bhilden@druxj.UUCP (HildenbrandBE) (07/16/84)
Here's a run down on the men's first 4 stages, followed by the women's first 3 stages(I count the Prologue Time Trial as a stage). Prologue: Fri July 13 Rondo "wukkie" Kiefel set a new course record on the Flagstaff hill(1.3 mi in 4:37) to win by 4 seconds over Alexi Grewal and 6 seconds over the Swede Christensen. Andy Hampsten was 4th for the 3rd year in a row. Temps were in the low 90's. Italy's Maria Canins destroyed the womens field(and a few men's egos) winning in a new course record of 5:12. The "fire plug" Jeannie Longo was second 5:24, Colorado's own Helen C. Carpenter was 3rd in 5:25. Men's Team Time Trial: Sat July 14 The Slurpee boys(i.e. 7-eleven) thoroughly trounced their rivals, winning the 32 mile event in 59:3? to beat odds on favorite Sweden by over 2 minutes. Quite impressive. Men's Estes Park Criterium: Sat July 14 Who else but Davis Phinney as he got a good lead out from wukkie. So good was the leadout that Rondo held on to take second with Jeff Leslie(Australia) third. On General Classification(GC), Phinney was now the race leader(for the first time ever), thanks mainly to his winner's time bonus (30 sec) and the Time Trial effort of the 7-eleven team that morning. Keifel trailed by one second, who cares about third. Women's Estes Park Road Race: Sat July 14 Not much aggression here(is there ever ?), a three up break of Helen C. Carpenter(1st),Jeannie Longo(2nd), and Maria Canins(3rd) got free at the top of the last hill and finished about 1:30 ahead of the field. On GC it's Carpenter, Longo and Canins with Rebecca "whiz kid" Twigg noticeably absent. Men's Golden to Copper Mountain Death March: Sun July 15 This stage is where hill or should I say Mountain climbing was invented. We're talking 8-10,000 feet of it and you guessed it the Americans went 1-2-3-5, thoroughly outclassing everybody. A group of five Alexi Grewal(1st), Doug "the Bullet" Shapiro(2nd), Jeff Pierce(3rd),Para(COLO. 4th), and Andrew "Ernie" Hampsten(5th) finished 5 big minutes up on the remains of the field. Grewal soloed the last 6 miles to win by a minute, however Doug Shapiro is the race leader as ALexi lost precious time in the Team Time Trial to Bullet's 7-eleven squad. Women's Vail Criterium Sun July 15 Another not-so-exciting race with Carpenter winning from Longo and Canada's Genny Brunet to retain her overall GC leadership. Longo is second with much more exciting?? racing to come). NOTES: It has been speculated that mass defection from the Coors will occur by this weekend as many Olympic teams will leave to get cclimated to the fine L.A. air. The impact of this has yet to be caculated. ALSO: please mail me any comments suggestions, etc. for improving this update.