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(21 July 1996; Day 02)

LONGO-CIPRELLI Wins Elusive Cycling - Road Gold Medal

With the inclusion of professional cyclists and a flat, fast course, the women's road cycling final should have been a strategic race followed by an all-out mass sprint for a gold medal. In a sport where finishes can be decided by hundredths of a second, to win by almost 30 seconds is a daunting accomplishment.

And few cyclists are as daunting as Jeannie LONGO-CIPRELLI (FRA), the world's most decorated women's cyclist. The winner of 20 world championship medals blew the doors off the pack and left Imelda CHIAPPA (ITA) and Clara HUGHES (CAN) to battle for the silver.

The relentless LONGO-CIPRELLI tackled the longest road course in Olympic history in a gentle but steady rain with dogged determination. In fact, she barely seemed to be winded as she laughed and chatted with the press and waited for the rest of her competitors to finish.

Averaging 40.10 km/h, she covered the 104.40km course through the toney Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta. But at those speeds, she could hardly enjoy the view. LONGO-CIPRELLI, however, didn't rack up her pile of hardware without the combination of race strategy and knowing when to seize opportunities.

The mass start race began with a wide variety of early leaders. CHIAPPA popped out briefly in the first lap as did defending gold medalist Kathryn WATT (AUS). Italy's Alessandra CAPPELLOTTO finally pulled away in the third lap and led for almost 20 minutes as the rain began. All the while, the oldest woman in the race at 37, LONGO-CIPRELLI lay in wait.

HUGHES and CHIAPPA, joined briefly by Anna WILSON, bolted out with her

and avoided the tight quarters and rain-slicked pavements that induced several minor crashes. The three then steadily built a lead as great as 37 seconds from the rest of the competitors. Finally two and a half hours into the race, LONGO-CIPRELLI muscled ahead and established what was to be an insurmountable lead.

After watching LONGO-CIPRELLI disappear on the horizon, HUGHES and CHIAPPA had to gut it out in a sprint for the silver. HUGHES, who was the silver medalist at the 1995 World Championships, lost to the veteran CHIAPPA.

With the win, LONGO-CIPRELLI completed her collection of cycling's greatest honors.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Nancy Smith.


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