British hope at the Tour of Qatar

Somewhat surprisingly, considering the enormous upsurge in interest in women's cycling in Britain and the number of world-class athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland making their mark on the cycling scene in recent years, British hopes for a Tour of Qatar victory rest on the shoulders of just one rider - even the British-registered team Wiggle-Honda will compete without a Brit.

Armitstead is the only British rider at this
year's Tour of Qatar

However, as that one rider is Lizzie Armitstead, who is currently ranked 17th among Elite Women worldwide by the UCI, there's still a very good chance of a British victory - not least of all because Qatar is made up of the sort of windy, flat stages that usually result in bunch sprints which suit a rider equipped with Armitstead's super-fast sprint abilities (she was, after all, second to Marianne Vos as the 2012 Olympics - and Vos is popularly acclaimed as the greatest rider of her generation), and because she has a strong Boels-Dolmans squad made up of Romy Kasper, Christine Majerus, Katerzyna Pawlowska and Marieke Van Wanroij backing her up.

If the gold General Classification jersey seems out of reach, Armitstead could instead aim for the silver Points competition jersey - a stage win combined with good performances in the intermediate sprints would put her in with a good chance at this. However, with no climbs anywhere in the race, all the teams will be sending the best sprinters they have and she'll face stiff competition for each and every point.


The race covers 388km split into four stages, some of them familiar from previous editions of the Tour.


Stage 1, extending for 97km, is a carbon copy of 2013's Stage 1 which was won by Australian Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products-UCK. Hosking has been one of the finest sprinters in the world for a few years now and has continued to improve; racing for Hitec again this year, she'll be one of Armitstead's strongest rivals for stage victory and the overall General Classification.

The riders will cross the finish line twice, first after 35.5km from the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and then again at the end of the race 61.5km later. When they do so for the first time they'll enter the first of two intermediate sprints; the second intermediate sprint on the desert road heading east to Al Wakra.

Stage 2 starts at Al Zubara, a ruined city with a fort that looks medieval but in fact dates from 1938. Heading north-east along exposed coastal roads, the riders can expect very powerful crosswinds all the way to their first arrival at Al Ruwais. This may split the peloton, but it's unlikely that we'll see breakaways here as riders will concentrate on forming echelons for shelter.

At Al Ruwais, they'll turn and ride almost all the way across the country to Athba; since they'll now be heading away from the east coast, a strong tail wind could make this a very fast section of the stage and once again prevent breakaways. After a short stretch north to Al Gariyah, they turn west and begin riding back to Al Ruwais, this time battling a headwind. Having crossed the finish line for the first time they'll begin four laps around Madinat Al Shamal with intermediate sprints the second and fourth times they cross the line before finishing on the fifth after 112.3km.

Stage 2 in 2012 started and ended at the same points, but followed a different parcours that led east across the desert rather than north along the coast, making it an entirely different sort of race. Trixi Worrack won that day; she's back leading the Specialized-Lululemon team this year, but with the changes to the route it's impossible to say whether she has more chance at winning than her rivals this year - and since victory is likely to go to a rider able to generate a sprint-winning high wattage after fighting the wind for so much of the way, Armitstead seems to have odds as good as anyone else.

Stage 3 runs for 93.5km from Katara Cultural Village at Doha just a short distance from the famous Pearl to Al Khor Corniches and then north into the desert before returning to Al Khor Corniche - remaining near to the eastern coast, it's likely to subject the riders to crosswinds which may blow in off the sea to the east or straight across the flat landscape from the west.

Once again, there are two intermediate sprints. The first is at Tenbek, 45km into the race and roughly two thirds of the way to Al Khor Corniche, while the second is 44.5km later at Al Thakira, 8.5km from the finish.


Stage 4 will also feel familiar to riders who competed last year, because it's the same as the final stage from 2013 - though it's listed as being 85km instead of 86.5km this time around, for some reason. Then, unusually for Qatar, the wind dropped and completely changed the character if the race, encouraging fierce breakaways and attacks as Hitec fought to get Hosking into a position to take on race leader and eventual victor Kirsten Wild who is back with her Giant-Shimano team this year - and who will be a very powerful opponent to Armitstead and anyone else hoping to win.

Starting at the Sealine Beach Resort, the parcours heads north via Mesaieed and Al Wakra (site of the first intermediate sprint, 38.5km from the start) to Doha; never venturing more than a few kilometres from the east coast it's likely that the riders will have to contend with crosswinds, unless the weather does something unexpected again. Once at Doha they'll compete five laps of the fast city circuit with the second intermediate sprint at the fourth crossing of the finish line, 11.5km from the end of the race.

Further information
The official race website is here and daily results will be published by the UCI. Team rosters: Ale Cipollini / Australia National Team / Astana-BePink / Boels-Dolmans / China Chong Ming / France National Team / Hitec Products / Italy National Team / Lotto-Belisol / Orica-AIS / Rabo-Liv/Giant / RusVelo / Specialized-Lululemon / Giant-Shimano / Wiggle-Honda.

Women's Cycling News 12-19.01.2014

Tour de San Luis - Wyman wins eighth CX Nats - CX, Road and ITT Nats around the world - Otegem CX - Tour de San Luis - Shorts and Interesting Links - Photo of the Week - more to come...

Tour de San Luis
Stage 1
British rider Hannah Barnes (United Healthcare) was the fastest in a 41-rider bunch sprint to win the first stage. Team mate Alison Powers led Barnes out 500m to the line; Barnes jumped with 150m to go and powered past the rest of the bunch.

Yudelmis Dominguez Masague, riding for the Cuba National Team, picked up the most points in the two intermediate sprints and now leads the Sprints classification.

