Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT and Road Race

TTT
16.08.2013 Official Site
Sweden, Team Time Trial, 42.5km
UCI CDM

Sweden is not the first country most people think of if anyone asks them which nations most appreciate cycling but the sport enjoys considerable popularity in the south of the country, especially around Vårgårda - which has hosted the Postgiro Open and the two UCI Elite Women events to which the town has given its name - the Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT and, two days later, the Open de Suède Vårgårda road race. A World Cup event and generally considered to be fun in addition to a challenge, the Team Time Trial attracted thirteen teams last year with some of the most famous riders in the world in attendance: names such as Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, Ellen van Dijk, Loes Gunnewijk, Judith Arndt, Shara Gillow, Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten, Emma Pooley, Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Johansson, Hanka Kupfernagel, winner Trixi Worrack and many others were all there, and the 2013 edition should be much the same.

Bosse Anås' sculpture of the Bröderna Fåglum in Vårgårda

The town, home to a little over 5,000 people, was the birthplace of the Bröderna ("Brothers") Fåglum, four cycling brothers whose actual surname was Pettersson - their nickname came about because they all rode for a cycling club based in the village of Fåglum, some 14km north of Vårgårda. Two of the brothers, Erik and Tomas, legally adopted the name; Sture used it alongside Pettersson while Gösta, who won the Giro d'Italia in 1971 and is the only Swedish rider to have ever won that race, remains a Pettersson to this day.

Previous Winners
2008 Priska Doppmann
2009 Kristin Armstrong
2010 Charlotte Becker
2011 Judith Arndt
2012 Trixi Worrack

Parcours


View Vårgårda CDM TTT 2013 in a larger map

With several tight corners - some of them made more technical by street furniture (Swedish town councils really love street furniture and erect signs wherever they can) and narrow roads - this is a challenging parcours that will favour teams which have spent a good deal of time honing their time trial skills. Expect a grand battle between Orica-AIS and Specialized-Lululemon, but keep an eye on the times set by Rabobank-Liv/Giant and Lotto-Belisol too.

The route is well-known for its crosswinds, which could prove especially problematic if they become headwinds on the 181 between Vårgårda and Herrljunga and again on the exposed bridge on Kullingsleden, approximately 32.5km into the race. There is only one testing climb along the route, coming just after 35km; although the total ascent is only 40m in 2km, it's sufficiently steep in sections and comes close enough to the end to potentially make a big difference.

Altimetry - click to enlarge

Starters
At the time of writing, Lotto-Belisol and Rabobank-Liv/Giant are the only teams listed as having confirmed. Karl Lima, manager of Hitec Products-UCK (who'll provide live updates during the race) informs Les Deesses that his team will also be racing and will be led by Emilia Fahlin. Keep up to date on developments with Women Cycling Fever.

Road Race
18.08.2013 Official Site
Sweden, One-day Road Race, 132km
UCI CDM

Follow the race LIVE via the official ticker; we're also promised live streams of what looks set to be a wet and slippry race here!

Held since 2006 (two years earlier than the first TTT), the Vårgårda road race also forms a round of the World Cup. The parcours starts at the time trial finish line and follows a similar route; however, it omits the section leading east to Herrljunga and back again - riders travel north immediately after starting, then turn left to follow the time trial route along Storgatan, through and out of the town and then back in again. Note that completing the parcours entails eleven ascents of the big climb - although a gain of 50m in around 1.75km has an average gradient of a little under 3%, it's much steeper on the second third of the way up and, while not quite steep enough to finish off the sprinters, it could well give the climbers a helping hand towards victory if they attack there, especially on the last few laps when their rivals are becoming tired.

In years gone by, Dutch riders have found this race very much to their liking: Susanne Ljungskog, the only Swedish winner, won the first edition and American Kori Seehafer won in 2008 while Dutch riders Chantal Beltman, Marianne Vos, Kirsten Wild, Annemiek van Vleuten and Iris Slappendel won in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. With both Vos and van Vleuten riding for Rabobank-Liv/Giant this year, it's tempting to bet on a Dutch winner for 2013 too - but they'll face strong competition from Specialized-Lululemon and almost certainly Orica-AIS, who might choose to send the lighting-fast and supremely strong all-rounder Emma Johansson in order to give the home fans another Swedish victory.

