Chrono des Nations 2013

20.10.2013 Official Site
France, ITT, 20.87km
UCI 1.1

Race report here

After several months in which there's been a race every weekend (sometimes, two for each weekend) the Chrono Champenois marked the beginning of a five-week period with no Elite Women's races at all, a sign that the end of another cycling season is almost over.

The Chrono des Nations isn't quite the last event of 2013 because the African Championships will take place in November, but it's the last non-championship race until 2014.

History
The Chrono started life as the Chrono des Herbiers in 1982, when it was open to men only (a British rider, Gary Dowdell, won that year; another one called David Akam won a year later - and thanks to two victories by Chris Boardman in 1993 and 1996 and one for David Millar in 2010, Britain is the second most successful nation in race history after the French, who have seven wins). The women's race, which was added in 1987, is especially interesting in that it reflects the long career of Jeannie Longo which, whether one considers her an inspiration or a (probably doping) dinosaur, is remarkable: she won the first edition, then won again in 1992, 1995, 2000, 2009 and 2010 and is still racing to this day. She will turn 55 years old eleven days after this race.

In 2006, organisers joined forces with the organisers of the now-defunct Grand Prix des Nations, which had been in existence since 1932 and was widely regarded as a Classic (the only time trial to be given that honour) and as an unofficial World Championship in the days before the time trial was added to the official UCI Championships - it was at the GP des Nations that Beryl Burton, the most successful British athlete of all time, surprised the men in the race when she achieved a time not too far off that of winner Felice Gimondi in 1968. With the introduction of an official World Time Trial Championship in 1994, the GP began to decline in importance and when the ProTour series was inaugurated in 2005 it was omitted from the UCI calendar. When the two races merged, the Chrono des Herbiers became the Chrono des Nations.

2011/2012 winner Amber Neben

Previous Winners
1987 Jeannie Longo, 1988 Maria Canins, 1989 Maria Canins, 1990 Astrid Schop, 1991 Nathalie Gendron, 1992 Jeannie Longo, 1993 Roselyne Riou-Chalon, 1994 Marion Clignet, 1995 Jeannie Longo, 1996 Chrystèle Richard, 1997 Zulfiya Zabirova, 1998 Zulfiya Zabirova, 1999 Zulfiya Zabirova, 2000 Jeannie Longo, 2001 Edwige Pitel, 2002 Zulfiya Zabirova, 2003 Margaret Hemsley, 2004 Edwige Pitel, 2005 Edwige Pitel, 2006 Priska Doppmann, 2007 Susanne Ljungskog, 2008 Susanne Ljungskog, 2009 Jeannie Longo, 2010 Jeannie Longo, 2011 Amber Neben, 2012 Amber Neben

The Parcours
The name Les Herbiers comes from the lush and abundant plant life in the area, made possible by the rain - the Vendée department averages around 75mm in October, slightly more than London or Paris (which are famously rainy in Autumn). Since the Chrono takes place in late October, rain often affects the race: even if it doesn't rain during the race, slippery conditions can create problems - and there are a number of points along the route that are absolutely ideal places for treacherously slippery wet leaves to accumulate.

View Chrono des Nations 2013 in a larger map

Though much of the parcours is characterised by the long, fast straights that permit riders to crank up their cadences in search of high speeds and fast times, the five turns need to be treated with some caution. The first, leading from the Rue du Onze Novembre 1918 onto the Rue Nationale, can be hazardous due to the large number of trucks that use the route - spilled diesel is almost impossible to see but is highly slippery, especially during and after rain. The second turn, on the D755 leading onto the D79 at Le Croix Barat, has a traffic island placed slightly off-centre just around the apex of the turn; it was presumably put there to slow down traffic and considerably reduces space. The third turn, on the D79 at La Bonneliere, looks tight on the map but has plenty of room for a cyclist to negotiate it at speed; however, the road surface here is poor and there may be patches of loose gravel (it may also have been repaired recently). The fourth turn, on the D23 at St-Paul-en-Pareds, comes at the bottom of a short descent; it may be very slippery in wet conditions and there may be patches of loose gravel - fortunately, there is plenty of space. The fifth and final turn is in Les Herbiers at a roundabout between the Rue d'Ardelay and the Av. de la Gare; it's a very tight turn (almost 180 degrees) and wet leaves tend to collect on the road, forming a skidding hazard. The road in the short tunnel on the D755 may be slippery, but it's straight and shouldn't cause problems.