Barnes, making her race debut for the team, will now be widely considered a favourite for overall victory as the race consists chiefly of short stages likely to end in further bunch sprints. The final stage takes place on Saturday.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Hannah BARNES (United Healthcare) 1h51'44"
2 Paola MUNOZ ST
3 Arlenis SIERRA CAÑADILLA (Cuba NT) ST
4 Yudelmis DOMINGUEZ MASAGUE (Cuba NT) ST
5 Valeria PINTOS ST
6 Clemilda FERNANDES SILVA (Brazil NT) ST
7 Serika GULUMA ORTIZ ST
8 Barbara FRISCH ST
9 Bibiana NARVAEZ ST
10 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA (Cuba NT) ST
Full result

Stage 2
Hannah Barnes abandoned following crash and required medical treatment.

Clemilda Fernandes Silva (Brazil NT) wins the stage. Yudelmis Dominguez Masague (Cuba NT) leads the Sprints classification; Arlenis Sierra Cañadilla is the leading rider in the Youth classification and also leads the Combination category.

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Clemilda FERNANDES SILVA (Brazil NT) 1h35'02"
2 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA (Cuba NT) ST
3 Luciene FERREIRA DA SILVA ST
4 Arlenis SIERRA CAÑADILLA (Cuba NT) ST
5 Fernanda DA SILVA SOUZA ST 1
6 Andreina RIVERA +04"
7 Serika GULUMA ORTIZ +04"
8 Cristiane SILVA +04"
9 Paola MUNOZ +04"
10 Estefania PILZ +04"
Full result and GC

Stage 3
Alison Powers (United Healthcare) wins with a 3'18" advantage, propelling herself into first place overall with a lead of 3'04 as well as becoming new leader of the Combination classification. Team mate Alexis Ryan wins bunch sprint for second place.

Yudelmis Dominguez Masague (Cuba NT) leads the Sprints classification; Arlenis Sierra Cañadilla remains leading rider in the Youth classification.

Stage 3 Top Ten
1 Alison POWERS (United Healthcare) 1h39'25"
2 Alexis RYAN (United Healthcare) +3'18"
3 Luciene FERREIRA DA SILVA ST
4 Clemilda FERNANDES SILVA ST
5 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA (Cuba NT) ST
6 Arlenis SIERRA CAÑADILLA (Cuba NT) ST
7 Yudelmis DOMINGUEZ MASAGUE (Cuba NT) ST
8 Paola MUNOZ ST
9 Talia Ayelen AGUIRRE ST
10 Valeria PINTOS ST
Full result and GC

Wyman wins eighth National Cyclo Cross Championships

Having last year ended Helen Wyman's seven-year reign at the top, locally-born 27-year-old Nikki Harris was odds-on favourite for the British Cyclo Cross National Championships on Sunday - and Wyman would most certainly have agreed.

Podium
(Image c/o Jack Chevell)

Whatever happened, though, it was no secret that this race was almost certain to be a competition between the two women right from the start, with the rest of the field fighting it out among themselves for third place: both are based in Belgium and as a result have opportunity to attend a far greater number of races than the British-based riders. Whilst 'cross does appear to be on the up here, we don't have anything like as many races as in Belgium, where the sport is enormously popular and draws crowds of thousands; Wyman and Harris have a selection within in relatively easy reach of their Flemish homes throughout the season.

Wyman's had an excellent season so far, winning the European Championships for a second consecutive year back in November and is evidently in fine form. Harris was second in that race too, though, and has also performed superbly this season. There's no doubt that sooner or later the baton is going to be passed, but when the heavy rain on Friday night combined with Saturday's races to turn the Moorways parcours into a quagmire of which even the infamous Flemish races would have been proud, things began to look ever better for 32-year-old Wyman because in conditions that slimy, experience counts and her formidable bike-handling-in-treacherous-mud skills are well-known - and well-respected - throughout the cyclo cross world.

Harris was able to match her friend and rival's typically lightning-fast start, but once out on the fields it was clear that she wasn't going to be able to keep up and before very long at all Wyman had ploughed away into the thick of it. All those years as the best 'cross rider in Britain have left the St. Albans-born rider with an ability to read the track that is almost psychic - where other riders see the surface and have to experiment in the early laps to find the best lines, Wyman has an uncanny ability to see what lies beneath and find the firmest paths through it, enabling her to start building her advantage from the moment the race gets under way. Then, because she's got the strength to match, she can keep going.

However, after crossing the line completely caked in mud, even Wyman herself was genuinely surprised by her winning margin: finishing in 41'14" compared to Harris' 42'28", she was an incredible 1'14" faster and isn't ready to let go of that baton just yet. Just how much of an advantage they had over the rest of the field was apparent when Ffion James of Abergavenny Road Club finished 4'23" after Harris for third place.

Megan James (Abergavenny CC), Lucy Horrocks (Team Hope) and Ellie Russell (Mid Shropshire Wheelers) were first, second and third in the Under-14 event; Charlotte Broughton (MG Decor), Isabella Boon (Derby Mercury RC) and Jessica Roberts (RST) in the U-16; Tracey Fletcher (Team Empella), Claire Smith (Cotswold Veldrijden), Marie Jackson (Paul Milnes Cycles) topped the Veteran Women.

What makes Helen's victory even more remarkable is the fact that she underwent root canal surgery on the Friday before the race. You can read all about that in her own report.

