Cant beats Vos at Krawatencross; Helen Wyman third

Beating the World Champion must feel great. When that World Champion is Marianne Vos, and you also beat the European Champion Helen Wyman, it must feel absolutely fantastic - which explains Belgian Champion Sanne Cant's delight as she took the top step of the podium following Saturday's BPost Bank Trofee Krawatencross race at Lille. The victory was sweetened yet further due to the Belgian having been fourth  at last weekend's World Championships where Vos won and Wyman was third - and by the fact that Vos won this very race for the last two years, beating Cant (3rd 2012, 2nd 2013) on both occasions. Wyman, who is British Champion for the eighth time this season as well as European Champion for the second time, seemed unable to match Cant and Vos as the race progressed and left the pair fighting a private battle all of their own, each rider refusing to back down all the way to the final approach to the finish. With the race looking certain to end in a sprint the majority of fans will have been expecting Vos to add yet another victory to her spectacular palmares despite Cant's skill on a sandy parcours such as this, but then the Dutch superstar's foot slipped from the pedal. She probably lost no more than a fraction of a second, but it was enough: Cant noticed and attacked hard, taking the tiny advantage that was she needed to triumph. Wyman will also be pleased with her result: she's never stood on the podium at this race before. The only other British rider was Nikki Harris, who took fourth place. Although Wyman still leads the series overall, her advantage is now just 31" to Cant (Harris is third at +1'11"). The final round, taking place at Oostmalle on the 23rd of February, promises therefore to be one of the season highlights. Helen Wyman's race report Video: Cant wins Krawatencross Krawatencross Full Result 1  Sanne Cant (Enertherm - Bkcp)  BEL 2  Marianne Vos (Rabobank Women Team)  NED 3  Helen Wyman (Kona)  GBR 4  Nikki Harris (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team Young NPI)  GBR 5  Loes Sels (Young Telenet Fidea)  BEL 6  Sophie De Boer (Kdl Cycling Team)  NED 7  Yara Kastelijn (Rtc Buitenlust)  NED 8  Ellen Van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea)  BEL 9  Pavla Havlikova (Young Telenet - Fidea)  CZE 10  Githa Michiels (Toka Print Mtb Team)  BEL 11 Karen Verhestraeten (Sengers Ladies Cycling Team) BEL 12 Reza Ravenstijn-Hormes NED 13 Jolien Verschueren (Dncs/pro 2012 Cycling Team) BEL 14 Esmee Oosterman (Wrv DE Peddelaars) NED 15 Laura Verdonschot (Vzw Lotto - Ladiescycling) BEL 16 Maud Kaptheyns NED 17 Katrien Thijs (UP Cycling Team) BEL 18 Hilde Quintens BEL 19 Lotte Eikelenboom (Drc De Mol) NED 20 Kim Banga NED 21 Christine Vardaros (Baboco - Revor Cycling Team) USA 22 Shana Maes BEL 23 Ilona Meter (Rcp Stevens) NED 24 Nele Van Maldeghem BEL 25 Suzie Godart LUX 26 Suzanne Verhoeven NED 27 Gertie Willems BEL 28 Meg De Bruyne BEL 29 Lena Bischoff-Stein 30 Nathalie Nijns BEL 31 Tine Verdeyen BEL 32 Lene Vrijsen BEL 33 Mara Schwager GER 34 Caren Commissaris (UP Cycling Team) BEL 35 Valerie Boonen BEL 36 Laura Krans NED 37 Anja Geldhof BEL 38 Brenda Kaczmarczyk BEL 39 Yenthe Boons BEL 40 Jessika Timmermans BEL 41 Cindy Diericx BEL 42 Britta Werners GER 43 Caitlyn La Haye BEL 44 Sandra Sintobin BEL

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...where 80% of the trophies produced annually end up? This video explains all.

 

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Giro Donne Stage 1

Spokesmen Women's World Cup, Episode 3

Emakumeen Bira video

Stages 1, 2, 3, 4
Iurreta

Emakumeen Bira 2012 Stage 1

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg

Thursday's Stage 1, beginning at Iurreta (or Yurreta, as the Spanish call it) in Biscay province took in 97.1km with a trio of unclassified climbs and a Category 3 thrown in for good measure. The pacours headed upwards right from the start line; almost imperceptibly at first but then steeper after 5km to the first peak 13.5km in, followed by a fast descent to Berriz and then much less steep falling terrain to Erletxeta at 38km - hometown of Vicente Blanco who, in 1910, was the first Spanish rider to ever compete in the Tour de France. A gentle hill followed, then at 49km the riders began the much harder ascent to Artbakarra, 54.4km into the race. Another fast descent led to Mungia (Munguia), then the riders began to gently climb to Gamiz-Fika where they started the Cat 3 climb to Astoreka, 72.3km in and 200m above sea level. Having completed the day's last downhill to Erletxeta, there were 16.4km of gentler climbing to get back to Iurreta, then a final flat 3.1km to the finish line at Matiena (see the stage profile here).