As revealed by the altitude profile, this is quite a rolling parcours though the gradient becomes challenging at only one point. There is a short descent immediately after the start, then the road climbs from the first turn and gains around 40m in 2km at an average gradient of 2%. This is followed by a fast descent along the D755 to a point just under 5km from the start where the road climbs again, this time gaining 64m in 2km - the average gradient is, therefore, 3.2%, but there's a much steeper section at 5km which surpasses 6% for around 0.15km, the steepest gradient on the parcours. Another descent with sections at -3.8% leads to the second turn, then flatter terrain leads to the third turn which is followed by the steepest downhill section with one short stretch at -7.1% - a chance for some riders to shave a few seconds off their times in the dry, potentially a dangerous road in the wet. From 15km the road climbs again for 2km, becoming no steeper than 3%; the remainder of the route is relatively flat with the exception of a 0.15km section which nears 3% along the Av. de la Gare leading to the finish.

Starters
1 (38) Bravard Charlotte Vélophile naintréenne Poitou-Charentes
2 (37) Artaud Audrey CSM Epinay-sur-Seine Ile-de-France
3 (36) Genee Laudine VC St-Malo Bretagne
4 (35) Fenart Ophélie CSM Villeneuve-la-Garenne Ile-de-France
5 (34) Sero Coralie Comité du Morbihan Bretagne
6 (33) Rochedy Emilie VS Romans-Péage Rhône-Alpes
7 (32) Vekemans Anisha Topsport-Vlaanderen Belgique
8 (31) Strappazzon Marine VC St-Julien Rhône-Alpes
9 (30) Longo Borghini Elisa Hitec Italie
10 (29) Favre Mathilde Lointek France
11 (28) Solovey Hanna équipe d'Ukraine Ukraine
12 (27) Rival Lucile US Pontchâteau Pays de la Loire
13 (26) Burgess Jay Ecosse Grande-Bretagne
14 (25) Leleu Fanny ASPTT Amiens Picardie
15 (24) Caetano Isabel CSM Epinay-sur-Seine Portugal
16 (23) Duval Joanne US Guérande Pays de la Loire
17 (22) Islas-Garcia Roxana Bourgogne Pro Dialog Mexique
18 (21) Parot Danièle Indre Vélo Passion Centre
19 (20) Drysdale Larissa Cycle Sport Groningue Pays-Bas
20 (19) Gambier Kelly CSM Villeneuve-la-Garenne Ile-de-France
21 (18) Simmonds Hayley GBCycles.co.uk Grande-Bretagne
22 (17) Rival Elodie US Pontchâteau Pays de la Loire
23 (16) Turvey Anna Ecosse Grande-Bretagne
24 (15) De Saint Jean Magdalena VC La Pomme-Marseille Provence
25 (14) Shaw Julia Grande-Bretagne
26 (13) Stienen Jutta équipe de Suisse Suisse
27 (12) Van Houweling Molly Metromint Cycling Team Etats-Unis
28 (11) O'Donnell Bridie Total Rush Hyster Australie
29 (10) Valsecchi Silvia BePink Italie
30 (9) Brulee Latoya CyclelivePlus-Zannata Belgique
31 (8) Lesueur Mélodie CM Aubervilliers Ile-de-France
32 (7) De Vocht Liesbeth Rabobank Liv/Giant Belgique
33 (6) Pitel Edwige SC Michela Fanini France
34 (5) Schwager Patricia équipe de Suisse Suisse
35 (4) Longo Jeannie ASPSA Rhône-Alpes
36 (3) Tetrick Alison Exergy Twenty 16 Etats-Unis
37 (2) Zabelinskaia Olga RusVelo Russie
38 (1) Neben Amber équipe des Etats-Unis Etats-Unis

Getting There
As already discussed, Vendée typically experiences rainy weather during October and, by the time the race takes place, temperatures will have fallen (and may even drop below freezing at night). However, Les Herbiers can be reached easily by road and, as a result, going to see the race could be an ideal short holiday for hardier cyclists looking for one last adventure on the bike before the weather turns too cold - in addition to the women's race, there are races for Elite Men, Male and Female Espoirs, Male and Female Juniors and for Cadets (mixed) taking place between the 15th and 21st, a cyclosportive and other sports in addition to various events going on around town including music (the jazz band is promising; the rest - including Veronique Cadanse and her accordion - might not be that tempting to foreign visitors), a Mexican evening (and why not?), a bike fair and, because this is France, more local food and drink than you could ever hope to consume and still ride home.

