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La Route de France 2013

July 16, 2013, 12:27 pm
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03-10-07.2013 Official Site
France, 7-stage (+ prologue) Road Race, 834.9km
UCI 2.1

The Giro Rosa, which used to be the Giro Donne, is of course the only women's Grand Tour (though this will not be the case for much longer, with a bit of luck and plenty of signatures). However, La Route de France comes close - an eight-day, prologue-and-seven-stages race that covers 834.9km of highly varied French countryside. Held since 2006, except in 2011, it has become the biggest women's race in France since the demise of the Grand Boucle (Tour de France Feminin) in 2009.

Previous winners
2006 Linda Villumsen
2007 Amber Neben
2008 Luise Keller
2009 Kimberly Anderson
2010 Annemiek van Vleuten
2012 Evelyn Stevens

Stages
Prologue (03.07.2013, Soissons, 3.8km ITT)

View Route de France Prologue in a larger map

Soissons, a beautiful city of churches (some ruined in the two World Wars, during which Soissons suffered terribly), is the location of this year's Prologue, a 3.8km individual time trial taking place on wide streets and boulevards. The smooth road surfaces and non-technical nature of the parcours, with no tight corners, will allow all riders to record good times and the time trial specialists may even set some records.

Stage 1 (04.07.2013, Soissons-Enghien Les Bains, 121.9km)

View Route de France Stage 1 in a larger map

One for the rouleurs, this. Or at least, until the race reaches Enghien Les Bains in the Île-de-France, on the northern outskirts of Paris, because from that point on the parcours changes character dramatically - gone are the long, straight roads through the countryside where a small group of fast riders can work together, choreographing themselves so as to gain time, to be replaced by a tight urban route with several sharp corners. Then, near the end, they enter a criterium-style circuit around the Lac d'Enghien. What haopens in the four laps around it could very easily end any advantage riders found earlier.

Stage 2 (05.07.2013, Enghien Les Bains-Mantes La Jolie, 89.3km)

View Route de France Stage 2 in a larger map

Details to come...

Stage 3 (06.07.2013, Anet-Mamers, 123.6km)
Details to come...

Stage 4 (07.07.2013, Cloyes Sur Le Loire-Briare, 140km)
Details to come...

Stage 5 (08.07.2013, St Fargeau-Pougues Le Eaux, 98.7km)
Details to come...

Stage 6 (09.07.2013, Pougues Le Eaux-Vichy, 127.4km)
Details to come...

Stage 7 (10.07.2013, Cusset-Chauffailles, 130.2km)
Details to come...

Starters
The official start list is here. As usual in women's cycling, the list of riders who actually start the race may be quite different; Women Cycling Fever keeps a regularly-updated list.

How to follow the race
The race has an official Twitter account with updates on what's happening with the organisation throughout the year and information during the event.
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Weekly Women's Cycling News 06-12.05.2013

May 8, 2013, 3:49 am
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Lucy Garner wins at Chongming -  ITV4's Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details - New  women's races in the UK - other news - more news to come

Lucy Garner wins Stage 1 at Chongming
Lucy Garner wins Stage 1, Tour of Chongming Island
(image credit: 1t4i)
Sprinter Kirsten Wild was widely expected to dominate on the pancake-flat parcours at Chongming Island until a crash at the Omloop van Borsele left her with a broken shoulder. Wild, who is women's cycling's answer to Mark Cavendish, leaves a gap in the peloton that is very hard to fill - certainly one that few people would have expected an eighteen-year-old in her first year with an Elite team to be able to slot into, even if that eighteen-year-old does have two Junior World Champonships to her name. Argos-Shimano manager Jorn Knops is apparently something of a visionary, then, because he set up the team to support Lucy Garner in the first stage. She repaid his faith with interest, delivering her first professional stage victory.

"The plan was to prepare the sprint for Lucy. In the beginning the team looked after Lucy to keep her toward the front and make sure that she wouldn’t waste any energy," Knops says. "She has already progressed a lot this season, not only physically but also tactically, and it’s remarkable that she could stay so calm in a chaotic sprint like this. I am very pleased with this win."

The stage went smoothly until the final 2km when a crash threw the peloton into a state of flux and prevented several teams from putting their own plans into action, but this in no way detracts from Garner's achievement - her main rival in the dash to the line was none other than Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products-UCK, a rider who has outsprinted Marianne Vos and Giorgia Bronzini in the past and won the General Classification at this race back in 2009. The next 69 riders over the line were awarded the same time (1h47'18") as Garner who, following bonification, has a 1" advantage in the General Classification.

Tour of Chongming Island Stage 1 results

ITV4 Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details
Round 1 (Stoke-on-Trent) 22:00, Wednesday 22 May
Round 2 (Colchester) 22:00, Friday 30 May
Round 3 (Woking) 22:00, Wednesday 12 June
Round 4 (Aylsham) 22:00, Friday 14 June
Round 5 (Ipswich) 22:00, Monday 17 June

Coverage will be provided as part of ITV4's Pearl Izumi Tour coverage. In 2012, the Johnson HealthTech Tour only got a few minutes in each episode; we'll have to hope that following the enormous popularity of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics the producers will experiment with giving the women a little more airtime (though of course, any women's cycling on TV is a good thing). More details (including coverage of the men's races) here.

New Holme Valley Wheelers and London Velo women's races
"Following the success of the 2012 event Holme Valley Wheelers  will be organising both women’s and men’s events in 2013." More details here.

London Velo race (Essex) details here.

Other News
UK
Victoria Pendleton: women's cycling is big business since Olympics (Daily Telegraph)
Worldwide
Women's Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix to hit streets on Mother's Day (with video) (Daily Freeman, NY, USA)
Ocycler racing: 'Let's Race Bikes' initiative helps draw more women to PIR (Oregon Live, USA)
Award means cyclist Kaarle McCulloch is the best of our best (St. George and Sutherlandshire Leader, Australia)


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Philly Cycling Classic 2013

May 8, 2013, 7:35 am
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02.06.2013 Official Site
USA, One-day Road Race, 96.6km
UCI 1.2

Click to enlarge
Footage of the race to be streamed live!

Despite looking like it might become the future home of women's cycling when a total women's prize fund of $100,000 was offered at the 2012 Exergy Tour - the largest ever in a women's cycling event - the USA almost didn't make it into the list UCI Elite Women's races this year with all the events to have taken place in 2012 coming to a halt for various reasons, most commonly difficulty in securing sponsorship; Philadelphia's famous Liberty Classic, run in conjunction with the men's Philadelphia Cycling Classic, was among them. Civic leaders eager to make sure enormous crowds of cycling fans continued to visit their region stepped in, wanting to keep their city on the international cycling map and make sure that fans bringing spending money with them kept visiting - it looked like the race might have been saved after all. Until January 2013 that is, when an official announcement brought the sad news that they'd been unable to find the financial backing they needed and the race had been cancelled again as a result.

However, those civic leaders didn't give up, which suggests they genuinely care about the event as well as the revenue it brings. Eventually, they managed to persuade local firms Parx Casino and New Penn Financial came on board as sponsors (Parx Casino have promised half a million dollars over two years, hopefully safeguarding the race for 2014 too) and the race was back on.

Changes needed to be made. Some local residents opposed the race and didn't want it to go ahead (it had an "escalating party scene" that attracted "unwanted, often alcohol-fueled, activities," apparently - wonder what they'd make of Dutch Corner on the Alpe d'Huez?), so organisers have slightly reduced the length of the parcours, making it 4.35km shorter than last year, and redesigned the course to make it more compact so that it can be more effectively policed (policing also becomes cheaper, as does paying local authorities for road closures and the clean up operation afterwards). The most important parts have been preserved with the same fast straights, tight 90-degree corners (the roads are set out according to a typically American grid pattern) and the notorious Manayunk Wall climb all remaining part of the route, so hopefully this year the race will prove to be a success with fans as well as acceptable to those locals who didn't like it in years gone by. In fact, the organisers are so certain that their changes will prove to be improvements that they claim this isn't a continuation of the Liberty Classic, insisting that it's an entirely new race - hence the new Philly Cycling Classic name.

One of the biggest changes is that the women's race will now begin before the men's, rather than both races being on the parcours at the same time - a logistical nightmare in previous years whenever one peloton came close to catching up with the other. Another big change, welcome among riders and fans alike, is the introduction of prize fund equality - the pot for the women's race is the same as for the men's at $30,000. "Equal pay for equal pain" say the organisers, and as far as I'm concerned they deserve our full support just for that.


View 2013 Philly Cycling Classic course map in a larger map

The Parcours
The parcours is 19.3km in length with the women completing five laps to finish the race. Other than the reduced length, the biggest change is that the race both starts and finishes at the top of the Manayunk Wall, a climb that gains 71m in 0.64% at an average gradient of 11.1% with a steepest point at 17%. Riders set out from Lyceum Avenue and turn right onto Pechin Street, beginning a straight section leading downhill for 370m which should ensure a fast start. The hill is gradually steeper towards the 90-degree right corner onto Roxburgh Avenue at the end - there's plenty of room, but still plenty of scope for an early crash if the peloton turn at full speed.

Altimetry - click to enlarge
Roxburgh Avenue is flat and straight; the riders remain on it for only 160m before a 90-degree left carries them onto Manayunk Avenue for a 1.01km stretch south-east to Ridge Avenue, accessed by a right-hand turn that, while not as tight as the last corners, has a drain cover roughly in the middle and looks like the ideal place to find slippery patches of spilled oil and diesel - it could be a hazardous spot in wet weather. Ridge Avenue heads south briefly, then follows a sweeping left-hand curve before merging with Main Street on the right and then continues for 200m to a flyover - once again, most of the section is downhill and will generate high speeds, probably preventing breakaways. The Google map isn't particularly clear at this point and appears to show the route turns right at the flyover to join Kelly Drive; closer examination shows that this is impossible. The ParxCasino map seen at the top of this article doesn't offer as much detail, but seems to show a slightly different route that has the riders pass under the flyover and then continue for 100m before turning right onto an access road leading onto Kelly Drive. This route then continues for 2.95km, following the banks of the river and passing under several bridges, until it arrives at the turn-off for Reservoir Drive on the right and is flat throughout.

The parcours changes nature once on Reservoir Drive, climbing (but without GPM points) during the first half-kilometre of a 2.25km section. It flattens as it passes by a baseball field on the right and a reservoir on the left, then descends steeply over the last 0.6km after turning away from the lake to return to Kelly Drive through the tunnel at the bottom of the hill, where the riders turn left at the statue of Ulysses S. Grant - the corner isn't tight but could be dangerous for any rider who fails to scrub off speed at the bottom of the descent. Ahead is a 0.74km flat section that starts off picturesque, running between the trees and the river, then gets even better after passing under a grand stone bridge and through a tunnel cut into a rocky outcrop. The left turn is 70m beyond the tunnel, just before another bridge, and presents no challenge; however, once around it the riders begin climbing Sugar Hill, the first GPM ascent on the parcours. For the first 0.25km it's very steep, then it flattens out and even descends briefly for 130m before a final climb over the next 0.25km to the highest point where the road emerges from the woods. The average gradient isn't particularly steep at around 6%, but it becomes much steeper at several points on the way; the remaining 0.61km along Sedgeley Road promises to be very fast indeed - fortunately the right turn back onto Kelly Drive at the bottom has plenty of room, allowing the peloton to get round en masse if need be.

The return journey follows Kelly Drive for 6.35km back to the access road used earlier to get from Ridge Avenue to Kelly Drive, passing through the feeding zone just prior to the Reservoir Drive turn. This time the peloton passes by the access road, continuing straight ahead to follow the road as it begins to bend right - the first part after the access road is wide but, just beyond the bridges 270m after it, the parcours uses a narrow cycleway leading for the final 120m to the left turn onto Ridge Avenue. This is the best opportunity for riders who can't compete with the climbers on the hills to form a break because the limited space will make it difficult for rival teams to organise chase groups and get them to the front of the pack ready to pursue any escapees.

200m ahead, the race arrives back at the Main Street/Ridge Avenue junction and stays left, taking Main Street for 1.6km to the start of the intermediate sprint at the Cotton Street intersection. A sharp right turn at the end leads onto Levering Street, passing by a shop with a large mural on the wall before coming to a section underneath an elevated section of road. The riders turn right here, following the road as it passes underneath the elevated section for 40m on worn Victorian cobbles, then turn left. The following 740m are what this race is all about: climbing steeply as soon as the elevated road is left behind it arrives after 225m at the Manayunk Wall which, perhaps in the final lap and perhaps earlier on, is likely to decide the outcome of the race - if a rider makes it to the halfway point on Lyceum Avenue by the junction with Fleming Street with a big lead over her nearest rivals, she'll only have to hold off her rivals over the last 300m to the finish line. However, a rider who has expended too much energy picking up points on the climbs in earlier laps might find that a rider who sat in the pack, allowing domestiques to make the climbs easier, now has sufficient strength reserves to overtake on the final stretch and take the victory.

Starters
Women Cycling Fever has an up-to-date list.

How To Follow The Race
Action from the race will be streamed live online (though how much of that action will be from the women's race remains to be seen - with the sheer amount of work organisers have put into making it happen, we may be pleasantly surprised). The official site has more details.

If you can get to the race, the most obvious places to watch from are the climbs at Reservoir Drive, Sugar Hill and the Manayunk Wall; one of the advantages of the new, more compact parcours is that it becomes far easier to see the race go by from a different point during each lap, then to get to the Wall to see the riders battling for position on the final approach to the finish. Organisers will be providing a guide for spectators on the race website.

If you can't, Twitter is likely to be the best way to find race updates - Specialized-Lululemon and Vanderkitten team officials do a fine job of providing fans with live, up-to-date information. Parx Casino has a Twitter feed too, as does the district of Manayunk.


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Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria 2013

May 8, 2013, 9:09 am
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04.06.2013 Official Site
Basque Country/Spain, One-day Road Race, 110km
UCI 1.2

After spending much of the last month visiting far-flung targets of the UCI's attempts to globalise professional cycling, the Elite Women's peloton returns to Europe for a race in what may be the only nation where the population's adoration of cycling rivals that of the Belgians - the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria, a one-day race taking place in the ancient Basque Country.

Basque rider Joane Sommariba won in 2004, the first time that the race was held as a UCI 1.2 event, repeating her successes of 2003 and 2002 when it was a UCI 1.9.2 race, as it had been since 2001 when the Italian Sara Felloni won the very first edition. Miriam Melchers began the process of making the Netherlands the most successful nation in the history of the 1.2 race (three victories) when she won in 2005, then Susanne Ljungskog became the first and only Swedish winner in 2006 and in 2007 there was another first when Edita Pučinskaitė was the only Lithuanian to have won. In 2008 the race didn't take place, but Noemi Cantele continued the trend and became the first Italian winner in 2009. In 2010 the inevitable happened - Marianne Vos won; when she won again in 2011 she became the only rider to have won the 1.2 race twice and finished off what Melchers had started back in 2005 and, in 2012, Britain got its first podium when Emma Pooley won.

The Parcours

C/O Velofocus. View Durango Saria in a larger map

The parcours will follow the same 110km route as in 2012 with four laps of a circuit from Durango to Elorrio (taking in a steep climb and fast descent on each) followed by one final lap including two Cat. 2 climbs to an altitude of 385m, ending back at Durango.

Start List
Subject to change

Rabo
1 VOS, MARIANNE
2 VAN VLEUTEN, ANNEMIEK
3 ANTOSHINA, TATIANA
4 DÜSTER, SARAH
5 KNETEMANN, ROXANE
6 DE VOCHT, LIESBET

Specialized-Lululemon
11 STEVENS, EVELIN
12 ELVIN, GRACIE
13 MCCONVILLE, CHLOE
14 NOONAN, SINEAD
15 SULZBERGER, GRACE
16 TAYLOR, CARLEE

Bizkaia Durango
21 SANCHIS, ANNA
22 ESKAMENDI, DORLETA
23 CHACÓN, LILLIBETH
24 HOGAN, JOANNE
25 OYARBIDE, LOURDES=
26 SAN SEBASTIAN, IRENE
27 SANTESTEBAN Ane
28 NORIEGA, MAYALEN

Orica-AIS
31 JOHANSSON, EMMA
32 GILLOW SHARA
33 GUNNEWIJK, LOES
34 SPRATT, AMANDA
35 CROMWELL, TIFFANY
36 EDMONDSON, ANNETTE

Hitec Products-UCK
41 LONGO BORGHINI, ELISA
42 FAHLIN, EMILIA
43 BJØRNSRUD, MIRIAM
44 NEYLAN, RACHEL
45 RATTO, ROSSELLA
46 JOHNSEN, CECILIE G.

