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Lesser Known Road Racing for Women Thread

Page 133 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
ooh 3rd for Kopecky, SD worx mucked that up didnt they, you see this is what we miss from commentary on bike races, the commentators actually telling us which riders are close to taking positions where they finish in the sprints. :D

Kool was always a contender for the final sprint, even if she couldnt beat Wiebes.
 
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Kool takes 2nd. Kopecky 3th.

Sad for Letizia. They came faster from the right with the Kopecky leadout. No chance today. And she went hard in the intermediates.

I know that Paternoster had a mechanical with 10kms to go and had to use energy to rejoin the peleton, however, she made a tactical mistake in the final. Her race was against Kopecky, so she needed to follow the Kopecky train in the final.

Finally, watch out for Woolaston. She is genuinely fast and she did well in her first race since January.
 
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I know that Paternoster had a mechanical with 10kms to go and had to use energy to rejoin the peleton, however, she made a tactical mistake in the final. Her race was against Kopecky, so she needed to follow the Kopecky train in the final.

Finally, watch out for Woolaston. She is genuinely fast and she did well in her first race since January.

yep I was surprised given how tight the course was in sections, how much room the other teams simply gave SD Worx at the front, whilst Lidl Trek,DSM & Visma were all fighting for less space on the opposite side of the road away from them between themselves, Marjerus could just sit there happily and drill a pace for Wiebes and Kopecky unflustered, and didnt have to worry about anyone getting in the way, and once the sprint started they had a clear bit of road to aim for, whilst clearly Wiebes and Kopecky were going to be quick enough youd have thought someone would have tagged onto them as a chance to draft for a podium at least, or tried to block them.

it will be even worse at the Tour of Britain as DSM and Jayco are the only ones with potential to challenge SD Worx as a team, and yet both have looked 2nd best to Wiebes power at least.
 
I know that Paternoster had a mechanical with 10kms to go and had to use energy to rejoin the peleton, however, she made a tactical mistake in the final. Her race was against Kopecky, so she needed to follow the Kopecky train in the final.
Oh I didn’t knew about the mechanical. (Was switching with the Giro).
Yeah she had to follow Kopecky. Normally she’s good at quick thinking like the track races with points.
I’m just happy she’s looking strong, feeling good all year and avoids crashes lately. Looking forward to the Olympics.
 
There were massive gaps in this stage after the first three. I know its a weaker race but it has some decent riders.
vuelta-ciclista-andalucia-ruta-del-sol-2024-stage-1-profile-n2-92ea2668aa.png


No fewer than 6 categorisation-worthy climbs going without. That's a tough day in the saddle, all told, a classic up-and-down-all-day one despite only the one major climb, and in terms of cumulative climbing probably harder than some of the more hyped stages of the entire year; it's a lot harder than anything in Itzulia or Burgos, probably harder than Valdesquí in terms of cumulative climbing; a couple of Giro stages (especially Blockhaus) and the one final stage in the TDFF are harder, but other than that the stage was probably tougher than almost all of the WWT in terms of its profile (péloton pace and depth is another question of course) - I'd say it's comparable to the L'Aquila stage of the Giro or the Le Grand Bornand stage in the TDFF, with more connectivity of the ascents, but that Tour stage is 170km and has two climbs to finish. There's only a couple of times that a lot of these riders are likely to do a stage as tough all season, depending on profile. Tour de l'Ardêche usually has one or two proper multi-climb stages, and the Tour des Pyrenées has an Aubisque MTF this season. There's a La Molina stage in Catalunya with Tosses and La Molina but it will depend on which side they use.

ayco pushed it hard which split things apart early. A lot of the strongest climbers were caught out, with all the likes of Aalerud, Patiño, and Blanco (fresh off her spectacular win in País Vasco) losing far more than you'd expect but once they were distanced, being unable to work together against a united front up front. Seems like the big climbs were too much to stay in contact with the Jayco move for the baroudeuses you could expect to do well here like Mackaij and Koster, too. So I think it's while there are some decent riders there, there weren't any groups that had enough strong riders AND enough will to collaborate to limit the losses.
 
vuelta-ciclista-andalucia-ruta-del-sol-2024-stage-1-profile-n2-92ea2668aa.png


No fewer than 6 categorisation-worthy climbs going without. That's a tough day in the saddle, all told, a classic up-and-down-all-day one despite only the one major climb, and in terms of cumulative climbing probably harder than some of the more hyped stages of the entire year; it's a lot harder than anything in Itzulia or Burgos, probably harder than Valdesquí in terms of cumulative climbing; a couple of Giro stages (especially Blockhaus) and the one final stage in the TDFF are harder, but other than that the stage was probably tougher than almost all of the WWT in terms of its profile (péloton pace and depth is another question of course) - I'd say it's comparable to the L'Aquila stage of the Giro or the Le Grand Bornand stage in the TDFF, with more connectivity of the ascents, but that Tour stage is 170km and has two climbs to finish. There's only a couple of times that a lot of these riders are likely to do a stage as tough all season, depending on profile. Tour de l'Ardêche usually has one or two proper multi-climb stages, and the Tour des Pyrenées has an Aubisque MTF this season. There's a La Molina stage in Catalunya with Tosses and La Molina but it will depend on which side they use.

ayco pushed it hard which split things apart early. A lot of the strongest climbers were caught out, with all the likes of Aalerud, Patiño, and Blanco (fresh off her spectacular win in País Vasco) losing far more than you'd expect but once they were distanced, being unable to work together against a united front up front. Seems like the big climbs were too much to stay in contact with the Jayco move for the baroudeuses you could expect to do well here like Mackaij and Koster, too. So I think it's while there are some decent riders there, there weren't any groups that had enough strong riders AND enough will to collaborate to limit the losses.

The actual stage only had 2700 metres of vertical climbing. Stage two had 2000 metres of climbing and was more competitive. Jayco could make a clean sweep as the last two stages could be sprints and they have the fastest sprinter in Manly.
 
It's been a strange race, as even though, Jayco had a strong team for this race, they should not be dominating by so much. Anyway, its taken management two years to realise, that you need to craft a race program around the ability and development of your riders, notwithstanding, you have commitments to WT races.
 
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If they're winning again today, I hope it will be Manly's turn to finish first.

Tomorrow it's time for the third edition of the Alpes Gresivaudan Classic. After a descent finish last year, they've returned to a MTF, this time on Chamrousse, known for Nibali's epic win in the Tour 10 years ago and Armstrong's MTT win in the 2001 edition.

FDJ look a bit OP compared to the rest of the teams, with Muzic, Kraak and an in form Curinier, as well as Uttrup Ludwig. There are a lot of up and coming climbing talents in the race though, so the fight for the podium and top 10 should still be a good watch.

Start list: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=16509&y=2024&k=8

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kRa6I2U4rk