2013 Ladies' Tour of Qatar

29.01.2013 Official Site (more info available from Velofocus)
Qatar, Road Race, 392km
UCI 2.1

Stop Press! According to a press release published on the 28th of January, live coverage of the Tour will be broadcast live and worldwide by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is available via satellite, cable and freeview.

Broadcasts will take place daily at 11:30 (14:30 East Africa Time, GMT+3 hours). For more details, see Al Jazeera's listing by clicking here.

Hurrah for the end of January! There's still at least a month of winter to go for those of us in much of North America, Asia and Europe, but the good news is that after several months of hibernation (and cyclo cross, so it's not all bad) the road racing calendar is coming back to life and heading south to the warmer climes of the Middle East for the Ladies' Tour of Qatar, promising three days of top quality racing and more roadside history than you could shake a stick at.

Oh, and wind. Lots of wind - Qatar is almost entirely flat and, being surrounded on three sides by the Persian Gulf, the wind blows straight in off the sea and continues over the land unabated, whipping up the sand as it goes. Imagine someone set fire to a huge pile of sandpaper and you had to ride through it - that's what the Tour of Qatar is like. It is not a race that eases the riders gently back into racing mode, as they found out just kilometres from the start of Stage 1 last year when they changing direction and a helpful tailwind that had seen them set off at high speed turned into a searing blast that fried them in their own sweat for the rest of the parcours. 2009/2010 overall winner Kirsten Wild, riding for the Dutch national team rather than her usual AA Drink-Leontien.nl (this year, she's riding for Argos-Shimano), won that day and became the first to wear the golden jersey after a group of eleven riders (whittled down to seven by the time they reached the final sprint to the line) broke away; later she would win Stage 3 in similar circumstances. However, finishing 2'20" behind Specialized-Lululemon's Trixi Worrack on Stage 2 meant Wild was never again in contention for a third General Classification victory - GreenEDGE leader Judith Arndt (now retired) was with Worrack at the Stage 2 finish and took the same time, thus gaining a 2" lead in the GC, and from that point onwards the battle was between those two teams. When Arndt managed to stay with Wild (and several others) for fourth place in a bunch sprint to finish Stage 3, her overall advantage increased to 6" and she had the race in the bag. A lot of racing had been packed into three days and Arndt was probably glad it was all over, as were the several riders who uploaded photographs showing what human legs look like after they've been sandblasted for 307km.

Kendall Ryan

For many fans, one of the highlights of the Tour is that due it being the first race of the season, young and less-well-known riders are out to show their stuff in an attempt to please their sponsors and prove to their directeurs sportif that signing them or keeping on the team was a wise move - Kendall Ryan (then 19 years old and racing for the USA national team rather than Tibco) lit up Stage 3 with a superb solo break that saw her increase her advantage over the peloton from 25" 15km into the route to 3'25" only 5km later, a truly remarkable achievement considering the strong headwind that day. Keep an eye on similar riders this year to see the stars of the future: they're the ones that make this race what it is.

One excellent piece of news is that, in these times when women's races are feeling the economic pinch and having to make cuts (or, in all too many cases, disappearing altogether), Qatar has actually grown - this year, there will be four stages rather than three as in previous years. Once again, the parcours concentrates on the north of the country.

This year, Qatar also offers us our first chance to see the all-new Wiggle Honda/DTPC Honda team in stage racing action. Owned and managed by women's cycling legend and Commonwealth gold medal winner Rochelle Gilmore, the British-based team is partly financed by Bradley Wiggins' Wiggo Foundation and boasts the sort of line-up that even well-established teams dream about: in addition to Gilmore, the squad is home to Laura Trott, Jo Rowsell, Dani King, Amy Roberts, Elinor Barker, twice World Champion Giorgia Bronzini (an ace sprinter and very much worth watching if she rides this race), Lauren Kitchen, Beatrice Bartellon, Emily Collins, Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier and Mayuko Hagiwara- a talent pool that looks likely to do for British women's cycling what Sky has done for the men. They'll be wanting to make their mark; expect them to do precisely that.

Jerseys

Gold - overall race leader (General Classification)
Silver - points leader
White - leading young rider

Stages

Stage 1: Museum of Islamic Art - Mesaieed 97km 

Chloe Hosking gets things under way with a superb victory in the desert

Having set off from the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (25°17'43.64"N 51°32'21.11") - among the most iconic modern buildings in a city full of iconic modern buildings and home to a world famous collection covering almost one and a half thousand years of artistic endeavour - Stage 1 headed south  past the airport out of the city for 11.5km to Al Wakra, then south-west for a further 14km before making a pass of the finish line at Mesaieed (Umm Sa'id) after 33km. Riders faced a strong headwind on this section, perhaps a contributing factor in the crash involving Charlotte Becker (Argos-Shimano), Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier (Wiggle-Honda) and Jo Kiesanowksi (Tibco) at 14km; fortunately, none of the three suffered injury and were all back onboard within seconds.

The first pass of the finish line at 35.5km marked the beginning of the first sprint and 2009/2010 victor Kirsten Wilde took the top points closely followed by Rochelle Gilmore (Wiggle-Honda) and Marta Tagliaferro (Mcipollini-Giordana). Next, the riders turned north-west and headed out into the desert, heading across open country - a change of direction that turned the headwind into a tailwind with speeds increasing dramatically. Several teams took advantage of this, putting fast riders with useful domestiques out at the front; this rapidly led to the peloton breaking up into four groups with a lead group of fifty out in front.  29.5km later they arrived at Al Wukair for the second sprint, with Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), Chloe Hosking (Hitec-UCK) and Tiffany Cromwell (Orica) first, second and third this time around.

Some 10km further on, now back at Al Wakra, the race followed the earlier route back toward the finish line - which brought an unwelcome return of the headwind, effectively finishing off any chance those riders who had failed to secure a place in the lead group had of winning the stage. Much of this final section was straight, culminating with a 1.8km along a wide road to the line, which always promised a high-speed bunch sprint. The leaders had an advantage of 2'30" going into the final 10km thanks largely to Trixi Worrack of Specialized-Lululemon taking control and driving it along at a high rate of knots. A little later, Gracie Elvin (Orica) launched an attack; a move that, had nobody have gone after her, might potentially have been a winning move. It was not to be, however - Lisa Brennauer (Specialized-Lululemon), Liebet de Vocht (Rabo-Liv-Giant) and, most crucially, Chloe Hosking (Hitec-UCK) went after her. Valentina Scandolara (Mcipollini-Giordana) broke away from the chase group for an impressive attempt at joining the leaders but, when nobody was willing to work with her, she faced the wind alone and was eventually reabsorbed by the second group.

