2012 Canadian Olympian Denise Ramsden Wins Women’s Race in Dominating Fashion
With performances like the one she had to win the $12,000 Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix on Wednesday night, Denise Ramsden’s Trek Red Truck p/b Mosaic Homes might encourage her to miss more pre-race meetings.
Ramsden wasn’t able to make the meeting because she was with her mother who underwent surgery all day and arrived about 45 minutes before the start gun went off, but it didn’t seem to faze the Vancouver native or her teammates as she put on as dominant a performance in the 35 lap, 42 kilometre course that has been seen at BC Superweek and the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix. The 2012 Canadian Olympian went away from the pack just ten laps into the race and didn’t look back – at one point having a near 60 second lead and eventually even caught up to the back of the field to cruise across the finish line on the final lap.
Interestingly enough, the dominating finish after an aggressive move on lap ten wasn’t exactly what Ramsden planned for going into the race.
“(My teammate) Leah (Guloien) and I talked about being a little less aggressive and follow moves, but the moment came and it was just a good time to go,” she said. “I felt pretty good out there, yesterday I felt absolutely awful at UBC, so I think (today) was just a good day. My mom’s at home, she really wanted to be here watching but the anesthesia is still wearing off, so I dropped her off and came here and that was my preparation.”
Second place finisher Annie Foreman-Mackey, who races for The Cyclery – Opus team out of Ottawa, had a lengthy lead ahead of the peloton and rode the last lap of the race knowing full well where she would finish.
“Our plan going into this race was to get in a breakaway. I missed Denise’s move… I had some fire and tried to follow that. Lex (Albrecht) attacked and I followed her and then I managed to gap her. I tried not to look back and just kept going,” said the 24-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in health science. “There were a couple of moments with around seven laps to go where I thought, ‘Oh no, they’re hot on my heels!’, so I couldn’t be happier to finish it off.”
Being on the podium at BC Superweek is becoming routine for Shelley Olds as the 34-year-old finished Top-3 for the fifth race in a row. Despite not having a team with her at BC Superweek, the results – and prize money – continues to pile up as she walks away with $2,000 for her efforts in Gastown.
“Unfortunately I’m riding alone, so I kind of left the responsibility to the other teams that had 4-5 riders, so I took a risk in that sense. Denise is an incredible, strong rider and we know that, so I was trying to tell the girls when she was going that we can’t let her go, she’ll take a lap. I took a risk and was saving for the sprint today,” said Olds, who won the 2012 UCI Road World Cup in China. “Riding the cobble stones in Gastown is definitely not easy! The bike is kind of jumping around on you, so you have to stay low and keep control of the bike, so it’s a different sprint.”
BC Superweek is Canada’s biggest professional road cycling series and features more than $120,000 in prize money available during eight races over nine days. BC Superweek runs from July 10 – 18, and is made up of the Tour de Delta (July 10, 11, 12), UBC Grand Prix p/b Mahony & Sons (July 14), Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix (July 15), Giro di Burnaby p/b Appia Development (July 16) and Beverley by Cressey presents Tour de White Rock (July 17, 18).