Numerous riders tried to escape the peloton once the racing was underway, but since the parcours was fast they were rapidly swept up and put back in their places. Valentina Scadolara won both intermediate sprints to pick up useful points for her Michela Fanini team while Christel Ferrier of Hitec Products-Mistral Home grabbed the first mountain points of the rade when she was first into Astoreka. On paper, it looked to be a relatively easy stage, but rain in the latter part made conditions difficult and many of the riders took the last few corners with extra care.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg ‏@yokoteute OMG....what a cluster F..... In last 10k. Think i nearly shit my pants couple of times. But all @velociosports worked hard+delivered me!

With those last flat kilometres, a sprint finish was as good as guaranteed today - and many people fully expected Specialized-Lululmon's devastatingly quick sprinter Ina-Yoko Teutenberg to take the honours. She didn't disappoint, despite very strong competition from Shelley Olds (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) and a number of other riders including Rabobank's Annemiek van Vleuten, powering through the last 300m and holding them off all the way to the line. Tomorrow, the race climbs three Cat 3 hills and a 400m Cat 2, then ends with what promises to be a lightning-fast downhill section to the finish. It's a considerably more difficult parcours than Stage 1 and the results will probably look very different to today's.

Emma Johansson ‏@emmaprocyclist Crazy finish... Say no more! @ChristelFerrier i mtns jersey for 2mrw :) On massagetable already getting ready for stage #2 #Bira

Top Ten
   1.  11  TEUTENBERG, Ina Yoko  SPECIALIZED-LULULEMON  2:29:44      
   2. 146  OLDS, Shelley  AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL        ST     
   3.  13  WORRACK, Trixi  SPECIALIZED-LULULEMON     ST          
   4.   1  V. VLEUTEN, Annemiek  RABOBANK     ST         
   5.  51  BRAS, Martine  DOLMANS-BOELS C.T.       ST         
   6. 113  PIETERS, Amy  SKILL-ARGOS             ST         
   7. 123  AMIALIUSIK, Alena  BE PINK                  ST         
   8. 105  GUNNEWIJK, Loes  GREENEDGE-AIS            ST        
   9.  34  JANELIUNAITE, Edita  DIADORA-PASTA ZARA       ST        
  10.  25  FERRIER, Christel  HITEC PRODUCTS-MISTRAL HOME          ST  
(Full results)

Exergy ITT video

Aalburg - second win in as many days for Annemiek van Vleuten

Video below

Two wins in two days for
Annemiek van Vleuten

Baking heat, strong winds and a crash just 7km into the parcours proved too much for a big chunk of the field and caused the peloton to split rapidly into three groups; a small lead group being chased by a second and a big pack of riders simply trying to survive some way down the road as the tough conditions dissuaded anyone from even thinking about putting in more effort than was strictly needed. An attitude of "We're all in this together; let's just get through it" developed, made most evident when Senger mechanics went to the aid of Specialized-DPM-SRAM rider Anouska Kloster - a nice demonstration of the friendliness that, for the most part, is found in women's cycling; but nevertheless many riders preferred to sit it out in the autobus and no doubt wished that they were aboard a real, air con-equipped bus.

It wasn't until the final part of the race that the attacks began. Chantal Blaak (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) was first to go but didn't get far, then van Vleuten and Shelley Olds (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) went together, apparently as much to check out one another's strength as in the hope of actually achieving anything because they'd let off the pace and were back with Blaak moments later. Blaak, meanwhile, was feeling the effects of the heat and was replaced by Amanda Spratt (Australian National Team), the three of them working together to grab an extra 50m and 30" going into the 108th kilometre.