Chloe Hosking

Elvin, Brennauer, de Vocht and Hosking had 45" with 2km to go. De Vocht was first to launch, but Elvin and Hosking overcame her rapidly and started their own private race; finally Hosking - an ex-rock climber who packs formidable ability in the mountains and the sprints into her 1.61m frame - got the upper hand, finding a last reserve of power that Elvin lacked to gain a fantastic start to the season for her team.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Chloe HOSKING HPU 2h23'51"
2 Gracie ELVIN GEW ST
3 Lisa BRENNAUER SLU ST
4 Liesbet DE VOCHT RBW ST
5 Marta TAGLIAFERRO MCG +10"
6 Kirsten WILD SKI +10"
7 Simona FRAPPORTI BPK +10"
8 Shelley OLDS TIB +10"
9 Emma JOHANSSON GEW +10"
10 Eleonora VAN DIJK SLU +10"
(Full result here)

Chloe Hosking is on Twitter - follow her here.
Chloe's team manager Karl Lima is also on Twitter and provides live updates from the races his team enter.

Stage 2: Camel Race Track - Al Khor Corniche 96km

Hey, who needs a team? Kirsten Wild overpowers with old-fashioned superior strength

Don't like cycling in strong wind? Then you'd probably best not book any cycle tours of Qatar - Stage 2 was a carbon copy of 2012's Stage 1, right down to a powerful headwind that strained the leg muscles throughout much of the parcours. Setting off from Ash Shahaniyah camel racing track (25°24'22.20"N 51°12'37.42"E) some 34km north-west of capital city Doha (25°24'20.66"N 51°12'39.51"E), the riders headed south-east for 2.87km on a flat road before arriving at a junction where they turned north into the desert and the wind, passing a zoo and game reserve at Lekhraib after 4km. Xiu-Jie Jiang (Chongming-Giant) and Audrey Cordon (France) got tactics off to a fine start with an attack at 8km but, both of them too far behind Chloe Hosking yesterday, the peloton showed little concern and only Malgorzata Jasinska (Mcipollini-Giordana) responded, waiting for the gap to half a minute before she successfully bridged. This initial section rises no more than a few metres but is very exposed, possibly once again leading to a hard time for the riders if it's windy.

Continuing north, the race reached a junction and turned left to follow an arrow-straight road north-west for 13.6km to a sub-station (25°43'31.04"N 51°10'15.93"E) marking the stage's first intermediate sprint, where Jiang took the top points with Jasinska and Cordon second and third. This led to a situation - with the gap now at a massive nine minutes, Jiang's bonus three seconds made her virtual race leader; Orica-AIS got on the case with every member of the team driving the pace ever higher to ensure the peloton made up time. Five of them - Tiffany Cromwell, Gracie Elvin, Amanda Spratt, Loes Gunnewijk and Emma Johansson - were joined by Chloe Hosking (Hitec-UCK), Lululemon riders Trixi Worrack and Ellen van Dijk and Kirsten Wild of Argos-Shimano to form a nine-rider break that took advantage of a change in direction, got away and reduced the gap to a more manageable three minutes - however, they couldn't catch the leaders in time to prevent them passing through the second intermediate sprint in the same order as earlier.

Then, 63km in, the three were caught; having worked so hard for so long in the wind, Jiang and Cordon could stay at the front no longer and dropped away, drifting back to the peloton. Now ten riders vied with one another, aware that - as tends to the way in this race - the stage was going to come down to a sprint finish. The peloton tried catch up so that the teams could decide who'd be in pole position, but Orica kept pushing hard and, at 10km to go, the gap had actually increased slightly - testament to Orica's tactical skills.

At Simsima, the riders continued straight ahead towards Al Khawr, the leaders attacking and counter-attacking one another all the way as they passed under the hundreds of pylons carry power cables away over the desert but, knowing now that the peloton was too far behind, they allowed their speed to fall off a little so as to save energy for the last dash to the line. Cromwell tried to take advantage, attacking with 5km to go, but was immediately caught by Wild; it was Wild who brought in Spratt when she tried her own attack a short while later. Interesting - Wild, with no team mates to support her and surrounded by a gang of strong Orica riders, was doing nothing less than taking control, bossing the race. She's enjoyed enormous success in this race with two General Classification victories to her name; was she going to go for an heroic stage win today?

Trixi Worrack made a splendid attempt at wresting victory
from an unstoppable Kirsten Wild

Worrack attacked next and, now that the finish was dangerously close, the entire group were on her instantly. Then Johansson tried, laying down sufficient power for Spratt to be jettisoned off the back and right out of the group, but the rest wasted no more time than they had in chasing Worrack and entered the final 300m en masse. Without the luxury of a lead-out - or indeed, any sort of team tactics - Wild opted instead for sheer brute strength, a technique not seen so often as it once was on this sort of parcours but one which, when it works, leads to spectacular victories. This time, it worked perfectly: Worrack tried to match her, but Wild was simply too strong and took the stage. Chloe Hosking, crossing in fourth place, recorded the same time and thus retains her 6" lead in the General Classification.

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Kirsten WILD SKI 2h38'54"
2 Trixi WORRACK SLU ST
3 Ellen VAN DIJK SLU ST
4 Chloe HOSKING HPU ST
5 Emma JOHANSSON GEW ST
6 Gracie ELVIN GEW ST
7 Malgorzta JASINSKA MCG ST
8 Tiffany CROMWELL GEW ST
9 Loes GUNNEWIJK GEW +06"
10 Amanda SPRATT GEW +14"
(Full stage result)

General Classification after Stage 2
1 Chloe HOSKING HPU 5h02'33"
2 Gracie ELVIN GEW +06"
3 Kirsten WILD SKI +09"
4 Trixi WORRACK SLU +16"
5 Eleonora VAN DIJK SLU +18"
6 Emma JOHANSSON GEW +19"
7 Tiffany CROMWELL GEW +21"
8 Lisa BRENNAUER SLU +1'38"
9 Rochelle GILMORE WHT +1'50"
10 Marta TAGLIAFERRO MCG +1'51"
(Full General Classification)

Stage winner Kirsten Wild is on Twitter, send her your congratulations and follow her by clicking here.
Race leader Chloe Hosking is also on Twitter, she can be found here.