Sengers
51 VAN DER BREGGEN, ANNA
52 SOEK, JULIA
53 POLSPOEL, MAAIKE
54 DE VUYST, SOFIE
55 MAJERUS, CHRISTINE
56 ARIJS, EVELYNE
57 SCHREURS, GEERIKE
58 ROGGEMAN, INGE

RusVelo
61 KUCHINSKAYA, ELENA
62 BURCHENKOVA, ALEKS
63 JAPAROVA, AIJAN
64 BOCHARNIKOVA, ELENA
65 BLINDUK, YULIA
66 PANKOVA, LARISA
67 DOBRYNINA, KSENLIA
68 BONDARENKO, ALINA

Boels-Dolmans
71 ARMITSTEAD, LIZZIE
72 BRAS, MARTINE
73 DAAMS, JESSIE
74 KASPER, ROMY
75 VISSER, ADRIE
76 WANROIJ, MARIEKE

Lotto-Belisol
81 DE VRIES, MARIJN
82 D’HOORE, JOLIEN
83 DUYCK, ANN-SOFIE
84 ELLA, MICHAL
85 HANNES, KAAT
86 MOOLMAN Ashleigh
87 ROUSSE, MARION
88 TAYLOR, CARLEE

Argos-Shimano
91 BECKER, CHARLOTTE
92 BUSSER, JANNEKE
93 KNOL, WILLEKE
94 GEBHARDT, ELKE
95 PIETERS, AMY
96 WILD, KIRSTEN

S.C. Michela Fanini-ROX
101 PITEL, EDWIGE
102 RIST, LIISI
103 BARAZNA, KATIA
104 ELPELDE, MIREIA
105 VIECELI, LARA
106 D’INTINO, AZZURA
107 BOLDRINI, GLORIA
108 JUTATIP, MANEEPHAN

Faren-Let's Go Finland
111 BASTIANELLI, MARTA
112 CECCHINI, ELENA
113 FERRIER BRUNEAU, CHRISTEL
114 LUPERINI, FABIANA
115 MUSTONEN, SARA
116 SCHWAGER, PATRICIA

Top Fassa Bortolo
121 BERLATO, ELENA
122 BITTO, IRENE
123 CAUZ, FRANCESCA
124 FIORI, JENNIFER
125 PIEROBON, CHIARA
126 STEFANI, FRANCESCA

Lointek
131 CRUM, EMMA
132 LOPEZ, BELÉN
133 ILIYNIKH, YULIA
134 MERINO, EIDER
135 UTROBINA, ELENA
136 MUFFAT, ALEXIA
137 GONZALES, LUCÍA
138 GUTIERREZ, SHEYLA

Cramo-Go:Green
141 OLSSON, MADELENE
142 KHLBOM, JESSICA
143 SÖDERBERG, ISABELLE
144 NILSSON, HANNA
145 THOMASSON, MARTINA
146 SJÖBLOM, LENNEA

BePink
151 CANTELE, Noemi
152 FRAPPORTI, SIMONA
153 VALSECCHI, SILVIA
154 AMIALIUSIK, ALENA
155 LEVI, DANIELA
156 ALGISI, ALICE

How To Follow The Race
As ever, Hitec Products-UCK manager Karl Lima, Boels-Dolmans mechanic Richie Steege and photographer Anton Vos (who also happens to be Marianne's brother) are the people to follow for live race updates.




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Women's Cycling News 21-28.07.2013

July 20, 2013, 9:03 am
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UCI races this week - more to come

UCI Elite Women races this week: Thuringen Rundfahrt (15-21.07); Tour en Limousin (18-21.07); U23 European Road Race Championship (21.07); Sparkassen Giro (28.07).

Tour Feminin en Limousin
Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to actually follow this race - there are no updates on the official site nor, it seems, anywhere else, and at the time of writing (Day 3 of the race), results had not yet appeared on the UCI website. How do organisers expect fans to be fans of their races if they're not going to put the information out there? Such is the great Unanswered Question of Women's Cycling.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Oxana KOZONCHUK (RusVelo) 3h29'20"
2 Svetlana STOLBOVA (Pratomagno) ST
3 Katarzyna PAWLOWSKA (GSD Gestion-Kallisto) +01"
4 Natalia BOYARSKAYA (Russia NT) +03"
5 Irina MOLICHEVA (Pratomagno) ST
6 Claire THOMAS  (GSD Gestion-Kallisto) ST
7 Sara MUSTONEN (Faren-Let's Go Finland) ST
8 Sophie DE BOER (Parkhotel Valkenburg) ST
9 Jennifer FIORI (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo) ST
10 Elana VALENTINI (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo) ST

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) 26'15"
2 Katarzyna PAWLOWSKA (GSD Gestion-Kallisto) +25"
3 Edwige PITEL (S.C. Michela Fanini-Rox) +41"
4 Natalia BOYARSKAYA (Russia NT) +46"
5 Karol-Ann CANUEL (Vienne Futuroscope) +01'11"
6 Belen LOPEZ (Lointek) +01'21"
7 Lucy COLDWELL (Breast Cancer Care) +01'22"
8 Elena KUCHINSKAYA (RusVelo) +01'25"
9 Svetlana STOLBOVA (Pratomagno) +01'27"
10 Oxana KOZONCHUK (RusVelo) +01'34"

Original, large-scale (and printable) poster here
Women's TDF petition nears 60,000 signatures
Some people say that there simply isn't enough interest in women's cycling for the sport to ever match men's cycling in popularity. The petition started by Kathryn Bertine, Emma Pooley, Marianne Vos and Chrissie Wellington asking the Amaury Sport Organisation to add a women's race to the Tour de France proves that those people are wrong - a little over a week since it was launched, almost 60,000 people have signed.

The petition is now aiming for 75,000 signatures and looks entirely capable of reaching that figure - or, perhaps, topping it. If you haven't already done so, add your support here.
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Women's Cycling News 28.07-04.08.2013

July 28, 2013, 3:11 am
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UCI races this week -  Majerus wins Sparkassen - Tour de l'Ardeche: if you build it, they will come - Women's "Tour of Britain" confirmed for 2014 - Making the human cost real to save cyclists' lives - Shorts - Interesting Links - more to come...

UCI Elite Women's race this week:Sparkassen Giro (28.07); Erondegemse Pijl/Erpe Mere (03.08); Route de France (03-10.08).

Majerus wins Sparkassen
Christine Majerus
Christine Majerus (Sengers) was fastest in a final bunch sprint, with her team mater Maaike Polspoel right behind her for second place - beating Argos-Shimano's superhero sprint specialist Kirsten Wild into an unaccustomed third.

Majerus is currently Luxembourgian National Champion in cyclo cross, individiual time trial and road race as well as Small States of Europe Champion in individual time trial, road race and mountain biking.

Top Ten
1 Christine MAJERUS (Sengers) 1h49'09"
2 Maaike POLSPOEL (Sengers) ST
3 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) ST
4 Sigrid JOCHEMS (Water, Land & Dijken) ST
5 Coryn RIVERA (USA NT) ST
6 Lauren KITCHEN (Wiggle-Honda) ST
7 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
8 Daniela GASS (Squadra Scappatella) ST
9 Kaat HANNES (Belgium NT) ST
10 Emily COLLINS (Wiggle-Honda) ST
Full result

Tour de l'Ardeche - if you build it, they will come
The UCI - well, Pat McQuaid, at any rate - says that women's cycling "isn't developed enough" to warrant the kind of financial investment enjoyed by men's cycling, which is why so many women's races operate on budgets so low that the term "shoestring" doesn't even begin to describe the situation. It's really no wonder that mistakes are sometimes made (the peloton being given wrong directions during a race is virtually unheard of in men's cycling, but it happens all too often in women's race), nor that so many organising committees become disillusioned and throw in the towel, canceling their race, after a few years of fighting for every Euro they can get.

The Tour Cycliste Feminin International de l'Ardeche, which is backed by a number of impressive organisations including the Conseil Generale of the Ardeche region, Credit Mutuel, La Tribune and others; as a result, it's exceptionally well organised, offers prizes that are actually worth winning and takes place on a superbly-planned parcours - and this year, it received applications to race from no fewer than 29 teams. That's so many that, for what may be the first time in the history of women's cycling, organisers will actually have to turn some of them down.

McQuaid looks almost certain to lose his presidential post on the 27th of September, when the UCI will meet in Florence and vote whether to keep him or replace him with British challenger Brian Cookson who, as a supporter of women's cycling, will hopefully understand that the sport needs investment in order to grow rather than needs to grow before it deserves investment.

Cookson confirms Women's "Tour of Britain"
There were rumours several months ago, but now we have concrete facts: there will be a Women's "Tour of Britain" in May 2014 - though it'll be called the Women's Tour, because British Cycling own the trademark "Tour of Britain" - and some preliminary details have been made available.

Brian Cookson, current president of British Cycling, wrote on his blog:

"I'm pleased to be able to confirm that there will now be a five-day international stage race for women in Britain in 2014. The event will be separate from the men's race, but it will be promoted to a high standard and will, I'm sure, be the first step in having a full equivalent Tour of Britain as it develops.

Having an international field competing in a stage race in my home country will provide a template for the kind of changes I will develop on the international stage if I'm successful in my bid to become UCI President in September. We know women's racing can be every bit as attractive to broadcasters, fans and sponsors as men's racing, we just need the governing body to step in, take it seriously and nurture it."

Guy Elliot, speaking for organisers SweetSpot, says that the five-day race will concentrate for its first year on East Anglia and the Midlands, but that it will grow to become a true tour of Britain in the future. The reasons for the decision to remain in a limited area for the time being are threefold:  East Anglia and the Midlands have a limited number of races at present; those that do take place in both areas - especially in the case of women's events such as the Johnson HealthTech GP - have proved highly popular and it's thought best to start with a fairly flat parcours before moving into mountainous terrain when the race is more established.

Crucial to the future of the race, SweetSpot have secured TV coverage, though they're not yet revealing which channel (ITV4 seems most likely) and it's not clear if race footage - which would take up half of each one-hour show, with the remainder focusing on the riders - would be recorded highlights or live.

Making the human cost real
Vulpine, the cycling clothing company that has already become known for some of the most stylish gear on the market, has begun a project that aims to "humanise" cyclists.

Many cyclists have noticed that a minority of drivers seem unable to connect the bikes they see being ridden on the road with human beings. It's common to hear cyclists described in terms that suggest they're a mere irritation, a nuisance that gets in the way of human activity - Nick Hussey, creator of Vulpine, reasons that if those drivers are made aware that the bikes they see on the roads are being ridden by people who have families and loved ones, they might then show a little more consideration towards them. How to do it? Nick's asking you to send photographs of the people (or pets) that would miss you if you were killed in a traffic accident.

"An extra bit of impatience or a decision to overtake or turn, made too fast, could create a mourning family. Cyclists are the most fragile and vulnerable road users. I hope we can make that more real. It won't be made for cyclists. It'll be made for the wider public," says Nick. "Your images will only be used to highlight the problems above. We won't brand any completed work with our logo etc, that would be crass. It's not a Vulpine campaign, but a personal one, where we can use the Vulpine platform and following to get the message out."

Read more and contribute photos here.



Shorts
Pajon with her Olympic medal
Mariana Pajón is World BMX TT Champion
Mariana Pajón, the Colombian BMX rider who won the gold medal in the Women's BMX event at the 2012 Olympics, won her second World BMX Time Trial Championship in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday, 27th July.
King's postbox will remain gold forever
Dani King is probably getting used to being at the centre of historic events by now, but she probably never expected this one to go on her palmares: the Royal Mail has announced that "her" postbox, situated in her home village Hamble in Hampshire and one of many around the country painted gold to commemorate athletes born nearby, will be one of two that will stay gold forever rather than being repainted in red. The other is Lymington, birthplace of sailor Ben Aislie. This is the first time that the Royal Mail has ever permanently changed the colour of any postbox to mark a historic event; why they picked those commemorating Dani and Ben's achievements has not been stated.

Interesting Links
United Kingdom
Helen Wyman solos to women's Sheffield Grand Prix win (British Cycling)
Sarah & Dan's Women's Cycling Podcast (Warning: Almost guaranteed to contain swearing!) - (Unofficial, Unsanctioned Women's UCI Cycling Blog)
Preview: National Women's Road Series - Ryedale Grand Prix (British Cycling)
UCI presidential candidate Cookson backs return for women's Tour (The Independent)
Superfit cyclist aims to become fastest women to go round the world on a bike (Get Reading)
Famous Last Words: Lauren Kitchen (Cycling Weekly)
Worldwide
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme says a women’s parallel event is ‘impossible’ (Daily Telegraph)
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Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT and Road Race

July 31, 2013, 7:58 am
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TTT
16.08.2013 Official Site
Sweden, Team Time Trial, 42.5km
UCI CDM

Sweden is not the first country most people think of if anyone asks them which nations most appreciate cycling but the sport enjoys considerable popularity in the south of the country, especially around Vårgårda - which has hosted the Postgiro Open and the two UCI Elite Women events to which the town has given its name - the Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT and, two days later, the Open de Suède Vårgårda road race. A World Cup event and generally considered to be fun in addition to a challenge, the Team Time Trial attracted thirteen teams last year with some of the most famous riders in the world in attendance: names such as Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, Ellen van Dijk, Loes Gunnewijk, Judith Arndt, Shara Gillow, Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten, Emma Pooley, Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Johansson, Hanka Kupfernagel, winner Trixi Worrack and many others were all there, and the 2013 edition should be much the same.

Bosse Anås' sculpture of the Bröderna Fåglum in Vårgårda
The town, home to a little over 5,000 people, was the birthplace of the Bröderna ("Brothers") Fåglum, four cycling brothers whose actual surname was Pettersson - their nickname came about because they all rode for a cycling club based in the village of Fåglum, some 14km north of Vårgårda. Two of the brothers, Erik and Tomas, legally adopted the name; Sture used it alongside Pettersson while Gösta, who won the Giro d'Italia in 1971 and is the only Swedish rider to have ever won that race, remains a Pettersson to this day.

Previous Winners
2008 Priska Doppmann
2009 Kristin Armstrong
2010 Charlotte Becker
2011 Judith Arndt
2012 Trixi Worrack

Parcours


View Vårgårda CDM TTT 2013 in a larger mapWith several tight corners - some of them made more technical by street furniture (Swedish town councils really love street furniture and erect signs wherever they can) and narrow roads - this is a challenging parcours that will favour teams which have spent a good deal of time honing their time trial skills. Expect a grand battle between Orica-AIS and Specialized-Lululemon, but keep an eye on the times set by Rabobank-Liv/Giant and Lotto-Belisol too.

The route is well-known for its crosswinds, which could prove especially problematic if they become headwinds on the 181 between Vårgårda and Herrljunga and again on the exposed bridge on Kullingsleden, approximately 32.5km into the race. There is only one testing climb along the route, coming just after 35km; although the total ascent is only 40m in 2km, it's sufficiently steep in sections and comes close enough to the end to potentially make a big difference.

Altimetry - click to enlarge
Starters
At the time of writing, Lotto-Belisol and Rabobank-Liv/Giant are the only teams listed as having confirmed. Karl Lima, manager of Hitec Products-UCK (who'll provide live updates during the race) informs Les Deesses that his team will also be racing and will be led by Emilia Fahlin. Keep up to date on developments with Women Cycling Fever.

Road Race
16.08.2013 Official Site
Sweden, One-day Road Race, 132km
UCI CDM

Details to be confirmed...
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Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour

July 31, 2013, 12:09 pm
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23-26.08.2013 Official Site
Belgium, 4-stage Road Race, 332.5km
UCI 2.2

If you want to be rich, women's cycling is not the place to go seeking your fortune - most of the teams operate on notoriously tiny budgets and riders can never be certain that their sponsors won't suddenly announce they're ending their links with the sport which, in all too many cases when the team is unable to find a new sponsor, means the end. Fortunately, there are a few companies out there that are willing to ignore the bean-counters and put in large amounts of money for returns that, as women's cycling doesn't receive anything like the exposure that men's cycling does, often seem not to make sound financial sense. Rabobank proved itself to be a company that genuinely cares when it elected to continue sponsoring a women's team after pulling out of men's cycling entirely; Boels, a plant machinery firm, is another example, one that sponsors a team and three races (the Boels Ronde van Drenthe, which took place in March, the Boels Hills Classic in May and Boels Ladies' Tour, previously known as the Holland Ladies' Tour and one of the most prestigious events on the Elite Women's calendar, which will take place early in September). There is also Lotto, the Belgian national lottery, and Belisol, a Belgian manufacturer of solar panels, doors and windows - together, they sponsor the Lotto-Belisol men's and women's teams and this race, the Tour of Belgium.

Unlike the Tour de France, which has stages that start in one town and end in another, the Belgium Tour is more like a rock band's tour - it visits a different town each day and the riders then compete on a circuit that starts and ends at the town. This has numerous advantages, chiefly that costs are cut by having each stage consist of several laps rather than one long parcours and fans get to see the race pass by several times, either by remaining at the same point or by moving around to see it from different places.

Parcours
Stage 1: Warquignies-Angreu (23.08.2013, 19.7km Team Time Trial)

View Tour of Belgium Stage 1 2013 in a larger map
The only non-circuit stage of the race, Stage 1 will see the teams putting their bike handling skills to the test with a series of very sharp corners in the first two kilometres, where it'd be very easy indeed to lose a couple of riders to unfortunate crashes and end up with insufficient numbers to even be awarded a time - which would mean race over. Once through, there's a forested section (which always increases the likelihood of punctures, which can be disastrous when racing against the clock) with a climb of around 70m in 2.5km, then a long and flat straight section running south-west along the Av. du Haut-Pays where the fastest squads will be able to get their heads down and find a serious time advantage against those who haven't been practicing their TTT tactics quite so much as they ought. Another very sharp bend then leads onto the remaining part of the parcours, finishing 19.7km (which is why it's a stage rather than a prologue; a prologue in an Elite Women's race cannot be longer than 4km according to UCI rule 2.6.006).
Altimetry
The route uses many open lanes running alongside flat, wide fields; although the parcours is in Wallonia, the region is subject to typically Flandrian wind and rain - with so little shelter along much of the route, the stage could become an ordeal if the weather is bad. There is also a cobbled section on the Rue des Juifs at Onnezies; however, the cobbles are flat, regularly-placed and in good condition, they will therefore not cause the riders serious problems.

Stage 2: Angreau (24.08.2013, 110.16km)

View Tour of Begium 2013 Stage 2 in a larger map
Stage 2 both begins and ends at the Place d'Angreu, where Stage 1 also finished. From the start line, the riders head into a 12.24km circuit taking them first south to Roisin; they then travel north-east to the first GPM climb of the race - the Cote du Autreppe (5.48km from the start, points awarded at 5.48km, 29.96km, 54.44km, 78.92km, 103.4km), where points will be awarded during the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and final lap. There are also four intermediate sprints, each of which begins as the riders cross the finish line during the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th laps (24.48km, 48.96km, 73.33km, 97.92km).

A tight left-hand turn leads onto the narrow Rue d'Autreppe, at which point the parcours will be familiar to the riders as it now follows the same route via Onnezies (including the 300m Rue des Juifs cobbles), Angre, Honnelles and back to Angreau.

