The Women's Tour starts this week, sponsored as before by OVO with its rather plush looking green jersey. As one of the best supported and best organised races on the calendar this one ought to be good, not sure what time the highlights are out this year (last year's were relegated to late night, which was a shame) but the race has seemingly caught on and as ever the Britons are very good at turning out a crowd for a bike race at present, which has made the race an instant hit on the women's calendar.
Last year's race was a bit of a strange one in that a bit of lethargy and presumption in the bunch led to a near 2 minute breakaway being attained on stage 1 by a climber on the flattest stage, then defending her lead on the hilly stages despite the team's depleted resources. While it was nice to see Niewiadoma pick up her first WWT win, and her attitude and riding went down well with the supporters of the race, it was rather over-sold as an emergence from somebody who was already one of women's cycling's elite talents. Nevertheless, I'm not going to bewail more attention for the women's game or a win for a rider who has been among my favourites throughout her career and especially now that my long term favourites Pooley and Häusler/Lichtenberg are retired.
Like last year, the first stage is flat, returning to the East Anglian heartland that supported the race at its inception, and finishing in Southwold. This small town hosted the grand départ in 2016 and is the home of Adnams, which is one of the race's sponsors, which is why they're going there. There is an innovation, though - they've moved from awarding two GPM points per stage, regular as clockwork and not always at the toughest points, to a more nuanced, 'normal' system of awarding points per the difficulty of the climbs, so there's only one categorized climb in this stage, unsurprisingly given how pan flat the region is (and that climb is a bit of a joke, it's not quite as bad as the official profile - more like 3% than 1,5% - but still pretty much not worth categorizing other than to give the QOM jersey sponsors a reason to show). I'd say expect a sprint (other finishes in East Anglia have always been sprints) but there's always the possibility of a technical run-in and also, of course, remembering stage 1 last year, though I'm sure the péloton will be wiser to that this year.
Stage 2 moves into the East Midlands region, running to Daventry, which again has history as a départ town, being the start of last year's stage 1. It's mostly flat to rolling, but it features a long loop around the town which culminates in an ascent of Newnham Hill, which the official profiles tell us is 1,6km @ 5,2%, cresting 2,3km from the line. They ascend it twice, once around 35km from the finish and once immediately beforehand, so this is a chance for punchy riders to make some early time gaps, which has in earlier editions not always been the case.
Stage 3 is the longest, at over 150km (the average stage distance in this race is above the UCI's mandated 120km, which itself was an improvement on the old 100km, so they've obviously got some dispensation for it), and is a direct copy of last year's stage 3 which was won by Chloe Hosking despite numerous attempts to break things up and threaten Niewiadoma from other teams. Edge Hill is the main challenge, 800m at 10%, 37km from the line, there's a longer but more gradual follow up climb, but the run-in is fairly straightforward.
Stage 4 is the first to introduce two new stage towns, Evesham and Worcester, as we continue westwards into the West Midlands area, closer to the border between England and Wales. There's a couple of climbs but they're far from the finish and this one is likely to end up a sprint.
Stage 5 is the shortest, all in North Wales and, if I'm totally honest, a huge disappointment as a much tougher stage could have been had in this area. Nevertheless, if any climby types want to make a difference, they'll need to do it here since apart from Newnham Hill they haven't been given too many chances to get away. Stage 3 offers opportunities but they'll need to commit to the move and probably have a bit of help, in order to distance the sprinters sufficiently. Here, the sprinters may well struggle given we have a 7km climb at just under 5% with some serious inconsistencies, 50km from home, but there is an uncategorized ramp around 10km from home that may be needed to be used if bonus seconds aren't enough to settle it.