Elite Women Top Ten
1 Helen Wyman (Kona/FSA Factory Team) 41'14"
2 Nikki Harris (Telenet Fidea) 42'28"
3 Ffion James (Abergavenny RC) 46'51"
4 Abby-Mae Parkinson (RST Racing Team) 47'08"
5 Amira Mellor (Paul Milnes Cycles/Bradford Olympic) 47'46"
6 Diane Lee (Mulebar Girl-Sigma Sport) 48'12"
7 Alice Barnes 49'38"
8 Beth Crumpton (Hargroves Cycles RT-Specialized-Trant-Next-Elliott's) 50'16"
9 Delia Beddis (ViCiOUS VELO) 50'22"
10 Tracy Moseley (Malvern Cycle Sport) 50'42"
Full results for all events

Around the World
Britain's Championships weren't the only ones taking place over the weekend - there were more CX Nationals taking place around the world and even some Road Nationals. In the "CX Top Four" nations the were few surprises with Sanne Cant winning in Belgium, Marianne Vos winning in the Netherlands, Katie Compton winning in the USA and Pauline Ferrand Prevot winning in France.

Each nation's results are at the end of the following links...

CX Nationals Austria - CX Nationals Belgium - CX Nationals Croatia - CX Nationals Denmark - CX Nationals France - CX Nationals Germany - CX Nationals Hungary - CX Nationals Ireland - CX Nationals Italy - CX Nationals Luxembourg - CX Nationals Netherlands - CX Nationals Poland - CX Nationals Spain - CX Nationals Switzerland - CX Nationals USA

Rushlee Buchanan kicked off her year with new team United Healthcare in fine style by winning the New Zealand Road Race Championships, the first road racing championships to take place in 2014. Jaime Nielsen took the Individual Time Trial title, taking an unexpected 28" less than Linda Villumsen to get to the finish.

In the Australian Championships, Orica's Gracie Elvin took the Road Race when she was first over the line from a bunch of eight favourites that all recorded the same time. The ITT went to Felicity Wardlaw.


Otegem CX

Belgian champ Sanne Cant was 7"
slower than Helen Wyman

So on Sunday you won a decisive victory at a major national sporting competition. What do you do on Monday? I know what I'd do - sleep until midday, get up to a leisurely breakfast and then be in the pub for 3pm. But I'm not Helen Wyman who, having won the British National Cyclo Cross Championships for the eighth time on Sunday, traveled 600km in a camper van to back in Belgium on Monday morning ready to race at the Otegem CX. Which she also won, beating Sanne Cant, who won an eighth title of her own at the Belgian CX Championships on Sunday.

Otegem Top Ten
1 Helen WYMAN 37:35
2 Sanne CANT 37:42
3 Sophie DE BOER 37:47
4 Ellen VAN LOY BEL 38:09 
5 Pavla HAVLIKOVA 38:50 
6 Loes SELS 38:54 
7 Jolien VERSCHUEREN 39:48 
8 Asa Maria ERLANDSSON 40:15 
9 Karen VERHESTRAETEN 40:39 
10 Cindy BAUWENS 41:24
Full result


Shorts and Interesting Links
World champion Vos's Rabo Liv team presented (Cycling News)
Compton races to 10th US cyclo-cross title (Cycling News)


Photo of the Week

"Yes, it weighs half a ton - but with Kirsten pedaling, it'll still win the final sprint!"

(With thanks to Kirsten Wild and Lucy Garner)

Sheffield GP

23.07.2014 Official Site
England, 45 minutes + 3 laps
Women's National Series
Start: 53°22'47.32"N 1°28'13.11"W

When most people imagine a bike race, they picture a peloton crusing along a picturesque road surrounded by Alpine meadows with the lofty snow-capped peaks soaring far overhead. There are plenty of races in which that sort of thing can be seen, and they're one of the reasons that cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world. There are other kinds of racing too, of course, and if it's sheer eyeballs-out, high-speed, scrape-yer-knees-off-going-round-the-corners excitement you want then you can't beat a good city centre criterium style event - and the Sheffield GP is a very good example.

The 2013 edition was an absolute joy to watch with most of Britain's top female road racers fighting hard throughout the race and leaving the thousands of people that turned up to watch in no doubt whatsoever that women's cycling is every bit as tough, fast and exciting as men's cycling. The top five looked like this:

1 Helen Wyman (Kona)
2 Hannah Barnes (MG-Maxifuel)
3 Eileen Roe (Breast Cancer Care)
4 Hannah Walker (Matrix Fitness)
5 Melissa Lowther (Matrix Fitness)

When Neutral Service asked for confirmation of the 2014 circuit, the race organisers sent a link to a Strava segment. Top female riders are Lauren Creamer (2'01"), Eleanor Jones (2'15"), Nicola Soden (2'21"), Keira McVitty (2'28") and Ruth Taylor (3'31").

What's a criterium...?
If you've never been to a bike race before, a criterium - or crit, as cyclists usually call them - is an ideal choice for your first. The riders race for a pre-set time rather than over a specified number of laps (usually; at some crits it's the other way round), completing many laps of a short circuit that will often be located in a city centre. This sometimes worries people who haven't seen one before, in case the riders take it easy right up until the last few minutes, but in fact the first third tends to be full of attacks as riders who don't have much chance of winning go on the attack in an attempt to wear down riders from other teams, thus heightening their own chances, while the final third is when the favourites start to pile on the pressure. There might be a quieter time during the middle third - but the lulls in a crit are the best time to make the sort of attack that sometimes results in victory. What's more, there will be a "prime" prize for the fastest rider every now and again during the race, encouraging them to ride hard.

With the races frequently taking place in the evening, as is the case with this one, they tend to attract large numbers of people and often generate a festival atmosphere that keeps the whole family enthralled - even those who don't have much of an interest in the sport. Another advantage is that spectators will see the riders pass by numerous times and can walk around the circuit to see it from different angles.

The Parcours

View Sheffield GP in a larger map

Taking place on the same short 1.374km circuit as used in 2013, the GP features a number of bends that, though wide, become challenging due to the sheer number of riders trying to get around them at the same time - with the high speeds on a parcours that demands sharp bursts of power (which is precisely how Helen Wyman, who specialises in sharp bursts of power combined with the sort of bike-handling skills that cyclo cross riders need in drives, won last year), this can easily lead to complications. The temptation is always to get out in front in an attempt to be well away from danger if anyone does go down and starts off a domino effect, but on a circuit this short there are very few opportunities to get away without everyone else going with you.