Starters
At the time of writing, only two teams have confirmed their full rosters - Specialized-Lululemon are sending Lise Brennauer, Loren Rowney, Carmen Small, Ellen van Dijk, Tayler Wiles and Trixi Worrack; the Swedish National Team is sending Emma Ahlstrand, Tilina Levin, Sara Olsson, Malin Rydland, Beata Sandstrom and Malin Wallin. From the teams with incomplete rosters, Lucinda Brand is joining Vos and van Vleuten for Rabobank; Esra Tromp has confirmed for Argos-Shimano and Emilia Fahlin will be riding for Hitec Products-UCK. More details to be announced - Women Cycling Fever is regularly updated, making it the best choice for accurate information.

Energiewacht Tour 2012 Stages 4a and 4b

Stage 4a - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Stage 4a (Saturday 7th) both starts and ends at Winsum, a town sometimes termed the treasure of the north according to the Tour website - with two traditional Dutch mills and what is reputed to be The Netherlands' oldest pub (Der Gouden Karper) set among quintessentially Dutch countryside.

The parcours leaves Winsom to the north, travelling up to Baflo and then taking a long, fast loop west and south-west to Mensingeweer. Next, it heads east along a road called the Wildeveldseweg (which must sound fantastic in a Dutch accent). Just visible to the south-west from this point is Ezinge, the oldest continually-inhabited village in the country.

The terp at Ezinge, the Netherland's oldest village
(image credit: Ruben Binnendijk CC BY-SA 3.0)

Long before the ancient tribes who would become the Dutch worked out how to drain the boggy landscape, they would create artificial islands upon which to live (now known as terps and, since drainage, resembling low hills) - the example at Ezinge is still evident and is now occupied by the village's 13th Century church. During the early 20th Century, worked who dug peat for fuel began finding strange objects that were obviously of great age in the area, soon attracting the attention of archaeologists who found many more - including Roman artifacts and part of a sword almost identical to another dicovered at the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Great Britain. By dating the objects, they determined that people have lived in Ezinge since at least 600BCE, making it among the oldest continually-inhabited villages anywhere in Europe. The riders will complete five laps of the route, which should allow Ezinge to be seen even if there is early morning mist, bringing them up to a total of 76.6km.

Stage 4b, the team time trial, takes place on Saturday afternoon and covers 26.5km, beginning at Veendam some way off to the south-east from 4a. After beginning in the centre of the town on JG Pinksterstraat (53° 6'19.91"N 6°52'27.74"E), the teams pass through the streets and cross the canal, then the N33 motorway as they head into the flat fields. A route made up of fast straights punctuated with 25 bends and corners will make for a fast stage, but one in which a slower rider could very easily be dropped off the back of the squad and never find her way back. When they arrive at Oude Pekela, they follow Feiko Clockstraat into town, then turn left to arrive at the finish on Raadhuislaan (53° 6'17.39"N 7° 0'24.65"E).

Stage 4b - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Marianne Vos has pointed out that Stage 4b is likely to prove the pivotal point in the campaign of any rider - including herself - who hopes to win this race, because a race leader's General Classification advantage can very rapidly be wiped out by a slow team. For fans and rivals, this is our first opportunity to see how well the Rabobank Women's team, which was formed with the express intention of supporting Vos, performs under team time trial race conditions; making this stage one of the most important races so far this season.


Cyclopunk's prediction: GreenEDGE take the stage, but with an insufficient advantage to knock Marianne off the top spot in the GC

Weather: The riders face a chilly start to the day - it's currently only 4C at Baflo, and with a northerly wind of 25kph it feels more like -2C, possibly -4C in exposed places. At present, it's raining lightly - it should dry up later, but further showers are likely. Veendam looks set to be similar, though afternoon temperatures of 7C will at least feel above freezing though not by much, perhaps 3C.

As ever, the best way to get information during the race is by following the official Twitter @ewacttour, hashtag #EWT12 and @richiesteege. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily: Stage 4a will be shown at 14:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST), Stage 4b will be shown along with Stage 5 tomorrow at the same time.

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