The most practical route to make the journey by bicycle would be to start at St-Malo in Brittany, to which ferries sail from Portsmouth. St-Malo to Les Herbiers is approximately 260km avoiding motorways, a distance that a very fit cyclist could cover in a day and most serious cyclists could easily manage in two days. The route suggested by Google is here. The journey by car is roughly the same distance and would take around three hours in light traffic; the route suggested by Google is here. Les Herbiers is not connected to the train network; however, Cholet is and lies just 25km away, making it possible to get most of the way there before cycling the remainder. Do check before buying tickets, though, as traveling on SNCF trains with a bike is not as simple a process as might be expected. Nantes Atlantique international airport is 70km away, a distance that can be covered easily by bicycle in an afternoon; the route suggested by Google is here.

Following the Race
The Chrono has its own radio station which is broadcast over the Internet as well as locally on 89.7fm. The official Twitter account is @ChronoNations; hashtags #LeChrono2013 and #chronodesnations return various results - use them to share any news you come across, too.

Are you going to the race? Could you provide reasonably regular and accurate coverage via Twitter? Let me know and I'll list you as a way to follow the race here!

Chrono Champenois - Trophée Européen 2013

15.09.2013 Official Site
France, Individual Time Trial, 33.4km
UCI 1.1

The 2013 cycling season is almost over. The Memorial Michela Fanini, which finishes on the same day the Chrono Champenois takes place, is the last stage race of the year and all we have left is a handful of time trials, of which the Champenois is one - the other races left are the Chrono des Nations, World Championships and the African TT and road race Championships, and then that's it until Spring 2014 (fortunately, there is cyclo cross).

The Champenois is a rare example of a race that started out as a women's event, right back in 1989, and later expanded to include a men's race too.

Previous winners
Jeannie Longo of France and the Swiss Karin Thürig have enjoyed the most victories with four apiece (1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999 for Longo; 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 for Thürig). Several riders have won twice, including Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel who won in 2009 and then again in last year's edition.

2012 winner Wendy Houvenaghel

1989 Nathalie Six
1990 Nathalie Gendron
1991 Nathalie Gendron
1992 Jeannie Longo
1993 Svetlana Samokhvalova
1994 Svetlana Samokhvalova
1995 Jeannie Longo
1996 Jeannie Longo
1997 Alessandra Cappellotto
1998 Zoulfia Zabirova
1999 Jeannie Longo
2001 Kirsty Nicol Robb
2002 Zoulfia Zabirova
2003 Hanka Kupfernagel
2004 Karin Thürig
2005 Kathy Watt
2006 Karin Thürig
2007 Karin Thürig
2008 Karin Thürig
2009 Wendy Houvenaghel
2010 Anne Samplonius
2011 Judith Arndt
2012 Wendy Houvenaghel

The Parcours
The majority of the route is made up of long, straight sections and is as a result not highly technical; however, there are several tight corners which may become slippery after rain. An added hazard at this time of the year is the horse chestnut trees found at several points along the way - the spiky nut (conker) shells they drop can easily cause punctures. There are also a number of short tunnels passing under railways, while these are not narrow enough to cause problems for a single rider water and leaves often collect in them, causing slippery conditions.

View Chrono Champenois 2013 in a larger map

The climb, which takes up most of the third quarter of the race, looks daunting on the altitude profile but in fact gains only around 90m in 8km, making the average gradient negligible. With the highest gradient, around 24km from the start, less than 6% and lasting for only a short section, gradients won't play much of a part in deciding the outcome - what matters is being able to maintain a good rhythm around the corners and keep your momentum all the way to the finish.

Getting there

Calais to Betheny by car isn't a difficult journey, being some 270km down the A26 - though you'll have to pay tolls at a few points; the suggested Google map is here. Completing the journey by bike is probably not possible for the majority of people at this late a stage since avoiding the motorway increases the journey to 310km; however, the Google map for the suggested route is here - and you could always drive the first bit, then cycle the last 100km for one last bike adventure before the weather turns bad.

How to follow the race

As ever, we're probably going to be limited to Twitter updates from Karl Lima, Richie Steege, Anton Vos and Bart Hazen - so it's a good thing that all four of them do a fantastic job of providing information. The race doesn't seem to have an official Twitter account, but using the hashtags #womenscycling and #chronochampenois may turn up some good stuff - be sure to use them to share any information on the race or media coverage you may come across.

Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau 2013

18.05.2013 (GP) and 20.05.2013 (Time Trial) Official Site and FaceBook
Canada, One-day Road Race, 132.34km (GP) and 9.2km (TT)
UCI 1.1

Joelle Numainville won in 2010 (when she
rode for Webcor), was second in 2011
(riding for Tibco) and was best-placed
Canadian rider with fourth place in 2012
(with current team Optum)

Back in 2010, Canada found itself suddenly lacking in UCI women's cycling races when several events - faced with financial difficulties or lack of interest - fell by the wayside. Fortunately, instead of deciding that this was evidence that the sport is less interesting than men's cycling and cutting funding as some national federations might do, the Canadian Cycling Association decided to look into why those races hadn't been as successful as they might have been and to investigate ways in which a new event might be given a better start in life.