Judith Bloem

Spratt launched an attack of her own a short while later but was soon back. The final 5km, with the three of them calmly riding together, was a fantastically tense bit of racing - each of them demonstrated the sort of self-control of which a poker player would feel proud and gave absolutely no indication of when, or even if, they were about to launch what might well prove to be the winning move. They were still together at 2km to go, then 1km, then 200m...and then van Vleuten lit the fuse and flung herself up the road towards the finish, getting there mere fractions of a second before Olds with Spratt 4" behind. The chase group arrived 1'42" later with Marieke Van Wanroij getting a 2" advantage over the rest, then a third group led by Roxane Knetemann came in just shy of three minutes after the winner. The autobus arrived at +6'23" and turned out to have no fewer than 68 riders onboard, then Judith Bloem (Restore) closed up the race when she crossed the line 6'56" after van Vleuten. Chapeau to everyone who finished - 49 riders did not.

Top Ten
  1.  Annemiek van Vleuten Rabobank 3h04'44"
  2.  Shelley Olds AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  3.  Amanda Spratt Orica GreenEdge-AIS +04"
  4.  Marieke Van Wanroij AA Drink-Leontien.nl +1'42"
  5.  Chantal Blaak AA Drink-Leontien.nl +1'44"
  6.  Iris Slappendel Rabobank ST
  7.  Pauline Ferrand Prevot Rabobank ST
  8.  Gracie Elvin ST
  9.  Suzanne De Goede Skil-Argos ST
  10.  Roxane Knetemann Rabobank +2'59"

(Full results)

Photos by Bart Hazen
Photos by Anton Vos

Lululemon's big slice of Gatineau

Click to enlarge

On Saturday, Specialized-Lululemon's Clara Hughes won the Chrono Gatineau Rona TT - which any team would have considered a great success. Lululemon, however, seem to hav a bigger appetite for glory than most other teams, so they took second (Evelyn Stevens), third (Amber Neben) and fifth (Ina-Yoko Teutenberg) as well.

Monday brought the Hydro-Quebec Gatineau GP, an elite women's road race in which the riders completed thirteen (and a very small bit) laps of a hilly 10.18km parcours for a total of 134km in temperatures that reached 29C and some difficult cross winds. Tara Whitten got away early on and wasted no time at all in building up a lead of more than a minute, then 1'40" as she finished her third lap. Her efforts began to break up the peloton in Lap 5 as some riders elected to leave the hard work later and others chased, causing the pack to spread out. In time, Whitten's lead began to shorten, down to 1'09" at the end of the 6th lap.

Tara Whitten

By this time, Lululemon were already controlling the race, the high pace at which they drove the peloton both discouraging attacks and reducing the gap to 36". Bridie O'Donnell (Vanderkitten) isn't the sort of rider to let a rival team frighten her, however, and she was the first to really shake up the race when she crossed the gap to Whitten and then kept going, putting a 30" space between her back wheel and the front of the pack before a chase group got on her case and brought her back. Fabiana Luperini and Rochelle Gilmore (Faren Honda), Alona Andruk (Ukraine), Melissa Hoskins (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Teutenberg were next to go, working together to form a very powerful break; there was still a long way to go, but with five riders of their calibre out in front the other riders' chances began looking extremely precarious, hence a superhuman - and successful - effort to prevent them simply riding away with the race.

Lululemon were straight in with the next break, too, getting Evelyn Stevens off the front accompanied by Carmen Small (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Rhae Christie-Shaw (Canada), and with 50km to go things were getting serious. Realising that, if it came down to it, Stevens was going to have a tough job fending off Small in a sprint, they sent Amber Neben up to assist. Jennifer Hohl (Faren Honda) and Claudia Haussler (Orica-GreenEDGE) tagged along for the ride, but the break proved less of a threat than expected and rapidly merged back into the straggly peloton. Then Stevens and Haussler had another go, taking Luperini with them this time, though this time around Haussler couldn't keep up the pace and soon left the other two to go on alone; though it wasn't long before they too proved tired and Hughes passed them. Hoskins joined her, followed by Leah Kirchmann (Optum) and Julie Beveridge a short way up the road; a situation that threw the pack into a bit of a panic as the race moved into the last 34km. Was Hughes going to win again? There was no way that break was going to be allowed to live!

Good luck catching Teut in a sprint!

Luperini and Neben, roping in four others to help them, launched another assault and, just as soon as the pack caught them, others fired off - a fantastic example of the sort of high-speed tit-for-tat action that makes women's cycling the sport that it is. 7km from the finish, a group of 17 broke away. It was still too early to say if this was the one that was going to make it or predict a winner with any real chance of being right, but since the group included Neben, Joelle Numainville, Megan Guarnier, O'Donnell, Teutenberg, Stevens, Gilmore, Shara Gillow and Hoskins it looked very much as though the selection process had begun. They were caught, but it mattered little - that amount of talent was never going to relinquish control and they bossed the peloton all the way to the bunch sprint. There aren't many people who can take on Teutenberg when that happens, and whilst Gilmore, Andruk and Numainville had a damn good go at it they never stood a chance of catching the German. Video below the top ten.