Profile

The start is on Pinstone Street by the Peace Gardens on a wide, smooth road that immediately travels downhill, encouraging high speed, then bends gradually to the right after approximately 50 metres and passes through a pinch point that will force the peloton to change shape. Another pinch point, caused by a traffic island at a T-junction, lies 500m ahead where the race turns left onto Furnival Gate and enters a 110m straight section that descends more steeply towards a roundabout whee the riders turn left again to join Arundel Gate - there is plenty of room going into the corner but less on the way out, and it'd be a good place to spectate.

After the roundabout is a 90m section that climbs very slightly to just past a crossroads, then flattens out for the remaining 470m to the end of the Arundel Gate section and the left turn onto Norfolk Street. The corner is sharp, but sufficiently wide for riders to get round en masse; however, the road narrows considerably as it enters the 0.2km cobbled section running between the rest of Norfolk Street (the cobbles are flatlook for the Coventry Building Society by the church to mark the start of the section) and Pinstone Street. 80m from the start of the cobbles lies the only right corner on the circuit, leading onto Surrey Street - and it's a tricky one due to a combination of the narrow roads, the cobbles and several drain covers lying right in the middle of the roads where they'll be a serious test of bike-handling skills if it rains at all on race day. The cobbles continue for another 120m after the corner and the road bends gradually left before arriving at a junction with Pinstone Street, where the riders turn left onto asphalt and begin a straight 100m sprint to the line.

Start List

Not yet available

Getting There and Accommodation

Sheffield will forever be associated with heavy industry, especially steel production, and for some reason a surprising number of people imagine that it's still the smoggy, noisy, grimy place that it was in late Victorian times. The reality is very different: today, it's a clean and modern city with much to offer to tourists, and is surprisingly and pleasantly green - 61% of the total area is green space, including 250 public parks and gardens, and it has the highest ratio of trees to humans of any city in Europe. Perhaps of even more interest to cyclists is the city's proximity to the Peak District (in fact, roughly a third lies within the Peak District): even before it became a National Park in 1951, this region was popular among cyclists who came for the stunning roads that wind through, up and down some of the most beautiful natural countryside in Britain. Come and see the race, then spend a few days on a bike tour - you will not be disappointed by either the southern part, known as the White Peak, or the more difficult and often stormy northern Dark Peak.

As it takes place in one of Britain's major cities, it's easy to get to this race by road (whether by car or, as is always a better option, bike) or by public transport, from anywhere in Britain or overseas, and to find a place to stay once there. The M1 and M18 motorways connect the city to the rest of the country, while A, B and unclassified roads provide a choice of routes suited to bikes (Google Maps' route planner will come up with a few if plotting journey plans isn't your thing). There are rail links to all regions including to St. Pancras in London, making it possible to travel directly from Belgium and France; and an airport.

With literally hundreds of hotels, ranging from pricey luxury to bargain basic, it'll be easy to find accommodation to suit any budget. The Peak District has numerous campsites and Youth Hostels.

Pooley wins Durango-Durango

Emma Pooley

British AA Drink-Leontien.nl rider Emma Pooley chalked up (what by my reckoning) was her 41st professional victory and her first this season at Tuesday's Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria after using her highly respected climbing skills to escape from a strong lead group on the penultimate climb, then rode hard to maintain her advantage all the way to the line.

The initial part of the race had been characterised by constant tit-for-tat battles with various attacks firing off and being chased down only for a new attempt to replace it. In the last 20km, the opposing teams redoubled their efforts and worked together to try to bring Pooley back but were simply outclassed on the final pair of hills.

With 2km it was clear that the only remaining battle was the one for second place: the chase groups merged and began concentrating on getting their sprinters into position and, with Pooley already home and dry, thirteen of them contested second place. Orica-GreenEDGE's Claudia Haussler did a superb job of leading out Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, but on this occasion Teut's incredible sprint didn't deliver and she settled for third behind Specialised-Lululemon's Charlotte Becker.

Elizabeth Armitstead and Sharon Laws, also AA-Drink, took fourth and eighth respectively. With their Dutch team mate Lucinda Brand taking ninth, it was a great day for AA Drink - and further proof that if you want to see British riders dominate cycling, the women are the ones to watch.

It's also indication that a slow start to the season was caused by Pooley timing her peak for the Giro Donne, the last Grand Tour in women's cycling, and for the Olympics. When she does, however, she'll face far tougher opposition that any hill of mountain: Marianne Vos, who won this race for the last two editions but was away this year with a broken collarbone.

Top Ten
  1.  Emma Pooley AA Drink-Leontien.nl 2h51'35"
  2.  Charlotte Becker Specialized-Lululemon +54"
  3.  Judith Arndt Orica GreenEDGE ST
  4.  Elizabeth Armitstead AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  5.  Annemiek Van Vleuten Rabobank ST
  6.  Alena Amialyusik Be Pink ST
  7.  Emma Johansson Hitec Products-Mistral Home ST
  8.  Sharon Laws AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  9.  Lucinda Brand AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  10.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized- Lululemon ST
(Full results)

A strange choice for Sky Ride spokesperson

The Sky Rides have done a good job of introducing more people to cycling - each event has been a success with everyone from hardcore racing cyclists to families on their way home from Halfords with a roof rack full of new machines showing up to experience the pleasure of riding in a group that, in some cases, has numbered thousands. It's good, therefore, to see that the Rides are being covered on ITV's Lorraine talk show next Tuesday (ITV1, 08:30, 29th of May); because it'll bring them to the attention of a whole new audience who might otherwise never have heard of them.