The reason, they decided, wasn't that women's cycling is boring or less competitive than men's cycling; awareness of it just isn't sufficiently widespread - there is an audience for it, but most of that audience didn't know it yet. The answer they came up with was one that many professional riders and fans have been advocating for years: combine some UCI races with an already-popular family cycling event. That way, the existing event benefits when more professional cycling fans show up and the race benefits from a ready-made audience, many of whom then go home as new fans thinking that this pro cycling thing all seems rather good fun.

What's more, they had the perfect event in mind. Since 2004, Quebec's La Grande Visite de Gatineau cycling festival had been offering a popular mix of gran fondo, bike show, bike market, children's races, fairground attractions, food and all the other things that have made similar events - like Luxembourg's Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin Elsy Jacobs and the Belgian Omloop van Borsele, both of which attract enormous crowds with more coming every year - as successful and glorious as they are in cycling's Low Countries homelands. So La Grande Visite gained a UCI  time trial and a road race, and both of them (along with a couple of new men's races) were so popular that the entire shebang was renamed the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau. And it's been getting bigger and better every year since.

If you're running an event designed to showcase cycling, you don't want to use the traditional point-to-point format in which riders begin in one town and then ride to another town a couple of hundred kilometres away, as is the case in stage racing; the problem being that people who haven't already fallen in love with cycling or casual fans really can't be bothered with waiting around for a few seconds of excitement when the race flashes past. Thus Gatineau, like many other races, uses the circuit format: the riders complete thirteen laps of a 10.18km route, allowing spectators to see them go by twelve times without even having to move. With each lap, the riders become more familiar with the parcours and the race becomes faster instead of slowing down due to fatigue and, often, a rider or group of riders who weren't among the favourites will make an all-or-nothing effort to get into the final lap with a big lead on the bunch, putting the favourites under pressure to respond. Watch the start, find a decent cafe and a decent beer with a view of one of the most crucial points along the parcours, then stroll to the finish line - there's no better way to watch a race.

Previous winners: 2010 Joelle Numainville, 2011 Giorgia Bronzini, 2012 Ina-Yoko Teutenberg

Grand Prix Parcours

GP map - click to enlarge

The race begins on the Boulevard des Allumettières, a wide, smooth and flat road that promises a fast start despite the roundabout, left-hand bend, right-hand bend and right corner all within the first 0.5km; the right corner leads onto the Promenade du Lac des Fées heading north for 1.48km. The first 1.1km are entirely flat, then the road climbs 20m on the approach to the non-technical left corner onto the Rue Gamelin, giving an average gradient of 5.26% - just enough for a group of climbers to make a breakaway attempt (expect the less-well-known riders to do so early on, possibly in the first lap, to get a chance to ride out in front and please sponsors by getting noticed, and the favourites to do so later on nearer to the end of the race) in an effort to leave the sprinters behind.

The Rue Gamelin continues arrow straight south-west for 0.96km; the first 0.2km is flat and followed by a 17m descent in 0.234km, the average gradient of -7.26% being potentially enough for climbers in a break to lose their advantage as, being lighter than sprinters, they tend to lack the weight to maintain efficient control on downhill sections (this isn't true of all climbers, however; some don't fear descents and could maintain or even increase their lead here). There's a small climb of around 10m between 0.5km and 0.6km from the corner, the average gradient is therefore 10% - but this isn't an accurate description of the climb because most of it is far less steep; however, for a short while it tops 14%, which over the course of thirteen laps will take its toll. After descending for the next 0.225km, it climbs again; this time gaining 13m in 0.123km - an average gradient of 10.6% with a few much steeper points before it flattens out before the next corner.

GP altimetry - click to enlarge

There is loose gravel along the roadside at the left corner onto the Promenade Gatineau Sud, but there's plenty of room for riders to avoid it even if the corner is approached by a complete peloton. The section is 1km long and the first 0.27km descends steeply, losing 22m at an average gradient of -8.1% with plenty of scope to let the sprinters catch the climbers again, then following a flat central part  riders climb 10m in 0.15km, average 6.6%. It ends at an easy right turn onto a 0.2km access road leading back onto the Boulevard des Allumettières, where the riders turn right to continue traveling west. The first 0.125km of the access road is flat, the rest descends very steeply between two rocky outcrops. If you take a closer look at the route on Google Earth, note that the mad -40% descents at the end of the access road and the first 0.15km of the Allumettières don't actually exist and appear as features on Google's elevation profiles due to the difference between the altitude of the road (which first passes through a cutting between the rocks and then over an embankment) and the surrounding landscape isn't taken into account - neither of them appear on the race organisers' profiles.