And the other Lululemon riders? Hughes took 8th, Stevens 10th and Neben 11th. Not a bad three days at all.


Top Ten
  1.  Ina-Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon 3h25'03"
  2.  Rochelle Gilmore Faren-Honda ST
  3.  Alona Andruk Diadora-Pasta Zara ST
  4.  Joëlle Numainville ST
  5.  Carmen Small +2"
  6.  Kate Chilcott ST
  7.  Nicole Cooke Faren-Honda +6"
  8.  Clara Hughes Specialized-Lululemon ST
  9.  Jasmin Hurikino ST
  10.  Evelyn Stevens Specialized-Lululemon +14" 
(Full results here)

Women's Cycling News 20.05.12

GP Comune di Cornadero (click to enlarge)

GP Comune di Cornaredo
The 4th GP Comune di Cornaredo (UCI 1.2) is due to take place this afternoon in the Province of Milan, early fears that the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck Northern Italy this morning might affect the race proving unfounded. (Itinerary)

World Champion Giorgia Bronzini did not start deciding that the risk of a season-endangering accident on a parcours with so many tight, high speed corners was simply too great. Those corners also meant that predicting the outcome of this one was difficult even despite the presence of Marianne Vos (almost invariably the safest bet in professional cycling), because anything could happen in a race like this. All the same, it was no surprise just an hour and fifteen minutes into the competition when Bronzini's trade team, Diadora-Pasta Zara, Tweeted the information that Vos was already pulling the rest of the field along behind her.

Diadora Zara ‏@TeamDiadoraZara
Cornaredo, la Vos sta gia' staccando tutte.

Iris Slappendel

Once Iris Slappendel joined up with Vos (usually team mates at Rabobank, both were riding for their National team today)  and the two started working together, it wasn't long before they'd gained a two-minute lead over the rest of the field and it began to look as though one of them was likely to be the winner. When they upped it to three-and-a-half the top two steps on the podium were as good as theirs, and it was no surprise when they crossed the line with a comfortable lead.

That's where it got complicated - for some time after the race, there was confusion as to who had actually won. Anton Vos (Marianne's brother) and Cicloweb both said Slappendel, whereas Wilerland and other sources said it was Vos. Marianne herself Tweeted that Slappendel had beaten her at 20:05BST, which is more than authoritative enough for this blog. Annemiek van Vleuten was third and Loes Guunewijk fourth - an excellent day for Dutch cycling!

Top ten results when available

Breendonck
Jessie Druyts (Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012) was taken to hospital for x-rays following a crash at Breendonck(19.05) - her team has yet to reveal further news. 19-year-old Miriam Bjørnsrud, Norwegian Under-19 Road Race Champion in 2010, won after taking the lead from Ann-Sophie Duyck (Lotto-Belisol) in the 96th kilometre.

Top Ten

Miriam Bjørnsrud

  1.  Miriam Bjørnsrud
  2.  Ann-sophie Duyck Lotto Belisol
  3.  Jolien Hoore Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012
  4.  Fiona Dutriaux Vienne Futuroscope
  5.  Emma Johansson Hitec Products-Mistral Home
  6.  Kim De Baat
  7.  Cecilie Sateroy Johansen Hitec Products-Mistral Home
  8.  Nathalie Nijns Lotto Belisol
  9.  Annelies Dom Wielerclub Steeds Vooraan-Kontich
  10.  Valerie Robert
(Full result)

Ronde van Zuid Oost Friesland

Monique van de Ree

The Ronde van Zuid Oost Friesland (19.05) also ended in a bunch sprint with Skil-Argos taking an impressive three places in the top five. Monique van de Ree (Skil-Argos) git the better of Roxane Knetemann (Rabobank) for first place while Skil team mates Janneke Kanis and Kelly Markus were third and fifth respectively, Nina Kessler of Dolmans-Boels planting herself in between them for fourth.