Stage 3: Al Thakhira - Madinat Al Shamal 112.5km

Wild does it again!

After setting off from Al Thakhira (Al Dhakira on some maps; 25°44'9.50"N 51°32'6.92"E) on the eastern coast, the riders faced 60km of desert road crossing the entire country to the western coast at Al Zubara - this first section also formed the first section of Stage 2 in 2012, but this year is being raced in the opposite direction. Al Zubara is home to a famous fort which looks medieval but was in fact constructed in 1938 on the foundations of an earlier fort. It remained in military use until the 1980s, also serving as a coastguard station, before being restored as a museum - visitors are asked to make a donation on entry. It also marks the beginning of the first sprint (25°58'31.90"N 51° 2'42.01"E).

As predicted, speeds were high with a tailwind blowing the peloton across the country from the south-east, driving the average speed during the first hour to a blistering 48kph and encouraging numerous riders to attempt to take advantage with attacks - however, with the peloton reaching top speeds of more than 60kph in places, nobody could get away. Several riders had punctures in the first stretch, including Kim de Baat (Netherlands) at 42km, Rochelle Gilmore at 40km and British rider Katie Colclough (Specialized-Lululemon) 5km before the first intermediate sprint, closely followed by riders from Be Pink and Chongming-Giant.

Argos-Shimano worked together to get their riders into an ideal position to grab points at the sprint and their efforts paid off: Stage 2 winner Kirsten Wild was the first one through, Charlotte Becker was third while Hitec-UCK's Chloe Hosking took second. Then, just as the race turned north a few kilometres up the road, a crash - a big one, splitting the peloton into pieces and allowing a group of 42 riders to get away on the 23.5km stretch to Abu Al Duloof. With this group counting numerous big-hitting favourites among its number, the pace stayed high and it wasn't long before some members found the going too tough and dropped away, reducing it down to 18 at the 75km point.

Wiggle-Honda rider/manager/owner Rochelle
Gilmore crashed hard and was disqualified

The leaders kept up a high pace, rapidly inserting a 35" gap between themselves and a second group that included devastatingly fast sprinter Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda). Bronzini has spent a lot of time in second groups in this race; now she and team leader (and manager and owner) Rochelle Gilmore enlisted other riders to help them try to give chase; bizarrely, riders from rival teams with riders well-placed in the lead group seemed willing to chip in - a fine example of the unpredictability that makes women's professional cycling so fascinating.

At Madinat Al Shamal the riders entered a circuit and, 13km later, crossed the finish line for the first time, also beginning the second intermediate sprint - Lisa Brennauer (Specialized-Lululemon) took the top points at the second intermediate sprint with Chantal Blaak (Tibco) and Kirsten Wild right behind her for second and third. Several riders went down in another crash as they went through; Gilmore hit the road hard and reported after the race that she may have broken a collarbone. To add to her woe the judges, having apparently decided that she and Xiu-Jie Jiang's riding was to blame for the crash, disqualified both of them.

The chasers turned up the pressure and most of the lead group were caught, though eight riders remained out in front - a dangerous situation for the rest because, if that group could get into the final part of the race with a decent advantage, they'd almost certainly be able to choose from among themselves who would win. Because of that, the pressure was turned up even higher; the last of the lead group were caught with 4km to go and the riders approached the finish together.

Poor Chloe Hosking had awful luck with a front wheel puncture 500m from the finish - fortunately, since she was within the final 3km, she was awarded the same time as the lead group, mitigating the damage; unfortunately, due to time bonuses, she loses her General Classification lead and is now trailing by 3". Meanwhile, out at the front of the race Kirsten Wild, who set a new record for Tour of Qatar stage victories with a fourth yesterday (and also holds the record for most General Classification victories in this race), covered every attack and beat it with a fifth today - another superb effort by a rider who combines intelligence and strength and is one of the finest sprinters in the world today. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon), who had led until the Dutch superhero powered past her, was right behind her for second; Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) followed for third.

Stage 3 Top Ten
1 Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) 2h28'15"
2 Ellan van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
3 Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) +02"
4 Marta Tagliaferro (Mcipollini-Giordana) ST
5 Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top) +04"
6 Simona Frapporti (Be Pink) +05"
7 Trixi Worrack (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
8 Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) ST
9 Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) ST
10 Tiffany Cromwell (Orica-AIS) ST
(Full stage result when available)

General Classification after Stage 3
1 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) 7h30'43"
2 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec-UCK) +03"
3 Gracie ELVIN (Orica-AIS) +16"
4 Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) +17"
5 Trixi WORRACK (Specialized-Lululemon) +26"
6 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +29"
7 Tiffany CROMWELL (Orica-AIS) +31"
8 Lisa BRENNAUER (Specialized-Lululemon) +1'52"
9 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (Mcipollini-Giordana) +1'58"
10 Lauren KITCHEN (Wiggle-Honda) +2'02"
(Full GC when available)
Kelly Druyts (TopSport-Vlaanderen) did not start; Xiu-Jie Jiang, Lina Shi (both Chongming-Giant), Rochelle Gilmore (Wiggle-Honda) and Liesbet de Vocht (Rabo-Liv-Giant) did not finish. Liesbet de Vocht's crash - image.

Stage 4: Sealine Beach Resort - Doha Corniche 86.5km

And the race goes Wild!

Stage 4 begans at the Sealine Beach Resort (24°51'37.76"N 51°30'53.00"E), a modern tourist site a few kilometres south-west of Mesaieed, then reversed the first section of Stage 1 to head through Al Wakra, location of the first sprint (25°10'43.96"N 51°36'12.82"E) and back into Doha for the grand finish at Doha Corniche. When the riders arrived at the Museum of Islamic Art roundabout, they continued straight ahead rather than turning right to return to the museum and crossed the finish line for the first time after 1km; this also marked the entry into a 6km circuit about which riders completed five laps. The second sprint began on the second passing of the finish line.