One question, though. Why is Kelly Brook on the show to talk about them? I've got nothing against Brook personally and, like most models, she's far more intelligent than the stereotype portrayed in the media. But why have Sky decided to have as their spokesperson a woman who became (and primarily remains) famous for taking her clothes off, rather than one who is associated more with cycling? There are plenty to choose from in the Team GB track team, after all.

Do they think that a glamour model will help to sell cycling? If so, they're mistaken: as Mary Jo Kane of the University of Minnesota argues, sex sells sex, not sport, and in fact attempting to use sex to sell sport damages not just women's sport, but sport in general (by sport, incidentally, I mean activities taken up in order to improve fitness, in addition to competition).

Road racer and cyclo crosser Nikola Butler tweeted...

Nikola Butler ‏@nik_tweet
@Cyclopunk apparently women identify with her better than an actual cyclist. God knows how they figured that out

Really, Sky? Women with an interest in cycling (or at least, women who may develop an interest in cycling, which are surely the target audiences for the Lorraine segment since the show is aimed at women) identify more with a 34E-24-34 glamour/lingerie model and TV star best known from Page 3 and smutty calendars than they would do with a female cyclist best known for, erm, cycling? Someone like Victoria Pendleton, or Laura Trott, or Jo Rowsell, or Dani King or any one of the other world-class athletes you could have picked to appear on the show? Or somebody like Josie Dew? It probably wouldn't take someone as clever as Dr. Kane to pick holes in that.

La Fleche Wallonne report and results

Pooley abandons, Stevens takes Fleche victory

Emma Pooley

Emma Pooley (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) was forced to abandon the Fleche Wallonne Femmes after her gears apparently broke twice, a third mechanical problem and three crashes. In the first, she went down along with several other riders but was unhurt; in the second, she collided with a rider who had unexpectedly stopped, breaking her deraileur and while beginning to feel rather battered could continue on a spare bike; in the third. another rider collided with her and she was thrown to the ground, then a motorbike ran over her bike and damaged it beyond repair (AA Drink-Leontien.nl report here). Eye witnesses say she was bleeding as she climbed the Muur for the last time, but she's said to have only very minor injuries (updates as soon as possible). Faren-Honda's Nicole Cooke is reported to have abandoned "after a few kilometres."

Marianne Vos, four-time winner of this race, looked set to repeat her previous success after taking the lead on the final climbed of the infamous Muur to the finish line after a five-rider break formed with 15km to go and managed to join up with Linda Villumsen, Clara Hughes and Lucinda Brand. However, she was surprised in the last 30m by Evelyn Stevens who suddenly appeared from behind her and powered past to the line looking as though she had a rocket under her saddle - an absolutely superb win for the American rider and as good as a big tick next to her name on the Olympic selection list.

Evelyn Stevens, now with
Specialized-Lululemon

Women's Top Ten
1. Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-Lululemon) 3h26'32"
2. Marianne Vos (Rabobank) +4"
3. Linda Villumsen (GreenEDGE) +20"
4. Lucinda Brand (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) +27"
5. Ashleigh Moolman (Lotto Ladies-Belisol) +41"
6. Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE) ST
7. Megan Guarnier (TIBCO) +44"
8. Clara Hughes (Specialized-Lululemon) +48"
9. Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home) ST
10. Karol-Ann Canuel (Vienne Futurscope) +51"

Best Brit: 20. Sharon Laws (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) +1'10"
(Top 40)




The women's race is, of course, the fourth round of the Women's Road World Cup. The standings after today look like this:

1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank) 200 pts
2. Judith Arndt (Specialized-Lululemon) 139 pts
3. Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home) 86 pts
4. Kirsten Wild (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) 80 pts
5. Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-Lululemon) 75 pts
6. Trixi Worrack (Specialized-Lululemon) 62 pts
7. Adrie Visser (Skil-Argos) 56 pts
8. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabobank) 52 pts
9. Kristin Armstrong (USA) 50 pts
10. Tatiana Guderzo (IMCipollini-Giambenini) 50 pts

Videos

Videos courtesy of Sebastien Tytgat

Gunnewijk wins Women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Loes Gunnewijk
(image credit: wielerpro.nl CC BY 2.0) 

A breakaway powered by three GreenEDGE riders at the halfway point Côte de Trieu drained a large postion of the peloton's energy, leaving nobody able to keep up when Loes Gunnewijk attacked on the famous cobbles of Paddestraat as the race entered its final part. The 31-year-old Dutch rider was then left alone for five kilometress until Specialized-Lululemon's Ellen Van Dijk joined her and shared the work. The two women entered the final sprint together with Gunnewijk proving marginally faster to the line.

GreenEDGE continue their fantastic first season, having won every race they've thus far entered. Lululemon, of which third place Trixie Worrack is also a member, are having a great start to what is their first season too; the two teams having also taken seven of the top ten spots at the Tour of Qatar.

The best-placed British rider was Lucy Martin and Katie Colclough in 32nd and 33rd place.

For an excellent report on the race, click here.