Overall, it's an OK route, but there's not a massive amount to enthuse the climby types. Then again, it's not like last year was a veritable 2013 Giro Rosa either, and it was won by a grimpeuse, so who knows? Certainly Canyon are of the opinion they can win this with climbers, sending their full trifecta of escaladoras, with defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma pinning on bib #1 and ably assisted by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Alena Amialiusik. After a fantastic duel over the best British rider jersey last year, the two Barnes sisters line up as teammates instead this year, and could be GC candidates if the team's bid to win it by outclimbing the opposition proves fruitless. Lisa Klein rounds out the lineup, the young German can sprint, can time trial and can work, and likes racing in Britain, having had a successful introduction to the Women's Tour last year.
Boels-Dolmans, however, disagree, and think they will have to win this with rouleuses, in the absence of Lizzie Deignan. Chantal Blaak brings the rainbow stripes as team leader since van der Breggen is resting, and the team brings a full complement of its classics team - Amy Pieters, Amalie Dideriksen, and perennial Women's Tour podium rider Christine Majerus, having won a stage in 2 of the last 3 seasons and finished on the GC podium of 2 of the last 3 seasons too. Anna Plichta and Jip van den Bos complete the lineup, Jip now moving into the role that Amalie had a couple of years ago when she was a breakout helper in Armitstead's GC triumph.
Sunweb agree with Boels, and their lineup is formidable. Coryn Rivera is the nominal leader, having worked her way into form in Thüringen, but realistically any of their team (bar possibly Soek who will be a domestique I anticipate) is a genuine threat to win. Lucinda Brand, Ellen van Dijk, Floortje Mackaij, all are capable. Leah Kirchmann hasn't quite been at the level of a couple of years ago for a bit but if she can recapture that she's dangerous, especially in stage 2.
The other super-team, Wiggle, are dividing their goals in two, between stage goals with Kirsten Wild, and the GC with Elisa Longo Borghini, and keeping Thüringen Rundfahrt GC winner Lisa Brennauer as a happy medium between them, the German of course won the race outright in 2015, and is capable of picking up time bonuses with her sprinting prowess - and not much of this parcours is tough enough to drop her if she's on the same form she was a week ago. And the team has some mighty help for the flat lands too with track convert Annette Edmondson, upcoming prospect Katie Archibald (who also comes from distance track), and The Best Damned Female Domestique In The World Audrey Cordon-Ragot.
Cervélo are resting 2016 podium rider Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, for whom the parcours is less than ideal, and so instead are likely to be stagehunting around Lotta Lepistö, although we all know Cille is capable enough of doing a good GC in a hilly race. Ann-Sophie Duyck adds power. FDJ are presumably looking for Fournier in the sprints, with Gillow out, but Kitchen could do an OK role in the hills (her best performances are a while ago now though) and Rozanne Slik did win an interestingly tough stage in Thüringen. For Cylance a lot will depend on which Rossella Ratto shows up - though they'll have a presence in the sprints especially if they're reduced, with Gutiérrez and Bronzini. Annemiek van Vleuten, like Moolman-Pasio and van der Breggen, skips the race as it doesn't fit with her Giro preparation, so Mitchelton are likely to prefer to crystallise around Jolien d'Hoore's sprint weapon, though Sarah Roy has good history on this kind of course and Gracie Elvin will seldom die wondering.
Plenty of other strong riders around though. Not least a Certain Miss Marianne Vos (© Phil Liggett) who has of course won the GC here before and races that allow for reduced sprints with a bit of smaller sized hilly finale action are going to be right up her street, especially with a good backup team including some decent climbers (Rooijakkers and Stultiens) and some motivated rouleuses (the returning Anouska Koster, and Dani Rowe on home roads). Alé also shore up a very strong sprint field by bringing both Bastianelli and Hosking, while even in the smaller teams there are some genuine threats - Drops' Eva Buurman was in great form over similar kinds of terrain in Thüringen, Hitec have Nina Kessler to mix it up in the sprints and nascent superprospect Susanne Andersen, BTC have Eugenia Bujak who has won WWT races before over a similar finish to stage 2 and the impressive young puncheuse Nastya Iakovenko, who was top 10 in Flèche Wallonne and both Plumelec/Morbihan races, Virtu have Guarischi and Moberg, neither of whom are shy of mixing it up in the sprints, and Valcar-PBM have the versatile Maria Giulia Confalonieri.
