Weekly Women's Cycling News 06-12.05.2013

Lucy Garner wins at Chongming -  ITV4's Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details - New  women's races in the UK - other news - more news to come

Lucy Garner wins Stage 1 at Chongming

Lucy Garner wins Stage 1, Tour of Chongming Island
(image credit: 1t4i)

Sprinter Kirsten Wild was widely expected to dominate on the pancake-flat parcours at Chongming Island until a crash at the Omloop van Borsele left her with a broken shoulder. Wild, who is women's cycling's answer to Mark Cavendish, leaves a gap in the peloton that is very hard to fill - certainly one that few people would have expected an eighteen-year-old in her first year with an Elite team to be able to slot into, even if that eighteen-year-old does have two Junior World Champonships to her name. Argos-Shimano manager Jorn Knops is apparently something of a visionary, then, because he set up the team to support Lucy Garner in the first stage. She repaid his faith with interest, delivering her first professional stage victory.

"The plan was to prepare the sprint for Lucy. In the beginning the team looked after Lucy to keep her toward the front and make sure that she wouldn’t waste any energy," Knops says. "She has already progressed a lot this season, not only physically but also tactically, and it’s remarkable that she could stay so calm in a chaotic sprint like this. I am very pleased with this win."

The stage went smoothly until the final 2km when a crash threw the peloton into a state of flux and prevented several teams from putting their own plans into action, but this in no way detracts from Garner's achievement - her main rival in the dash to the line was none other than Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products-UCK, a rider who has outsprinted Marianne Vos and Giorgia Bronzini in the past and won the General Classification at this race back in 2009. The next 69 riders over the line were awarded the same time (1h47'18") as Garner who, following bonification, has a 1" advantage in the General Classification.

Tour of Chongming Island Stage 1 results

ITV4 Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details
Round 1 (Stoke-on-Trent) 22:00, Wednesday 22 May
Round 2 (Colchester) 22:00, Friday 30 May
Round 3 (Woking) 22:00, Wednesday 12 June
Round 4 (Aylsham) 22:00, Friday 14 June
Round 5 (Ipswich) 22:00, Monday 17 June

Coverage will be provided as part of ITV4's Pearl Izumi Tour coverage. In 2012, the Johnson HealthTech Tour only got a few minutes in each episode; we'll have to hope that following the enormous popularity of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics the producers will experiment with giving the women a little more airtime (though of course, any women's cycling on TV is a good thing). More details (including coverage of the men's races) here.

New Holme Valley Wheelers and London Velo women's races
"Following the success of the 2012 event Holme Valley Wheelers  will be organising both women’s and men’s events in 2013." More details here.

London Velo race (Essex) details here.

Other News
UK
Victoria Pendleton: women's cycling is big business since Olympics (Daily Telegraph)
Worldwide
Women's Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix to hit streets on Mother's Day (with video) (Daily Freeman, NY, USA)
Ocycler racing: 'Let's Race Bikes' initiative helps draw more women to PIR (Oregon Live, USA)
Award means cyclist Kaarle McCulloch is the best of our best (St. George and Sutherlandshire Leader, Australia)