The race now continues along the westbound carriageway of the Boulevard des Allumettières for 1.7km, a flat and gently bending fast section that passes under a flyover 0.82km before a turning point where the riders switch onto the eastbound carriageway and head back the way they came, passing by the access road from earlier before coming to another one 1.82km from the turning point. Turning right onto it carries them up a small climb and onto the Promenade Gatineau heading north; they cross Allumettières on a flyover and then return to the first access road 0.34km after joining the Promenade, following it back down onto Allumettières where they travel east on the westbound carriageway for 1.31km to a roundabout, going right around it before heading west once more. 0.28km later - an ideal distance on a flat and straight road for a good bunch sprint, should the race come down to one - they arrive back at the finish line to either begin a new lap or complete the race.

Time Trial Parcours

TT map - click to enlarge

The time trial, which takes place two days after the Grand Prix, uses a parcours made up of the same roads but in a different order; this makes it 9.2km in length, slightly shorter than the GP's lap length of 10.18km. Evelyn Stevens won the first edition in 2010, Clara Hughes won in 2011 and 2012.

The start line is slightly west of that used in the GP, being located at the roundabout where the Rue Labelle crosses the Boulevard des Allumettières; instead of turning left onto the Promenade du Lac des Fées access road as they did in the GP, the riders continue west along the Allumettières for 2.59km, arriving at the same turning point between the carriageways. They then travel east for 1.82km to the Promenade Gatineau access road, turning right onto it and, rather than turning left after 0.33km on the Promenade to get back onto the Allumettières, proceed north-west for 1.41km to the Rue Gamelin - not an easy route at all due to the steep climb up to the junction. The Rue Gamelin carries the race just under a kilometre to the east, where a right turn leads onto the Promenade du Lac des Fées heading south for 1.48km - the first half-kilometre is downhill and should generate some very fast speeds - to the left turn and access road to get back onto Allumettières; once on Allumettières, the finish line is approximately 110m ahead at the roundabout where the race started.

TT altimetry - click to enlarge

Other Events
The women's Grand Prix and Chrono are just two of many events and activities that make up the GP Cycliste de Gatineau. In addition there road races for Junior, Senior and Masters men, the new-for-2013 Coupe du Québec Cuisses Or de l’Outaouais young riders' race; a 102km gran fondo promising some of the best roads and most beautiful scenery in Quebec; a Ride with the Pros event in which children aged 4-9 can ride on the circuit with some of the professional stars shortly before they race in the Grand Prix; and the 20km family nocturne that formed the very first Grande Visite de Gatineau back in 2004. Velo Village - a combination of bike show, bike market and food/music/art festival, takes place on the Rue Laramee immediately south of the Boulevard des Allumettières start lines throughout the duration of the meeting.

How to follow the race
Keep an eye on Twitter (#Gatineau?) to find riders, team officials and fans tweeting directly from the events.

Starters
No start list has yet been made available. Further details here as soon as possible.

Weather
More information closer to race day.

Lululemon dominate at Gatineau

Clara Hughes

Clara Hughes' victory at the Chrono Gatineau Rona TT would have been more than enough for most teams, but Specialized-Lululemon are not like most teams - as far as they're concerned, why limit success to first place when you can have second (Evelyn Stevens), third (Amber Neben) and fifth (Ina-Yoko Teutenberg) as well?


Lululemon have built up a stunning list of triumphs in their first season and Hughes revealed after the race that the stiffest competition she faced came from her own team mates. "We have amazing TT riders on this team so I knew it was going to be hard to beat my teammates," she said in the squad's official race report. "I felt really good out there and after a hard spring season of racing I’ve benefited from that and I feel like this is the first race of my season now leading into the Olympics."

During the race, Hughes and her comrades wore wristbands showing their support for Doing for Daron - a charity that seeks to raise awareness of youth mental health issues. All their racing at Gatineau is dedicated to the organisation and to Daron Richardson, who took her own life in 2010 when she was aged 14.

"It’s a really good field here so it’s impressive to be able to pull off 4 out of the top five places," said direteur sportif Ronny Lauke. "It was an important race for them and they were well prepared to have a great race here and they all did."

Full results (when available)