July 19/09 8:22 am - Tour de White Rock: Stage 1

Posted by Editoress on 07/19/09
 

Jazz Apple Atop Podium at Maximum Collision Criterium at 30th Tour de White Rock

It was hard to believe Duvnjak had much left for Saturday's Criterium after finishing second in Friday's Hillclimb, which requires the top-5 riders from the first heat to ascend the 700-meter, 16 degree grade again in a head-to-head race to the podium.

Somehow, though, Duvnjak broke away with 10 laps left in the 30-lap race and almost lapped the field before cruising to victory, finishing the 30-kilometer Criterium in 40 minutes, and 57.2 seconds Saturday.

"I was a little bit paranoid," said Duvnjak, who will also wear the women's leader's jersey in Sunday's road race. "I was slowing down and I was like you can't be out there for five laps and get caught on the last lap so I've got to go, I've got to go, I've got to go, I can't muck it up now."

The deep Jazz Apple team softened the field – and racked up prime lap wins – with more than a half dozen attacks over the first 20 laps, and had Duvnjak and Lauren Ellis in the break with 10 left. Duvnjak quickly opened up a big gap on that group too, and Ellis, a fellow Kiwi, won a sprint to finish second, just over a minute behind her teammate.

"We knew we had to have Dotsie (Bausch, who won Friday's Hillclimb) or myself in there and then a maximum of five riders because we did well at the Hillclimb and wanted to keep the overall," said Duvnjak, who also won the Tour de Delta Road Race last weekend, while Ellis took criterium and overall titles. "When the break happened Lauren said she felt like crap and I felt pretty bad too, but I was like ‘you know what, this seems to be spreading the field.' I looked back and said ‘why not give it a go,' and once you get into a rhythm, believe it or not it's easier. Instead of having to go and slow down and go, you can just get into your own rhythm."

Heather Kay (ERTC/Revolution) of Sherwood Park, Alberta finished third, matching her spot on the podium in the Hillclimb the night before.

"It was fabulous to get in a breakaway. The corners are faster when you're not in a big group," said Kay, adding both podiums represented her best finishes in three years coming to the Tour de White Rock, though she's had top-10 finishes in all three races. "I wanted to get in a breakaway that had at least one Jazz Apple rider in it. I knew it would stay."

Kay also knows from experience how tough Sunday's road race will be, with several severe climbs at both ends of the scenic start-finish line on White Rock beach. Duvnjak is riding her first Tour de White Rock, but has seen what's coming, and knows it's not going to be easy on Sunday.

"Tomorrow's course, I don't think I need to mention it if you've seen it, that's tough," said Duvnjak, a 28-year-old who has been riding 13 years, and also won the Tour de Delta road race last Sunday. "I am confident in my fitness at the moment, it's probably the fittest I've been for years. And I'm just excited and I think that's carrying me through the weekend more than anything else I emailed my boyfriend and I was like ‘I'm just so happy,' I didn't want to sleep last night. I just want to race."

In addition to being the Tour de White Rock finale, Sunday's Peace Arch News Road Race is also the final event in the 10-day, six-race BC Superweek. It will be followed by a celebration of 30 years of the Tour de White Rock and its key roll in creating Canadian Olympic cyclists, including live music, a special appearance by the Vancouver 2010 Mascots, and a chance to meet Olympic Athletes, including Tour de White Rock racers Zach Bell and Erinne Willock, as well as Janice Birch, the 1996 Olympic silver medal winner in synchronized swimming, and Lynn Kanuka, a bronze medalist in track and field at the L.A. Olympic Games.

Report by Kevin Woodley, Media Relations Coordinator

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