Numainville gets home soil victory

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Joelle Numainville (Webcor Builders) won the first edition of the Grand Prix Gatineau on Sunday in a crash-filled sprint. Numainville avoided the crash in the final 500 metres and held off late efforts by Jo Kiesanowski (TIBCO) and Modesta Vzesniauskaite (Colavita Baci) to win the UCI 1.1 race in her home province.

"Riders were going down beside me and behind me, but I was okay," explained Numainville. "It was a lot harder out there than we thought it would be, because there were many attacks and there was not much chance to rest. This is a really big win, to win this, the biggest race in Canada is pretty special."

The 99.4 kilometre race saw the riders make eight laps of a 12.4 kilometre course. Incorporating the start and finish of the previous day's time trial, riders also went through part of the Gatineau national park, with one small climb. Although the circuit did not feature any significant climbs, strong winds in the open sections and temperatures approaching 30 Celcius took their toll on the field.

The wind quickly discouraged most breakaway efforts, and any effort approaching a 20 second lead was chased down by either TIBCO, HTC-Columbia or Webcor Builders, if the composition did not suit them.

Shortly before the start of the final lap, track world champion Tara Whitten (Specialized Mazda Samson G Conseil) tried a solo effort, but both TIBCO and HTC-Columbia went to the front to reel back this dangerous rider.

The finish saw the peloton head up one side of a divided boulevard, then go counterclockwise 180 degrees around a roundabout before the last 350 metres to the line. Heading into that roundabout, the Australian national team was at the front, but hit the curve too fast, taking down a number of their riders, plus Specialized Mazda Samson G Conseil's Jenny Trew. Numainville was on the inside and slipped past the crash, exiting the final corner in the lead, which she held to the line.

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