Top Ten
  1.  Monique van de Ree Skil-Argos
  2.  Roxane Knetemann Rabobank
  3.  Janneke Kanis Skil-Argos
  4.  Nina Kessler Dolmans-Boels
  5.  Kelly Markus Skil-Argos
  6.  Laura van der Kamp Dolmans-Boels
  7.  Sanne van Paassen
  8.  Hannah Welter GWC De Adelaar
  9.  Jermaine Post LRTV Swift
  10.  Rixt Meijer WV De Noord-Westhoek
(Full result)

Ronde van Rijssen

Sharon Laws

Saturday also brought the Ronde van Rijssen, an event that fits into the Paris-Roubaix category of races that apparently exist for no reason other than their own half-mad beauty. Taking place on a square parcours of 60km, the organisers selected a route that takes in about as varied a selection of pavement, tarmac and street furniture as they could find before throwing some narrow residential streets and a climb with a maximum gradient of around 6.5% into the mix for good measure, then sending the riders around it at high speed 43 times. All in all, it was a parcours very much to the liking of AA Drink-Leontien.nl - the team managed to take no less than 50% of the top ten places, including first.

Top Ten
 1. Sharon Laws AA Drink-Leontien.nl  
 2. Jessie Daams AA Drink-Leontien.nl  
 3. Chantal Blaak AA Drink-Leontien.nl  
 4. Nathalie van Gogh Ibis  
 5. Emma Pooley AA Drink-Leontien.nl  
 6. Linda Ringlever NWV Groningen  
 7. Linda van Rijen Skil-Argos  
 8. Janneke Ensing Dolmans-Boels  
 9. Marieke van Wanroij AA Drink-Leontien.nl  
 10. Esther Olthuis Ibis

Other News and Views
Lululemon dominate Gatineau TT - DDLR

Emma Johansson enjoys a kermesse - emmajohansson.com


Weeping Legs - Marijn de Vries


The Aussies are coming! - Sarah Kent on the Johnson HealthTech GP

Women's Cycling News 12.05.12

Tour of Chongming Island World Cup details

Start list

Map

Profile

Ruiter Dakkapellen closes women's team
It's always a sad occasion when a cycling team is forced to come to an end. A team is not an easy thing to put together, and keeping it together is even more difficult - managers, helpers and, away from the big salary glitz of the men's ProTour, riders put in a great deal of effort, more frequently inspired by their love of the sport than by the salaries they might receive. Even more sad is when a team facing financial hardship takes the all too common decision to save money by closing down its women's team, as has been the case with Ruiter Dakkapellen now that their main sponsor has gone bankrupt.

It's not the team management's fault, really. After all, in times when even high-profile squads such as the legendary HTC-Highroad can fall by the wayside when new backing can't be found, securing sponsorship for a relatively little-known men's team such as Ruiter is a task that would challenge Hercules. Doing the same for a women's team, when women's cycling is entirely ignored by the majority of the media and has suffered for years from what sometimes seems almost willful neglect at the hands of the UCI, would be enough to make Hercules throw his hands in the air and give up. Perhaps the managers will be fortunate and find a new company to sponsor the men. The chances of doing the same for the women is unlikely, so they're forced to release the riders so that they can seek contracts elsewhere.

Can the UCI help to prevent this happening? Almost certainly. They could provide more financial assistance to races - several have found themselves in difficulty recently, and races are what create exposure. They could also encourage more race organisers to run women's races alongside men's races, as has already been done at many of the Flanders Classics and at Britain's Halfords Tour Series - and in both cases has generated increased interest. They could create a dedicated women's cycling commission to look into what needs to be done if women's cycling is to be saved and listen more to the riders and managers, many of whom have some extremely interesting ideas. Will they? Past experiences suggest not.

Good luck Joan Boskamp, Ilona Hoeksma, Anne Heijkoop, Britt Jochems, Nathalie van Katwijk, Tessa van Nieuwpoort, Julia Soek, Lisanne Soemanta, Noortje Tabak, Annelies Visser, Hannah Welter and Melanie Woering. See you all on a parcours soon.

Scott-Contessa struck by thieves

Beth Crumpton completed the Czech
MTB World Cup round in a borrowed
bike - and still came ninth!

The Scott Contessa MTB team was targeted by thieves who stole all the junior riders' bikes last night, just a day and a half before the start of the Nove Mesto na Morave round of the World Cup in the Czech Republic...

Beth Crumpton ‏ @BethCrumptoncant believe all junior bikes were stolen last night at czech, thankyou so much to @tracy_moseley and Annie for letting me and Al borrow!

