Women's Tour of Qatar Results (Stage 1)

Kirsten Wild
(image credit: Le Blog du Cyclisme Feminin)

kirsten_wild Kirsten Wild 

YES! Zojuist de eerste etappe in de Ladies Tour of Qatar gewonnen!pic.twitter.com/jFHP9Fyq

(Translation: "YES! I've just won the first stage of the Ladies' Tour of Qatar!")

AA Drink-Leontien's 29-year-old Dutch star Kirsten Wild - overall winner of the Tour of Qatar in 2010 - rode well in strong winds today ("Before the race, we didn’t want to leave the car because of the sand we had in our teeth and eyes," Judith Arndt said after the race) to take victory on this year's first stage, beating six others in a final sprint at the end of the 97km parcours.

The stage started fast and remained so throughout with Wild, Trixie Worrack, Ellen Van Dijk, Arndt, Chloe Hosking, Loes Gunnewijk, and Alex Rhodes forming an early breakaway that drove the average speed over the first hour up to 53kph. A chasing group made up of twelve riders got within two minutes of them while the peloton languished some ten minutes back down the road.

Chloe Hosking took second place
(image credit: jjron GNU 1.2)

Speeds increased as the end of the stage approached and the lead group began to show signs of strain on the Al Khawr Corniche, almost breaking apart at several points. However, the seven women worked together to keep the pace high and crossed the line as a group, Wild just getting the better of Specialized-Lululemon team mates Hosking and Van Dijk (winner of the General Classification, Points competition and Youth Category in last year's Tour), who took second and third.

Katie Colclough, also of Specialized-Lululemon and the only British rider competing in the event, was 77th over the line 13'52" behind the first group.

  1 Kirsten Wild 02:16:50 
  2 Chloe Hosking ST
  3 Ellen Van Dijk ST
  4 Judith Arndt   ST
  5 Trixi Worrack ST
  6 Loes Gunnewijk ST
  7 Alexis Rhodes ST
  8 Monia Baccaile 02:16 
  9 Charlotte Becker ST
  10 Jessie Maclean ST
  11 Regina Bruins ST
  12 Dong Yan Huang ST
  13 Elena Cecchini ST
  14 Liesbet De Vocht ST
  15 Sarah Düster ST
  16 Iris Slappendel  ST
  17 Tatiana Guderzo ST
  18 Alessandra Borchi ST
  19 Amanda Spratt  ST
  20 Yunyun Yuan 13:45 
  21 Adrie Visser 13:52 
  22 Biannic Aude ST
  23 Shelley Olds ST
  24 Li Chen ST

Ellen Van Dijk was third
(image credit: ednl CC BY 2.0) 

  25 Marta Tagliaferro ST
  26 Martine Bras ST
  27 Amy Pieters ST
  28 Latoya Brulee ST
  29 Sara Mustonen  ST
  30 Elke Gebhardt ST
  31 Aurore Verhoeven ST
  32 Madeleine Sandig ST
  33 Maaike Polspoel ST
  34 Xin Liu ST
  35 Kendall Ryan ST
  36 Winanda Spoor ST
  37 Giulia Donato ST
  38 Laura Van Der Kamp  ST
  39 Kaat Hannes ST
  40 Eleonora Patuzzo ST
  41 Esra Tromp ST
  42 Romy Kasper ST
  43 Ine Beyen ST
  44 Ann-Sophie Duyck ST
  45 Janine Bubner ST
  46 Audrey Cordon ST
  47 Tone Hatteland ST
  48 Pascale Jeuland ST
  49 Samantha Schneider ST
  50 Valentina Scandolara ST
  51 Polona Batagelj ST
  52 Edita Janeliunaite ST
  53 Marta Bastianelli ST
  54 Kim Schoonbaert 
  55 Lise Nøstvold ST
  56 Stephanie Pohl ST
  57 Anna Van Der Breggen ST
  58 Inga Cilvinaite ST
  59 Froydis Waerstad  ST
  60 Alice Donadoni ST
  61 Elisa Longo Borghini ST
  62 roxane Knetemann 
  63 Giorgia Bronzini ST
  64 Noemi Cantele ST
  65 Nathalie Jeuland  ST
  66 Janneke Kanis ST
  67 Anisha Vekemans ST
  68 Cherise Taylor ST
  69  Lauren Kitchen ST
  70 Mélodie Lesueur ST
  71 Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier ST
  72 Tiffany Cromwell ST
  73 Rebecca Talen ST
  74 Gilke Croket ST
  75 Alona Andruk ST
  76 Lisa Brennauer ST
  77 Katie Colclough ST
  78 Xiao Ling Luo ST
  79 Katrien Van Looy 14:00 
  80 Jacquelyn Crowell ST
  81 Edith Vanden Brande 14:01 
  82 Birgit Lavrijssen ST
  83 Taylor Wiles ST
  84 Linda Van Rijen  14:04 
  85. Ludivine Henrion ST
  86 Chiara Vannucci ST
  87 Maria Giulia Confalonieri ST
  88 Johanne Bergseth 14:11 
  89 Coryn Rivera 14:49 

Hoogerheide CX World Cup

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a race in Hoogerheide today: the sun was shining, the air was clear and the rain stayed away. There'd been plenty of rain in the last few days so boggy patches were guaranteed, but - thanks largely to the race organisers' decision not to permit training on the parcours until yesterday - there was nothing like the mudfest that had been predicted.