1 Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) Greenedge-AIS 3:17:14
2 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) Team Specialized-Lululemon
3 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Team Specialized-Lululemon 0:01:10
4 Martine Bras (Ned) Dolmans-Boels Cyclingteam  
5 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team  
6 Noemi Cantele (Ita) Be Pink  
7 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Hitec Products-Mistral Home Cycling Team  
8 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Greenedge-AIS  
9 Amanda Spratt (Aus) Greenedge-AIS  
10 Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) AA Drink-Leontien.nl Cycling Team  
11 Lise Nöstvold (Nor) Hitec Products-Mistral Home Cycling Team 0:01:19  
12 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Team Specialized-Lululemon 0:01:33  
13 Latoya Brulee (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012  
14 Christine Majerus (Lux) Team Gsd Gestion  
15 Roxane Knetemann (Ned) Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team  
16 Ludivine Henrion (Bel) Lotto Belisol Ladies  
17 Sarah Düster (Ger) Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team  
18 Romy Kasper (Ger) Rusvelo  
19 Thalita De Jong (Ned) Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team  
20 Sara Mustonen (Swe) Hitec Products-Mistral Home Cycling Team  
21 Maaike Polspoel (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012  
22 Irene Van Den Broek (Ned) Dolmans-Boels Cyclingteam  
23 Madeleine Olsson (Swe) AA Drink-Leontien.nl Cycling Team  
24 Jessie Daams (Bel) AA Drink-Leontien.nl Cycling Team  
25 Ann-Sophie Duyck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Ladies  
26 Iris Slappendel (Ned) Stichting Rabo Women Cycling Team  
27 Alexis Rhodes (Aus) Greenedge-AIS  
28 Chantal Blaak (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl Cycling Team  
29 Fröydis Waerstad (Nor) Hitec Products-Mistral Home Cycling Team  
30 Carlee Taylor (Aus) Vienne Futuroscope  
31 Regina Bruins (Ned) Skil 1T4I 0:04:46  
32 Lucy Martin (GBr) AA Drink-Leontien.nl Cycling Team 0:07:17  
33 Katie Colclough (GBr) Team Specialized-Lululemon  
34 Kaat Hannes (Bel) Lotto Belisol Ladies  
35 Jolien d'Hoore (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012  
36 Marlen Jöhrend (Ger) Abus Nutrixxion

Presenting... the most stylish team in professional cycling!

Modern team kits tend to be very different to those of decades ago. Think of Merckx in his Molteni Arcore kit, Anquetil in St. Raphael-Gitane, Koblet in - well, everything Koblet ever deemed worthy of covering his perfect back. In those days, teams had just one or two sponsors; allowing designers to come up with simple, beautiful designs that made use of large sections of complimentary colours. Now, a ProTour team has as many as 30 or more sponsors, each of them wanting their identity emblazoned on the kit as prominently a possible in order to get something back for the money they put in. As a result, jerseys are complicated, messy, ugly patchworks of logos, slogans and corporate names.

In 2011, Leopard Trek bucked the trend and turned out in the first genuinely tasteful professional kit seen since the early 1980s. Using just three colours, a wide expanse of black across the shoulders and upper torso, separated from the pure white midriff by a band of sky blue, it could have come straight from the drawing board of a top Italian designer - and if the team's matching Mercedes Benz cars and enormous, space-shuttle-like bus are anything to go on, they had the money for it to have done so. Logos were kept to the minimum. There was Leopard, the name of manager Bryan Nygaard's racing company, Trek who supplied the bikes, Mercedes and a few restrained placings of the team's symbol, which rapidly became as recognisable to cycling fans as the Mercedes star is to car fans. Then there were the bikes: all Trek Madones are beautiful, but when painted up to match the kit, the effect was stunning - but it lasted for just a year because, when Leopard Trek merged with Radioshack, a fourth colour was added and new logos appeared. It's still one of the better kits, but the simple beauty was gone.

The best-looking kit in professional cycling?
(image credit: On The Drops CC)

So, who has the best-looking kit in professional cycling now? Enter Britain's Matrix Fitness Racing Team, also known as On The Drops after their website (home, incidentally, to the riders' blogs which offer first-rate insights into the races they enter). Having ridden in primarily blue kits in the past, new sponsor Matrix has inspired a change to black, white and red kit designed by Prendas Ciclismo and Santini that easily outclasses anything else on the professional circuit. Black across the shoulders is separated from a white middle section bearing the Matrix logo by a thin red band, then a thin black strip separates white from the red midriff.  There are more corporate logos than Leopard Trek could display - due to the criminally low exposure women's cycling receives, teams have no choice but to give back far more for each every pound, euro and dollar the sponsors put in than the men's teams have ever done - but excellent placing keeps the overall effect simple.

Helen Wyman, winner of the 2011
Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix
(image credit: Thomas DucroquetCC BY-SA 3.0)

"The kit is second to none. We’ve been with Santini now for 12 months and once you’ve experienced the quality of their kit, change isn’t really an option," says manager Stefan Wyman, husband of seven-time British cyclo cross champion Helen who also rides for the team in road race events. "It stands out, the riders love it and we feel it gives us the edge we always look for." The team consists of Joanna Rowsell, Hannah Rich, Dani King, Penny Rowson, Jessie Walker, Hannah Walker, Annie Simpson and, new for 2012, Sarah Reynolds in addition to Helen, all highly talented riders and arguably the strongest squad in British cycling - so expect to see the new kit crossing the finish line at high speed throughout the new season.


Fans will be able to show their support with replica kits, available to buy from Prendas Cyclismo at the end of March - and there's really no reason not to do so.

Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix returns for 2012

Helen Wyman, winner of the 2011
Johnon Health Tech Grand Prix
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet
CC BY-SA 3.0) 

It's a sad but true fact that there aren't as many women's bike races as there are men's - and those that do take place are often under-funded, small-scale affairs that most of us never even get to hear about apart from a brief mention in the cycling press.

Hence, the news that the Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series - the nearest thing to a Women's Tour of Britain - will be run for a second time alongside SweetSpot's Halfords Tours series for one month this coming summer is very welcome indeed. The series, which organisers are working to make an even bigger success than in 2011, offers the best chance to see the enormous talent and potential of Britain's female cyclists: "The 2011 Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix was a fantastic showcase for women’s cycling in the UK," says winner and multiple cyclo cross champion Helen Wyman. "The Series provides a wonderful opportunity for developing riders to battle against some of the UK's best, wheel for wheel, and above all they do it in front of the TV cameras. I'm already looking forward to defending my title in 2012."

