders already and others great technicians or very talented climbers, the chance to play a real role in a solid team result.

Nobody can ask an up-and-coming rider to take on alone the likes of T-Mobile's (former World Champion) Judith Arndt and Sarah Ulmer in Commonwealth Games build-up mode without setting them up for failure, but this is a team of women all talented enough to be there to make an individual contribution to a good team result.

It sounds like common sense, but many flat (structured) development teams turn into examples of the blind leading the blind. With the contribution of the two experienced captains, the Wholly Bagels team can provide a platform for the girls to genuinely get as much out of this unique 'home turf' experience as possible, enjoy the racing in a supportive environment and perhaps surprise a few people with one or two good results."

Roster:
Robyn Wong (NZL, Captain: World Cup)
Robin Farina (USA, Captain: Tour)
Amy Mosen (NZL)
Karina Wilkinson (NZL)
Rosy McCall (NZL)
Nicola Johnson (NZL)
Pernille Fletcher (NZL, Tour Only)
Oli Brooke-White (NZL, Mechanic)
Paul Larkin (NZL, Soigneur)
Tim Wilding (NZL, Soigneur: World Cup)
Karl Kane (NZL, Manager)
Sponsors: Wholly Bagels & Unichem Perham Pharmacy

The team will race on Maxxis Tyres riding machines tuned by Roadworks Bicycle Workshop, using Leppin Sport and Pro4 sports nutrition products. The team's Ultimo uniforms will be rounded-off with DeFeetand Dopers Suck socks and accessories.