Women's Cycling News 16-23.06.2013

Women's Cycling News You Might Have Missed

Giro Trentino Donne - Great day out for Hitec-UCK - The Cycle Show returns to British TV, increased women's cycling coverage - VeloCity Crit needs more riders - Interesting Links - Tweet of the Week - Photo of the Week

Giro Trentino Donne
The 20th edition of the Giro Trentino Donne, also known as the Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol, got underway in Italy on Saturday the 15th of June with two stages taking place. The first, running from Revò to Lauregno, was an unusual 11.8km team time trial that climbed almost all the way; the second was a more conventional 88.8km mass-start stage starting and ending at Termon. For a more detailed look at all the stages with interactive maps and other information on the race, see Les Déesses preview.

Stage 1a

Dalia Muccioli wore the leader's jersey after Stage 1a

BePink blitzed the Stage 1 team time trial course with Alice Algisi, Noemi Cantele, Simona Frapporti, Dalia Muccioli, Doris Schweizer and Georgia Williams completing the parcours in 26'19.96", beating Les Déesses stage favourites Specialized-Lululemon into second place by a full 13.23" and MCipollini-Giordana  into third by 13.92". As is traditional in team time trials, times were decided according to the time recorded by each team's third rider over the line; BePink's 20-year-old Muccioli thus became the first race leader of the 2013 edition.

Stage 1a Result
1 BePink 26'19"
2 Specialized-Lululemon +14"
3 MCipollini-Girodana ST
4 Hitec Products-UCK +01'00"
5 Pratomagno +01'06"
6 Top Girls-Fasso Bortolo +01'17"
7 Boels-Dolmans +01'21"
8 Orica-AIS +01'26"
9 TKK Pacific +01'48"
10 France +01'50"
Full result

Stage 1b

Rival teams will have their work cut out for them if they want
to dislodge Evelyn Stevens from the top spot

Lululemon may have been pipped to the post in Stage 1, but with only two more stages to go they weren't about to let BePink keep Muccioli in the pink leader's jersey - that they meant to get it on Evelyn Steven's back by the end of the day was obvious soon after Stage 1b got underway, but whether or not they'd achieve their aims was far from certain through the flat section that made up much of the stage and right into the closing kilometres. Finally, on the last climb up to the finish, Stevens made her move; Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini-Giordana) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products-UCK) tried to go with her but, while their efforts kept them in the running for a possible overall victory tomorrow, they were both outclassed. As she crossed the line the American, who was third behind second-placed Longo Borghini at the Emakumeen Bira last week, had an advantage of 25" - more than enough to take the pink jersey.

Stage 1b Result
1 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) 2h19'23"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +39"
3 Elisa LONGO BORGHINI (Hitec Products-UCK) +40"
4 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Girodana) ST
5 Paulina BRZEZNA (Poland) +01'09"
6 Francesca CAUZ (Top Girls-Fasso Bortolo) ST
7 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Girodana) ST
8 Jessie DAAMS (Boels-Dolmans) ST
9 Jennifer FIORI (Top Girls-Fasso Bortolo) ST
10 Svetlana STOLBOVA (Pratomagno) ST
Full result

Stage 2
The Giro Trentino Donne is a race that packs a lot into its two days, including three very different types of stage - whereas Stage 1 was a time trial and 1b a typical point-to-point mass start race, Stage 2 used the fan-pleasing circuits format with the riders completing a short neutralised zone (there for no reason other than to show off the beauty of the Santuario di San Romedio, which is a perfectly good reason) followed by a brief transitional section, then finished with six laps of a 15.3km circuit that allowed spectators to see the riders go by several times or, due to the compactness of the route, even travel around to see it from different points.

Shara Gillow scores her first stage win of 2013

As predicted, the first break got away very early on. A strong break probably could have survived to the finish, but this one was simply too big and lacked coherency;  once Valentina Scandolara of MCipollini-Giordana joined it, the riders collectively decided it was too big and stopped working, permitting the peloton to catch them.

At the end of the third lap another break formed, consisting this time of Scandolara, Rossella Ratto (Hitec Products-UCK) and Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Faren-Let's Go Finland). With 45km to go the break had built a gap of 1'20"; the peloton wasn't keen on letting the three riders get any further away up the road but saw no need to panic, simply upping the pace a little and beginning to slowly reel it back in. Shara Gillow (Orica-AIS), who had also been in the first break, wasn't so sure and thought that there was a chance events might take a different course; having first discussed matters with team leader Emma Johansson, she was the only rider to bridge.

Had the peloton have chased down the break immediately, Gillow would have rapidly been returned to the pack. However, because they didn't, by the time the gap was reduced to 40" Gillow decided she might as well launch an all-or-nothing attack and see what happened, going into what she described as "time trial mode" and powering towards the line. Having ended Stage 1b with an overall time deficit of 03'04" to race leader Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-Lululemon), Gillow was never a real threat to the eventual outcome and, as a result, perhaps escaped more determined efforts to chase her down; nevertheless, her stage win was a glorious one and, leading the next riders by 01'05", she jumped from 19th place in the General Classification at the start to 7th at the end. Johansson led the ten-strong following group and took second place, followed over the line by Ratto. Stevens, also in the group, took 6th place.