The four rounds will be held in towns and cities around the country - meaning that the majority of fans will have a round within easy traveling distance - and use the same closed road circuits as the men's races, which are organised with one eye firmly on increasing awareness of competitive cycling. This means that television crews will be in place for each event, helping to raise the profile of women's cycling - a method that has worked well at large European races such as the Tour of Flanders.

Halfords Tour Series Dates

Round One Tuesday 15th May
Round Two Thursday 17th May
Round Three Tuesday 22nd May
Round Four Thursday 24th May
Round Five Tuesday 29th May
Round Six Thursday 31st May
Round Seven Tuesday 5th June
Round Eight Thursday 7th June
Round Nine Tuesday 12th June
Round Ten Thursday 14th June

The locations and details of the Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix will be announced soon.

Reynolds to Matrix Fitness-Prendas

Sarah Reynolds
(image credit: On The Drops CC)

"I’m thrilled to have Sarah on the team. She’s ridden on one of my teams back in 2008 and was always a pleasure to work with.  Sarah’s talent has never been in doubt and that led to her gaining a place on a top Dutch development team.  But things have come full circle and I’m really pleased to be able to offer her the support she deserves in 2012." - Stefan Wyman

Britain's renowned Matrix Fitness-Prendas team has announced that Staffordhire-born Sarah Reynolds has joined them after spending the last few seasons with the Dutch Moving Ladies outfit. She replaces Sarah Byrne who, Wyman says, has decided to have a break from the sport.

"Racing for a British team is just what I needed right now in my career and I'm pretty excited about the race program we have" says Reynolds who will turn 21 this May. Les Déesses de la Route wishes her all the best with her new team which, as one of the most progressive and supportive in women's cycling, is as ideal a place to develop as an athlete as she could possibly hope to find.

 More on the story at On The Drops CC, Matrix Fitness-Prendas' webste.

What's with... Evelyn Hamilton?

Left-right: Jesse Aitchison, Ethel Jermeat, Evelyn Hamilton

The history of cycling is populated by numerous larger-than-life characters from the early days (Maurice Garin, Henri Desgrange, Marshall Taylor) to the present (Jens Voigt, David Zabriskie, Fabian Cancellara, Marianne Vos) and with so many in between (Louison Bobet, Missy Giove, Tom Simpson, Charly Gaul, Coppi, Anquetil, Hinault, Armstrong, Merckx, Jason McRoy, Firmin Lambot, Pantani and thousands of others) that it's practically impossible for any book to tell all the stories. Colourful lives, all of them - but few people ever lived a life quite like that of the British endurance rider Evelyn Hamilton.

Today, when women's professional cycling is almost entirely ignored by the media, it's so difficult for female cyclists to make their name as professionals that some of those who have done so warn others hoping to do the same that if it's fame they seek, they'll be better off looking elsewhere. If this is true in the 21st Century, is must have been all but impossible for a woman to get her achievements noticed in the first third of the 20th. Hamilton, born Eveline Alice Alexandra Bayliss on the 3rd of April 1906 in Westminster, London, was one who did.

Summarising Evelyn's life is a challenge to any historian because she was one of those people who seems to have believed that her past should be multiple choice, frequently recounting stories that cannot possibly have been true or are highly suspect - however, one fact that is in no doubt is that she won both the National Half-Mile Handicap and the Sporting Life Trophy at the Stamford Track in 1931. That success won her sufficient fame to be approached by the producers of the 1934 musical Sing As We Go, in which she can be seen acting as body double for Gracie Fields in a scene in which Fields' character Gracie Platt rides a bicycle. Around the same time, she appears to have befriended Claud Butler, head of the manufacturer that in those days built some of the finest bikes in the world. A photograph taken at the Paddington Track in 1932 depicts Hamilton astride her bike, dressed in a sleeveless Claud Butler jersey.

The Miss Modern Model of 1934 (the bike
shown is fitted with a Constrictor Osgear)

Butler sponsored Hamilton in 1934 when she set off on one of his bikes to become the first British woman to ride 1000 miles (1609km) in seven days - a feat she completed after 84 hours of riding. The bike was fitted with the brand new Constrictor Osgear, developed by the legendary Oscar Egg and manufactured under licence by Constrictor, a tyre company based in North London who would also introduce the first lightweight alloy wheel rims. The system featured either three, four or five cogs on the rear wheel with the chain moved between them by a cable-operated arm bolted onto the chain stay, while a jockey wheel fitted to the end of a sprung arm mounted to the bottom bracket maintained chain tension. Media attention was so great that Butler produced a commemorative bike named the Miss Modern Model, a high-end machine that sold well, notable for having a shortened top tube so as to be suitable for women (whose arms tend to be shorter in comparison to height than men's) and tweaked frame angles so as to maintain correct geometry - one of the very first female-specific bikes in history.

One year later, Hamilton was so famous that when she set off to ride from Land's End to John O'Groats (which she did in four days), she was presented to her fans by Ben Tillet who, before retirement a few years previously, had enjoyed enormous popularity as a Labour Member of Parliament and trade unionist. The event was filmed by Pathe News, and the recording still exists. In the coming years, her fame grew as she set more and more records, including riding 10,000 miles (16,093km) in 100 days aboard a Granby bike (fitted with the new Cyclo-Star gears that resemble a modern derailleur. This was the first time Hamilton used a non-Claud Butler bike for one of her long-distance journeys, but the reason for this is not known - had they fallen out or had Granby offered a tempting pay-cheque? We'll probably never know. She finished the ride - having embarked upon it to prove that women were capable of equalling men in terms of athletic achievement - on the 14th of August 1938. Another Pathe newsreel features Hamilton offering cycling safety and style tips.