Riders must complete nine laps of the circuit; the Cote, though neither high nor steep, will have a considerable cumulative effect and there'll be some sore knees on the final passage.
Altimetry
Stage 3: Nijlen (25.08.2013, 115.12km)

View Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour 2013 Stage 3 in a larger map
The place names reveal that the Tour has left Wallonia behind and is now in Flanders, perhaps the most cycling-obsessed region in the world. Many of the little towns that dot the flat landscape have produced famous riders, including Nijlen where the race begins - it was the birthplace of Victor van Schil, trusted lieutenant of Eddy Merckx and winner of the 1968 Brabantse Pijl (sadly, van Schil took his own life in 2009 at the age of 69), Bjorn Leukemans (who may have won far more had he not have crashed so often) and Nick Nuyens, winner of the 2011 Ronde van Vlaanderen and husband of Evy van Damme, Belgian Road Race Champion in 2000 and 2001.

Most of the great Flemish races have taken place in warm, dry conditions in recent years, but for many people racing in this part of the world will always be associated with cold winds and driving rain. The parcours is far enough from the coast to avoid the worst, but with the topography being as flat as it is any wind blowing in from the North Sea rips across the land and still has plenty of power by the time it reaches Nijlen - crosswinds on the section heading west between Herenthout and Kruiskenberg and headwinds on the section heading north between Heikant and Nijlen may create some problems. Riders must complete nine laps of the 14.49km circuit, making the stage

There are no GPM points on offer on this, the flattest stage of the 2013 edition; the feed zone passes through an area known as Kruiskenberg, which sounds dauntingly like one of the brutally steep climbs for which Flemish racing is infamous, but which is in fact an undemanding hillock rising no higher than 20m with an average gradient of around 1.5% (maximum 3.5%). There are, however, four intermediate sprints. Each begins at the Cafe de Max located at Bevel-Dorp 160 in Bevel and points will be awarded on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th laps (10.59km, 39.57km, 68.55km, 97.53km).
Altimetry

Stage 4: Geraardsbergen (26.08.2013, 87.47km)

View Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour 2013 Stage 4 in a larger map

Rather than several identical laps like the earlier stages, Stage 4 consists of a total of four laps around three circuits; the first is 29.16km in length with one GPM climb and will be completed once, the second is 19.17km with no GPM climbs and will be completed once and the third, which is 19.57km in length and features one GPM climb, will be completed twice. There are also intermediate sprints when the parcours crosses the finish line for the first, second and third times.

The first circuit begins at marketplace in Geraardsbergen, a town that will be familiar any riders who took part in Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik back in May - it's also been a feature in many editions of the Ronde van Vlaanderen over the years. Very soon after heading out into the neutral zone they'll catch glimpses of what, to cyclists, is Geraardsbergen's most famous feature, Kapelmuur, but for the time being they can concentrate on other things. Racing gets underway 1.9km from the start on Verhaegenlaan and the parcours remains unchallenging until Parikeberg, a 0.6km climb offering GPM points, with an average gradient of 5.8 and maximum of 7%; it is 21.44km from the end of the neutral zone. The remainder of the circuit runs back into Geraardsbergen, with several tight and potentially risky corners leading into the town.  The riders will take the last (non-GPM) climb to arrive at the start line at the market place, then continue to the first T-junction where earlier they turned right; now they turn left and follow Vesten, passing the finish line and contesting the intermediate sprint for the first time.

Riders tackle the Muur van Geraardsbergen
during the 2006 Ronde van Vlaanderen voor
Vrouwen
A short while later they turn south onto Edingseweg, then west on Guilleminlaan and follow it through two sweeping curves until it joins Vesten heading south and the race then continues along the same route as earlier until reaching the T-junction at Priem. In Circuit 1, the riders turned left here to travel west; this time they turn east along Molenstraat, neatly avoiding Parikeberg. A few hundred metres ahead, they rejoin the Circuit 1 parcours and follow it back into Geraardbergen, taking the same route via the marketplace and back to the finish line where another intermediate sprint is contested.

To begin Circuit 3, the riders turn right before reaching the Oude Steenweg junction used in Circuit 2 and follow Oudebergstraat, a route that takes them directly to and over the notorious Kapelmuur - the reason that Geraardsbergen has featured in so many legendary races, Kapelmuur is, according to some, the toughest climb in East Flanders. With cobbles as large as steps and a maximum gradient of 19.8% (average is 9%), it's proved decisive many times and may well do so again today, even on the first lap of the circuit if one rider manages to get away and a crash in the peloton holds everyone else up - when that happens, many riders find it impossible to get going again on the steep slope and have to run up instead. Once over the top, the parcours takes Oudeberg and Dreipikkel for the short distance to Oude Steenweg and turns right, the remainder of the circuit following the route of Circuit 2. By the time the finish line approaches, those climbs will have taken their toll and there might not be any sprinters left in contention, in which case the race will be fought out by the climbers - unless, of course, one of them has built up a sufficient solo lead to win ahead of the pack.
Altimetry, Circuit 1 and Circuits 3/4


Starters
Confirmed teams
Bigla
Boretti Ulysses
Lotto-Belisol
NWVG-Bike4Air

Further details to be announced; check Women Cycling Fever for regular updates.

Following the race
As is the case with the majority of Belgian races, getting to the Tour is a simple process from anywhere in North-Western Europe - including from the United Kingdom: traveling by ferry from Dover to Dunkirk with a car costs as little as £74 return (check online for deals; Hull to Zeebrugge, a better choice for much of Britain's population, is for some reason far more expensive - around £200 with a bike rather than a car) and none of the Tour towns are more than 180km from the port. Better still, travel by bike - port to race is a day's ride for a fit cyclist, two at a more comfortable pace and, with the Belgians' legendary love for bicycles and cyclists, you'll be sure of a warm welcome. None of the towns are tourist traps, so accommodation will also be affordable.

If you can't get there, the choices for following the race are typically limited to Twitter feeds. Hitec Products-UCK manager Karl Lima provides regular updates on the progress of his team and the rest; Boels-Dolmans mechanic Richie Steege and photojournalists Bart Hazen and Anton Vos (who may attend regarless of whether or not his sister Marianne Vos is there with the Rabobank-Liv/Giant team) are also good choices.
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Women's Cycling News 04-11.08.2013

August 4, 2013, 4:01 am
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UCI races this week - Polspoel wins Erondegemse Pijl - Route de France (Prologue, Stage 1) - Women's Tour of Britain - more to come...

UCI Elite Women's races this week:Route de France (03-10.08)

Polspoel wins Erondegemse Pijl
Race Preview

Maaike Polspoel
Belgium, for many, is the true home of cycling; so, after many weeks without an Elite Women's race, the Erondegemse Pijl drew large crowds who were treated to a fine example of Flemish racing that was so fast and furious 48 riders were unable to finish - and fans will have gone home delighted after Belgian riders took first, second and fifth making them the most successful nationality in the top ten. Winner Maaike Polspoel's victory, her first of 2013, was a decisive one, too - she beat the rest to the line by 57".

Polspoel's team mates Sofie de Vuyst and Christine Majerus (who won the Sparkassen Giro last week, where Polspoel was second) led the pack over the line for second (enough for de Vuyst to retain overall lead of the Lotto Cup) and third, making the race a superb day out for Sengers. The next 80 riders recorded the same time as de Vuyst and Majerus, then Liliano Leenknegi came in 1'27" and Nel de Crits finished things off at 1'30". Among the riders not to finish was last year's winner Adrie Visser.

Top Ten
1 Maaike POLSPOEL (Sengers) 3h05'07"
2 Sofie DE VUYST (Sengers) ST
3 Christine MAJERUS (Sengers) ST
4 Kirsten PEETOOM (RC Jan van Arckel) ST
5 Kelly DRUYTS (TopSport Vlaanderen-Bioracer) ST
6 Kim DE BAAT (Dolmans-Boels) ST
7 Daniela GASS (MIX Wetteren-Bourgogne-Scapatella) ST
8 Anna TREVISI (Vaiano-Fondriest) ST
9 Monique VAN DE REE (CycleLive Plus-Zannata) ST
10 Nathalie LAMBORELLE (Bigla) ST
Full result and General Classification

Route de France
Race Preview

Prologue
Emma Johansson
Time trial results are frequently close, but this one was seriously close with the top three riders all coming within two seconds of one another. The top two, Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) and Linda Villumsen (Wiggle-Honda), were even closer still: the Swede beat the Denmark-born New Zealander by less than three quarters of a second to take an early overall lead. While that lead may be tiny at present, we've all seen plenty enough evidence over the last couple of seasons to know that when Johansson takes any sort of lead, it's very, very difficult to take it away from her.

Prologue Top Ten
1 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) 5'07.93"
2 Linda VILLUMSEN (Wiggle-Honda) +0.73"
3 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) +1.34"
4 Evelyn STEVENS (USA NT) +4.78"
5 Roxane KNETEMANN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +5.12"
6 Iris SLAPPENDEL (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +6.73"
7 Nettie EDMONDSON (Orica-AIS) +7.61"
8 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Giordana) +7.71"
9 Esther FENNEL (Germany NT) +8.53"
10 Pauline FERRAND PREVOT (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +8.55"
Full result and General Classification

Stage 1
Giorgia Bronzini celebrated her birthday on the 3rd of August (well, to be more accurate, her legions of fans celebrated while she kept busy in the Route's prologue) and today she marked the occasion with a fine stage win. Don't go thinking it was a birthday gift, however - Valentina Scandolara (MCipollini-Giordana) and Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), formidable opponents and both more than strong enough to challenge her despite neither being sprint specialists, made her work for it and fought her every step of the way to the finish line.

Giorgia Bronzini
The first part of the race, a long south-westerly route from Soissons to Enghiens-les-Bains, was uneventful - as expected, the peloton cranked up to a high speed early on and split, with a lead group keeping the high revs coming as smaller pockets of riders down the road traveled at their own paces in the difficult crosswind. When it got to the final circuit in Enghiens, everything changed and Bronzini, using the climbing ability she's picked up in races such as the Giro Donne and which so few other sprinters possess, used a small climb to take care of anyone who might otherwise have been able to produce more watts once the line came within sight.

This whittled down the contenders to around 20, but there were all-rounders still with the strength to rejoin and, before long, the Italian rider realised that her rivals had increased in number to 37 - fortunately, she had plenty of team mates to lend her a hand, while strongest rival Johansson had only one: Wiggle-Honda took control and Lauren Kitchen led her into the last kilometre. Coming round the final corner, Bronzini was in third place and she timed her sprint perfectly, taking off with 150m to go and finishing by the best part of a bike length.

Scandolara, Johansson and the next 34 riders received the same time as the victor; as the stage did not feature bonification seconds, Johansson remains General Classification leader with an advantage of one second. I said yesterday that when Johansson finds any sort of advantage it's very hard to take it away from her, but with so few climbs in this race she's going to need far more team help than she received today to keep Bronzini at bay.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) 3h22'
2 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
3 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
4 Thalita DE JONG (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
5 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) ST
6 Pauline FERRAND PREVOT (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
7 Elizabeth ARMITSTEAD (Boels-Dolmans) ST
8 Anna Zita Maria STRICKER (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
9 Linda VILLUMSEN (Wiggle-Honda) ST
10 Alena AMIALIUSIK (BePink) ST 
Full result and General Classification

Stage 2

Bronzini wins again, Moolman second, de Jong third; Johansson retains GC leadership after coming fifth in bunch sprint.

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) 2h12'10"
2 Ashleigh MOOLMAN (Lotto-Belisol) ST
3 Thalita DE JONG (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
4 Chloe MCCONVILLE (Australia NT) ST
5 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
6 Elizabeth ARMITSTEAD (Boels-Dolmans) ST
7 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) ST
8 Pauline FERRAND PREVOT (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
9 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
10 Alena AMIALIUSIK (BePink) ST
Full result and General Classification

...after the stage, Orica's Nettie Edmondson posted a good-humoured Tweet demonstrating the sort of luxury that female professional cyclists so regularly enjoy:

Ahh the joys of women's cycling... But hey, at least we have a roof over our head! #glamour http://twitter.yfrog.com/mo6tdzzj?sa=0

...Team Sky's bus probably gets to stay in more luxurious garage!

Further stage results to come...

More details on Women's Tour of Britain
A stage of the race will be named in honour
of Laura Trott
Brian Cookson, current president of British Cycling, confirmed last week that for the first time next year there will be a women's Tour of Britain, to be held as a stand-alone event rather than in conjunction with the men's race.

Since then, more good news has been released by SweetSpot, who organise the men's race and will also organise the new event - most notably, that the women will compete for prizes equal to those offered to the men (very often, the overall winner of a women's stage race receives less than a stage winner in a men's race).

It will be, says SweetSpot's Guy Elliott, "the only cycling event in the world where women are not second best." Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, he added: "The goal is to wrap a social agenda for change in health and social terms around a sports event, to send a strong message to women that they don't have to be second best. It's a game changer. It cannot carry on, that we discriminate against women in sport from the age of 15."

Elliott also revealed that each stage will be themed - a stage running through the Hertfordshire town of Cheshunt, home to Laura Trott, will be named in honour of the Olympic champion.

Interesting Links
Emma Pooley remains frustrated at women's low status in cycling (The Guardian)
Jo Rowsell to have surgery on broken collar bone (Cycling Weekly)
High recognition for Moolman Pasio (SuperSport)
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Women's Cycling News 11-18.08.2013

August 11, 2013, 3:05 am
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UCI races this week - Women's crit at Tour of Britain - Vos treated for back pain - Calling British TT riders - Interesting Links - more to come...

UCI Elite Women's races this week: Open de Suède Vargarda TTT (16.08); Open de Suède Vargarda RR (18.08)

Women's crit at the Tour of Britain
Following on from the excellent and very welcome news that a women's Tour of Britain will be held as a stand-alone event in 2014, race organisers SweetSpot have announced that a one-day event to be known as the Westminster GP will coincide with the final stage of the 2013 edition.

Lasting for one hour, the race will take place on the 22nd of September and will follow a closed circuit criterium parcours through Whitehall, taking the riders along Downing Street, Northumberland Avenue and the Embankment, then back through Parliament Square and will be open to riders in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Elite categories - which encompasses everyone from World Champions to amateur club members.

80 places are still available for the race, costing just £5 each.

Vos receives treatment for back pain
Vos at the La Flèche Wallonne, 2013
Current World Champion Marianne Vos is undergoing medical treatment after experiencing chronic lower back pain, say Dutch news reports, and is having a week off to recover.

Vos, who made a return to competitive mountain biking this year, has enjoyed a characteristically enormous number of victories this season enjoying her first at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, but she's also performed less well than expected on a number of occasions which has led many to wonder if racing both on and off road (in addition to track and cyclo cross) is too much even for her: "Every body has [its] limits, including that of Marianne Vos. At her performance and training level, I can't foresee her being able to keep going for ten years," says former manager Koos Moerenhout.

She is expected to be back in the saddle in time for the Open de Suède Vargarda races at the end of this week, and with the World Championships six weeks away, her rivals will be taking note of how she fares.

Calling British TT riders
The Leicester Forest CC's Women's 10-mile TT is due to take place on the 24th near Loughborough - but, so far, only two riders have signed up to race. Entry is only £8 and the event has a reputation for being welcoming. More details here.

Interesting Links
United Kingdom
Two golds for Great Britain at junior track worlds (Cycling Weekly)
Australia
Elite, U19 & U23 Women: Jacobs wins Australian national cyclo-cross championship (Cycling News)
International
Women's Cycling: We're creating our own history (The Guardian, UK)
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Trophée d'Or 2013

August 12, 2013, 10:58 am
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24-28.08.2013 Official Site
France, 6-stage Road Race, 496.3km
UCI 2.2

First held in 1997, when it was won by Jeannie Longo (who was then 39 and, famously, is still racing today at the age of 54), the Trophée d'Or is now in its 17th edition. Although it has fluctuated between five and six stages, it is unusual among women's cycling races in that it has been held every year since its inauguration - a tribute to the excellent organisational skills of the race committee.

The Lithuanian Edita Pučinskaitė and the Swede Emma Johansson are the only riders to have won twice, in 2001 and 2004 and in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Longo remains the only French winner; no British rider has ever made it to the podium, but there are some very good British women on the start list this year: Lizzie Armitstead and Sharon Laws have the potential to challenge overall and Emma Trott could aim for a stage win.

Previous Winners
1997 Jeannie Longo
1998 Jolanta Polikevičiūtė
1999 Tracey Gaudry
2000 Leontien van Moorsel
2001 Edita Pučinskaitė
2002 Tatiana Stiajkina
2003 Olivia Gollan
2004 Edita Pučinskaitė
2005 Joane Somarriba
2006 Zulfiya Zabirova
2007 Noemi Cantele
2008 Emma Johansson
2009 Diana Žiliūtė
2010 Emma Johansson
2011 Tatiana Antoshina
2012 Elena Cecchini

Parcours

Stage 1 (24.08.2013; St Amand Montrond-Graçay, 107.1 km)

View Trophee d'Or Feminin 2013 Stage 1 in a larger map

Stage 2 (25.08.2013; Mehun sur Yèvre ITT, 17.7km)

View Trophee d'Or Feminin 2013 Stage 2 in a larger map

Stage 3 (25.08.2013; La Chapelle St Ursin-La Chapelle St Ursin, 78.3km)

View Trophee d'Or Feminin 2013 Stage 3 in a larger map

Stage 4 (26.08.2013; Cosne Cours Sur Loire-Cosne Cours Sur Loire, 99.4km)

View Trophee d'Or 2013 Stage 4 in a larger map

With much of the second circuit (depicted in red on the map) running through flat or rolling, open countryside with few hedgerows, riders may experience strong crosswinds during this stage - if so, the peloton is likely to split into several groups with those able to work cohesively standing a good chance of getting back to the finish line to begins circuits 3 and 4 with a handy advantage. There are also a number of difficult corners along all the circuits, putting bike-handling skills to the test and making it an ideal parcours for breaks.

Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire looks exactly what it is - a once grand town that has fallen on hard times, in this case due to the demise of its metal-working industry that it had depended on since the 16th Century. However, having been inhabited since prehistoric times, there is much to see and the town forms an ideal base for visitors to the race. The medieval town Sancerre, sitting on an isolated hill 310m above sea level and packed full of centuries-old buildings, is also worth a visit.

Stage 5 (27.08.2013; Baugy-Baugy, 105.7km)
Map to come...

Stage 6 (28.08.2013; Orval-St Amand Montrond)
Map to come...

Starters
Provisional and subject to change; Women Cycling Fever is regularly updated.

Australia NT

BePink

Bigla

France NT

Germany NT

Boels-Dolmans
Lizzie Armitstead
Jessie Daams
Romy Kasper
Emma Trott
Marieke Wanroij
Adrie Visser

Lotto-Belisol
Marijn de Vries
Kaat Hannes
Sharon Laws
Ashleigh Moolman
Marion Rousse
Carlee Taylor

MCipollini-Giordana
Valentina Carretta
Tatiana Guderzo
Malgorzata Jasinska
Valentina Scandolara
Anna Zita Maria Stricker
Marta Tagliaferro

Orica-AIS
Tiffany Cromwell
Nettie Edmondson
Gracie Elvin
Melissa Hoskins
Emma Johansson
Gu Sung Eun

Pasta Zara-Cogeas
Inga Cilvinaite
Véronique Fortin
Amber Pierce
Martina Ruzickova
Lorena Maria Vargas Villamil

Rabobank-Liv/Giant
Lucinda Brand
Liesbet de Vocht
Pauline Ferrand Prevot
Roxane Knetemann
Iris Slappendel
Sabrina Stultiens
Annemiek van Vleuten
Marianne Vos

RusVelo
Yulia Blingyuk
Alexandra Burchenkova
Oxana Kozonchuk
Elena Kuchinskaya
Hanka Kupfernagel
Aizhan Zhaparova

Sengers
Evelin Arys
Sofie de Vuyst
Vera Koedooder
Christine Majerus
Maaike Polspoel
Anna van der Breggen

Argos-Shimano
Janneke Busser-Kanis
Elke Gebhardt
Willeke Knol
Amy Pieters
Esra Tromp
Kirsten Wild

USA NT
Kaitlyn Antonneau
Jacquelyn Crowell
Andrea Dvorak
Janel Holcomb
Kristian McGrath
Brianna Walle

Vienne-Futuroscope
Jessica Allen
Sandrine Bideau
Karol-Ann Canuel
Audrey Cordon
Pascale Jeuland
Emmanuelle Merlot

Wiggle-Honda
Charlotte Becker
Giorgia Bronzini
Emily Collins
Danielle King
Lauren Kitchen
Linda Villumsen

Riders to Watch
Marianne Vos ("meilleure cycliste mondiale depuis 2007," says the official race website - something with which few people would argue) isn't having the best year of her career, but what counts as a bad year for Marianne would be the greatest season of most riders' careers - she is, just as she always is, a favourite for overall victory and very much a rider to watch. Emma Johansson seems to get stronger and stronger with every year that comes and has emerged as a very powerful rival to Vos, beating her on a number of occasions - with her Orica-AIS squad also able to stand up to the might of Vos' Rabobank-Liv/Giant, she'll be making sure the Dutch star doesn't have an easy time of it as she goes after an unprecedented third victory. Wiggle-Honda exploded onto the scene at the start of this season and enjoyed a spectacular victory at the Route de France a few weeks before this race, with Linda Villumsen winning overall and Giorgia Bronzini setting a new world record of six consecutive stages (the previous record of five was set, coincidentally, by Jeannie Longo), who won three in a row at last year's Trophée (she won four in a row back in 2008, too) and may well be a force with which to be reckoned this year. Given a few flat sprint finishes, however, Bronzini will face some stiff competition from Kirsten Wild.

How to Follow the Race
Boels-Dolmans mechanic Richie Steege Tweets live from all the races the team enter, providing expert and up-to-the-minute information on the action. Karl Lima's Hitec Products-UCK are not on the start list at the time of writing but, if present at the race, he also provides excellent coverage via Twitter. Journalists Bart Hazen and Anton Vos (Marianne's brother) also Tweet from races. Once the race is over, check Marijn de Vries'blog - Marijn, in addition to racing for Lotto-Belisol, is a professional journalist and her race reviews (even when auto-translated into English) are always excellent with their warts-and-all descriptions of what it's actually like to compete in an Elite Women's race.
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Women's Cycling News 18-25.08.2013

August 17, 2013, 9:37 am
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UCI races this week - Lululemon win Vårgårda TTT - De Vocht is Belgian ITT Champ - Shorts & Interesting Links - Photo(s) of the Week - more to come...

UCI events this week: Open de Suède Vårgårda Road Race (CDM; 18.08); Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour (23-26.08); Trophee d'Or (24-28.08)

Lululemon win Vårgårda TTT
Some cycling fans say that team time trials are boring, but if you enjoy seeing a highly-trained squad of riders working closely together as a cohesive unit a race against the clock is one of the most thrilling, spectacular sights that the sport has to offer (personally, I think TTTs are great).

If you want to see a really highly-trained squad working as precisely and efficiently as the inner mechanisms of the sort of Swiss watch that the likes of you and I will never own unless we team up and rob Audemars Piguet (which is where all the football team-owning Russian gangst... I mean, businessmen get their watches), then Specialized-Lululemon can be relied upon to deliver the goods every time - while Orica-AIS, Rabobank-Liv/Giant and several others know what they're doing, none of them can hold a light to Lululemon on a good day. Which is probably why they've now won the Open de Suède Vårgårda three years running - once as HTC-Highroad in 2010 and every since under their current name.

The team, consisting of Lisa Brennauer, Carmen Small, Lauren Rowney, Evelyn Stevens, Trixi Worrack and Ellen van Dijk, hared around the hilly 43km to finish in 53'59", beating closest rivals Rabobank by 38". The team make-up is noteworthy because the same riders will be representing Lululemon in the World Championships.

Marianne Vos is apparently without equal in a mass-start road race, but by her own admission doesn't excel in time trials. However, with the help of her team mates Annemiek van Vleuten, Roxane Knetemann, Thalita de Jong, Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Lucinda Brand, she got the result she needed - their second place served to strengthen her overall lead in the World Cup, extending her lead by five points, from 249 to Emma Johansson's 177 after the Tour of Chongming Island to 279 to 202. Johansson's team, Orica-AIS, might have fared better had it not been for Loes Gunnewijk's extremely unfortunate puncture within 10km of the line.

Result
1 Specialized-Lululemon 53'59"
2 Rabobank-Liv/Giant +38
3 Orica-AIS +01'26"
4 Sengers +02'38"
5 Wiggle-Honda +02'45"
6 RusVelo +02'48"
7 Australia NT +02'57"
8 Boels-Dolmans +03'06"
Liesbet de Vocht
9 Hitec Products-UCK +03'26"
10 Tibco-To The Top +03'36"
11 Argos-Shimano +04'22"
12 Faren-Kuota +05'18"
13 Cramo-Go:Green +05'54"
14 Norway NT +07'07"
15 Servetto Footon +10'23"
World Cup Standings



De Vocht is Belgian ITT Champion
Liesbet de Vocht (Rabobank-Liv-Giant), who won the Belgian National Road Race Championships back in June, added the National Individual Time Trial title after completing the parcours in 41'26" - 24" faster than Maaike Polspoel (Sengers) and 25" faster than Annelies Dom (CycleLive Plus-Zannata).

Full result here.

Open de Suède Vårgårda Road Race review coming on Monday.

Shorts
Trott does not endorse Women's TdF petition
"I think we should slowly build it in and not just go 'bam' with three weeks over the same course and same length of time as the men's," the Olympian told The Independent.

Broughton is GB U-16 Sprint Champ
Charlotte Broughton (MG Decor) beat Lucy Shaw (Solihull CC) with a time of 2'33.668" to 2'34.444" to earn the title. More at Track Cycling News.

Lisa Jacobs is first ever Australian CX Champ
...but will continue to race only for fun, she says. More at Cycling Weekly.

Meet Emma Cumming
New Zealand's next great track star (Southland Times).

Interesting Links
How much does it really cost to run a women's team? (Cycling Weekly)
Breaking the Paradox: Womens Racing (Spokeydokeyblog)
Top skier proves herself as a cyclist, too (Cape Breton Post)

Photo(s) of the Week
Rabobank-Liv/Giant, Wiggle-Honda and Boels-Dolmans on a friendly recovery ride together.
"Sorry not great quality," says World Road Race Champion Marianne Vos, who took it. The quality doesn't matter: it's the way that it depicts the friendliness between rival teams, which for me is one of the most likable aspects of women's cycling, that matters. (With very special thanks to Marianne Vos)

While Marianne's photo was a sure-fire Photo of the Week the moment I saw it, there was no way I could leave out Velofocus' picture of a little message for the UCI, spotted at the Open de Suède Vårgårda...



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GP de Plouay Bretagne 2013

August 19, 2013, 9:04 am
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31.08.2013 Official Site
France, One-day Road Race,
UCI CDM

With the Women's World Cup consisting of only eight rounds this year (a loss of one third when compared to 2006, when there were twelve, but no different to 2012 and still an improvement on 1998, the first year the competition was held, when there were six), we've been left with a rather peculiar situation in which three rounds were held within a three week period in March, then there was another one in April and another in May before a three-month wait until the Vargarda team time trial and road race rounds, which take place on the same weekend. Two weeks after Vargarda it's the GP de Plouay-Bretagne and then, once that's over, so is the World Cup - and so we begin to approach the end of another cycling season.

Cup standings before the race
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 354pts
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) 252pts
3 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) 224pts

With 75 points on offer to the winner, we're in a similar situation to 2012 when Marianne Vos started the race with an unassailable advantage of 84 points. This year, her advantage is even greater at 102 points; she is, therefore, guaranteed a fifth Cup victory (others: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012). However, Ellen van Dijk trails Emma Johansson by only 28 points, meaning that she could still take second place - their Lululemon and Orica teams have proven many times that they are evenly-matched rivals, setting the scene for an epic battle. Fourth place Elisa Longo Borghini trails van Dijk by 68 points, meaning that she could take third place if she wins (for a breakdown of points awarded to each position, see the bottom of this article) and van Dijk does poorly, but cannot challenge for a higher place than that. Anna van der Breggen, in fifth, trails van Dijk by 101 points and thus cannot challenge for a podium position.

Don't take your eyes off Vos, though: she could stop off halfway round the parcours for a couple of beers if she felt like it, but that's not her style - she'll fight every bit as hard for a final first place over the finish line as she has at every other race she's taken part in. After all, she didn't need to win this race last year - but she still did, and by 35".

Previous Winners
2002 Regina Schleicher
2003 Nicole Cooke
2004 Edita Pucinskaite
2005 Noemi Cantele
2006 Nicole Brändli
2007 Noemi Cantele
2008 Fabiana Luperini
2009 Emma Pooley
2010 Emma Pooley
2011 Annemiek van Vleuten
2012 Marianne Vos

Since its inauguration, Plouay has earned a reputation as one of the most well-organised and fun events on the Elite Women's calendar and the committe makes sure there's plenty enough going on to keep the huge crowds that show up to watch happy even when no racing is taking place - with a selection of music, food, drink and all sorts of other entertainments also on offer, it attracts people with no interest in cycling and are simply looking for a good day out, which also makes it the ideal event to visit with your family if you've not yet persuaded them that cycling is something they ought to show some interest in. It all comes together to form a superb showcase for cycling, so who knows - it might be this race that finally gets them to see the light.

The Parcours
The race takes an almost identical route to the 2012 edition with only a few minor changes to the parcours leading through Plouay shortly after the start line. These changes do not alter the length of the circuit, which remains 27km; as was the case last year the riders will complete five laps (in red on the official maps, blue on the Les Déesses map; the shorter, blue circuit depicted on the official map is the parcours used by some of the other events taking place).

Back in 2000, Plouay hosted the World Championships and, just north of the velodrome on a road named the Boulevard des Championnats du Monde in honour of the event, a hard-surfaced area was created to host the event "village" with plenty of space for the team vehicles and race infrastructure. This area was preserved and is now used for the GP village; opposite it is a raised grassy area that, for those spectators who can find space among the vast crowds that pack onto it, offers excellent views of the spectacularly fast starts along the straight and slightly downhill initial 0.5km as the riders head into the first corner.


View GP de Plouay Bretagne 2013 in a larger map

Once part the unspeakably ugly Carrefour and Netto supermarkets just past the start line the riders head into the first corner, a tight left with a drain cover placed in the middle of the left-hand carriageway (potentially a hazard in the wet). Moments later, they pass a fuel station and then turn left again to join the D178 leading through the outskirts of Plouay to the first climb, Cote du Lezot. The summit is marked by a footbridge; just past it is another raised area alongside the road which forms another good point from which to watch the race. The route begins to climb again shortly afterwards and looks reasonably steep around the next bend, a non-technical left leading towards the village of Kerscoulic; beyond the village at Questenen Plaine is an easy right turn onto the D110.

The race follows the D110 for several kilometres through the Foret Domaniale de Pont-Calleck, an area of stunning natural beauty but one where the roads, as with all forests, can be treacherously slippery due to wet leaves after wind and rain. Soon they cross a bridge over the Le Scorff river and come to a roundabout, heading right to follow the course of the river north to Chateau de Pont-Calleck. The road rises and falls, but the route is primarily uphill. After bending left, the road starts to climb more steeply on the approach to Chapelle Ste Anne de Bois, a tiny church that looks like a miniaturised Baroque cathedral. Anne is the patron saint of lost objects; if hope is an object perhaps riders who suffered on the climb to reach her chapel will refind it on the fast, flat 5.1km that now takes them to the same roundabout they visited earlier. At the end of the road, the right turn to join the D204 is very tight and leads immediately into a fast descent.

The D204 ends at another roundabout, where the race turns left and then left again onto the D769, a wide and fast road with none of the charm of those running through the forest. Very soon, they leave the road by turning right and then immediately left, taking a road that is little more than a track running alongside the D769. It's not the more pleasant of the two routes, however, because it takes in the Minojenn du Calvaire climb which is as steep as 13% at points. Once over it, they rejoin the D769 and continue to the Cote de Ty-Marrec, the final climb of the circuit, and then enter the last 5km. A sharp left turn with a traffic island leads from the D769 to the D760BIS, which the riders will follow around a right-hand bend (and past more trees, hence more hazards if the weather is bad) and back toward Plouay. A road joining from the right marks 1km to go; the remainder is flat and straight all the way to the finish line and, if no rider manages to get away earlier on as Vos did in 2012, makes a fast bunch finish likely.

Start List
Click to enlarge. List is provisional.
How to follow the race
Regular updates are posted on the official website, with images at Plouay TV (turn the sound down if you're at work). Unfortunately, the organisers do not seem to have set up a Twitter account; however, Hitec-UCK manager Karl Lima, Boels-Dolmans mechanic Richie Steege and journalists Bart Hazen and Anton Vos all Tweet live from the races they attend.

Points awarded according to position: 1: 75 - 2: 50 - 3: 35 - 4: 30 - 5: 27 - 6: 24 - 7: 21 - 8: 18 - 9: 15 - 10: 11 - 11: 10 - 12: 9 - 13: 8 - 14: 7 - 15: 6 - 16: 5 - 17: 4 - 18: 3 - 19: 2 - 20: 1 
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Tour de l'Ardeche 2013

August 21, 2013, 4:52 am
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02-07.09.2013 Official Site
France, 6-stage (+Prologue) Road Race, 507.5km
UCI 2.2

2011/2012 winner Emma Pooley on the
Tour poster
The UCI - well, Pat McQuaid at any rate, it'd be unfair to tar them all with the same brush - says that women's cycling "isn't developed enough" to warrant the kind of financial investment enjoyed by men's cycling, which is why so many women's races operate on budgets so low that the term "shoestring" doesn't even begin to describe the situation. It's really no wonder that mistakes are sometimes made (the peloton being given wrong directions during a race is virtually unheard of in men's cycling, but it happens all too often in women's race), nor that so many organising committees become disillusioned and throw in the towel, canceling their race, after a few years of fighting for every Euro and signed-up rider they can get.

The Tour Cycliste Feminin International de l'Ardeche, though, is backed by a number of impressive organisations including the Conseil Generale of the Ardeche region, Credit Mutuel, La Tribune and others; as a result, it's exceptionally well organised, offers prizes that are actually worth winning and takes place on a superbly-planned parcours - and this year, it received applications to race from no fewer than 29 teams. That's so many that, for what may be the first time in the history of women's cycling, organisers actually had to turn some of them down. So it just goes to show that Pat missed the point, and that if you build it they will come. Let's hope his soon-to-be successor Brian Cookson has a little more sense.

Of course, it helps if your race takes place among beautiful, dramatic scenery; after all, fans are more likely to want to make the effort to go and see an event that takes place in a location where they can combine following the racing with having a holiday, and it's promoting their products and services to large numbers fans that gets a company interested in sponsoring a race in the first place. The Tour de l'Ardeche has got that one sewn up, because the Ardeche - and the rest of the Rhone-Alpes region - is widely acknowledged as one of the most spectacular areas of natural beauty anywhere in Europe and offers something for everyone - dramatic chateaux, mountains, forests, medieval villages and, perhaps most famously, the deep gorges.

Previous Winners
2003 Edita Pučinskaitė
2004Élisabeth Chevanne-Brunel
2005 Edita Pučinskaitė
2006 Edita Pučinskaitė
2007 Maria Isabel Moreno Allue
2008 Amber Neben
2009 Kristin Armstrong
2010 Vicki Whitelaw
2011 Emma Pooley
2012 Emma Pooley

Parcours

All stage maps are the official race maps as published at OpenRunner. Links to the originals are here.