Other News
 "Cyclist Willow Rockwell gives up her Olympic dream" (ESPNW)

"Moyse mulling her sporting future" (The Guardian, Canada)

"BMX: Olympian Shanaze inspires young Jamie’s world bid" (This Is Wiltshire)

"Global women's cycling day celebration 13th of May" (Conway Daily Sun, NH, USA)

BBC Radio 4 to broadcast Burton play

Beryl Burton, Britain's most successful athlete

Those commemorating the anniversary of the birth of the legend that was Beryl Burton will be pleased to know that later this year a short play telling the story of her life and remarkable career is to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Titled La Yorkshire Dame a Bicyclette, the play will star Maxine Peake - who also wrote the script, her first - as the British cyclist who won numerous titles and set world records during the 1950s and 60s.

"Despite beating men and women in championships across the globe, Beryl received no support, training or sponsorship and in fact, very little acclaim in the UK and Maxine wanted to dramatise her story," says producer Justine Potter. No date has yet been set for the broadcast, but it is likely to go out in the station's 45-minute Afternoon Drama (formerly and popularly Afternoon Play) slot.

Radio 4 is available worldwide on the Internet.

Johnson HealthTech Women's GP

In 2011, the four-round Johnson HealthTech Women's GP Series was run alongside the Halfords Tour, using the same infrastructure and parcours. It too proved enormously successful and has been extended to five rounds this year as a result. Helped enormously by TV coverage (again provided as part of ITV4's Halfords Tour programmes for 2012), the series has done an excellent job of raising the profile of women's racing and the athletes who took part, so much so that Johnson HealthTech managing director Jon Johnston is proudly able to claim that the series encouraged the formation of several new teams. So there we go - proof that if men's and women's races work together, everyone wins. Get to it, Tour of Britain.


A full list of teams competing in the GP has yet to be published, thus far For Viored, Node4-Giordana and Matrix Fitness-Prendas are confirmed.


Johnson HealthTech GP Series
1. Tuesday, May 22 - Oxford
2. Tuesday, May 29 - Peterborough
3. Thursday, June 7 - Colchester
4. Tuesday, June 12 - Woking
5. Thursday, June 14 - Stoke-on-Trent

Tour of California to hold women's time trial
After a successful experiment in 2011, the organisers of the Amgen Tour of California have confirmed that they will again hold a women's time trial on the 17th of May - the same day and same 29.6km Bakersfield parcours as the men's Stage 5 race.


The event is by invite only and boasts a $10,000 prize fund, considerably greater than is on offer in most European women's races. After her stunning performance at the Tour of the Gila, last year's winner Krisitin Armstrong will be favourite for victory.


Provisional Start List
  1.   Alison Tetrick  Exergy Twenty12

  2.   Tayler Wiles  Exergy Twenty12

  3.   Kristin Armstrong  Exergy Twenty12

  4.   Emilia Fahlin  Specialized-Lululemon

  5.   Loren Rowney  Specialized-Lululemon

  6.   Bridie O'Donnell  Vanderkitten-Focus

  7.   Janel Holcomb  Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies

  8.   Jade Wilcoxson  Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies

  9.   Alison Powers  Now and Novatis for MS

  10.   Robin Farina  Now and Novatis for MS

Tchalykh wins Azerbaijan TT
Elena Tchalykh (Dolmans-Boels) won the Azerbeidzjan de Heydar Aliyev Anniversary Time Trial, the first UCI women's event in Azerbaijan and one that has been controversial, not least of all because police and government authorities reportedly regular use rape (and threats of rape) against defendants and defendants' families as a means of coercing confessions from prisoners.

In fact, since the country's human rights record is extremely questionable overall (political prisoners are routinely imprisoned without proof of wrongdoing, prisoners are tortured and beaten, the media is strictly controlled by the authoritarian government, religious minorities suffer persecution despite token equality laws and thousands of citizens have been illegally evicted to make way for urban renewal in capital city Baku - more of this in the news in the coming weeks, since Baku is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest this month), organisations from any democratic nation shouldn't really be promoting anything in Azerbaijan except for popular uprising. Anyway, that's enough of that. Back to cycling...