Stage 2 Result
1 Shara GILLOW (Orica-AIS) 3h17'27"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +1:05"
3 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
4 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Girodana) ST
5 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Girodana) ST
6 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
7 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Girodana) ST
8 Elisa LONGO BORGHINI (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
9 Svetlana STOLBOVA (Pratomagno) ST
10 Jessie DAAMS (Boels-Dolmans) ST
Full result

General Classification
1 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) 6h04'22"
2 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Girodana) +46"
3 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Girodana) +01'15"
4 Elisa LONGO BORGHINI (Hitec Products-UCK) +01'30"
5 Georgia WILLIAMS (BePink) +01'41"
6 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +01'47"
7 Shara GILLOW (Orica-AIS) +01'49"
8 Svetlana STOLBOVA (Orica-AIS) +02'07"
9 Jessie DAAMS (Boels-Dolmans) +02'22"
10 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) +02'31"
Full result

Points: 1 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) 47; 2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) 40; 3 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Girodana) 37. 
KOM: 1  Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) 21; 2 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Girodana) 17; Shara GILLOW (Orica-AIS) 9.

Hitec Products-UCK riders take all three
podium places at the Norwegian
Criterium Championships
(photo by team DS Karl Lima)

Great day out for Hitec Products
Hitec Products-UCK had a superb day at the Norwegian Criterium Championships - all three steps on the podium went to riders from the team. Thea Thorsen, Junior National ITT Champion in 2009 and 2010, took first place; Emilie Moberg, the winner of the Tour of Zhoushan Island last year, was second and Tone Hatteland, who won the National Criterium title in 2010, was third - and as if that wasn't a satisfactory definition of the term "domination," their Hitec team mate Mirian Bjørnsrud was fourth.

Hitec have been enjoying a spectacular season in 2013 and seem to get at least one rider on the podium in every race they enter - results such as this one suggest that this year's successes are only the first of many more in coming seasons.

The Cycle Show returns to British TV - with increased women's cycling coverage
ITV took a considerable risk by giving The Cycle Show airtime in 2012: yes, Wiggo had just won the Tour, yes, Cav was nearing rockstar status and yes, Pendleton, Trott, Storey and the rest were about to become household names once the non-cycling public realised during the Olympics that they were all excellent athletes rather than just pretty faces in The Sun and FHM, but it was still a big risk. After all, cycling's a niche sport in Britain (or so we're told) - would The Public forget about it the moment the Tour was over, just as a large portion of the media seems to think was the case the moment Tom Simpson died?

In fact, the show was so immediately successful that, after only a few half-hour episodes, it got a one-hour slot and was massively improved as a result; whereas early episodes were rushed. That was no problem for Series 1 highlight interviewee Graeme Obree, who talks as fast as he rides and squeezed an hour's-worth of words into five minutes, but the laid-back mountain bike pioneer (and hippy) Gary Fisher didn't get to say much in his allotted time on screen.

Best of all, the producers held their promise that they wouldn't ignore women's cycling - women's professional cycling was mentioned frequently, there were several female guests and a number of short films encouraging women to take up cycling either recreationally, to commute or for sport. I asked if, following the unprecedented success of the women's races at the Olympics, the Johnson HealthTech GP and the IG Nocturne there'd be increased coverage this series, and received the following reply:

The Cycle Show ‏@thecycleshowtv The production company behind the show is @CenturyTV who produce JHTGP and Nocturne coverage. We're having a women's special... 

The Cycle Show ‏@thecycleshowtv ...as well as guests and features with women cyclists thought the series.

A one-hour show devoted to women's cycling? Incredible, fantastic news!

Understandably, they're not willing to reveal who the guests will be just yet (despite my begging for clues), so we'll have to watch to find out (but I'm guessing we'll see a bit of Wiggle-Honda). The first episode airs on the 8th of July at 8pm on ITV4. Promo:

VeloCity Crit needs riders
VeloCity, an exciting and fast criterium taking place in Lancaster at the end of this month, needs more female riders to sign up if the women's race is to go ahead. Organisers have put a huge effort into their event which takes place on a closed circuit in the heart of the city that generates good crowds and a Nocturne-style ambiance; by entering you're guaranteeing a good time and showing organisers of other events that adding women's races is a good idea.

Further details here.

Interesting Links

Emma Trott predicts a duel between
her Boels-Dolmans colleagues and
sister Emma's Wiggle-Honda team
at the National Championships

UK
Amy Roberts wins Surf 'n' Turf (British Cycling)
Hannah Barnes: The fastest cyclist you've probably never heard of (The Times)
Laura Trott predicts duel between her Boels-Dolmans colleagues and sister Emma's Wiggle-Honda team at Nat. Champs (British Cycling)
Charline Joiner's rough ride (Herald Scotland)
Alison Purser and Claire Ella break British tandem trike time trial record (Cycling Weekly)
Cavendish and Armitstead head line-up for 2013 British Championships (Road.cc)
British riders take medals at Paracycling World Cup (British Cycling)
Marianne Britten wins Round 4, Omega Circuits (British Cycling)
Alice Barnes 12th at Junior MTB XC World Cup (British Cycling)
Trafford College joins forces with British Cycling in new coaching scheme (Messenger, Trafford)
A journo completely fails to understand women-specific bikes (Scotsman.com)
Worldwide
Crash for Jade Wilcoxson (Optum ProCycling)
Brent Bookwalter: "trying to be as much of an advocate for women's cycling as I can" (ESPN)
Jodi Goodridge eyes senior Pan Am spot (Trinidad and Tobago NewsDay)
Shuang Guo wins Sprint and Keirin at GP de Vitesse Saint-Denis (Track Cycling News)
Area women cyclists ready to prove their mettle / Powers completes sweep of women's races (Winston-Salem Journal, USA)
Portland teen swaps world triathlon titles for Australian cycling tour (The Standard, Australia)
Caroline Mani wins KMC MTB Classic (The Gazette, Colorado, USA)

Tweet of the Week

Dan ‏@entendered
@chloe_hosking Tour de France? Is that like a men's version of the Giro Rosa? #priorities

Photo of the Week

Giorgia Bronzini @GiorgiaBronzini
Vespa style! pic.twitter.com/R36C4KA7jA

...but is she faster with an engine or without?