Prologue (02.09.2013; Vallon Pont d’Arc - Vallon Pont d’Arc, 2.4km)

View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Prologue in a larger map

A classic example of its type, the Prologue takes place on a 2.5km circuit that has nothing in the way of hills and a fine selection of long straight sections and tight corners to put the riders' strength and skill to the test. Although most of the route is flat, there is a descent with a maximum gradient of -7% between 1.2km and 1.4km - perhaps just enough to worry the climbers, who lack the weight to be able to maintain effective control over their bikes when traveling fast downhill, and hand a small advantage to the rest.



Vallon Pont d'Arc, which takes its name from the Pont d'Arc, an entirely natural bridge spanning the Ardeche river, has been inhabited by humans for 31,000 years according to radiocarbon dating of the Palaeolithic cave paintings found nearby. Every summer, it sees its population increase ten-fold due to an influx of tourists from around the world, drawn here because of the town's status as the gateway to the Ardeche gorge; if you plan to visit the race, be prepared therefore to pay stiff prices for accommodation.

Stage 1 (03.09.2013; Rochegude - Beauchastel, 120.9km)

View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Stage 1 in a larger map

Stage 1 takes the race straight into the mountains - following a short descent right after the start followed by a flattish 10km, the terrain begins to head up and doesn't stop until it reaches 614m above sea level on the Col de Vesc, 58.2km from the start.

Though that's a considerable climb in anyone's book, it's one on which an all-rounder with leanings toward pure climber status could beat any climbers who are holding out and saving strength for the mountains to come in later stages; it is, therefore, unlikely to permit anyone to gain an unassailable advantage at such an early stage, and even if a climber does go for it and reaches the summit with a good gap between herself and the pack, there are two very steep sections (58.1km to 61.5km and 81km to 86.7km) where their diminutive size will give them problems maintaining control over their bikes that the heavier riders do not experience. However, with bonification seconds on offer at the intermediate sprint 8.7km after the summit, the first riders to reach the top have an incentive to descend at speed.



From 108.7km to the finish, the parcours is rolling and then flattens out, meaning that if the peloton reconvened on the way down from the mountain the stage could end with a bunch sprint. There are three intermediate sprints along the parcours, located at Grignan (29.8km), Bourdeaux (66.9km) and Allex (101.7km). GPM points are awarded once, at the summit of the Col (58.2km).

Rochegude and Beauchastel are considerably less touristy than Vallon Pont d'Arc and will be more attractive to some potential visitors for that reason. Beauchastel, where a medieval village still exists squeezed into the gaps between and underneath more modern buildings, is especially worth a visit.

Stage 2 (04.09.2013, Vals Les Bains - Vals Les Bains, 3.5km TT)

View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Stage 2 in a larger map

Another time trial and, like the Prologue, short at just 3.5km. The similarities stop there, however, because while the Prologue was flat this stage has a climb that, though it gains only 57m, does so in 0.8km; the majority of the climb is around 10% gradient, while one section between 0.3km and 0.4km from the start is even steeper. Some climbers perform well in time trials, too, and although there's a section that hits around -8% from 1.1km to 1.3km, this is likely to be a stage for riders of that type. With the last 1.1km being much flatter, they'll need to work hard to keep the TT specialists from victory though.


Vals Les Bains is famous for its spa, in operation since the 17th Century and with the full quota of health benefits traditionally attached to naturally hot mineral water (some of them genuine). If you visit the town, be sure to sample the excellent products of the Bourganel brewery. Not too far away (40km, worthwhile if you're in the area) stands the little village Sainte-Eulalie, home to around 230 people. In the village is an old farmhouse, where a pipe poking out of a wall inside the building pours water constantly into a stone trough. The water overflows and trickles away out of the house and down the hill, where it is joined by other trickles until it becomes a stream and, eventually, a river - the Loire, the longest in France and the 17th longest in Europe.

Stage 3 (04.09.2013; Vals Les Bains - Le Teil, 77.4km)

View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Stage 3 in a larger map

Stage 3 takes place in the afternoon following the Stage 2 time trial - and if a rider able to time trial as well as climb did manage to get the upper hand in the morning, they might just possibly be able to turn it into the sort of advantage that would put them in a good position to start aiming at the overall General Classification. The reason is the mountains - there are five climbs along this parcours and two of them are biggies, rising to more than 800m above sea level, and with GPM points at three summits it's certainly a good day to start fighting a King of the Mountains campaign.

The terrain begins to gain height right from the start line with 171m gained in the first 3.9km; the first 1.9km of that at gradients greater than 7% before the remainder becomes less steep. There's a short descent from 4km to 6km, then the road heads skyward again and climbs 251m over the next 6.7km, at a gentler average gradient (with only a very short section of 7%) on the way. A flatter section lies between 12.9km and 16.5km, then it's uphill again for the next 5.8km (much of it 7%) to the stage's highest point the Col de Sarasset, 22.3km from the start and 848m above sea level. The climbers are obviously going to be near the front at this point, but there's a long descent on the way to even things up - the road is downhill all the way for 14.6km from the summit, mostly at less than -5% but in a few parts nearer -7% and for a short section at -10%. The climb is likely to be too far from the finish to prove decisive, especially as the 14.7km descent (with sections at nearly -10%) will once again undo the climbers' hard work on the way up.

From 37km, the second big climb begins. This one, the Col du Benas, is 11.7km in length and nears 7% for a 3km section from 43km; the summit is around 806m and marks 48km from the start. This time the climbers might have opportunity to take control of the race, because the ascent is sufficiently long and difficult to give them an advantage going up but the descent, which doesn't get much steeper than 5% at any point, is relatively easy and will let them remain at the front. From 59.9km there's one final climb of 3km to the top of the Col du Bois de Val, gaining 170m; it's steep enough (7% over the first half) for the climbers to increase their advantage further, something they might opt to try to do because the last 14.5km of the stage is downhill all the way, including a very steep section with gradients as high as -10% from 65.8km to to 68km.


There are two ways to win a stage like this one. The first is to select the right breakaway group, then ride with it into the last few kilometres before putting your bike-handling skills to the test as you try to be the fastest on the last descent. The second option doesn't always work, but delivers the most impressive victories when it does - the glorious solo break, achieved when a climber leaves the pack behind on an ascent and stays away to the end of the stage. There are two intermediate sprints, located at Les Mines (37.2km) and Les Aligiers (49.7km). GPM points will be awarded at each of the three summits, Col de Sarasset (20.7km), Col du Benas (48km) and the Col du Bois de Val (62.6km).

Le Teil, like Vallon Pont d'Arc, promotes itself as the gateway to the Ardeche; accommodation in the area will not be cheap at this time of year as a result

Stage 4 (05.09.2013; Le Pouzin - Cruas, 110.6km)

View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Stage 4 in a larger map

The first 11km of Stage 4 are flat which, if the team leaders permit them to do so, gives the domestiques a brief window of opportunity to attempt to form a breakaway group and arrive at the first intermediate sprint, which lies at the foot of the first climb, ahead of the pack. That means they get bonification seconds, slightly improving their General Classification seconds, and they and their jerseys - get noticed and photographed, and the all-important team sponsors are happy, hopefully enough to commit to another year backing the team in 2014. Whether or not they get permission depends on how the top end of the GC is looking: if several overall victory contenders have similar times, they might want the sprint for themselves; but if one such rider has a small lead she might send two or three of her domestiques to try to disrupt her rivals' attempts to take a few seconds from her.

From 11km, the road starts to climb and it'll gain nearly 600m over the next 29.5km with the first GPM at the Col du Meran (19.8km). With no big descents (though there are a couple of short, steep ones) for the next 22.4km, the ball is in the climbers' court once more. At 52.8km, the Col de Comberon gains 183m in 4.2km, the majority of it at around 7% - more opportunity for the climbers, with the GPM points at 57km. With the next 17km losing 600m and the last climb, Col du Tribes (which gains 380m in 14.7km), not hard enough to guarantee them control, they'll need to grab any advantage they can in preparation for another long descent to the finish.


Stage 4 has plenty of added extras with the full quota of three intermediate sprints, three GPM climbs and, for good measure, a prime. The sprints are at St Laurent de Pape (10.1km), Les Ollieres (70.5km) and Le Pouzin (96.9km); the GPMs are at Col du Meran (19.8km), Col de Comberon (57km) and Col du Tribes (82.4km). The prime is at 49.3km.

Le Pouzin is a town with many interesting ancient buildings, including a 2nd Century Roman bridge still in use today. Cruas also has some splendid old buildings, including a castle, which contrast sharply with its nuclear power station.

Stage 5 (06.09.2013; Saint Sauveur de Montagut - Villeneuve de Berg, 117.7km)

View the interactive map here.

With a twitchy parcours that turns this way and that, switching back on itself as it follows the numerous hairpins carrying it through the mountains, there's precious little on offer today for anyone other than the climbers - the start line is 240m above sea level and the road heads upwards immediately, reaching 696m in just 8.9km to arrive at the first intermediate sprint at Le Chier. That's an average gradient of nearly 8%, but the 1.1km section beginning 0.9km from the start gains 161m - which makes it 14.6%. The descent over the next 9km is too gentle to cause problems, then from 18km to 25.1km the route climbs another 342m to the 875m summit of the Col de la Fayolle - average gradient 4.8%, but with a 2km section at 6.3% halfway along.

The descent has a couple of short sections nearing -7% but for the majority of the time stays below -5%; it's also punctuated by a small climb of about 100m between 33km and 35.5km which, although only 4%, will help the climbers to prevent fast descenders taking too much time away from them. From 42.9km the parcours climbs again; this time gaining 200m in 3.2km to reach 639m on the Col de Juvinas; the average gradient is 6.2%, the maximum a more challenging 9%. A short descent no steeper than -7% follows, then the riders climb to 703m, using a route that isn't especially steep before another descent drops 372m in 12.5km - again, the gentle gradient and small climb along the way prevent the climbers from suffering too much damage.

From 64.9km the stage reaches its final climb, the Col de la Croix de Millet , rising 438m by 77.1km. That gives an average gradient of 3.6%, but averages don't always give an accurate indication of how difficult a climb actually is and in this case there's a 1.8km section at 6% followed by 0.9km section at 10.2%, starting from 73km. Finally, once past the summit at 77km, the other riders have a chance to catch up with the climbers - the descent loses 700m in 14.3km with sections at around -10%. A couple of little hills between 91km and 107km aren't enough to let the climbers win back significant time, then the parcours climbs at no more than 5% to the finish line.


Like Stage 4, Stage 5 is packed with three intermediate sprints, three GPMs and a prime. The sprints are located at Le Chier (9.4km), Belvedere Jaujac (68km) and St Germain (110.8km). The GPMs are the Col de la Fayolle (24.5km), Col de Juvinas (52.6km) and the Col de la Croix de Millet (77.1km). The prime is at 100km.

Stage 6 (07.09.2013; St Just d’Ardèche - St Marcel d’Ardèche, 74.9km)
View Tour de l'Ardeche 2013 Stage 6 in a larger map

Stage 6, the last of this year's race, has some climbs but they're not especially difficult when compared to those that were faced in earlier stages - though a few steep sections could still lead to changes in the General Classification.

The first 6km start off with a small descent before heading through rolling terrain (with the first intermediate sprint just 4.3km from the start, expect high speeds right from the off) before a short 5% gradient climb of around 50m leads to 7km. The next 3km are flat, then the 3km after that climbs more steeply to gain 144m by the summit of the Cote de la Madeleine - the average gradient here is 4.8%, but a section starting at 11.8km and lasting for 1.2km reaches 7% in places. Once over the top, the riders begin a reasonably unchallenging 15.1km section with only a couple of very small hillocks to prevent it being downhill all the way.


At 32.9km the day's biggest climb, Col de la St Baume begins. Over the next 12.8km, the riders will gain 328m, which gives an average gradient over the entire climb of a mere 2.5%; however, 163 of those metres are gained in one 1.9km section starting at 35.1km, with the GPM points awarded at 37.5km; the average gradient over this smaller section is 8.5% - though the first half of it is even steeper. The remaining 8.9km to the summit (45.7km from the start) is mercifully far less steep and at no point tops 5%. Another small climb following a short descent just after the summit is no steeper, then the parcours heads gently downhill for 18.2km with only one 0.8km section from 62.1km nearing -7% to trouble the climbers. From 70.8km the riders climb again, gently at first and then at 5% on the final 0.8km to the finish.

The intermediate sprints are located at St Martin d'Ard (4.3km), St Montant (33.6km) and Cave de St Remeze (48.7km). The GPMs are the Cote de la Madeleine (13.1km) and the Col de la St Baume (37.5km).

St Just d’Ardèche is an attractive town with several buildings of interest, but its cultural highlight is the museum devoted to Dada.

Teams and Starters

Team rosters to be confirmed; team list is provisional. Check Women Cycling Fever for regular updates.

National Teams
Australia
Colombia
Germany
Lithuania
Norway
Poland
Russia
Sweden
Switzerland
USA

Trade Teams
BePink
Bigla
Boretti Ulysses
Breast Cancer Care
Chirio Forno d’Asolo
CTC
Faren-Let’s Go Finland
GSD Gestion-Kallisto Specialized
Lointek
Lotto-Belisol
Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
Racing Students
RusVelo
Servetto Footon
Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo
Vienne Futuroscope

Wiggle-Honda

How to follow the race
The Tour organisers realise better than most that an informative website is essential to any race in this day and age; the official site is therefore well-maintained and regularly updated. Results can be found here.

Ardeche is perhaps a little too far from Britain for the majority of fans to make the trip by bike, but the region is well-connected by road to the rest of France - making the trip via ferry/Eurotunnel and car (or SNCF, though considering France's long love affair with the bike, traveling with one on French trains is not always straightforward) would be a simple process. As a tourist centre, Ardeche also has good air links - a brief search online found flights to Grenoble (leaving 90km to be ridden to get to the race) from as little as £50.
↧

Women's Cycling News 25-31.08.2013

August 24, 2013, 11:31 am
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UCI races this week - Ellen van Dijk wins Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour - Vos wins Trophee d'Or ...but loses UCI Ranking lead to Johansson- New team Epic-Scott launched... and another one on the way - Transfer News - UCI Women's Cycling group - Shorts and Interesting Links - Tweets of the Week - more to come...

UCI events this week:Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour (23-26.08); Trophee d'Or (24-28.08); GP de Plouay-Bretagne (31.08)

Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour
Race preview here.

Stage 1 (Team Time Trial)
Specialized-Lululemon win the team time trial, placing Ellen van Dijk at the top of the General Classification with an advantage of 35" over her team mate Lisa Brennauer.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Specialized-Lululemon 25'39.72"
2 Orica-AIS 26'14.39"
3 Tibco-To The Top 27'01.89"
4 Hitec Products-UCK 27'08.63"
5 Argos-Shimano 27'10.94"
6 Sengers/Bizkaia (Mixed Team 1) 27'15.16"
7 Lotto-Belisol 27'23.70"
8 CycleLive Plus-Zannata 27'33.27"
9 Belgium NT 27'36.82
10 TopSport Vlaanderen-Biorace 27'50.53"
Full result

Stage 2 (Angreau)
Kirsten Wild
With breaks firing off throughout much of the stage, the shape of the end of Stage 2 remained uncertain right up until the final kilometres. However, Argos-Shimano kept a tight rein, ensuring that they had a rider in every break and that they were always around the front of the peloton, ready to get their team leaders into any break that looked as though it might stay away.

The last break was brought back with a little under 3km to go, at which point the team began to concentrate on getting Kirsten Wild into position for a bunch sprint. They did their jobs perfectly and, coming up the last climb to the finish, Wild was able to hang onto rival Emma Johansson's (Orica-AIS) back wheel before using her greater strength to power past and across the line.

Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) retains General Classification lead but has no time advantage over her team mate, second-place Lisa Brennauer. Carmen Small, also with Lululemon, is third overall, 20" down. Elise Delzenne (Rabo/Autoglas Wetteren/Group Solar/FCS Mixed) won the Combativity award.


  Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) 2h55'48"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
3 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
4 Kelly DRUYTS (TopSport Vlaanderen-Bioracer) ST
5 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
6 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) ST
7 Liesbet DE VOCHT (Belgium NT) ST
8 Thalita DE JONG (Mixed Team Rabo/Autoglas Wetteren/Group Solar/FCS) ST
9 Lisa BRENNAUER (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
10 Christina SIGGAARD (Mixed Team Boretti/Matrix/Vanderkitten) ST
Full result and General Classification

Stage 3 (Niljen)
The Cote du Autreppe is neither high nor steep, but when it's climbed nine times (once on each lap of a 12.24km circuit) it was sure to have some effect on how the stage played out and it ensured that a sprint finish was far from guaranteed.

A strong break formed early on and kept going, though most of its members had been picked off by the final lap, mostly as a result of Argos-Shimano driving the pace and hunting them down. One rider remained out in front into the final 3km, but a last effort brought her back too and left the way clear for Amy Pieters to lead Kirsten Wild into the final straight, where she was once again able to overpower Orica-AIS for a second stage win in as many days.

Lisa Brennauer (Specialised-Lululemon) was second, followed by Orica's Nettie Edmondson and the next 117 riders to finish in the lead group (and all receive the same time as Wild; only eight riders finished later). Wild started and ended the day in seventh place overall; Ellen van Dijk (Specialised-Lululemon started in first place overall but crossed the line 18th and thus drops to second place overall. Van Dijk's team mate Brennauer started in second place overall but picked up bonus seconds for her placing on the stage and now leads the General Classification by 6". Marijn de Vries (Lotto-Belisol) won the Combativity award.

Stage 3 Top Ten
1 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) 2h45'23"
2 Lisa BRENNAUER (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
3 Annette EDMONDSON (Orica-AIS) ST
4 Kelly DRUYTS (TopSport Vlaanderen-Bioracer) ST
5 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) ST
6 Jolien D'HOORE (Lotto-Belisol) ST
7 Liesbet DE VOCHT (Belgium NT)ST
8 Kim DE BAAT (Napoleon Games-St Martinus-Kerksken) ST
9 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
10 Kaat VAN DER MEULEN (Belgium NT) ST
Full result and General Classification

Stage 4 (Geraardsbergen)
Nettie Edmondson won the stage
Annette Edmondson (Orica-AIS) wins on the notorious 19.8% Kapelmuur; Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) was second and Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) third. Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-AIS) won the Combativity award for the stage.