That same year, Evelyn and husband Jack set up a bike shop under her name at 416a Streatham High Road, London - it would move briefly to 402a and then 398a (reason unknown, but the area suffered heavy bombing during the Second World War). The building still exists (51°25'21.21"N  0° 7'46.58"W) and is now occupied by a large homewares and furniture store, the shop front altered beyond all recognition. The Hamiltons ran the shop until circa 1968, but it continued as E. Hamilton under different ownership right up until 1984; by which time it also sold motorbikes.

Precisely what Hamilton was doing during the war is a mystery - all that is known is that she wasn't seen at the shop for the entire duration. One rumour suggests she had one to France to become a wall of death rider for a circus and was trapped in Paris when it fell to the Nazis - there is some evidence to support claims that she spent the war in France, but the truth about what she was doing there is rather clouded by her own mythologising. During interviews later in her life, she seems to have amused herself by inventing contradictory stories - she told one reporter that she had pretended to be French and found work in a cafe popular with members of the Gestapo and another that she had taken the identity of a dead woman and lived - and possibly bigamously wed - a local named Fernand Helsen. Once, she claimed that she had worked for the Resistance, using a tandem to surreptitiously transport wanted people in heavy disguise across the city until she was captured by the Gestapo - but was able to escape when she pulled a miniature gun from her hair, shot her captor and fled, later managing to get herself back to England. Whether the story is true is as good as up to one's own personal opinion, but the way she told it it was most certainly convincing - she was awarded the Cross of Lorraine by President De Gaulle after the war.

In fact, the truth about where Hamilton was and what she was doing during the War may be far stranger than even her tallest stories. According to some, the Hamilton shop operated as a front organisation for the Free French Forces (a partisan army that fought hard against the Nazis long after the country was occupied) and the British Special Operations Executive, the top secret intelligence and guerilla warfare organisation. Lending credence to the story is the fact that Helsen did exist but, far from living in France during the war, was an employee of the French Embassy in London - according to gossip, Hamilton was known to had affairs with a number of men other than her husband (one of whom may have been the father of her son John who died when he was ten months old and seems was not the child of either Jack or Helsen and, until proof of his existence was uncovered in 2011 was generally supposed to have been another of Hamilton's invented stories - she had been known to claim that the baby was taken by the Nazis when she was in France and never seen again) and it's just within the boundaries of possibility that the tale of a bigamous marriage (a crime for which she seems to have never been investigated) and the other stories were invented to cover up a more professional relationship and official, covert activities. Whether they married or not, she took Helsen's name and retained it for more than half a century after his death in 1950. Oddly, nobody knows what became of Jack - had they divorced, in which case her claimed marriage to Helsen was not bigamous? Did he die in the War? Did he even exist?

Evelyn Hamilton, 1935. Left - Ben Tillet, right - Claud Butler

While she was away during the War, Hamilton's shop was run by three Frenchmen and, as befits a woman who lived such a remarkable and strange life, their identity is unknown. However, at least one of them may have been one of the famous Pélissier brothers: Hamilton had been known to mention a distant cousin of hers who had won the Tour de France - as Henri Pélissier had done in 1929. Henri was shot dead by his lover Camille Tharault in 1935 and an older brother was killed during the First World War, leaving Francis and Charles who survived until 1959.

After relinquishing control of her shop, Hamilton moved to the Norfolk town of Swaffham where she lived for the rest of her life and served as president of the Breckland Cycling Club (and, according to locals, had more affairs). She died there on the 29th of May 2005 and is buried in the town, her gravestone bearing the name Evelyn Alice Helsen.

More Cyclopunk What's With... articles

Wyman on Vos: "I’m going to match her next season"

If anyone can, Helen can!

British Champion Helen Wyman's race reports, in which she gives a detailed description of cyclo cross events from her point of view as someone who actually competes in them, are well-known (if you don't read them, you really should: Helen is highly intelligent and writes superbly).

Her latest, written in the wake of the final World Cup round at Hoogerheide last weekend, is a classic example in which she picks apart the race in order to both examine and explain her own performance. She says she's still having problems with her breathing after falling victim to the respiratory virus that has been doing the rounds in the CX world this winter and which kept her fellow British rider Gabby Day away from the race, but feels that her sixth place finish could still have been better had she not have made "a few silly errors" that she says kept her from the top 5.

More interesting still, meanwhile, are her thoughts on the Dutch and World Champion Marianne Vos -  who leapt ahead in the early stages of the race and dominated to the very end, crossing the line with an advantage just short of a minute and a half over second place Daphny van den Brand.

"Vos set out in the front group, decided to destroy everyone at her chosen moment," says Wyman, who will be 31 on the 4th of March. "She did that with style and grace, and left a little race of everyone else behind her (I would like to point out here I’m not happy this is happening and I’m already plotting how I’m going to match her next season.  Me and Kona, we are going to set the balance back next year….honest)."

Vos is "the standard setter for us all and we
all need to raise our games," says Wyman

Intriguing! Those who have followed her career, and her reports, will know that Wyman has a perfect understanding of her sport and can see right through to the underlying structure of a race every bit as effectively as the x-ray machines she used when working as a physiotherapist (she graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with a degree in the subject) - and having been British Champion for the last seven consecutive years, there can be no doubt that she has the physical talent to go with the brains.

Vos is a phenomenal athlete and, at 24 years old, is only going to get better. "Despite missing two rounds, [she] has shown that she’s pretty much the standard setter for us all and we all need to raise our games," says Wyman. That is great news, because increased competitiveness can only possibly lead to more exposure for women's cyclo cross - and it would be fantastic beyond words to see Helen take the World Cup next season.

Helen Wyman's website