Unusually for Qatar at this time of year, the wind dropped considerably today, making the stage a different sort of race to the previous three - in an attempt to make the most of it, several riders and groups began their attacks within the first kilometres. Hitec-UCK put an enormous amount of effort into their attempt, hoping no doubt to help Chloe Hosking win back the three seconds she needed to retake the General Classification lead, but as the race left Mesiaeed behind and struck out across the desert for the coast the peloton was simply too fast and the riders remained together.

Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) began the day with a 3" advantage over Hosking, but being a rider as wise as she is strong she knew that she should take any opportunity that came her way to win more time - and so a battle began on the way to the first sprint, with Hosking ducking into the Dutch rider's slipstream in the hope of slingshotting past for the points. Hosking has, on countless occasions, shown herself to be a remarkable sprinter; however, at 22 years of age, she doesn't yet have the experience or physical power of 30-year-old Wild and found herself simply unable to get past. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) was on their tail and took third. With victory now looking more certain, Wild's Argos-Shimano team concentrated on providing protection rather than keeping breaks in check, showing no concern at all when a group of nine split off and headed away up the road - with best-placed rider Carmen Small (Specialized-Lululemon) setting off this morning with a disadvantage of almost four minutes to Wild, there was really no need to expend energy pulling them back at this point. Other teams followed suit; it was only when the gap reached 1'25" that Wiggle-Honda (presumably seeking to mitigate damages following the loss of team owner and leader Rochelle Gilmore yesterday) and the Italian national squad (presumably happy to grant a request for help from Wiggle's Italian superstar Giorgia Bronzini) combined forces and chased them down, chopping almost half a minute off the gap by the time the race entered the first of the five circuits.

By the beginning of the second lap, the gap was down to 45" and rapidly diminishing - though it still left Jasmin Glaesser (Tibco), Audrey Cordon (France) and Shelley Olds (Tibco), as the fastest in the break, to take the points on offer at the second intermediate sprint. The break's time out in front was almost over by the start of lap three with their advantage slashed to only 20"; when it fell to 15" Cordon launched a fine and picturesque solo attack, but was quickly caught by the super-fast Small. Jessie MacLean bridged and looked capable of overtaking, but as her Orica-AIS team mates were driving the peloton after Small and Cordon she then declined to go in case they went with her - probably a wise move, because Cordon had the strength to mount another attack towards the end of the third lap, though she couldn't fend off a counter attack by Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv-Giant).

As the penultimate lap loomed, Argos-Shimano decided the time was right to seize full control of the race - but Orica-AIS weren't about to let them have it all their own way and revealed themselves to have plans of domination too, as was seen when British rider Katie Colclough (Specialized-Lululemon) to have a go at a solo break of her own and found she had both Orica's Emma Johansson and Argos in its entirety on her back. Needless to say, she didn't get far. Lululemon now resorted to trickery, sending Small on another attack which then turned out to be a smokescreen intended to divert attention from an attack by her team mate Lauren Rowney over on the other side of the road. It didn't work: Argos and Orica were on Small the moment she made her move but were sufficiently alert to spot what was going on and stopped Rowney in her tracks too.

Kirsten Wild wins for a record third time

As the final lap began Kirsten Wild sat behind an Argos plalanx - and right behind her sat Hosking, whose Hitec-UCK sent Elisa Longo-Borghini on an attack in an attempt to tie up a few Argos riders, hoping to force them to expend energy they'd need to keep their leader safe as the finish approached. This tactic worked no better than Lululemon's tricks: Argos simply cranked up the pace and pulled the entire peloton with them as they chased and caught her, at which point her team mate Emilia Fahlin took over. This time it was Orica who responded, dealing with her as effortlessly as Argos had dealt with Longo-Borghini.

When the race entered the final 500m, the front of the peloton turned orange as riders from the Netherlands national team swarmed up, apparently wanting to assist Wild. This almost proved her undoing for, realising that the sudden increase in numbers would make it harder for any rider to get through, Hosking decided the time was right to begin what she hoped would be her winning move. Once again, however, Wild's greater experience and strength gave her the upper hand - while Hosking had needed to move to the other side of the road to select a clear path for her final sprint, Wild was able to muscle her way through along the centre of the road before fending off Brand and Marta Tagliaferro (Mcipollini-Giordana) as she sprinted away to a record third General Classification victory. Hosking took the same time in eighth place, but is second overall at +14".

Stage 4 Top Ten
1 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) 2h09'38"
2 Lucinda BRAND (Rabo-Liv-Giant) ST
3 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (Mcipollini-Giordana) ST
4 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) ST
5 Simona FRAPPORTI (Be Pink) ST
6 Maria Giulia CONFALONIERI (Italy) ST
7 Trixi WORRACK (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
8 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec-UCK) ST
9 Barbara GUARISCHI (Italy) ST
10 Pascale JEULAND (France) ST
(Full stage result)

Final General Classification
1 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) 9h40'08"
2 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec-UCK) +14"
3 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) +29"
4 Gracie ELVIN (Orica-AIS) +29"
5 Trixi WORRACK (Specialized-Lululemon) +39"
6 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +42"
7 Tiffany CROMWELL (Orica-AIS) +44"
8 Lisa BRENNAUER GER (Specialized-Lululemon) +2'05"
9 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (Mcipollini-Giordana) +2'07"
10 Lauren KITCHEN (Wiggle-Honda) +2'15"
(Full General Classification)

Follow Kirsten Wild on Twitter

Equal prizes to be awarded at UCI World Champs

Women's cycling has been riding a wave ever since the women's road race unexpectedly became one of the most-watched events at the London Olympics - so much so that, after years of calls from riders and fans alike, the UCI today approved a proposal to award equal prizes at almost all men's and women's World Championships.

With races vanishing for lack of sponsorship while the sport's governing body does little to save them, the UCI has repeatedly been accused of not caring a hoot about women's cycling. That may or may not be true; either way, the new equal prizes prove that, when women's races are given the coverage they need, the sport gains strength and moves a little closer to getting the respect and being taken as seriously as it deserves.

The new rules will be in place for the start of 2013, meaning that riders at February's World Cyclo Cross Championships will be first to benefit. They do not apply to the Team Time Trial World Championships where prizes are funded differently.

Women's Tour of NZ cancelled

2012 Tour of New Zealand winner
Evelyn Stevens

Thanks to the cost of new drugs testing procedures required by the UCI as it desperately tries to hang on to some shred of credibility following the investigation into Lance Armstrong and US Postal, the Women's Tour of New Zealand has been cancelled for next year as organisers are unable to find the estimated figure needed to comply with the new rules.