Van Dijk won sufficient bonus seconds to overtake Lisa Brennauer, making her the overall winner by 7". Brennauer is second and Johansson third. Amy Pieters (Argos-Shimano) wins the Youth category. Jasmin Glaesser (Tibco-To The Top) wins the Sprints classification, Sofie de Vuyst (Sengers) wins the Mountains classification. Orica-AIS won in the Team classification; and overall Combativity award was not declared.

Annette Edmondson ‏@NettieEdmondson
Wowser! Wasn't expecting that!! Despite efforts 4 yellow it was mad to go 1,2 for the team. Great ride from the girls, esp Loes' solo break!



Stage 4 Top Ten
1 Annette EDMONDSON (Orica-AIS) 2h20'05"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
3 Eleonora VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
4 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) +03"
5 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) ST
6 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) ST
7 Kelly DRUYTS (TopSport Vlaanderen-Bioracer) +06"
8 Thalita DE JONG (Netherlands NT) ST
Ellen van Dijk wins overall
9 Kaat HANNES (Lotto-Belisol) ST
10 Sofie DE VUYST (Sengers) ST
Full result here

Final General Classification Top Ten
1 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) 8h26'51"
2 Lisa BRENNAUER (Specialized-Lululemon) +07"
3 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +27"
4 Loes GUNNEWIJK (Orica-AIS) +01'05"
5 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) +01'29"
6 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) +01'38"
7 Sofie DE VUYST (Sengers) +01'46"
8 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) +01'47"
9 Chantal BLAAK (Tibco-To The Top) +01'55"
10 Céline VAN SEVEREN (Lotto-Belisol) +01'57"
Full result here

Trophee d'Or
Race preview here.

Stage 1 (St Amand Montrond-Graçay)
Vos (Rabo) wins three-up sprint to lead General Classification by 4". Elena Cecchini (Faren-Kuota) was sixth and leads the Youth category.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 3h08'02"
2 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) ST
3 Lucinda BRAND (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
4 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) +02"
5 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +05"
6 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) +56"
7 Oxana KOZONCHUK (RusVelo) ST
8 Amy CURE (Australia NT) ST
9 Iris SLAPPENDEL (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
10 Dani KING (Wiggle-Honda) ST
Full result and General Classification

Stage 2 (Individual Time Trial)
Sometimes, it seems like Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) is good at everything - but she's the first to admit that she isn't an excellent time trial rider.

The thing is, though, when Marianne says "not very good," it translates into "very, very good indeed." As a result, every once in a while she wins an individual time trial - sometimes in spectacular style, too, as was the case on Stage 2 when she recorded a time 17" faster than the second-placed rider Tatiana Antoshina, current Russian ITT Champion. The victory gives Vos an overall advantage of 52" over Anna van der Breggen (Sengers) who is second in the General Classification.

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 23'13"
2 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) +17"
3 Alexandra BURCHENKOVA (RusVelo) +34"
4 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +38"
5 Iris SLAPPENDEL (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +59"
6 Amy CURE (Australia NT) +01'03"
7 Grace SULZBERGER (Australia NT) +01'05"
8 Lucinda BRAND (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +01'09"
9 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +01'10"
10 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) +01'22"
Full result and General Classification

Stage 3 (La Chapelle St Ursin-La Chapelle St Ursin)
After the cold time trial in the morning, the weather turned rainy in the afternoon and remained so for the entirely of Stage 3, making the fast 26.1km circuit dangerous - two crashes took place during the first of three laps, while the riders were still getting a feel for the parcours.

Anastasiya Chulkova, riding for RusVelo, escaped in the final lap and worked hard to stay away, eventually taking a very deserved stage win with an impressive advantage of 1'10" over second place Marianne Vos, leading the chase group over the line. It was notable that Vos had only the tiniest advantage over Giorgia Bronzini, who has signaled her intention to try to take the Dutch rider's crown at the forthcoming World Championships.

Stage 3 Top Ten
1 Anastasiya CHULKOVA (RusVelo) 2h02'42"
2 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +01'10"
3 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) ST
4 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
5 Pascale JEULAND (Vienne Futuroscope) ST
6 Barbara GUARISCHI (Vaiano Fondriest) ST
7 Yulia ILIYNIKH (Lointek) ST
8 Roxane FOURNIER (France NT) ST
9 Maria Giulia CONFALONIERI (Faren-Kuota) ST
10 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) ST
Full result and General Classification

Stage 4 (Cosne Cours Sur Loire-Cosne Cours Sur Loire)
The small but steep Category 1 climbs halfway through the parcours were expected to affect the outcome of Stage 4 and did so, splitting the riders into two groups - one that didn't have the strength to remain competitive (which can happen as much due to loss of will in wet conditions, as were experienced on this stage) going into the flatter final third and one that began to leave the other far behind as soon as the final categorised climb ended with 30km to go.

Before the competition, Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) termed Stage 4 "the toughest of the race" but said that she would be looking to pick up bonus seconds to secure a good General Classification placing. She was in the lead group and then stayed with Anna van der Breggen (Sengers) when she attacked with 3km to go - a promising sign of great things to come in 2014, when they'll be team mates. Valentina Scandolara, who shares Vos' ability to climb and sprint, went with them but was unable to match the World Champion's spectacular turn of speed; having won the stage, Vos leads the race overall by 1'02".

The unusually large gap between sixth and seventh place was caused partly the lead group's speed but by the chase group getting stuck at a railway crossing, where they had to wait for several minutes for a train to pass through. UCI rules state that if a break is halted and the main field catches up as a result, the break will be given an advantage equal to that before the crossing when the race restarts; if a break passes through and the main field is halted, the time the main field loses is included in the overall times recorded by its members.

Stage 4 Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 2h42'47"
2 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
3 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) ST
4 Lucinda BRAND (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +02"
5 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
6 Karol-Ann CANUEL (Vienne Futuroscope) +38"
7 Francesca CAUZ (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo) +07'27"
8 Amy CURE (Australia NT) +09'33"
9 Oxana KOZONCHUK (RusVelo) ST
10 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
Full result here

Stage 5  (Baugy-Baugy)
The largely flat parcours of Stage 5, with only three Category 3 climbs, will have come as welcome relief for the sprinters following yesterday's hilly route - a chance to rest weary legs ready for tomorrow's rolling toute with three Cat. 2s and couple of Cat. 3s.

Amy Cure (Australia NT) won a bunch sprint after escaping the peloton accompanied by Megan Guarnier (Rabobank-Liv/Giant), Anastasiya Chulkova (RusVelo), Marta Tagliaferro (MCipollini-Giordana), Barbara Guarischi (Vaiano-Fondriest), Iris Slappendel (Rabo-Liv/Giant) and Karol-Ann Canuel (Vienne Futuroscope). The first six women crossed the line as a group and recorded the same time as Cure; Canuel dropped back slightly at the end and was 1" slower.

The next group, led by Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv/Giant), arrived 48" later. Canuel had been the only rider close to Vos in the General Classification at the start of the stage, when she was in sixth place at +4'38" (Cure was next at +9'33"); she remains in sixth place with a smaller disadvantage of +3'51". Vos' overall advantage remains intact with a 1'02" lead over second-place Anna van der Breggen (Sengers). Rabo team mate Lucinda Brand is third at +1'31". Amy Cure remains best-placed Young rider in seventh place at +10'58".

Stage 5 Top Ten
1 Amy CURE (Australia NT) 2h32'22"
2 Megan GUARNIER (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
3 Anastasiya CHULKOVA (RusVelo) ST
4 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
5 Barbara GUARISCHI (Vaiano-Fondriest) ST
6 Iris SLAPPENDEL (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
7 Karol-Ann CANUEL (Vienne Futuroscope) +01"
8 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +48"
9 Leire OLABERRIA DORRONSORO (Bizkaia-Durango) ST
10 Laura TROTT (Wiggle-Honda) ST
Full result and General Classification

Stage 6 (Orval-St Amand Montrond)
Van Vleuten wins the stage
Marianne Vos started the day with an advantage big enough that she didn't need to go for a stage win today, which isn't usually her style, but she'd been advised by Rabobank-Liv/Giant's doctors not to push herself too hard in the run-up to the World Championships in order to give her back, which has been causing her chronic pain, chance to recover fully. That cleared the way for team mate Annemiek van Vleuten to go for some glory of her own, which she deservedly received when she crossed the finish line seven seconds ahead of second-place Marta Tagliaferro (MCipollini-Giordana).

Vos' General Classification victory and three stage wins is evidence that she's on the mend; as one of her principle lieutenants, van Vleuten's also bodes well for Rabo at the Worlds because she too is recovering from an injury to her arm: "At the beginning of the race, I had a lot of pain in my left arm," she explained. "The first day was a matter of surviving, but over the last few days I've really felt some progress - thanks to the great work of the doctors. These last two days, I was given the freedom to go for a win, but yesterday my opportunities were limited due to an attack. But today - it's so nice to finish with a stage victory and feeling my arm getting better."

"This has been a tough race," said Vos. "I'm very glad that I had no problems and my back didn't suffer. I went full-on over the first three days, including in the time trial; Monday was very tough, but my back's been fine - I'm just as happy with my victory!" Vos also won the Points and Mountains competitions.

Van Vleuten took tenth overall, 11'43" behind Vos. Meanwhile, two other Rabo riders made sure the team was the best-represented in the top ten: Lucinda Brand was third at +1'31" and Iris Slappendel was eighth at +11'. In second place was Anna van der Breggen at _1'02"; currently riding for Sengers, van der Breggen will join forces with Vos and the rest for 2014 - meaning that it ought to be another year at he very pinnacle of the sport for the already enormously powerful Rabobank-Liv/Giant team.

Vos wins overall
Stage 6 Top Ten
1 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 2h18'56"
2 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) +07"
3 Laura TROTT (Wiggle-Honda) ST
4 Alexandra BURCHENKOVA (RusVelo) ST
5 Christel FERRIER-BRUNEAU (Faren-Kuota) ST
6 Daniela PINTARELLI (Austria NT) +09"
7 Fiona DUTRIAUX (Vienne Futuroscope) +01'26"
8 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
9 Barbara GUARISCHI (Vaino-Fondriest) ST
10 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) ST
Full result

General Classification Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 13h11'02"
2 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +01'02"
3 Lucinda BRAND (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +01'31"
4 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) +01'39"
5 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) +02'53"
6 Karol-Ann CANUEL (Vienne Futuroscope) +03'51"
7 Amy CURE (Australia NT) +10'58"
8 Iris SLAPPENDEL (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +11'
9 Alexandra BURCHENKOVA (RusVelo) +11'24"
10 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +11'43"
Full result

Points: 1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 86; 2 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) 54; 3 Anastasiya CHULKOVA (RusVelo) 41. Mountains: 1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 41; 2 Valentina Scandolara  (MCipollini-Giordana) 39; 3 Christel FERRIER-BRUNEAU (Faren-Kuota) 31. Youth: 1 Amy CURE (Australia NT) 13h22'; 2 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) +02'15"; 3 Aude Biannic (S.C. Michela Fanini-ROX) +03'14". 

...but loses UCI Rankings lead 
For the first time in six years, Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) isn't at the top of the UCI Elite Women's Rankings - her 1,181.25 points put her in second place behind Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), who has emerged as her strongest rival this year and has amasses 1,211.75 points. The situation may be temporary, though - Vos is currently leading the Trophee d'Or and, if she wins overall, will take sufficient points to return her to the top spot.

There have been concerns that the pressure of racing mountain bikes as well as taking part in road races might be too strenuous even for Marianne and she has had to cross a few races off her calendar recently due to chronic back ache; fans will be eagerly waiting to see how she'll respond to this latest challenge and whether she can win enough points with a victory at the World Championships to get back to the top position. However, it seems likely that the change is as much a result of the was that the rankings are determined, by adding results over a twelve-month period (meaning results from last year's GP de Plouay are no longer counted), not that Vos is no longer as good as she once was, and because Johannson, through a combination of natural talent, hard work and excellent team support, has developed and improved - and serves as proof that by encouraging rivals to strive to match her, Vos' six-year domination strengthened women's cycling rather than weakened it as some suggested it might.

New team launched
Perhaps the most important news this week has been the unveiling of a major new British team: Epic Cycles-Scott Contessa. born from Scott Contessa-Epic. The team's aims are listed as "creating the leading domestic UK road team and providing an environment in which talented and ambitious senior riders can develop and progress their cycling careers," according to the official Facebook page.

The team also used Facebook to publish a manifesto, which can be read on their page or by clicking here.

You can also follow Epic-Scott on Twitter.

...and another on the way
Meanwhile, former Scottish Cycling head coach Graeme Herd, has revealed his plans to unveil a Scottish-based Elite Women's team by the end of 2013.

Herd was encouraged to go ahead with his plans after witnessing the enormous support enjoyed by the women's race at the National Road Race Championships. "I've never seen anything like that in the 30 years I've been involved in cycling," he told the Herald Scotland newspaper, going on to explain that he is still seeking sponsorship: "Historically, women's racing suffer from a lack of profile but that's changing; they are getting more equal coverage to the men. But in a set-up like this, women's cycling offers better value for money. To invest in a team at UCI level, for a top men's squad you are talking about £18m but for a women's that figure would be closer to £1m. In terms of return, it's a no-brainer as the profile will explode."

In addition to racing UCI events, Herd would use the team to develop new talents in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Olympics.

Transfers: Fahlin to Wiggle-Honda and more
Fahlin to Wiggle in 2014
Emilia Fahlin will move from Hitec Products-UCK to the British-registered Wiggle-Honda, where she'll ride with owner/manager Rochelle Gilmore, twice World Champion Giorgia Bronzini, Olympic Champions Laura Trott and Jo Rowsell and others.

A space was made on the team by Lauren Kitchen, who will swap places with Fahlin at Hitec - which has also signed ace climber Ashleigh Moolman, previously with Lotto-Belisol, as revealed last week.

Meanwhile, Anna van der Breggen, who has ridden for Sengers for the last two seasons, will move to Rabobank-Liv/Giant - due in no small part to her sterling performance in assisting Rabo's leader Marianne Vos to take the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in 2012.

Meredith Miller, who is retiring from road racing but will continue in cyclo cross, will leave Tibco-To The Top.

UCI to create Women's Cycling group
Following a meeting of the UCI Road Commission, to which Marianne Vos and Tracey Gaudry were invited, cycling's governing body has pledged to create a new working group dedicated solely to women's cycling. The group will meet regularly to discuss "the possibility of changing the format of the UCI Women Road World Cup, of creating a first division of women’s teams and long term considerations, such as introducing minimum wages for team members."

For many fans, this will seem like a last-ditch attempt by embattled president Pat McQuaid to look as though he's willing to do something for the sport. However, McQuaid recently lost the support of the Swiss Federation, leaving him with only two backers, Morocco and Thailand, as the presidential election nears; under UCI rules (which are somewhat vague), it seems likely that a candidate must be backed by at least three federations. His only opponent, current British Cycling boss Brian Cookson, looks set to take his position and is, notably, a long-term supporter of women's cycling.

Shorts and Interesting Links
Interesting Links
Trophee d'Or injects 35,000 euros into local economy (LeBerry) (in French)
Intro to Women's Cycling and Racing Series (Seattle PI)
SA women strike gold at World Masters Champs (SuperSport)
Is Orica-GreenEdge Cycling's YouTube video sexist? (Bustle)

Tweets of the Week
Fabian cancellara ‏@f_cancellara
Almost in the hotel... Long day is ending. 150km to the start. 180km race, 200km to the hotel.looking foward to the massage

Martine Bras ‏@martinebras
@f_cancellara that sounds like a normal day @ Giro Donne. Only the race is 130 km and the drive to the hotel 500km ;) Good luck tomorrow

More to come...
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Boels Rental Ladies Tour 2013

August 28, 2013, 7:40 am
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03-08.09.2013 Official Site
Netherlands, 6-stage Road Race, 611.3km
UCI 2.2

Inaugurated in 1998, this is a race that has been known by several names. Originally, it was the Holland Ladies Tour and remained so for the first 13 years, but a series of new sponsors has seen name changes every year since: in 2011 it was the Profile Ladies Tour, in 2012 the Brainwash Ladies Tour and now in 2013 it's the Boels Rental Ladies Tour.

Along with Lotto and Belisol (whose Belgium Tour took place late last month), Boels is a name that you'll see again and again in women's cycling: in addition to sponsoring a team (Boels-Dolmans), the DIY and plant machinery company has thrown its full weight into supporting the sport - in addition to the team and this race, it also sponsors the Boels Rental Hills Classic and the Ronde van Drenthe. Why? Well, they've obviously found that women's cycling offers sufficient returns to get approval from the bean counters, but it seems likely that some of the people at the top of the firm must be fans. So, if you happen to live near one of Boels' 300 outlets and find yourself needing to rent some DIY equipment or plant machinery, give them a call - and know that some of the money you pay them will go towards supporting and developing the sport you love.

The Ladies Tour has always been a very popular race that attracts the top riders in the world, as well as large numbers of fans. Oh - and make the most of this race. The end of the season is approaching fast.

Previous Winners
Elsbeth van Rooy-Vink, better known as a mountain biker won the first edition, then two more Dutch riders - Leontien van Moorsel and Mirjam Melchers - won in 1999 and 2000. There would be no further Dutch victories until 2009, when Marianne Vos won; she has won it every year since. However, despite having been favourite this year, she has decided to miss the race after receiving treatment for chronic back pain so that she'll have ideal form to defend her World Champion title later in the month.

