Lesser Known Road Racing for Women Thread

[Wyndbrook]

I find it strange that Brown is riding non-descript French one day races, instead of riding the Vuelta

Active rest period after the classics, usual hard Sunday ride yesterday.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just around 10 Ks to go in the Navarra Women's Elite classic.

 

[RedheadDane]

Looking good for R. Markus.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Too many pedestrians inside the final kilometre. Their dog owners shoulds have had them on leashes.

I had hoped for a Basque winner, but -riejanne Markus is having a great year so far.

 

[theyoungest]

Could have been quite dangerous there at the finish in Pamplona, random pedestrians, cyclists, and a cab on the course. Movistar again with annoying tactics, and luckily they didn't pay off.

 

[yaco]

Markus backed up her good form in the Vuelta - Checked her race program and she is not riding Itzulia women which is a good choice.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Time for a 'Olga Zabelinskaya is the new Davide Rebellin thread..

Also a bit of a shock in the womens cypriot nats TT - Antri Christoforou only won by 1.40.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vollering going full Vollering on Urkaregi and opening up a gap that should be decisive. She won all three stages and the GC at this race last year so she's keeping the streak alive.

Initially the chase group was van Vleuten and Niewiadoma with Reusser monitoring, but then Olivia Baril - who always seems to ride at her best in the Basque region - bridged across to her from a third group which had Lippert, Loes Adegeest and Soraya Paladin, obviously only Adegeest working because the others had teammates in front. Kasia dropped Annemiek and Baril on the descent but couldn't bridge the gap in the short distance she had; Reusser stuck with her and then outsprinted her to make the 1-2 for SD Worx yet again, although here it was actually reasonably intuitive tactics that got them there.

 

[theyoungest]

And a first top-10 in the Worldtour for Eva van Agt, the woman with the famous last name (for Dutch people). Decent result, in only her second season as a pro cyclist.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And Eider Merino got run over by a police car during the stage. She hasn't had much luck in recent years.

 

[Dk one]

And a first top-10 in the Worldtour for Eva van Agt, the woman with the famous last name (for Dutch people). Decent result, in only her second season as a pro cyclist.

Also decent result by Emma “I do not want to be a sprinter” Norsgaard in 13th.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lots of half-hearted or short-lived attacks from many on the penultimate time around Amurrio, including Canyon-SRAM trying to see if they could sneak Niewiadoma into a group off the front without SD Worx noticing (spoiler: they couldn't), and it seemed like every move not being made by Liane Lippert would either be countered or covered by Liane Lippert. Late-comer to the sport Claire Steels, a former university student and duathlete who moved into cycling in her early 30s and turned pro in 2020 in Spain, has gone on a flyer which has gained her a good amount of time but the bunch is increasing their pace ahead of the final climb so while Steels went at the right time, not sure that she will be able to hold off if one of the elite puncheuses make a concerted push for the stage. Plus of course Vollering has her unbeaten streak to pursue.

The lead's going up a bit ahead of the steep ramps, though, as they're trying to preserve effort for the hardest bit.

...and Niewiadoma attacks as soon as it gets steep because of course she does. And Lippert covers her because of course she does. Steels is doomed, Kasia is catching her. Vollering motors and Lippert hits the wall a bit taking a bad line through a really steep corner.

Now it's Steels/Kasia and Vollering, and Baril and Lippert chasing. Vollering has her unbeaten run to preserve, and surely she can win a sprint from this three. The only even remote possibility she doesn't win is if the chasing duo get back on because Liane has a pretty useful kick too.

No momentum in the group as obviously Baril and Niewiadoma don't want to sprint, I know nothing about Steels' sprinting ability but as she was caught to make that group I think she's fair to take a bit of a break from working. Second group catches them so there will be a sprint of 12-15 unless a late attack works, and Reusser is attempting to do just that.

Canyon-SRAM try to make it a long sprint with Paladin, but you simply do not defeat Demi-Goddess in the Basque Country. It just does not happen and will not happen.

 

[RedheadDane]

Breaking news from the Basque country:
Demi. Might. Not. Win!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Demi giving gifts to her teammates - so remind me how she is supposed to be the selfish one at SD Worx?

 

[RedheadDane]

Vollering having some issues braking after the stage.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Was it a gift or was she too busy watching the *** show behind?

'I don't care about winning, I just want to see what happens with you idiots'

 

[yaco]

Demi giving gifts to her teammates - so remind me how she is supposed to be the selfish one at SD Worx?