Marianne Vos took a 15th consecutive victory

The predicted Vosfest went ahead as expected, meanwhile. The 24-year-old Dutch megastar looked poised and purposeful on the start line, a complete contrast to the relaxed British rider Helen Wyman who was swapping jokes with the rider next to her, before leaping away and leading for the remained of the race. She was, literally, untouchable as she rode towards her fifteenth consecutive victory, making the fast parcours look easy as she built up to a 30 second lead and then kept going; gliding where others ground and seeming to get faster and faster towards the end. She crossed the line 1'28" ahead of Daphny van den Brand, though with 326 points to Vos' 290 it's Daphny who takes the World Cup - a fantastic end to her career as this is due to be her final cyclo cross season.

Wyman took 6th place, an excellent result and more evidence that she's fully recovered from the virus she contracted before Christmas - welcome news for British fans as she's by far our strongest rider at present (and for some years, for that matter). Derbyshire-born Nikki Harris was 12" behind her in eighth place.

Daphy van den Brand wins the World Cup

A large crash seconds after the race got under away left many women on the ground. Most were up and on their way quickly, but Sophie de Boer and Caroline Mani were not so fortunate and needed medical attention, both lying on the roadside surrounded by paramedics for some time before being taken away by ambulance. De Boer was feared to have broken her collar bone and shoulder, thus ruling her out for the upcoming World Championships, but later said on her Twitter feed that she hopes to be racing next week, also thanking fans for wishing her well:

"ssophiedeboer sophie de boer
Hopelijk duimt iedereen mee dat het meevalt en dat ik volgende week kan fietsen....... :'( bedankt voor de steun lieve mensen!!!" ("Hopefully [I'm not] that bad, everyone, and will be riding next week ....... : '( Thanks for the support nice people!")

There are still concerns that her wrist may be fractured and she has extensive grazing, but it seems she got off far more lightly than at first appeared to be the case. Details of Mani's injuries are not yet known - paramedics appeared to be concerned about her knee, but the rider later posted a photograph on her Twitter account showing herself with her left arm in plaster and cuts to her face. Katie Compton and Katerina Nash came close to crashing after a collision which left their bikes entangled, but managed to stay upright and were racing again within seconds.

Fancy a report from the viewpoint of somebody who was actually in the race? Helen Wyman is the person to see. 

Full results below

2, 1, 3 - Van den Brand, Vos, Compton

Elite Women
  1 Marianne Vos (Rabobank) 00:39:14 
  2 Daphny Van Den Brand (WV Schijndel) 01:28 
  3 Katerina Nash 01:35
  4 Katherine Compton (Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team) 01:53
  5 Lucie Chainel-lefevre 02:06
  6 Helen Wyman 02:24
  7 Nikki Harris 02:36
  8 Annie Last 02:49
  9 Sanne Cant (Boxx VeldritAcademie)  03:16
  10. Pavla Havlikova 03:24
  11 Meredith Miller 03:25
  12 Jasmin Achermann  03:33
  13 Sabrina Schweizer 03:47
  14 Joyce Vanderbeken 03:53
  15 Julie Krasniak 03:56
  16 Reza Hormes Ravenstijn 04:03
  17 Sabrina Stultiens (Brainwash) 04:09
  18 Nicole Duke 04:35
  19 Linda Van Rijen (Skil - 1t4i) 04:40
  20 Christine Majerus (Team GSD Gestion) 04:42
  21 Arenda Grimberg 04:52
  22. Kaitlin Antonneau (Exergy Twenty12) 05:10
  23 Gesa Bruchmann 05:26
  24 Valentina Scandolara (S.C. Michela Fanini Rox) 05:32
  25 Nancy Bober 05:55
  26 Lana Verberne 05:58
  27 Olga Wasiuk ST
  28 Nikoline Hansen 06:20
  29 Andrea Smith 06:30
  30 Kajsa Snihs 06:34
  31 Alice Maria Arzuffi  06:38
  32 Hilde Quintens 06:40
  33 Sabrina Maurer 06:56
  34 Christine Vardaros (Baboco - Revor Cycling Team) 07:12
  35 Sakiko Miyauchi 07:21
  36 Asa Maria Erlandsson 07:31
  37 Kim Van De Steene 07:35
  38 Githa Michiels 07:39
  39 Annefleur Kalvenhaar  07:40
  40 Ayako Toyooka 07:44
  41 Amy Dombroski (Cranckbrothers) 08:09
  42 Katrien Thijs 00:01
  43 Lise-Marie Henzelin ST
  44 Margriet Kloppenburg ST
  45 Madara Furmane 00:02