"The UCI won't allow Drug Free Sport New Zealand to conduct tests in UCI events in New Zealand, this means they will send a UCI drugs inspector to New Zealand, we will have to import all testing devices from overseas, do at least 20 tests during the five days of racing, get a license to export human samples overseas, send all samples to a laboratory in Sydney to be tested all at our cost, this is approximately $30,000 per event," race director Jorge Sandoval told the Manawatu Standard, adding that he understands the need for the new measures.

$30,000? That's a lot of money in women's cycling, with most organisers spending much of the year grubbing around for tiny sponsorship deals and trying their hardest to persuade new backers to come on board when they could have been developing and improving their races, which are then run on budgets that don't resemble shoestrings so much as frayed bits of cotton thread. In UCI terms, however, it's nothing - it'd probably just about cover the average professional men's team's annual laundry bill. There's probably more than thirty grand in small change down the back of the comfy sofas littered about the UCI's swanky HQ in Aigle.

Get your wallet out, Pat!

Following years of criticism, the UCI has declared itself serious about securing the future of women's cycling and helping it to grow and develop. It would be, surely, in their interest to do so - viewing figures for the women's road race at the Olympics killed off the misconception that there's no sizable audience for women's cycling forever; promoting and developing the sport would surely make it profitable and bring even more funds into the UCI's coffers. The Tour of New Zealand is a major, five-day, international event that attracts the finest athletes cycling has to offer and it's followed by huge numbers of fans around the world - are the UCI willing to step in and save it, either by stumping up funds to cover the cost drugs testing or by introducing a scheme to help races that can't come up with an extra $30,000?

We shall see. What's more, the outcome will let us know if Pat and pals really meant it when they said they wanted to help women's cycling. If not, they can wave goodbye to another chunk of credibility as we wave goodbye to another race.

The State of Women's Cycling 2012

Amber Neben

It's the end of another year in women's cycling. What a year it's been - the racing, as ever, has been first rate, just as you'd expect in a sport full of highly professional, competitive athletes spurred on by their own love for what they do rather than by their love of fat bank balances (and, if any women out there are thinking of taking up cycling as a way of becoming rich, think again. The salaries - if you're fortunate enough to get one, many "professional" female riders don't - remain a joke, as are the prize funds at most races. As an example, the winner of the men's Chrono des Nations received €5,785, the winner of the women's race at the same event received €379. The women's race was shorter at 20.87km, 43% of the 48.5km men's race; but Amber Neben's prize was equal to only 6.55% of that received by Tony Martin).

What's different now compared to where we were at this point last year? Not much, at first glance. The season got under way with the usual bad news that races were being cancelled due to organisers being unable to secure the sponsorship they needed in order to keep them going: the Tour de Languedoc Roussillon and GP Ciudad de Valladolid are two examples of races that are no longer with us (but, with luck, may reappear in future years), the Giro del Trentino Femminile was cut to two days from its usual three and even the famous Holland Ladies' Tour got into trouble with organisers announcing it might have to be cancelled until a new sponsor - the hairdressing chain with a long-standing connection to cycling, Brainwash - came onboard and saved the day. The UCI still says it's fully committed to women's cycling, but still seems unwilling to do very much: women's cycling, it claims, is insufficiently developed at present to justify greater financial input; however, it has apparently decided that rather than putting in the cash required to develop it, it will instead wait for a magical fairy to come along and start the process.

Emma Pooley

Perhaps the two biggest and most depressing stories of the year were Emma Pooley's announcement that she was considering leaving cycling, either temporarily or forever, and Rabobank's decision to pull out of the sport. Pooley, who has for some years now been one of the most prominent voices in the sport, indicated that she'd had enough of her well-thought-out and reasoned campaigns for the women to get a fair deal resulting in nothing of any consequence being done by the UCI and needed time away to concentrate on completing her PhD. Rabobank, which has enjoyed enormous public exposure from the highly successful teams it sponsors (especially the women's team, home to world number one Marianne Vos), announced it would be ending its long connection with cycling because it was no longer confident in the wake of the US Postal/Lance Armstrong investigation that the UCI was able to bring doping to an end. It would, therefore, be ending its sponsorship of both the men's and women's teams, in spite of the fact that doping is virtually non-existent in women's cycling when compared to men's cycling (it said it would, however, continue sponsoring Vos who, as the 21st Century's Eddy Merckx, is every sponsor's dream come true; Vos, being the star that she is, replied that it doesn't work like that and that she and the team come as a package).

Earlier in the year, British Cycling failed to notice that female cyclists competing at the top level of their sport are rock hard, stupendously fit athletes and, in a peculiarly Victorian way, mistook them for weak-willed delicate creatures unable to race on two consecutive days, so it tried to persuade the organisers of the Smithfield Nocturne to drop the women's criterium in order that riders wouldn't be too tired at a (British Cycling) event the following day. The thing is, the Smithfield Nocturne is massively popular event that draws thousands of fans (and generates new ones) in addition to - crucially - getting TV coverage, whereas the British Cycling race isn't. It is, therefore, simply too important to be allowed not to go ahead. Team Mule Bar Girls were first on the case and got a promise from the organisers that, provided a sufficient number of riders signed up, they'd go ahead and run the race anyway. Then, realising that they too could help, fans joined in by Tweeting, Facebooking, blogging and doing all manner of things that have required new words to be added to the English language over the last few years. The race was saved, and it didn't take very long to save it.

The Olympic Women's Road Race was watched by millions

This may yet prove to be the biggest thing that has happened in women's cycling in 2012: the rapid emergence of a new "activism meme" among fans, fueled at least in part by the unexpected success of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics which generated viewing figures far higher than anyone had hoped. We have realised that we do not have to be - and should not be - the silent partner in the riders/organisers and federations/audience triumvirate and that, as the majority of riders, directeur sportifs and race organisers are already doing all that they can, it's down to us to use collective effort to pressure federations, raise funds and get more people to races - by doing so we can help make the changes that the UCI won't, even though the millions of people that watched the Women's Road Race at the Olympics proves a potential audience exists.

