Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003



 By Kris Westwood

 Cycling fans were treated to a day of outstanding racing at the Hamilton 2003 road cycling world championships today, as the junior men and elite women took to the challenging 12.4-kilometre course, which includes two climbs of the Niagara escarpment each lap.

 One hundred forty-three junior men started their 10-lap, 124-kilometre race in the morning shrouded in a thick fog that lent a dramatic atmosphere to the event.

 Sadly, the crashes began early and in the second downhill of the first lap several riders fell, including Canadian Kevin Lacombe of Amos, Que., who was knocked unconscious and taken quickly to hospital with a concussion and a broken bone above his eye.

 Lacombe was to spend the night sedated and after spending most of the day in critical but stable condition, was upgraded at 10:00 p.m. on October 11 to serious condition. Doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

 The racing, meanwhile, was very aggressive. Matthew Goss of Australia attacked alone on the second lap, and quickly built a lead of 50 seconds, but as the pace picked up behind he was quickly reeled in.

 The biggest attack was launched with less than two laps to go. As the pack split into two groups, a breakaway of six riders formed at the front, including Nicolas Hartmann of France, Sebastien Langeveld of the Netherlands, Martin Velits of Slovakia, Carlo Westphal of Germany, Zachary Grabowski of the U.S. and Stian Sommerseth of Norway.

 But the pace behind was too high for the break to build more than 15 seconds' lead, and on the final lap Grabowski and Sommerseth were dropped on the first climb.

 Kai Reus of the Netherlands chose the same moment to shoot across from the pack to the breakaway, and as the remainder of the break started the final climb, he launched his final attack.

 Reaching the top of the climb with 15 seconds in hand, he held the pack off to finish alone ahead of the charging pack.

 "I didn't have much energy in reserve, but I wanted to win so much," he said. "A few laps from the end I didn't feel very good. I decided to stay in front of the group so I broke away, and you see the result."

 Anders Lund of Denmark won the bunch sprint for second, 14 seconds behind, and Lukaz Fus of the Czech Republic was third.

 The elite women's race in the afternoon also covered 10 laps of the circuit, and a brilliant race managed to overshadow the startling news that Canadian favourite GeneviA ve Jeanson would not be allowed to start after failing a blood test in the morning.

 After a series of abortive attacks in the early laps, a decisive breakaway of 12 riders took shape with two laps to go, including several favourites: Five-time world champion Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (France), defending champion Susanne Ljungskog (Sweden), Jolanta Polikeviciute and 1999 champion Edita Pucinskaite (Lithuania), Mirjam Melchers (the Netherlands), Deirdre Demet-Barry (U.S.A.), World Cup winner Nicole Cooke (Great Britain), and Canadians Lyne Bessette and Sue Palmer-Komar.

 Sensing the time was right, Longo-Ciprelli of France attacked on the back section of the course, motoring smoothly away to a 15-second lead.

 With a lap to go, the group behind hesitated, and Longo-Ciprelli stretched her margin to 25 seconds, but it would not be quite enough

 The chase group splintered under pressure from Melchers on the final climb, and Longo-Ciprelli's lead was just eight seconds as she began the descent. Ljunskog, Melchers, Cooke, Pucinskaite and Russia's Olga Zabelinskaia overtook the Frenchwoman with just 300 metres to go, and Ljunskog won the drag race to the finish, just edging out Melchers for the win.

 Cooke was third, while Longo-Ciprelli ended up sixth.

 "It's a disappointment," said Longo-Ciprelli, who will turn 45 in a few days. "I knew with my 48 kilograms it would be extremely difficult (to stay ahead) in the descent."

 Ljungskog was delighted with her victory.

 "It was like a dream," she said. "We had our tactic to just stay calm and let the other teams work, and it worked good."