May 28/12 19:34 pm - Exergy Tour: Stage 4 and Final GC - results and report

Posted by Editoress on 05/28/12
 

Huge crowds filled the streets of the Hyde Park community in Boise, Idaho to witness American Evelyn Stevens of Team Specialized - lululemon win the overall title of the inaugural Exergy Tour ladies professional cycling stage race today.  Team Specialized - lululemon, the No. 2-ranked UCI team in the world, won the overall team classification with riders Amber Neben (USA) and Clara Hughes (Canada) finishing alongside Stevens on the podium. Neben finished 50 seconds back in second and Hughes was 1:02 back for third overall.

Two women charged to the line for today's showdown finish in the 46.7-mile (75.1-kilometre) road race. Stage 4 presented by Exergy Development Group was won by German Claudia Hausler of GreenEDGE - AIS, the No. 3-ranked UCI team. She outsprinted Stevens for the stage win, both awarded the same time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 8 seconds. Third place on the stage today went to Jasmin Glaesser of the Canadian National Team, who finished 55 seconds back.

"To win this? It's huge; quite an honor. The crowds lined everywhere we went (all week).  We wanted to give everyone here (in Idaho) a show. This exceeded all my expectations," said Stevens, a native of Acton, Mass. who is a two-time U.S. National Time Trial champion (2010-11).  With the second-place finish today in Stage 4, Stevens overtook teammate Amber Neben and vaulted from third to first on the G.C.

The Memorial Day grand finale began with a flyover of four A-10 Thunderbolts from the 124th Fighter Wing,  Idaho Air National Guard from Gowen Field. The 46.7-mile road race began at Hyde Park historic community, located in the Boise foothills.  This is a favorite area in the Treasure Valley for local cyclists, where mountain and touring bike routes end and post-ride socializing begins. Today it was the epicenter of the professional cycling world. 

In addition to the Exergy Race Leader jersey, Stevens claimed the Colavita Queen of the Mountains jersey for the week.  Her teammate, Ina Yoko Teutenberg, who won Stage 3 on Sunday, takes home the PowerBar Sprint jersey as the fastest woman for the five-day event. Hughes was also awarded the Exergy Most Aggressive Rider jersey.  The St. Luke's Sports Medicine Best Young Rider jersey went to Glaesser, who finished third on today's stage.

Of the 103 riders on 16 professional cycling teams which started the Exergy Tour on Thursday, May 24, 69 started Stage 4 presented by Exergy Development Group. The pre-race favorite, American Kristin Armstrong of the Exergy Twenty12 team, who is a Boise resident, crashed out of the race in the opening Prologue. After surgery on Friday to repair a broken clavicle, Armstrong rejoined the team to support them on the sidelines. Two other riders in the race with Idaho connections, Kristin McGrath of Exergy Twenty12, now living in Boise, finished 8th overall, 2 minutes 1 second behind the Exergy Race Leader. Liza Racchetto of Forno D'Asolo Colavita, who attended Boise High School, started Stage 4 but finished after the time limit.

"If this is only the start of the Exergy Tour, I can’t wait for next year. It doesn’t get any better than that.  Idaho and Exergy can show the world how to celebrate women and their sports.  On behalf of the racers we can say thank you to everyone, thank you to Idaho," Hughes, a resident of Glen Sutton, Quebec, added at the post-race press conference held at TRICA, Treasure Valley Institutue for Children's Arts. She is the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games (cycling and speedskating for Canada).