Indicative that this is the case is the success of two new projects - namely the Women's Cycling Social Media Jersey and the Fan-Backed Women's Team. When the Media Jersey project began, organisers Sarah and Dan hoped to raise a few hundred dollars to award a t-shirt and a small cash sum as a prize to the rider decided by a poll (which ultimately received 4,605 votes, a fantastic response) to have done most to raise the sport's profile - within only days, it became apparent that they were going to raise enough to much more: the overall winner would receive a t-shirt and $500 and the riders decided to have done most at the Giro Toscana and the Tour de l’Ardèche and Brainwash Ladies Tour would receive $250, while the two runners-up would receive $100. Perhaps the first person to spot the emergence of this trend was Stef Wyman. Wyman is a man with a dream - he wants to see women's cycling become everything it can and should be and he wants professional female cyclists to be on equal footing, both in terms of recognition and salaries, with professional male cyclists - but he is not a dreamer: in fact, as the manager of Matrix-Prendas, the team he has built up through hard times into one of the most successful in cycling, he's about as much a realist as anyone could be. Back in September, Wyman wrote an article for Cyclismas in which he posited the idea that a fan-backed team, in which development would be driven by fans' passion for the sport rather than by sponsors' wallets, might be one way in which women's cycling could be taken forward. It was an idea that proved to have legs as strong as those on the riders in his team and he immediately began getting emails from people who were willing to get involved and provide funds; already the Fan-Backed Women's Team has grown to become more than just one team and is becoming involved with race promotion.

The general feeling is that we don't need to rely on the reluctant UCI - they're not going to help and we don't need them to do so; in the very near future, as a direct result, we might look back on 2012 as the year when women's cycling turned the corner and entered the final sprint into its glorious future. Despite the many problems still facing the sport, I'm more optimistic about the future of women's cycling than I have been at any time since I began following it, and I'm not the only one.

For an athlete's view on fan involvement, read Amber Pierce's article on the subject at Triple Crankset.

Chrono des Nations

Parcours - the women's route is in pink (click to enlarge)

21.10.12 Official site
France, Time Trial, 20.870km
UCI 1.1

It seems incredible that the Tour of Qatar was eight months ago - yet the Chrono des Nations was the final UCI professional women's race of the 2012 road racing season. (Worry not - we now have several months of fantastic cyclo cross to keep us going through the winter months!)

Team USA's Amber Neben won last year (for the two years prior to that it was Jeannie Longo, who also won the first women's edition of the race back in 1987 as well as in 1992, 1995 and 2000 - she was eighth this year) and was easy favourite to win again this year: she did not disappoint her legions of fans with a stunning ride in slippery conditions, taking 28'34.38" to get around the 20.87km parcours and beating closest rival Alison Tetrick of Exergy Twenty12 by 1'08". Tetrick will be happy enough, however - her second place marks a return to form following injury earlier in the year. Edwige Pitel, riding for ASPSA Grenoble, may be 45 years old but put the finishing touch to a superb season in which she won a bronze medal at the French Individual Time Trial Championships and took first place at the Memorial Davide Fardelli when she crossed the line with a time 18" behind Tetrick, placing her in third place.

Amber Neben

Current Swiss ITT Champion Patricia Schwager, riding for a national team rather than her usual GSD-Gestion, was fourth with 30'03.71". Marijn de Vries was Déesses' top "rider to watch" tip - the Dutch woman has had excellent form over the last few months and a turn of speed to match. With the sad news that her AA Drink-Leontien.nl will not continue into 2013, there was every reason to expect her to end the season on a high point and she did so with a superb fifth place, getting around the course in 30'`15.83".

An interesting fact for you: the Elite Men's race was 48.5km, the women's race was 20.870km. Some might say this justifies the men getting bigger prizes - after all, they did more work. Yet Neben won only €379, compared to the €5,785 that Tony Martin won in the Elite Men's race. In other words, the women did 43% of the work done by the men, yet the winner received a prize equal to only 6.55% of that received by the winning man. The total prize fund on offer to the women was €2,478, 16.55% of the €14,977 fund for the men. No matter which way you look at it, there's no justifying that.

The Parcours
The race began at the Place de la Gare on the Rue du Onze Novembre 1918 and sent the riders immediately into a long and mostly straight (except for the slight bend to the left near the end) 0.68km to the first corner; since this section sloped gently downhill spectators were treated to some spectacularly fast starts. The first corner was a tight right-hander into the Rue Nationale (D755) at a bar called La Tonnelle - while the corner was wide, the Nationale is one of the main truck routes in and out of Les Herbiers and with several small industrial units nearby there was a potential risk of fuel spillages on the road surface and most riders grabbed a big handful of brake going into it. Right from the first corner the parcours began to climb, then descended again after 2.25km; then climbed once more to the second right-hand corner 6.63km from the first at La Croix Barat, the highest point on the route reaching 170m above sea level after approximately 65m of climbing in 2km - an average gradient of around 3.25%, but more like 7% in places. This corner, more sweeping than the last, has had a traffic island slightly off-set from the centre added to prevent cars taking it at too high a speed, thus making it a relatively technical section.

Marijn de Vries

Once around the corner, the riders were on the D79 leading south for 2.6km to the third right corner. The road, like the previous two, is fairly straight with only wide, sweeping bends, but trees alongside are dropping their leaves at this time of year - another potential hazard when wet and slippery. The terrain descends for most of the distance, gently at first and then more steeply in the final third of the section before a short rise at the end. The corner is sharp, but with plenty of room for a bike allowing riders to negotiate it at speed. The following section, La Bonneliere, carries the riders through 4.29km into St-Paul-en-Pareds, a flat route with only a couple of 10m climbs before a descent over the final kilometre; other than more dropped leaves it looks to be free of conceivable hazards.

After following the Rue de l'Eglise and the D23 - more straight, non-technical roads - through St-Paul-en-Pareds, the race reaches a fourth right turn and begins heading north back towards Les Herbiers. The corner is very wide, not sharp and shouldn't cause any rider any problems; it leads into an initially bendy, then straight 2.82km section through forest to a roundabout on the D23, climbing approximately 30m over the first half. Immediately after the roundabout the riders come to Ardelay, a suburb of Les Herbiers, then reach a second roundabout after 1.58km. The flamme rouge is 400m ahead, then riders negotiate a third roundabout before coming to the final turn 610m after the flamme rouge. Another right-hander, this one turns almost 180 degrees around a mini-roundabout and is likely to be very slippery if wet; riders positing good times will be likely to take great care not to throw away their chances at this point when there are only 400m along the straight, slightly uphill Avenue de la Gare to the finish line at the Place de la Gare.

