Velo Bella :: La Gazzetta :: Latest & Greatest Archive

March 2003

03/28/03 - Mighty Mouse Team Update Solano Stage 2
The results of the mass start hillclimb at Solano Stage Race have been posted. I'm sorry to report that Velo Bella did not take 4th and 7th...no, this time Velo Bella took 4th and 6th!!

The top three positions were taken once again by TMobile and Saturn, but Velo Bella followed for 4th with Lynn and 6th with Felicia. Ginger
also improved on her previous day by finishing in 28th. Overall standings now show Lynn in 4th, Felicia in 7th and Ginger in 32nd!

The next two days feature a criterium and a circuit race. While our girls
are excellent climbers, with the exception of Lynn, they aren't as
comfortable on the flats. Lynn, on the other hand, is an excellent sprinter and a smart opportunist. We'll see what the next two days brings our trio...

Top 10 results from Stage 2:

Kimberly Bruckner (USA) T- Mobile/US National 0.39.31
Manon Jutras (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 1.39
Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 1.53
Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella 2.27
Leah Goldstein (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's 2.44
Felicia Greer (USA) Velo Bella 3.05
Susan Palmer-Komar (Can) Canadial Federation Team 3.22
Joan Wilson (USA) TDS 3.38
Sandy Espeseth (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's 3.39
Kate Maher (USA) Team Basis 4.12

More info on Stage 2 can be found here.

03/29/03 - Solano Day 3
Todays stage featured a fast criterium. Velo Bella's Lynn Gaggioli broke free in a break of ten women that included Saturn's Ina Teutenberg. With Ina in the group, Saturn shut down the field behind. Realizing the opportunity, Lynn drove the break hard and achieved a 43-second gap until Ina flatted (or thought she did). Without Ina in the break, Saturn charged hard and brought the race together, for their other sprinter Laura Van Gilder. Even with all her work in the break, Lynn still managed a 7th place in the sprint. Felicia stayed safe and finished with the pack. Unfortunately, I didn't see Ginger's name in the results and I don't know what happened. I just hope it wasn't a crash. Ginger? You OK?

Top 10 results from Stage 3:

Laura Van Gilder (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 1.00.03
Tina Mayold-Pic (USA) Diet Rite
Nicole Freedman (USA) Team Basis
Jenny Eyerman (USA) VANIQA/PABW/Red 5 Racing
Catherine Marsal (Fra) Canadial Federation Team
Sandy Espeseth (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's
Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella
Kate Maher (USA) Team Basis
Helen Kelly (USA) TDS
Katie Safford (USA) Minute Maid/Dasani

More info on Stage 3 can be found here.

03/30/03 - Last Day in Solano
Whew...the race is over and all our girls made it through safely...

Sunday's stage was a circuit race in Fairfield. The race featured an
undulating 5.5-mile course. Just enough to start stinging after a few laps and being utterly painful near the end.

Lynn was very aggressive in this stage as she was seeking a stage win. But a break of 3 got away without her. Lynn tried to catch the break, but it didn't happen. She still managed another top ten finish and held on to her 4th place overall. Felicia stayed safe to keep 8th overall and I'm happy to report Ginger was still in the race after all! Congratulations to Ginger for completing her first stage race (and her first race as a 3) in fine form.

We are all just gushing with pride over their performance. Gush! Gush! Now the ladies have zero days of rest as they head down to Redlands on Monday.

Stay tuned&.

Top 10 results from Stage 4:

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 2.11.05
Sandy Espeseth (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's
Catherine Marsal (Fra) Canadial Federation Team
Tina Mayold-Pic (USA) Diet Rite 1.18
Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
Kate Maher (USA) Team Basis
Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella
Heather Mastrianni (Can) Fairfield Toyota
Dotsie Cowden (USA) T- Mobile/US National
Katy St Laurent (Can) Canadial Federation Team

And final General Classification:

Kimberly Bruckner (USA) T- Mobile/US National 6.33.39
Manon Jutras (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 2.40
Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 2.54
Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella!!!! 4.26
Sandy Espeseth (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's 5.07
Susan Palmer-Komar (Can) Canadial Federation Team 5.29
Leah Goldstein (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso's 5.33
Felicia Greer (USA) Velo Bella!!!! 5.54
Kate Maher (USA) Team Basis 7.01
Joan Wilson (USA) TDS 7.22

More info on Stage 4 can be found here.

03/28/03 - Stage Race Update #1
Our little mighty mouse team may only be 3 strong, but they kick ass!

We lost several of our riders and support for this race. Still, 3 Velo Bellas took on the Solano Challenge anyway. They are facing daunting hills and well (relatively anyway) funded professional teams head on. They have no one waiting for them in the feed zone, no one following behind them in a caravan of sponsor cars, no one to massage their tired legs (well, maybe they have that covered, but I'm not going there). And yet, they race and kick pro rider bootie!

Thank you so much to a Bella angel, Alyse, who offered to give the girls a ride back to the start line after yesterday's point to point! And thank you to anyone else out there helping our rapscrap team.

TMobile and Saturn took the top 3 spots, but Velo Bella was right there
finishing in an amazing 4th and 7th place for Lynn and Felicia. Ginger, competing in her first stage race (and probably only her 5th road race) hung tough to finish in 38th place.

Here are the top ten from the first stage.
(*NCNCA racers)

Kimberly Bruckner (USA) T- Mobile/US National 2.42.12
Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 0.46
Manon Jutras (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
*Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella 1.37
Susan Palmer-Komar (Can) Canadial Federation
*Kate Maher (USA) Team Basis 2.19
*Felicia Greer (USA) Velo Bella
Leah Goldstein (Can) Victory Brewing/Amoroso
*Christine Thorburn (USA) VANIQA/PABW/Red 5 Racing
*Katheryn Curi (USA) LGBRC 2.26

More info on Stage 1 of Solano can be found here.

03/27/03 - Stage Race-o-Rama!
The California NRS Stage Race season is upon us. It seems as if all the races have added to their events. Solano has added a monster climb, Redlands has added booku climbs, and Sea Otter has added a climby Redwood City circuit race and the infamous Monterey Loop. What does all this mean? Well, torment for the racers, but fun race watching for the rest of us.

Velo Bella will be participating with the nation's best in all of these
events, and we will try to update you on the latest happenings of each of them.

Already in progress is the Solano Stage Race. We have a small but formidable team of 3 women at Solano:

Ginger "the animal" Buller
Felicia, "you call this is a hill?" Greer
Lynn "I'm just a guest rider, please don't associate me with these weird Bellas" Gaggioli

The first stage is the road race which climbs to the top of Howell Mountain. Check out the profile - Momma! The second stage is the Solano Garbage Company (in this economy, any sponsor will do!) Hillclimb. The profile says "Don't be proud, consider a triple". The last two stages are a criterium and circuit race and are probably just a formality as GC should be all sorted out before that.

How will GC sort out? Will our small Bella team handle the pressure? Stay tuned....