Top Ten
  1.   Elena Tchalykh  Dolmans-Boels  34'37"
  2.   Olena Pavlukhina  +34"  15
  3.   Aleksandra Sosenko  Vaiana-Tepso  +1'00"
  4.   Maria Mishina  +1'06"
  5.   Olena Sharpa  +1'16"
  6.   Nicole Hanselmann  +1'21"
  7.   Oksana Lesnyk  +1'26"
  8.   Katarína Hranaiova  +1'40"
  9.   Emma Trott  Dolmans-Boels  +1'48"
  10.   Katarzyna Sosna  Vaiana-Tepso  +2'10"
(Full result)

Knokke-Bredene video

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

La Fleche Wallonne Femmes 2012

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 a crash (other rumours say three crashes). Spectators at the race have said on Twitter that the crash was caused when she was hit by a motorbik, though this is as of yet unconfirmed. 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 Result
1. Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-Lululemon)
2. Marianne Vos (Rabobank)
3. Linda Villumsen (GreenEDGE)
4. Lucinda Brand (AA Drink-Leontien.nl)
5. Ashleigh Moolman (Lotto Ladies-Belisol)
6. Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE)
7. Megan Guarnier (TIBCO)
8. Clara Hughes (Specialized-Lululemon)
9. Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home)
10. Karol-Ann Canuel (Vienne Futurscope)
(Top 40)

Videos courtesy of Sebastien Tytgat

Energiewacht Tour 2012 Stages 4a and 4b

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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Energiewacht Tour 2012 Video Vault

Here.

Energiewacht Tour

The first women's stage race of the European season, Energiwacht Tour begins on Wednesday the 4th of April at Appingdam in  Groningnen. It's not an especially well-known race outside the Netherlands and the world of women's cycling; however, since it brings together the very cream of the crop for six stages (one split), it ought to be: the 2011 edition, won by Adrie Visser, was one of the highlights of the season. Take a look at the placings - with riders such as those finishing in the top 20, it was top-notch racing all the way.

Fast and furious - last year's edition

This year, the race has grown to five days - a promising sign in these times when so many races are disappearing for lack of sponsorship or, worse, interest. There's not much in the way of hills in this part of the world (in fact, at a few points along the way the riders will be below sea level), which makes some people think the race will be boring. That couldn't be further from the truth - flat stages such as these promote breakaways and attacks, leading to a fast and furious sort of race, and with a large field of well-matched riders we can expect some very exciting competition. In the final stage, we're likely to see a different sort of racing in which good team trial tactics work well: it's a parcours made up of several very long, very straight and very fast sections where the best plan is also the simplest - stick with the team, get your head down and concentrate on turning the pedals. A full list of the teams and riders (subject to change - Martine Bras and Irene van den Broek definitely won't be there) is available here.

So, unless you only like mountains, this race pretty much has everything covered. Unfortunately, there seems to be no live coverage of the race but video may appear online after each stage - if it does, it'll be added to the daily stage reports on this blog. Local TV station RTL7 has some limited coverage, details can be found at the bottom of this article.

The Stages

Stage 1 - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Stage 1 (Wednesday 6th) is a 15.1km individual time trial heading west out of Appingdam (53°19'13.91"N 6°50'48.52"E) and through the flat pastureland to Garrelsweer (53°18'48.25"N  6°47'0.82"E) where it turns east to head back, following the canal past some grand country houses. With good roads and no hills, it promises to be a very fast parcours indeed - definitely territory for the time trial specialists.

Stage 2 - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Stage 2 (Thursday 7th) starts and ends at Bad Nieuweschans (53°10'60.00"N 7°11'60.00"E). It takes us further out into the countryside, covering 107.3km over four circuits of the route and making a sortie over the border into Germany. Once again, there are no hills, which makes this an ideal parcours for a breakaway - a group of fast riders who manage to get away early on and keep going might just succeed in escaping the peloton for the rest of the race, but with the flat run to the finish they'll have their work cut out for them as the stage reaches its climax.

Stage 3 - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Stage 3 (Friday 6th) consists of six laps of an 18.4km circuit  around the Oldambtmeer lake (53°10'16.18"N 7° 1'31.82"E). It begins on Hoofdstraat by a church (53°11'40.37"N 7° 0'36.38"E), then heads briefly south before rounding the southern edge of the lake. When at the eastern end, they turn north and follow the N967 to Oostwold and then west along Huningaweg, back to Hoofdstraat and on to the finish line located at the same point they started. It's another very flat parcours, with a straight and slightly downhill initial section that will promote fast starts and encourage breaks. If they don't, expect attacks aplenty - especially in the last lap as the riders try to gain an upper hand before it's too late.