Results

1 Amber NEBEN Team USA 28'34"
2 Alison TETRICK STARNES Exergy Team Twenty 12 +1'08 "
3 Edwige PITEL ASPSA Grenoble +1'26"
4 Patricia SCHWAGER Team Switzerland +1'29"
5 Marijn DE VRIES AA Drink-Leontien.nl +1'41"
6 Cecilie Gotaas JOHNSEN Hitec Products +1'57"
7 Mélodie LESUEUR BigMat-Auber 93 +2'03"
8 Jeannie LONGO-CIPRELLI ASPSA Grenoble +2'15"
9 Ann-Sofie DUYCK Lotto-Belisol +2'16"
10 Lina-Kristin SCHINK GSD-Gestion +2'32"
11 Jutta STIENEN Team Switzerland +2'36"
12 Larissa DRYSDALE CS Groningue +2'58"
13 Martina RUZICKOVA SC Michela Fanini-Rox +3'05"
14 Mélanie BRAVARD Vélophile Naintré +3'23"
15 Aurore VERHOEVEN UV Angérienne +3:45
16 Coralie DEMAY Comité du Morbihan +4'03"
17 Johanna SMITH TF Languedoc-Roussillon +4'27"
18 Sandra LEVENEZ UC Carhaix +4'30"
19 Morgane CHARLES CSM Epinay-sur-Seine +5'00"
20 Julie AUGIZEAU La Roche-sur-Yon VC +5'03"
21 Danièle PAROT TF Région Centre +5'33"
22 Muriel RIDEAU La Roche-sur-Yon VC +5'47"
23 Marie TONDEREAU TF Région Centre +6'15"
24 Carole VALLEE VC Lionnais +6'30"
25 Marion SICOT TF Région Centre +6'44"

An open letter to Rabobank

Lense Koopmans is the supervisory director of Rabobank's Supervisory Board, a body that "supervises the policy of the Executive Board of Rabobank Nederland and the general conduct affairs at Rabobank Group and its affiliated entities. In addition, the Supervisory Board advises the Executive Board and is responsible for the appointment and remuneration of the members of the Executive Board." 

I have emailed a copy to Rabobank - if you agree that the Rabobank women's team should not suffer from the possible withdrawal of Rabobank's sponsorship due to doping in men's cycling, please feel free to copy the letter and send it under your own name. One email won't make much of a difference, but if enough women's cycling fans ask Rabobank to make the right decision we might be able to help ensure their future support.


Dear Mr. Koopmans,

First off, please allow me to apologise for contacting you in this manner - I have no doubt that, as the supervisory director of Rabobank, you are a very busy man. However, I am writing to you in order to share some thoughts on a matter involving your company and which is of very great importance to myself and to an ever-increasing number of people around the world, and reading this letter will take only a few moments of your time. I hope you will spare me those few moments.

You've probably already guessed that I'm talking about Rabobank's recent decision to withdraw from professional cycling sponsorship. I fully understand the reasons for this decision: like all cycling fans, I had hoped that doping was finally coming to an end in the sport and I am deeply upset at the recent USADA revelations that show it has remained a far greater problem than we thought. If I was the director of a company such as yours, I too would feel reluctant to continue associating my company with cycling now that doping is in the spotlight once again. I'd like to add at this point that the decision to honour contracts, now that it would be too late for the riders to find new teams, is admirable proof that Rabobank has a heart, rather than being simply another inhuman, uncaring giant corporation. Proficiat for that!

One of the reasons I admire Rabobank (the company and the cycling team) is your fantastic support of women's cycling. While I'm sure that part of the company's decision to become involved in women's cycling is that there were and still are very few "big name" sponsors, allowing Rabobank to gain greater public awareness from it than would be possible in men's cycling which benefits from numerous very famous sponsors, I've always believed there was something more to it, something related to the altruistic ideals upon which Rabobank was first established: a desire to help female cyclists get the recognition and equality that they deserve. The salaries you pay to those riders and the money you've put into promoting them is a shining example of fairness in a sport where many receive no salary at all and compete for prizes that are a tiny fraction of those on offer to the men. I like to think also that Rabobank was the first company to realise that the women's sport is not a less exciting version of cycle racing and that the riders are not weaker and less interesting than their male counterparts; that in actual fact women's racing is always every bit as interesting and competitive as men's and, sometimes, more so.

Women's cycling has never suffered from the same image problems caused by doping that men's cycling has experienced; yet the riders are subject to the same tests with the same regularity. The only conclusion, therefore, is that doping is far less prevalent in women's cycling. Imagine how women's cycling would benefit if Rabobank were to decide that the support it had given in the past would continue and that the reason was because so few female riders resort to cheating. Men's cycling will take a knock from the current scandal, then continue just as it did after Tom Simpson died and in the wake of the Festina Affair and Operacion Puerto - it might even benefit from the scar left by the withdrawal of Rabobank, which would serve as a reminder that when riders dope everybody loses. But if Rabobank stayed with women's cycling, the benefits would be enormous - it would be seen by the media to be the far cleaner, fairer form of cycling that evidence suggests it really is. With women's cycling currently more popular than ever before in the wake of the Olympics and Marianne Vos' superb victory at the World Championships, the news that Rabobank had decided to remain a part of it could do more good than all the money you've provided and then some.

I also understand that a final decision has not yet been made on the future of the Rabobank women's team (and I'm pleased to hear that you will continue sponsoring Vos, who is a hero to so many of us). I hope, therefore, that the points above will be considered - Rabobank has an opportunity to do women's cycling an enormous favour, and the increased exposure for the sport and the riders would surely make financial sense.

Many thanks for your time.

2012 World Champion

Weekly Women's Cycling News You Might Have Missed 15.09.12

Bronzini ain't afraid of the big bad Fox - Polspoel leaves Topsport - Help Kristin Armstrong get her bikes back - Fan-backed teams: the future of women's cycling? - Unofficial, Unsanctioned Social Media Jersey  gaining strength - Ardeche rider reports and photos - This week's best pictures - Articles worth a read

Bronzini aiming for a third rainbow

"It's a tough route, far more selective than in the last two years," admits defending World Champion Giorgia Bronzini, "but I've trained hard for it and I want the rainbow jersey."