1998 Elsbeth Vink
1999 Leontien van Moorsel
2000 Mirjam Melchers
2001 Petra Rossner
2002 Debby Mansveld
2003 Susanne Ljungskog
2004 Mirjam Melchers
2005 Tanja Schmidt-Hennes
2006 Susanne Ljungskog
2007 Kristin Armstrong
2008 Charlotte Becker
2009 Marianne Vos
2010 Marianne Vos
2011 Marianne Vos
2012 Marianne Vos

Parcours
Stage 1 (03.09.2013; Roden-Roden, 109.9km)

View Boels Ladies Tour 2013 Stage 1 in a larger map

At first glance, Stage 1 looks as though it was designed to give the riders a nice and easy start so they could gradually get into the competitive spirit. If you've followed professional cycling for any length of time, you'll know that sort of thing never happens - look more closely at the parcours and, while there are no big climbs (hey, this is the Netherlands), there are several harsh cobbled sections that hurt everyone (and can end your race if you crash, which is all too easy to do on cobbles). Being located along narrow sections of road, these cobbled sections encourage breakaways because riders riding solo or in small groups stay clear of congestion and the majority of crashes (and have more room to avoid any that might take place in the break) whereas those trailing in the main group can topple like dominoes at any moment. So, expect a tough day of very technical racing.

The toughest section of all is the short Kampweg/Kerkpad/Brink stretch in Norg. Though less than 0.4km in length, the first 150m is extremely narrow and extremely rough. The section is ridden three times but, as there are still 22km to be raced after the final visit, it's unlikely to prove decisive; however, it's sufficiently technical, especially in the wet, that a few riders may find their race ends here.

View Larger Map - Kampweg/Kerkpad. Yes, there'll be a major, international bike
race on this tiny track!

Stage 2 (04.09.2013; Coevorden-Coevorden, 32.2km Team Time Trial)

View Boels Rental Ladies Tour 2013 Stage 2 in a larger map

The start of Stage 2 is going to feel distinctly familiar to some of the riders - they set off from the marketplace in Coevorden, just as they did back in March at the Novilon Euregio Cup. Then, they had 141km and an ascent of the VAMberg, a turfed-over rubbish dump with a maximum gradient of 16%, ahead of them; today, they'll only cover 32.2km and there are no hills to speak of, but because it's a team time trial they'll be riding at full speed all the way.

The main issue along the parcours is the narrowness of some of the roads: while it'll be easier to negotiate them as individual teams rather than as a peloton, some stretches offer space sufficiently limited as to lead to difficulties when riders try to swap position at the front, and those who have spent the most time practicing their change-overs will benefit from this. Otherwise, Stage 2 ought to be a classic example of a team time trial, where the best tactic is quite simply to go as fast as possible.

Stage 3 (05.09.2013; Leerdam-Leerdam, 121.3km)
More to come...

Stage 4
More to come...

Stage 5
More to come...

Stage 6
More to come...



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Women's Cycling News 01-08.09.2013

August 31, 2013, 11:55 am
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UCI races this week - Vos wins GP de Plouay and World Cup - more to come...

UCI events this week: Boels Rental Ladies Tour (03-09.09)


Vos won Plouay for the second year
running. Ir's also the fifth time (though
not consecutively) she's won the
World Cup.
Vos wins Plouay and World Cup
Marianne Vos didn't need to win the GP de Plouay - as victory would only bring 75 points, she'd already won the World Cup when she finished the Open de Suède Vårgårda with an 84 point advantage over Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) last month. So nobody would have blamed her in the slightest if she'd taken it easy with a phalanx of her Rabobank-Liv/Giant lieutenants all around her, fending off anything and everything that could conceivably have left her in less-than-perfect condition for the World Championships in three weeks' time - especially since she's missing some races following her recent chronic back pain.

Did she do that? Did she hell. Marianne gives it 100% in every race she enters, as anyone who has ever seen her race knows (and anyone who thinks she wins "too easily" doesn't know, because they've never seen her race, nor watched her collapse exhausted over the handlebars after crossing the finish line - though of course, we shouldn't concern ourselves with the opinions of anybody who thinks anything at all comes easily in professional cycling). Plouay was no different.

Johansson was second
Numerous attacks went off early on in the race and continued through into the fourth of five laps as chancers tried their luck and teams sounded one another out. None of them got anywhere, but there some superb displays from, among others, Aude Biannic (France NT) who attacked three times.

Eventually, the pack split into two groups with one consisting of around forty risers, including all the favourites, a short way ahead of the rest while Jasmin Glaesser (Tibco-To The Top) managed a brief solo escape and seriously impressed when she managed to get away and then lead the race up the tough Cote de Ty-Marrec climb in the closing kilometres of the fourth lap   she might well have stayed away for longer, had fate not to seen to it that back down the road the winning break had escaped the lead group. And what a break it was: Vos, her main rival Johansson, Anna van der Breggen (currently with Sengers, but joining Vos at Rabo next season), Karol-Ann Canuel (Vienne Futuroscope) and Alena Amialiusik (BePink). Fans noticed that the peloton sat up moments later - for them, the competition was as good as over.

Amialiusik impressed
Amialiusik, perhaps aware that when it came to the crunch she'd be out-gunned, livened things up with a brave attempt to attack the group. It didn't work - how could it have done?; but although the effort caused her to drop more than a minute behind the leaders, she earned masses of respect (and, hopefully, a pay rise for 2014). The other escapees tried to provoke Vos into going early or catch her unawares by launching attacks whenever they could, but Vos' wits are as powerful as her muscles and she was on the ball each time, marking every attempt and keeping steady control of the proceedings.

Then, on the final ascent of Ty-Marrec, 5km from the finish line, she went.

Too far? Not all all - it was perfectly, impeccably planned, and she had precisely what she needed left in the tanks to keep up her spectacular sprint all the way to the end. Johansson, who had recently knocked Vos off the top sport of the UCI rankings (a position she'd occupied for seven years), didn't stand a chance - when Vos crossed the line, she did so a full 12" ahead. No guts, glory!

Anton Vos' photos of the race

Van der Breggen, who will ride with Vos
next year, was third
Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 3h26'18"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) +12"
3 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +17"
4 Alena AMIALIUSIK (BePink) +01'27"
5 Karol-Ann CANUEL (Vienne Futuroscope) +01'35"
6 Lucinda BRAND (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +03'56"
7 Noemi CANTELE (BePink) ST
8 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
9 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST

10 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
Full result

Final World Cup Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 429
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) 302
3 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) 224
4 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) 158
5 Elisa LONGO BORGHINI (Hitec Products-UCK) 156
6 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 101
7 Amy PIETERS (Argos-Shimano) 80
8 Tetyana RIABCHENKO (Chirio Forno D'Asolo75
9 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) 69
10 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) 60
Full result
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Women's Cycling News 08-15.09.2013

September 10, 2013, 5:20 am
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Elite races this week - Riders' strike at Giro Toscana - Boels Ladies Tour - Giro Toscana: Stages 1, 2, 3, riders threaten strike - Garner on GB Worlds team - Le Tour Entier manifesto - Meeuwen's Marianne Monument - Transfer and Team News - Interesting Links - Photo of the Week - more to come...

UCI Elite Women's events this week: Premondiale Giro Toscana Int. Femminile-Memorial Michela Fanini (11-15.09); Chrono Champenois-Trophée Européen (15.09).

Riders' strike at Giro Toscana
Rabobank-Liv/Giant, Hitec Products-UCK, Wiggle-Honda, Orica-AIS, Boels-Dolmans and the USA national team have refused to take part in the final stage of the Giro Toscana in protest at safety issues in the race (see "Riders threaten strike," below).

Rabobank is home to the race leader Marianne Vos, Orica to second place Emma Johansson while Wiggle's Giorgia Bronzini, one of the most popular riders with fans, won Stage 1; making the teams' refusal highly embarrassing to race organisers. It is understood that Rossella Ratto (Hitec-UCK), who is currently in fourth place overall, decided to take part, to the disapproval of team manager Karl Lima. Approximately 40 other riders, mostly Italian, also started and were booed by fans, says journalist Bart Hazen who is at the race. Fans have suggested various reasons that riders might have felt obliged to race, including financial pressure (remember that many "professional" riders have to work in addition to racing simply to make ends meet) and - for the Italians especially - because they felt they owed it to the fans
Lauren Kitchen ‏@LaurenKitchen1 No start today in Toscana. Safety needs to assured before we can race.
Tiffany Jane ‏@tiffanycromwell Well that was an anticlimax to finish Toscana but we took a stand for our safety and 80% of the peloton did not start the final stage.
Emma Johansson ‏@emmaprocyclist Proud of all teams/riders standing up for our safety by not starting in Toscana today! #SafetyFirst #OnMyWayHome


Boels Rental Ladies Tour
Preview
Stages 1-5

Stage 6
The day of Stage 6 began in unusual circumstances - organisers had decided that fourteen climbs (including the infamous Cauberg; you can see the route profile here) wasn't quite enough, so they changed the route slightly and added four more. The fans loved it, because cycling fans love to see riders climb; chances are it wasn't universally popular among the riders.

With every stage up until this one being flat, the race changed character entirely today: whereas there had been little opportunity for breaks to get away from a surging peloton previously (Elke Gebhardt of Argos-Shimano showed she was on the ball when she grabbed just such a rare opporunity and turned it into a stage win), the steep gradients meant attacks were the order of the day. Rabobank-Liv/Giant's Annemiek van Vleuten put in the most impressive performance of the day, coming back from two mechanical failures to chase down the lead group and then jump off the front before staying away for some 30km, putting herself into the lead temporarily by doing so. She was joined by Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini-Giordana), who was second overall at the Giro Rosa this year, and the pair of them provided one of the highlights of the race - but with Anna van der Breggen (Sengers), Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans), Claudia Hausler (Tibco-To The Top) and Ellen van Dijk (Orica-AIS) joining forces to chase, the two escapees needed would have needed superhuman strength to stay away to the finish.

Tatiana Guderzo takes her first GC
of 2013
So superhuman, apparently, is what they are. The gap decreased steadily, falling from 50" with 10km to go to 15" a kilometre from the line, but they held their pursuers off all the way, losing only another second up the final climb and finished together, with Guderzo taking victory by centimetres.

Trixi Worrack, who had led the race since Stage 2, did not fare well on the stiff gradients and finished in 13th place, 2'52" behind Guderzo - and, more crucially, 2'26" behind Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon), who had finished Stage 5 in second place in the General Classification with a disadvantage of only 4". With no rivals finishing anywhere near her, van Dijk therefore leaped into the lead and wins overall with an advantage of 1'05" over van Vleuten and 1'11" over third place Armitstead.


Stage 6 Top Ten
1 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Giordana) 2h53'59"
2 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
3 Lizzie ARMITSTEAD (Boels-Dolmans) +14"
4 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +19"
5 Claudia HAUSLER (Tibco-To The Top) ST
6 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) +26"
7 Chantal BLAAK (Tibco-To The Top) +01'27"
8 Jessie DAAMS (Boels-Dolmans) +02'42"
9 Megan GUARNIER (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
10 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) +02'44"
Full result

Final General Classification Top Ten
1 Ellen VAN DIJK (Specialized-Lululemon) 15h00'47"
2 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +01'05"
3 Lizzie ARMITSTEAD (Boels-Dolmans) +01'11"
4 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Giordana) +01'50"
5 Claudia HAUSLER (Tibco-To The Top) +02'17"
6 Trixi WORRACK (Specialized-Lululemon) +02'22"
7 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) +02'28"
8 Chantal BLAAK (Tibco-To The Top) +03'21"
9 Megan GUARNIER (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +03'59"
10 Katarzyna NIEWIADOMA (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +04'01"
Full result

Points: 1 Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) 82; 2 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) 66; 3 Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top) 59. Sprints: 1 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) 20; 2 Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 6; 3 Vera Koedooder (Sengers) 6. Combination: 1 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) 27; 2 Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant 23; 3 Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) 17. Youth: 1 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 15h04'48"; 2 Amy Pieters (Argos-Shimano) +01'01"; 3 Susanna Zorzi (Italy NT) +02'29".

Premondiale Giro Toscana Int. Femminile-Memorial Michela Fanini

Prologue
Marianne Vos has said in the past that time trials aren't her thing and she'll never be much good at them, but she's not the sort of rider to let a little thing like that stand in her way and still wins them - especially when it's a short prologue such as this one, when she can use a combination of her incredible power and ability to keep generating maximum wattage for just a little longer than anyone else.

Rabo team mate Annemiek van Vleuten was second, taking just 3" longer than Vos to get round the 2.22km parcours, while Shelley Olds of Tibco-To The Top was third at +5".

Vos (left) with Bronzini (centre) and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg
at the 2011 World Championships
Prologue Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 02'53"
2 Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +03"
3 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) +05"
4 Kirsten WILD (Argos-Shimano) ST
5 Tiffany CROMWELL (Orica-AIS) +06"
6 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
7 Emily COLLINS(Wiggle-Honda) +07"
8 Pauline FERRAND PREVOT (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) +08"
9 Lauren HALL (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) ST
10 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
Full result and GC

Stage 1
Sprinters who can hold their own on hilly courses are the rarest of rare breeds in the cycling world, which is the reason that A; Giorgia Bronzini is as successful as she is and B; she was very obviously going to win this stage - with a rolling 33km followed by four laps of a circuit featuring of the Massa e Cozzile climb which, while not an especially high, was steep enough in sections to merit Category 2 status and turned out to be perfectly capable of splitting the race into several distinct groups. Thanks to it, the other sprinters had used up too much energy simply getting to the finish, whereas Bronzini still had the legs to hold off the seven riders who contested the last dash to the line.

Rosella Ratto provided us with more proof of her potential to win big races in the future and of Hitec-UCK manager Karl Lima's unerring talent for spotting promising young riders by following Bronzini all the way - the 20-year-old finished a mere fraction of a second later and recorded the same time for second place but she'll probably be more pleased by knowing that she beat Vos, who took third with the same time.

Bonification seconds saw Vos' overall advantage increase from 3" to 5"; Bronzini is second and Tiffany Cromwell (Orica-AIS) is third at +10".

As has all too often been the case with this race, the stage was not without problems - a number of cars found their way onto the parcours, leading to a group trailing the peloton at around 75km from the start being pulled out of the race when judges decided it was simply too dangerous for them to continue.

Stage 1 Top Ten
1 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) 3h21'12"
2 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
3 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
4 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
5 Tiffany CROMWELL (Orica-AIS) ST
6 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) ST
7 Claudia HÄUSLER (Tibco-To The Top) ST
8 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) +03"
9 Evelyn STEVENS (Specialized-Lululemon) ST
10 Tatiana GUDERZO (MCipollini-Giordana) +05"
Full result and GC

Stage 2
How the riders got through Stage 2 without anyone suffering serious injury is miraculous - but organisers and police are going to have some questions to answer because the teams aren't going to be at all happy about the non-official (ie, not connected to the race) cars that were again permitted access onto the parcours today, and according to eyewitnesses in larger numbers than Stage 1. "Absolutely crazy this bike race," said photojournalist Bart Hazen. "Again traffic all over the place." It's just the latest in a series of incidents, some ridiculous and some gravely dangerous, that have taken place at women's races this season, indication that the sport really does need more support from the UCI if its to become as professional as the consummately professional riders deserve it to be, but in this case another issue is raised - if the cars got onto the parcours due to a failing on the part of the local police, can they be trusted to control traffic at the World Championships, due to take place in this region later this month?

Chloe Hosking
Meanwhile, Hitec-UCK's Chloe Hosking - who once memorably stated publicly that UCI president Pat McQuaid is "a bit of a dick" (she had to apologise; countless supportive fans, who could not be threatened with sanctions, pledged their support for her) - had some choice words regarding a photographer who seemed to have forgotten that objects such as bicycles traveling at high speed are closer than they appear through a view finder: "obviously has reflexes challenging that of a turtle. Fine but a little dumbfounded with the situation," she Tweeted following the crash, which took place after she'd crossed the finish line in tenth place. Hosking received minor injuries; the photographer was reportedly hospitalised.

We frequently hear of races being won by the thickness of a tyre, this one was won by the thickness of a spoke: Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) was declared winner with Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top) taking second by a milimetre, as revealed by a photofinish. Following the awarding of bonification seconds, Vos' lead increased from 5" to 18" over second place Giorgia Bronzini, who is likely to drop away down the General Classification on the much bigger hills to come; Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), who has been Vos' strongest rival this year, is in fifth place overall at +25".

Stage 2 Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 2h46'22"
2 Shelley OLDS (Tibco-To The Top) ST
3 Barbara GUARISCHI (Vaiano-Fondriest) ST
4 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
5 Annalisa CUCINOTTA (Servetto Footon) ST
6 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) ST
7 Annemiek van VLEUTEN (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
8 Giorgia BRONZINI (Wiggle-Honda) ST
9 Marta TAGLIAFERRO (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
10 Chloe HOSKING (Hitec Products-UCK)
Full result and GC

Stage 3
The race seemed destined to end in a big bunch sprint when 30 riders got away in a lead group, but were caught on the Valgiano climb - at which point, a six-strong group consisting of Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), Anna van der Breggen (Sengers), Rossella Ratto (Hitec-UCK), Claudia Hausler (Tibco-To The Top), Tatiana Antoshina (MCipollini-Giordana) and Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) escaped. Partly due to the sheer strength of its members and partly because with six of the top teams represented out in front the peloton never really organised a chase effort, the break stayed away - another fast group, headed by Valentina Scandolara and Pauline Ferrand Prevot, rode away from the bunch but were 3'30" away from the leaders by the finish.
47

Vos faced repeated attacks on the final climb as the other members of the break tried to do her some damage before the sprint but she took it all in her stride and chased down each and every attempt, then managed to get away - with Johansson and van der Breggen just hanging on - on the descent, though the other three escapees managed to catch them up with a kilometre to go. There was no photo finish today: when the Dutch woman crossed the finish line, she was a bike length ahead of Johansson. Van der Breggen, who will ride for Vos' team next season, was third with all six riders in the lead group sharing Vos' time. Scandolara, at the head of the chase group, was seventh at +3'30. The main group of 70 riders arrived 9'32" after the lead group. Lizzie Armitstead and Adrie Visser (both Boels-Dolmans) were the most prominent riders of seven not to finish; Katie Colclough of Specialized-Lululemon did not start the stage.