It's a very strong lineup and the mix between teams in their thoughts on how to approach it should hopefully lead to intrigue...
Last year's race was a bit of a strange one in that a bit of lethargy and presumption in the bunch led to a near 2 minute breakaway being attained on stage 1 by a climber on the flattest stage, then defending her lead on the hilly stages despite the team's depleted resources. While it was nice to see Niewiadoma pick up her first WWT win, and her attitude and riding went down well with the supporters of the race, it was rather over-sold as an emergence from somebody who was already one of women's cycling's elite talents. Nevertheless, I'm not going to bewail more attention for the women's game or a win for a rider who has been among my favourites throughout her career and especially now that my long term favourites Pooley and Häusler/Lichtenberg are retired.
Like last year, the first stage is flat, returning to the East Anglian heartland that supported the race at its inception, and finishing in Southwold. This small town hosted the grand départ in 2016 and is the home of Adnams, which is one of the race's sponsors, which is why they're going there. There is an innovation, though - they've moved from awarding two GPM points per stage, regular as clockwork and not always at the toughest points, to a more nuanced, 'normal' system of awarding points per the difficulty of the climbs, so there's only one categorized climb in this stage, unsurprisingly given how pan flat the region is (and that climb is a bit of a joke, it's not quite as bad as the official profile - more like 3% than 1,5% - but still pretty much not worth categorizing other than to give the QOM jersey sponsors a reason to show). I'd say expect a sprint (other finishes in East Anglia have always been sprints) but there's always the possibility of a technical run-in and also, of course, remembering stage 1 last year, though I'm sure the péloton will be wiser to that this year.
Stage 2 moves into the East Midlands region, running to Daventry, which again has history as a départ town, being the start of last year's stage 1. It's mostly flat to rolling, but it features a long loop around the town which culminates in an ascent of Newnham Hill, which the official profiles tell us is 1,6km @ 5,2%, cresting 2,3km from the line. They ascend it twice, once around 35km from the finish and once immediately beforehand, so this is a chance for punchy riders to make some early time gaps, which has in earlier editions not always been the case.
Stage 3 is the longest, at over 150km (the average stage distance in this race is above the UCI's mandated 120km, which itself was an improvement on the old 100km, so they've obviously got some dispensation for it), and is a direct copy of last year's stage 3 which was won by Chloe Hosking despite numerous attempts to break things up and threaten Niewiadoma from other teams. Edge Hill is the main challenge, 800m at 10%, 37km from the line, there's a longer but more gradual follow up climb, but the run-in is fairly straightforward.
Stage 4 is the first to introduce two new stage towns, Evesham and Worcester, as we continue westwards into the West Midlands area, closer to the border between England and Wales. There's a couple of climbs but they're far from the finish and this one is likely to end up a sprint.
Stage 5 is the shortest, all in North Wales and, if I'm totally honest, a huge disappointment as a much tougher stage could have been had in this area. Nevertheless, if any climby types want to make a difference, they'll need to do it here since apart from Newnham Hill they haven't been given too many chances to get away. Stage 3 offers opportunities but they'll need to commit to the move and probably have a bit of help, in order to distance the sprinters sufficiently. Here, the sprinters may well struggle given we have a 7km climb at just under 5% with some serious inconsistencies, 50km from home, but there is an uncategorized ramp around 10km from home that may be needed to be used if bonus seconds aren't enough to settle it.
Overall, it's an OK route, but there's not a massive amount to enthuse the climby types. Then again, it's not like last year was a veritable 2013 Giro Rosa either, and it was won by a grimpeuse, so who knows? Certainly Canyon are of the opinion they can win this with climbers, sending their full trifecta of escaladoras, with defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma pinning on bib #1 and ably assisted by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Alena Amialiusik. After a fantastic duel over the best British rider jersey last year, the two Barnes sisters line up as teammates instead this year, and could be GC candidates if the team's bid to win it by outclimbing the opposition proves fruitless. Lisa Klein rounds out the lineup, the young German can sprint, can time trial and can work, and likes racing in Britain, having had a successful introduction to the Women's Tour last year.