The Italian ace sprinter, who turned 29 in August, is expecting stiff competition however and knows that she might even end up surrendering her chances to someone from her own team: "If it's a really hard race and the peloton is split apart, it might be down to Elisa Longo-Borghini or Noemi Cantele to try to get away to the finish line - but I'll try to stay as close as possible, and we'll just have to see if it ends with a sprint."

Marianne Vos won the Worlds in 2006 and tried unsuccessfully to repeat her success ever since; but it's a well known fact that, sooner or later, Marianne Vos wins everything - having come so close last year, the Dutch phenomenon is the favourite for 2012. Bronzini knows this, but refuses to be intimidated: "She was also the favourite the last two years. Which I won," she says.

Polspoel to Sengers
All-rounder Maaike Polspoel will depart Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley at the end of the season and will move to Sengers. The decision may be linked to being overlooked for the Belgian team going to the World Championships, rather a mysterious decision by the selection committee as the 23-year-old has had some excellent results this year the hilly Limburg parcours seems suited to her.

Kristin Armstrong's Felt bikes stolen
If you should happen to be offered a very nice Felt bike at a price that seems too good to be true, you might want to get in contact with Exergy Twenty12 - there's a reasonable chance that they belong to Kristin Armstrong. The bikes were stolen whilst in transit somewhere between Germany and the USA and could therefore turn up in Europe or North America and the team is offering a reward for information that leads to their recovery. More details here.

The future of women's cycling...?
Stef Wyman, manager of highly successful British women's team Matrix Fitness-Prendas, wrote an article for Cyclismas on how fans can help the sport to develop recently. You can read it here.

Stef Wyman - knows what he's
talking about

Anyone who knows anything about women's cycling knows that Stef knows what he's talking about - he's nurtured the team from day one and enabled it to grow bigger and better every year, despite no doubt going through some tough times when he must have been tempted to give it all up.  But Stef doesn't run his team as a side-project or simply in the hope of putting together an impressive cv for future job applications to big budget men's teams; he does it out of a genuine love for women's cycling. He is, therefore, dreaming of the next step - and he dreams big. What he wants to do, no less, is develop his team into "UK’s primary racing academy for women," no less, thus driving and promoting the sport here and abroad and helping the athletes to get the fair deal that they so fully deserve.

In his article, he suggested that one way to do this might be to have a fan-backed team, ie one in which salaries and team development is funded by commercial sponsors while donations made by fan are put towards promoting the team and other uses agreed between team management and a committee of the fans themselves. The very same night the article was published, the article grew a pair of legs that any pro rider would be proud of - within a day, it started happening.

This could be the future of women's cycling, the way in which the exposure and coverage that the sport needs and isn't getting from elsewhere will be paid for and provided. The women's road race at the Olympics showed that there is a market for women's cycling - with £14,000 raised in only four days, this project might be the turning point from which women's cycling grows into what it has the potential to be. Read more about it at the Matrix-Prendas website.

Unofficial, Unsanctioned Social Media Jersey goes from strength to strength
In the week's second fan power story, the prize fund for the all new UUSMJ - which consists entirely of donations made by fans - now stands at more than $2000; enough to be split into a number of prizes. Since it's considerably more than the total prize fund on offer at many women's races, it now has the potential to make a very real difference to the riders that win it.

Got an idea who you think deserves it? Votes can now be cast at the Unofficial, Unsanctioned Women's UCI Cycling Blog.

Riders' reports and photos from the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche
Marijn de Vries 1 / 2 / 3
Leah Kirchmann
Sara Olsson

The week in pictures
Sengers riders training for the Worlds (@Bartoli84)

Worth a read
The Role of Fans in Women's Cycling (Stef Wyman)
Immersion in the heart of women's cycling (Christophe Edelaine, manager of the Ardeche mixed international team)
Ridley Asteria 1106a review (Triradar)

Help Kristin get her bikes back

If you should happen to be offered a very nice Felt bike at a price that seems too good to be true, you might want to get in contact with Exergy Twenty12 - there's a reasonable chance that they belong to Kristin Armstrong. The bikes were stolen whilst in transit somewhere between Germany and the USA and could therefore turn up in Europe or North America. More details here.

The bikes are as follows:

Felt DA Time Trial Bike / Pic2 / Pic3
Frameset: Felt DA1 51cm, Custom Kristin Armstrong/USA Paint Scheme
Group: SRAM RED 2012
Cranks: SRAM BB30 w/SRM Powermeter
Chainrings: SRAM TT 54/42
Aerobars: Zipp VukaBull Basebar with Carbon Race Vuka Shift Extensions TT Shifters: SRAM 900 TT
Shift Cables: Gore Ride-On Ultra Light
Brake Cables: Gore Ride-on
Front Wheel: Zipp 808 Firecrest Tubular
Rear Wheel: Zipp Super-9 Disc Tubular
Tyres: Vittoria Crono 22mm
Saddle: fi’zi:k Ares TT Specific
Pedals/Cleats: Speedplay Nanogram Zero (not with stolen bike – only thing that made it back to Boise)
K-EDGE Pro Chain Catcher
Kristin Armstrong name on top tube

Felt F1 Road Bike
Frameset: Felt F1 54cm, Custom Kristin Armstrong Paint Scheme
Group: SRAM RED 2012
Cranks: SRAM RED w/SRM Powermeter
Bottom Bracket: SRAM Red GXP Ceramic Bearings
Chainrings: SRAM Red 50/34
Cassette: SRAM RED 2012 11-26T
Stem: Zipp Service Course SL 110mm
Bars: Zipp Service Course CSL 42cm
Shift Cables: Gore Ride-On
Wheels: Zipp 404 Firecrest Tubular
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa CX
Saddle: fi’zi:k Antares
Pedals/Cleats: Speedplay Nanogram Zero
K-EDGE Pro Chain Catcher
K-EDGE Number Holder
Arundel Carbon Bottle Cage

Chances are a few bits and pieces will be removed or swapped for other bits in an attempt to disguise them, but with such a collection of top-notch parts the thief won't want to change too much for fear of reducing the value. The team is offering "a substantial reward" for productive leads; you'll also earn the gratitude of one of the greatest cyclists the world has ever seen.

teamtwenty12@gmail.com