With bonification seconds, Vos saw her overall advantage increase from 18" to 32" over second place, now occupied by Emma Johansson; previous second place Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) dropped to 17th at +10'02" after finishing in 96th place.

Stage 3 Top Ten
1 Marianne VOS (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) 3h18'45"
2 Emma JOHANSSON (Orica-AIS) ST
3 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN (Sengers) ST
4 Rossella RATTO (Hitec Products-UCK) ST
5 Claudia HÄUSLER (Tibco-To The Top) ST
6 Tatiana ANTOSHINA (MCipollini-Giordana) ST
7 Valentina SCANDOLARA (MCipollini-Giordana) +03'30"
8 Pauline FERRAND PREVOT (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) ST
9 Tiffany CROMWELL (Orica-AIS) ST
10 Elena CECCHINI (Faren-Kuota) ST
Full result and GC

Riders threaten strike
According to reports in the Spanish press, the riders in Toscana have stated that they will not race the final stage between Lucca and Florence unless improvements are made to traffic control during the race. In previous stages, the roads had not been cleared of traffic by means of a rolling roadblock for the entire race to pass by, as is typically the case, but only for the lead riders - which leaves the rest of the field riding in traffic.

"We are all agreed that we cannot race in these conditions," says Elisa Longo Borghini. "Over the last few days, we've been lucky and nobody was injured, but it's just too risky. Our representatives have asked [organiser] Brunello Fanini to take action, but the situation has not improved. If a sufficient number of motorcycles to guarantee our safety cannot be provided, we have decided we have no choice but to cancel the [final] stage."

"I fully agree with the Italian strike plans - safety must be a priority," says Marianne Vos, who acts as a riders' representative to the UCI. "For ten years, there have been issues with rider safety at this race and it's time we expressed our discomfort."

Garner makes GB Worlds team
Lucy Garner - the next big thing in
British women's cycling
Lucy Garner, twice Junior World Road Race Champion, has been provisionally included in this year's British World Championship team. Garner, who turns 19 on the 20th of this month, won her first Junior Worlds in 2011, then repeated the achievement in 2012 - when she also became Junior European Champion and won a number of British races, then accepted a place on the Dutch Argos-Shimano trade team - where she rides with some of the top female cyclists in the world, including Kirsten Wild and Charlotte Becker - for the 2013 season.

She will be joined on the GB team by Emma Pooley, Lizzie Armitstead, Nikki Harris, Katie Colclough and Sharon Laws.

Le Tour Entier lauches manifesto
The media has gone a bit quiet with regard to the Le Tour Entier campaign to encourage the Amaury Sport Organisation to introduce a women's Tour de France as soon as possible just lately, though the online petition is still ticking away and gathering signatures - it's not far off 100,000 names now.

Now the campaign, started by Emma Pooley, Marianne Vos, Kathryn Bertine and Chrissie Wellington, has a manifesto - and Le Tour Entier is demanding not just a women's Tour, but the inauguration of three women's Grand Tours (one of which would presumably be a much developed and extended Giro Rosa, the only women's Grand Tour currently in existence) and a complete overhaul of women's cycling.

This month, the UCI will hold an election to select its president. Pat McQuaid, who has been widely criticised for his apparent lack of interest in women's cycling, looks increasingly unlikely to beat his only rival, British Cycling boss Brian Cookson, who is a keen supporter of women's cycling and has indicated his intention to investigate ways in which the sport can be promoted and developed.

The manifesto's six main points
  • Le Tour Entier aims to "help create a framework to support the growth of women’s cycling and build a sport with greater consumer, media and commercial appeal – starting with a race at the Tour de France."
  • The UCI should examine ways in which women's cycling can be promoted so as to increase coverage in the media, which will attract new sponsors
  • The UCI should promote the commercial development of women's cycling
  • The UCI should strongly encourage World Tour teams to operate both men's and women's teams, as is currently the case with Orica-AIS, Lotto-Belisol and Argos-Shimano
  • Women's World Tour, Continental Tour and Continental Championships be established and races forming part of each series should be encouraged to run men's and women's races, as is the case currently with the Ronde van Vlaanderen and some other events
  • Rules regarding the maximum stage length in and overall length of women's races should be revised

"Right now, we need change. We believe that Brian Cookson, in his manifesto, presents an opportunity for women's cycling to move forward," says Bertine. "If Pat McQuaid wins, my biggest fear is that nothing will happen."

"We have been very frank, open and honest in this manifesto - we've taken a long hard look at women's road cycling as a whole, what’s working and what isn't," adds Pooley  "We've been pretty critical of the way in which women's cycling is currently run, which in truth is pretty badly, but we've also come up with some very positive solutions and suggestions. I just think it's high time that the greatest and most inspiring bike race in the world had a women's race! Quite apart from the obvious inequality, it's a missed opportunity for spectators and the sport of cycling as a whole.  I think that when girls take up cycling, they should be able to aspire to race the Tour de France without that being just a crazy dream."

Meeuwen's Marianne Monument
Sometimes, I wonder if I should rename this blog the "Marianne Vos Is The Greatest Person That Ever Lived Blog" - it seems that every week she's either won another race (or a few of them) or done something else that's worthy of note. The people in Meeuwen are, therefore, rightfully proud of her, and to celebrate her remarkable career and the fact that she chose their village in which to make her home they've decided to unveil a monument to her. There's more on the monument, plus details of three more erected to commemorate other famous Meeuwen residents, on Marianne's official website.

Transfer and Team News
Team merger
No new information on transfers this week, but the Futurumshop.nl and CycleLive-Zannata teams have announced that they will merge to form one team for 2014.

The new squad is to be known as Futurumshop.nl-Zannata.de and will be made up of riders selected from both 2012 teams. So far, it looks as though Annelies van Doorslaer, Latoya Brulee, Annelies Dom, Karen Elzing, Janine van der Meer, Mascha Pijnenborg and Anouska Koster are all in, though discussions with other riders are taking place. The team will be registered in the Netherlands.
Interesting Links
Some thoughts on Brian Cookson's latest blog (Unofficial Unsanctioned Women's Cycling)
Lucy Garner makes GB road race world championship squad (Sky Sports)
Why must cycling companies saddle women with pink? (The Guardian)
Cyclist Maddi Campbell looks to impress in Italy (Stuff NZ)
Hollee Simons gets a fitting finale (Western Advocate)

Photo of the Week
Cafe stop with Jessie Walker
(with thanks to Penny Rowson of the Matrix Racing Academy for the photo)







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Premondiale Giro Toscana Int. Femminile-Memorial Michela Fanini 2013

September 10, 2013, 9:22 am
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11-15.09.2013 Official Site
Italy, 4-stage (+ prologue) Road Race, 461.22km
UCI 2.HC

Michela Fanini, born in Lucca on the 23rd of March in 1973, became National Road Race Champion of Italy in 1992 and won the Giro Donne in 1994. She was a rider with enormous potential, one who gave all the signs of becoming one of cycling's greatest stars had she not have been tragically killed when her Peugeot 205 hit a wall and rolled over on the 16th of October 1994. Her memory lives on, in the team S.C. Michela Fanini-Rox and in the name of this race.

The race consists of a prologue and four stages. In the case if Stages 2 and 4 the organisers have, for some reason, decided not to employ the standard technique of naming stages after the towns in which they start and end, using the names of the : Stage 1, Bottegone - Massa e Cozzile, actually ends in Montecatini Terme; Stage 3, Segromigno in Piano - Capannori, starts and finishes in Capannori. It's their race, I suppose.

The 2.HC classification designates this as being one of three Hors Categorie races, intended by the UCI to promote races awarded the status as being especially prestigious (the organisers of the Thuringen Rundfahrt declined the designation in favour of the standard 2.1, while the other 2.HC race, the Exergy Tour, is no longer held following sponsorship problems). As such, the points awarded to the winning riders are greater than in other races - first place in the General Classification receives 80 points, equal to two standard 2.2 events, second place receives 60 points, third place 45 points.

Please note: the official road book for the race appears to have several inaccuracies, both in the text and the diagrams. Routes and other features may therefore be different to those included here; please refer to the official site if in doubt.

Finally, whatever you do, make the most of and try to enjoy this race - it's the last Elite Women's stage race of 2013.

The Parcours
Prologue (11.09.2013; Campi Bisenzio, 2.22km)
With a short and flat parcours that, apart from the two turning points, is largely straight, the Prologue Individual Time Trial ought to see some blisteringly fast times. Look out for the TT specialists, who are going to be the ones to beat; but keep an eye on some of the climbers and sprinters too - there have been many climbers who were also good against the clock, and on a parcours like this a strong sprinter with good endurance could create surprise.

The climb on the Via Roma looks considerably bigger on the altitude profile supplied by the organisers than it actually is - if the profile was accurate, the climb would gain 25m in 0.15km at an average gradient of 16%. In fact, it gains only 5m in 1km; the average gradient is therefore 0.5% and the maximum, at the point where riders arrive at the bridge on the return journey, is only 3.2%.

Campi Bisenzio was the birthplace of Franco Ballerini, winner of the 1995 and 1998 editions of Paris-Roubaix.


Stage 1 (12.09.2013; Bottegone - Massa e Cozzile, 126.15km)
After yesterday's flat time trial, the Giro heads through rolling terrain for 33km to the hilly landscape around Montecatini Terme, where the riders face four laps of a local circuit featuring an ascent of the Piazza della Chiesa leading into the beautiful medieval village Massa e Cozzile, birthplace of Bruni Pasquini who won the Giro's brother race, the Giro di Toscana, in 1947.

While the climb is far from alpine with a maximum altitude of 223m, it gains the majority of that altitude in 3km; its average gradient of around 7.4% is sufficiently steep to earn it Category 2 status. The hill is climbed at 33.1km, 58.15km, 83.2km and 108.25km with GPM points being awarded each time. While there is plenty of opportunity for non-climbers to catch up in the last 14km from the final ascent to the finish, four ascents will have taken their toll and those riders that suffer on the climbs will be at a serious disadvantage to the climbers, making this a good stage for a small group of climbers - perhaps neo-pros and domestiques at this early point, before the GC contenders stamp their authority on the race - to form a break and go after a stage victory. Nevertheless, unless the climbers have managed to build up a big lead, they might find the sprinters get the last laugh after all - the final 3km are very flat and feature a couple of corners leading into a straight 500m to the finish.

In addition to GPM points, intermediate sprint points will be awarded at two points - the first is at the Palazzo Comunale in Montecatini Terme, 26.2km from the start; the second is at the second passage of the finish line on Centro Commerciale also in Montecatini Terme, 75.45km from the start. There is also a sprint prime named the Traguardo Volante Michela, located on the first passage of the finish line 50.4km from the start.


Stage 2 (13.09.2013, Porcari - Pontedera, 110.5km)
The first half of Stage 2 takes place on a parcours best described as rolling rather than hilly (though a couple of short ramps at 18km and 43km look steep enough to get knees aching, if only for a short time) while the second half, consisting of five laps of a 10.6km circuit at Pontedera is flat. There are no GPM points on offer for that reason, and so the climbers will probably sit back and conserve energy for Stage 3 (which has four Category 2 and two Category 1 ascents with GPM points aplenty) while the sprinters do their stuff and battle it out among themselves in the final 3km which, being flat with a corner  to mark the start of the last 200m, might have been laid out for no reason other than to encourage tactical bunch sprint finishes.

Once again, there are two intermediate sprints. The first, on the Via delle Colline in Cenaia, is 46.15km from the start; the second, at the fourth passage of the finish line on the Via Veneto in Pontedera, is 100.65km from the start. There is another Traguardo Volante Michela sprint prime, located at the second passage of the finish line 81.85km from the start.

Pontedera is the birthplace of several professional cyclists including Fabiana Luperini, born there on the 14th of January 1974. Luperini, who turned professional in 1997, would become one of the most successful female cyclists of all time with victories in the Giro Donne and the now-defunct women's Tour de France - she won both in 1995, 1996 and 1997 - and is still racing, with the Faren-Kuota team, to this day.



Stage 3 (14.09.2013; Segromigno in Piano - Capannori, 124km)
Yesterday's stage was one for the sprinters, today brings a route made for the climbers with no fewer than six categorised climbs - four rated Cat. 2 and two rated Cat. 1, making this an essential stage for any riders hoping to do well in the Mountains competition and a very important one for anyone hoping to win the General Classification.

The first 9km are flat (apart from a small climb 2km in), then the riders arrive at the first climb, Cat. 2 Segromigno in Monte. It's not a big climb, topping out at 100m above sea level, but the fact that it gains almost all of its height in a kilometre reveals why it's been given a high classification. What's more, the riders are going to climb it four times (11.3km, 28.2km, 45.1km, 62km) before turning off onto the second part of the parcours, where they face two ascents (84.2km, 112.4km) of the much higher and tougher Cat. 1 Valgiano climb - which rises to almost 400m in 9km with a very steep 2km section along the way.

The last 3km are flat with two corners in the last 1000m, making it ideal ground for a bunch sprint - though unless any one rider manages a solo break on Valgiano and stays away over the last 11.6km (which is exactly the sort of thing Marianne Vos does),  it's likely to be one fought by climbers and GC contenders rather than pure sprinters.

The two intermediate sprints and the Traguardo Volante Michela sprint prime take place in Lunata at the premises of Mercatino Fanini, the company owned by Michela's family. The sprints are at 38km and 71.8km, the prime is at 54.9km. Capannori is the birthplace of Mario Cipollini, who was often listed as the most successful sprinter in cycling history until the rise of Mark Cavendish.


Stage 4 (15.09.2013; Lucca - Firenza, 98.8km)
With two Cat. 3 climbs offering the only GPM points today, we'll see either a hotly-contested battle for the Mountains classification or a total lack of interest among the classification contenders - if there are only a few points between the riders at the top of the classification it'll be the former, if one rider led over the bigger climbs on yesterday's parcours then she'll have found an insurmountable lead and it'll be the latter.

The competition between the General Classification leaders is almost certain to be far stiffer - those categorised climbs, along with the uncategorised ones around 30km from the start, are just enough to give a breakaway plenty of scope to steal victory from right under the noses of the race leaders, or for the race leader (or someone near to her in the GC) to get into a break and turn a victory into a definitive, glorious one. There's still plenty of room for the climbers and sprinters to duke it out, too: while the climbs will give the climbers an advantage up until the summit of the second Cat. 2, the long and steep descent on the other side, with only 5.1km left to the finish line, puts them at a disadvantage and favours the bigger, heavier riders who can retain more effective control over their bikes at high speed. Then there's the finish itself: flat throughout the last 3km with a corner approximately 100m from the line, there'll be a fast and furious sprint if nobody's stayed away and the riders approach in a bunch.

Lucca was the birthplace of Michela Fanini, in whose memory this race and the S.C. Michela Fanini-Rox team are both named. Firenze was the birthplace of 2000 Giro d'Italia King of the Mountains Franco Casagrande (and of the Renaissance, which even cycling fans will admit is an even greater claim to fame).


Jerseys
The Memorial Michela Fanini has an unusually high number of classification leader jerseys, including two - awarded to the "most generous" rider (usually the most hard-working domestique) and the "most elegant" rider (awarded to the rider judged to have the best bike-handling skills) - that are unique to this race and were presumably invented to make more places to put sponsor's names, which is a practical enough reason.



Starters
A definitive starters and team roster list has not yet been published and it's probably safe to assume that this one is very provisional. Check Women Cycling Fever for regular updates.

S.C. MICHELA FANINI-ROX

CHIRIO FORNO D'ASOLO

COLOMBIA NT

FAREN-KUOTA

LOTTO-BELISOL

OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES

PASTA ZARA-COGEAS

SERVETTO-FOOTON

SLOVENIA NT

MAXX SOLAR

TOP GIRLS-FASSA BORTOLO

VAIANO-FONDRIEST

WIGGLE-HONDA

BEPINK
ARZUFFI Alice Maria
CANTELE Noemi
FRAPPORTI Simona
MUCCIOLI Dahlia
VALSECCHI Silvia
ZRIMSEK Petra

BOELS-DOLMANS
DAAMS Jessie
KESSLER Nina

HITEC PRODUCTS-UCK
BJORNSRUD Miriam
FAHLIN Emilia
HOSKING Chloe
LONGO BORGHINI Elisa
NEYLAN Rachel
RATTO Rossella

MCIPOLLINI-GIORDANA
ANTOSHINA Tatiana
CARRETTA Valentina
GUDERZO Tatiana
JASINSKA Malgorzta
SCANDOLARA Valentina
TAGLIAFERRO Marta

ORICA-AIS
CROMWELL Tiffany
CURE Amy
EDMONDSON Annette
JOHANSSON Emma
SUNG EUN Gu

RABOBANK-LIV/GIANT
BRAND Lucinda
VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek
VOS Marianne

SENGERS
VAN DER BREGGEN Anna

ARGOS-SHIMANO
GARNER Lucy
WILD Kirsten

SPECIALIZED-LULULEMON
WORRACK TrixiGermany

TIBCO-TO THE TOP
BLAAK Chantal

FRANCE NT

GERMANY NT

ITALY NT

USA NT

Following the race
It has to be said that the Giro's organisers haven't got the greatest website ever seen on the Internet. That's not entirely their fault - few women's races have the budget to employ hotshot web developers, as seen with races like the Tour de France - but in this case it really wouldn't be a bad idea to try to improve matters (how about offering a VIP, access-all-areas pass for next year's race to anyone willing to tidy things up for free? There must be a few fans out there capable of doing it), because while the determined fact-hound will eventually get the information they're after, more casual visitors will quickly give up.

Hitec Products-UCK and Boels-Dolmans are both racing, which means one of the best ways to follow the race is by following Karl Lima and Richie Steege on Twitter. Lima is the manager of Hitec, Steege is the mechanic of Boels-Dolmans; both of them know the sport inside-out and provide regular updates on the progress of their own teams and their rivals in all the races they attend.
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Chrono Champenois - Trophée Européen 2013

September 13, 2013, 8:01 am
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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.
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