Cycling: American rider hoping for early birthday treat

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Mari Holden will be looking for an early 30th birthday present when she lines up in Hamilton tomorrow morning for the second of this year's World Cup road cycling races.

The 29-year-old American has fond memories of Hamilton, having won the Street-Skills Tour there in 1998.

She has since made her mark as a time-trial specialist with victory in last year's world championships and silver at the Sydney Olympics.

"I certainly don't regard myself as a big sprinter," Holden said yesterday. "I'm more comfortable in a small group if it comes down to that at the finish. The last time the race was held here [two years ago] a couple of riders got away and had the finish to themselves.

"It is always difficult to predict what will happen. Last time it was super-hard for the first quarter or even half of the race, but once the break came it settled down. While it is seen as an individual event, in reality it is a team race."

The Saturn team, for example, would be doing all they could to keep Anna Millward in contention because she won the first World Cup race of the year, in Australia last week.

"To win a race like this you have to be a good all-round rider and have a good team to back you."

Holden and the others agree that the 17-lap, 6.3km circuit, based near the lake in Hamilton, is a technical course. Its traffic islands, sharp turns and rolling hills demand utmost skill and concentration.

"You have to try to keep yourself near the front of the field," Holden said. "As we have seen before, it is the kind of circuit where it is possible to get - and stay - away."

Holden welcomes the break away from the snow and cold of her home town in Colorado. She has ridden the Tour de Snowy in Australia and the World Cup race - in which she finished 12th - on this trip Down Under.

She sees Millward and Dutch rider Mirjam Melchers as the biggest chances in tomorrow's event.

New Zealand hopes lie with Sarah Ulmer (second in Thursday's warm-up race) Melissa Holt and Rosalind Reekie-May.

They and Vanessa Cheatley are all members of the New Zealand A team and good enough to pose a real challenge to world champion Zinaida Starhurskaia (Belarus), Millward, Melchers, who was second in the opening round, Italian Sara Felloni, who was fourth in Canberra, and Australian Alison Wright (fifth in the first cup race).

Promoter Stephen Cox said the race would be competitive, since riders down to 20th place would claim World Cup points. The winner would get 75.

He expected something similar to the 1999 result, when Italian Roberta Bonanomi (who has returned this year) and Norway's Gunnrita Dahle were two minutes clear of the bunch.

"While the hills aren't killers, they are quite testing and can break the field up."

The race starts at Innes Common at 9.30 am and should be completed in around 2h 40m.