Vollering did not gift the victory to Reusser - It was the chasing group who gifted the win by sitting up - If they continued riding then they could have kept the margin to 20 or 30 seconds - After all they don't care who wins the GC.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vollering did not gift the victory to Reusser - It was the chasing group who gifted the win by sitting up - If they continued riding then they could have the margin to 20 or 30 seconds - After all they don't care who wins the GC.

This is SD Worx. I half expected her to start chasing.

 

[yaco]

This is SD Worx. I half expected her to start chasing.

There have been several occasions in 2023 when SD Worx has chased team mates - They are winning races with pure power but little regard for team tactics.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Reusser and Vollering seem to be good friends, but than can of course change if MR keeps "stealing" wins.

Baril is my favourite Basque-ish woman, so I'm happy to see her almost getting her first WWT podium.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Vollering did not gift the victory to Reusser - It was the chasing group who gifted the win by sitting up - If they continued riding then they could have kept the margin to 20 or 30 seconds - After all they don't care who wins the GC.

Cunego won the Giro cause his rivals did not chase as Simoni his teammate was with them. This only caused problems between Cunego and Simoni. nobody likes to lose especially when they were easily winning.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Reusser and Vollering seem to be good friends, but than can of course change if MR keeps "stealing" wins.

Baril is my favourite Basque-ish woman, so I'm happy to see her almost getting her first WWT podium.

Ella Wyllie has caught my eye this week. New Zealand has got a really good crop of young riders, what with Fisher-Black, Wollaston, Cadzow and her plus there's a fair few who are in the 23-25 age group as well. Harris and Harvey seem to have regressed in the last year or two but they still have good talent, I just think perhaps 2020's successes were a bit exaggerated by New Zealand having been less negatively impacted by the pandemic when it came to training etc..

 

[yaco]

Ella Wyllie has caught my eye this week. New Zealand has got a really good crop of young riders, what with Fisher-Black, Wollaston, Cadzow and her plus there's a fair few who are in the 23-25 age group as well. Harris and Harvey seem to have regressed in the last year or two but they still have good talent, I just think perhaps 2020's successes were a bit exaggerated by New Zealand having been less negatively impacted by the pandemic when it came to training etc..

Jayco's talent ID is questionable - They should have riders like Wylie, Wollaston and especially Fisher- Black who had no team in their organisation.

 

[carton]

Cunego won the Giro cause his rivals did not chase as Simoni his teammate was with them. This only caused problems between Cunego and Simoni. nobody likes to lose especially when they were easily winning.

It's not like Vollering had to actively back off and give Reusser the win, she was surely more than willing to have gone with a move, and countering a move would have actually worked great for her own ambitions: it was just that none came and attacking her own teammate is just not a good strategy or politics. I mean, if you are riding for team success first (and pretty much all riders pretend to be) it shouldn't be a problem, it was a tried and true tactic that rarely ends in tears. Sure, there was a bit of a question on how much of a team player Vollering was but if that was ever the case either Demi grew out of it or she polished up her image very well lately.

Regardless, Itzulia is not a main goal for Vollering and Reusser is not an up-and-coming cyclist about to take her leadership spot and was over-the-top gracious about it to boot. She has bigger targets this season and beyond, and having her team around her is key to achieving them. It was a nice gesture, sure, but prima facie it would also seem to be the best decision for her individual ambitions.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Emma Norsgaard continues her quest to not be seen as a sprinter by going on a long escapade in the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria, but sadly for her, her breakaway was gobbled up on Areitio, before they even got to the first side of Goiuria which is the main climb of the day, climbed from two different sides.

On the first one a significant selection was made, including a couple from Movistar (Meijering and Aalerud), Jayco (Santesteban and Žigart), AG (Moolman-Pasio and Ghekiere) plus a few other useful climbers like Alice Maria Arzuffi, Claire Steels and the in-form Ella Wyllie. On the second time, which is a very inconsistent ramp with two really steep steps in it, Anna Kiesenhofer was chasing on but just before she could get there Ash Moolman-Pasio attacked and opened up a big gap which was only able to be bridged by a persistent climb by local favourite Ane Santesteban.

On the way down a sense of inevitability washed over me; I do quite like Ash, but Ane has not won a race in a decade (her only career win in fact) and with it being a local race those that were out there to see it were firmly in her corner. Claire Steels managed to extricate herself from the chasing group and even briefly got into contact with the lead duo as they played games into the final kilometre... but in the end it had taken her all her effort to get there and when they settled the sprint Steels was dropped once more; however, the sense of inevitability was prescient - unfortunately as you may be aware, Ane Santesteban is Basque, and she sprints rather like your typical Basque cyclist, which is to say, she doesn't. And the wait sadly goes on.