Boels-Dolmans, however, disagree, and think they will have to win this with rouleuses, in the absence of Lizzie Deignan. Chantal Blaak brings the rainbow stripes as team leader since van der Breggen is resting, and the team brings a full complement of its classics team - Amy Pieters, Amalie Dideriksen, and perennial Women's Tour podium rider Christine Majerus, having won a stage in 2 of the last 3 seasons and finished on the GC podium of 2 of the last 3 seasons too. Anna Plichta and Jip van den Bos complete the lineup, Jip now moving into the role that Amalie had a couple of years ago when she was a breakout helper in Armitstead's GC triumph.
Sunweb agree with Boels, and their lineup is formidable. Coryn Rivera is the nominal leader, having worked her way into form in Thüringen, but realistically any of their team (bar possibly Soek who will be a domestique I anticipate) is a genuine threat to win. Lucinda Brand, Ellen van Dijk, Floortje Mackaij, all are capable. Leah Kirchmann hasn't quite been at the level of a couple of years ago for a bit but if she can recapture that she's dangerous, especially in stage 2.
The other super-team, Wiggle, are dividing their goals in two, between stage goals with Kirsten Wild, and the GC with Elisa Longo Borghini, and keeping Thüringen Rundfahrt GC winner Lisa Brennauer as a happy medium between them, the German of course won the race outright in 2015, and is capable of picking up time bonuses with her sprinting prowess - and not much of this parcours is tough enough to drop her if she's on the same form she was a week ago. And the team has some mighty help for the flat lands too with track convert Annette Edmondson, upcoming prospect Katie Archibald (who also comes from distance track), and The Best Damned Female Domestique In The World Audrey Cordon-Ragot.
Cervélo are resting 2016 podium rider Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, for whom the parcours is less than ideal, and so instead are likely to be stagehunting around Lotta Lepistö, although we all know Cille is capable enough of doing a good GC in a hilly race. Ann-Sophie Duyck adds power. FDJ are presumably looking for Fournier in the sprints, with Gillow out, but Kitchen could do an OK role in the hills (her best performances are a while ago now though) and Rozanne Slik did win an interestingly tough stage in Thüringen. For Cylance a lot will depend on which Rossella Ratto shows up - though they'll have a presence in the sprints especially if they're reduced, with Gutiérrez and Bronzini. Annemiek van Vleuten, like Moolman-Pasio and van der Breggen, skips the race as it doesn't fit with her Giro preparation, so Mitchelton are likely to prefer to crystallise around Jolien d'Hoore's sprint weapon, though Sarah Roy has good history on this kind of course and Gracie Elvin will seldom die wondering.
Plenty of other strong riders around though. Not least a Certain Miss Marianne Vos (© Phil Liggett) who has of course won the GC here before and races that allow for reduced sprints with a bit of smaller sized hilly finale action are going to be right up her street, especially with a good backup team including some decent climbers (Rooijakkers and Stultiens) and some motivated rouleuses (the returning Anouska Koster, and Dani Rowe on home roads). Alé also shore up a very strong sprint field by bringing both Bastianelli and Hosking, while even in the smaller teams there are some genuine threats - Drops' Eva Buurman was in great form over similar kinds of terrain in Thüringen, Hitec have Nina Kessler to mix it up in the sprints and nascent superprospect Susanne Andersen, BTC have Eugenia Bujak who has won WWT races before over a similar finish to stage 2 and the impressive young puncheuse Nastya Iakovenko, who was top 10 in Flèche Wallonne and both Plumelec/Morbihan races, Virtu have Guarischi and Moberg, neither of whom are shy of mixing it up in the sprints, and Valcar-PBM have the versatile Maria Giulia Confalonieri.
It's a very strong lineup and the mix between teams in their thoughts on how to approach it should hopefully lead to intrigue...