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

Stage 4a (Saturday 7th) both starts and ends at Winsum, a town sometimes termed the treasure of the north according to the Tour website - with two traditional Dutch mills and what is reputed to be The Netherlands' oldest pub (Der Gouden Karper) set among quintessentially Dutch countryside. The parcours leaves Winsom to the north, travelling up to Baflo and then taking a long, fast loop west and south-west to Mensingeweer. Next, it heads east along a road called the Wildeveldseweg (which must sound fantastic in a Dutch accent). Just visible to the south-west from this point is Ezinge, the oldest continually-inhabited village in the country. Long before the ancient tribes who would become the Dutch worked out how to drain the boggy landscape, they would create artificial islands upon which to live (now known as terps and, since drainage, resembling low hills) - the example at Ezinge is still evident and is now occupied by the village's 13th Century church. During the early 20th Century, worked who dug peat for fuel began finding strange objects that were obviously of great age in the area, soon attracting the attention of archaeologists who found many more - including Roman artifacts and part of a sword almost identical to another dicovered at the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Great Britain. By dating the objects, they determined that people have lived in Ezinge since at least 600BCE, making it among the oldest continually-inhabited villages anywhere in Europe. The riders will complete five laps of the route, which should allow Ezinge to be seen even if there is early morning mist, bringing them up to a total of 76.6km.

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

Stage 4b takes place on Saturday afternoon, a 26.5km team time trial located at Veendam some way off to the south-east from 4a. After beginning in the centre of the town on JG Pinksterstraat (53° 6'19.91"N 6°52'27.74"E), the teams pass through the streets and cross the canal, then the N33 motorway as they head into the flat fields. A route made up of fast straights punctuated with 17 right-angled bends and corners will make for a fast stage, but one in which a slower rider could very easily be dropped off the back of the squad and never find her way back. When they arrive at Oude Pekela, they follow Feiko Clockstraat into town, then turn left to arrive at the finish on Raadhuislaan (53° 6'17.39"N 7° 0'24.65"E).

Stage 5 - click to enlarge
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

Stage 5 (Sunday 8th) covers 103.3km in total with riders completing three laps of a parcours made up of numerous long, flat stretches with sharp bends between them - not dissimilar to an extended version of Stage 4b, in fact, and almost a stage for a sprinter. The riders set out from the museum in Fraeylemaborg along a street lined with the sort of houses that in the USA are called Dutch Colonial (and here, presumably, "Dutch") and then almost immediately comes to a tight and, by the looks of it, potentially slippery left corner - with the peloton still closely packed just metres from the start, this is a point with an obvious likelihood of accidents. A road called Schlocterdiep leads to a village, Denemarken, and over a canal into a short twisty section before arriving at Eemskanaal. From this point, the route is almost entirely arrow-straight and pancake flat (well, near enough - according to Aerodata International Surveys there are a number of "hills" as high as 80cm along the way!) - this is the sort of road where clever tactics make little difference and everything comes down to which rider, or more likely which team since this is ideal territory for drafting, can ride the fastest. With the left turn at the end out of the way, the remainder of the circuit is formed of a pair of long, fast U shaped roads leading through Harkstede and to the finish line, which is 16.6km away where the stage began.

Predictions

2011 winner Adrie Visser, now riding for Skil-1t4i
(image credit: Highroad Sports)

At this end of the race, it seems hard to see past Rabobank, probably the most well-drilled team in women's cycling right now - especially since the team reported on Tuesday afternoon that Marianne Vos has recovered from the illness that kept her away from the Ronde van Vlaanderen and will be back for this race. We've seen that this is a parcours that favours attacks and sprints, and when it comes down to transmitting sheer power through the chain and back wheel into the road, Vos is without equal. Rabo hasn't put all its eggs in one musette, either - should Vos be forced to abandon, Iris Slappendel and Annemiek van Vleuten are more than capable of taking the race. AA Drink-Leontien.nl are a squad worth watching too, as would be any team that was sending both lightning fast Lizzie Armitstead and Kirsten Wilde. Specialized-Lululemon have Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, another experienced rider who specialises in power, and Clara Hughes - anyone who rememebers Hughes' spectacular solo break at the Copenhagen World Championships will not be surprised if she picks up points and perhaps even a stage win. GreenEDGE have been on a winning streak since the start of the season and with Loes Gunnewijk (second place last year) and Judith Arndt onboard, that state of affairs may continue. Nicole Cooke of Faren-Honda is another rider who is very good at riding bikes very fast - she too is likely to do well. Finally, Skil-1t4i, the team led by last year's winner Adrie Visser.

To sum up, Vos is top choice (just as she is in any race, regardless of the terrain); but there are numerous riders who will chase her all the way - and when conditions are right, each of them is capable of performing exceptionally well.

RTL7 coverage

Note times are CET - minus 1 hour for BST
(image credit: Energiwacht Tour)

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