Lesser Known Road Racing for Women Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

It's a joke that the first 8 in the ITT are part of the WT peleton - They should not be in the race.

Due to the lack of an actual U23 scene with U23 teams, I don't think you can/should deny WWT riders entry to this race. A rider like Nienke Vinke, who has joined a WWT team this year straight out of the juniors, is the perfect example of a rider who'd still benefit from a race like this,

While you have rising stars like Realini, Niedermaier, Kerbaol, Bradbury, Van Anrooij, Van Empel and Shackley, who are clearly too good to race here, you also have riders who might be on a WWT team, but who don't necessarily have the level for WWT racing yet, and/or who don't normally get many opportunities to ride for themselves at their trade teams. I don't think it'll be bad for their development to take part here.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Realini didn't lose too much time, so she's still my and most people's favourite for the win.
Niedermaier looked strong today and should also have been able to improve a bit since Glasgow, since she hadn't been back on the bike for long after her Giro crash beforehand.

 

[yaco]

Due to the lack of an actual U23 scene with U23 teams, I don't think you can/should deny WWT riders entry to this race. A rider like Nienke Vinke, who has joined a WWT team this year straight out of the juniors, is the perfect example of a rider who'd still benefit from a race like this,

While you have rising stars like Realini, Niedermaier, Kerbaol, Bradbury, Van Anrooij, Van Empel and Shackley, who are clearly too good to race here, you also have riders who might be on a WWT team, but who don't necessarily have the level for WWT racing yet, and/or who don't normally get many opportunities to ride for themselves at their trade teams. I don't think it'll be bad for their development to take part here.

It's still an unsatisfactory situation unless you put in place strict parameters for WWT riders to ride the race and of course it denies spots for developing riders.

Even some of the team selections are baffling - Australia chose Bradbury for this race BUT yet refused to select her for the World's in Wollongong in the under 23 category which she could have won - They chose Polites who is afirst year pro for Jayco who is a million miles off the pace - They chose 3 top age juniors BUT chose the wrong riders - Why wouldn't you take Coupland who was 5th in the juniors ITT and top ten in the RR, or Wilson-Haffended who won the junior ITT - Would love to see how she performed in today's ITT. Or why didn't the UK take Izzy Sharp who finished 2nd in the world's ITT.

 

[Wyndbrook]

It's still an unsatisfactory situation unless you put in place strict parameters for WWT riders to ride the race and of course it denies spots for developing riders.

Even some of the team selections are baffling - Australia chose Bradbury for this race BUT yet refused to select her for the World's in Wollongong in the under 23 category which she could have won - They chose Polites who is afirst year pro for Jayco who is a million miles off the pace - They chose 3 top age juniors BUT chose the wrong riders - Why wouldn't you take Coupland who was 5th in the juniors ITT and top ten in the RR, or Wilson-Haffended who won the junior ITT - Would love to see how she performed in today's ITT. Or why didn't the UK take Izzy Sharp who finished 2nd in the world's ITT.

Australian team selection in general is often a mystery to me.
As for Sharp she has not really yet raced at this level, GB selection seems to based on aiming for GC with older more experienced riders.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's still an unsatisfactory situation unless you put in place strict parameters for WWT riders to ride the race and of course it denies spots for developing riders.

Even some of the team selections are baffling - Australia chose Bradbury for this race BUT yet refused to select her for the World's in Wollongong in the under 23 category which she could have won - They chose Polites who is afirst year pro for Jayco who is a million miles off the pace - They chose 3 top age juniors BUT chose the wrong riders - Why wouldn't you take Coupland who was 5th in the juniors ITT and top ten in the RR, or Wilson-Haffended who won the junior ITT - Would love to see how she performed in today's ITT. Or why didn't the UK take Izzy Sharp who finished 2nd in the world's ITT.

You could of course implement a rule saying only riders in their first year at a WWT team could enter, but that would still not have kept Niedermaier and Realini from taking part this year. Still seeing as this is only the first edition of the race, I'm sure both ASO, the UCI and the national federations are still in the process of figuring out how to run/approach the race.

Having a few stars present will probably also help gain more attention to the race. However the fact that they don't have live coverage is obviously working against that.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Linda Zanetti took her 5th win of the season on today's stage ahead of De Wilde and Van Empel.

Nidermaier was involved in a crash, but she was able to continue, so that hopefully means it isn't anything serious. She's had enough of that this year.

 

[yaco]

Only 5 WWT riders in the top 10.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

About 20 riders survived the last climb today, and Van Empel was the strongest in the final sprint.

 

[yaco]

Only 3 non WT riders in the Top 10 - I wonder if he will get more than one non WT rider top 10 in the GC.

 

[Izzyeviel]

One for the future is that Marion Bunel.

 

[Dk one]

Solbjork Anderson has been solid today and yesterday, she must be one of the youngest riders in the race. Looking forward to seeing which team she will ride for next season.

 

[RedheadDane]

Solbjork Anderson has been solid today and yesterday, she must be one of the youngest riders in the race. Looking forward to seeing which team she will ride for next season.

She's the 13th youngest. There are 11 riders who haven't even turned 19 yet.

1	VEGA Camila Salome		18y + 90d
2	MARTINI Johanna		18y + 244d
3	MARR Sophie		18y + 253d
4	KAKITA Maho		18y + 257d
5	STEWART Lucinda		18y + 270d
6	VADILLO Eneritz		18y + 300d
7	TAMEZ Jaqueline Jimena		18y + 304d
8	COLNAR Špela		18y + 310d
9	BUNEL Marion		18y + 325d
10	JOORIS Febe		18y + 328d
11	FRANCIS Jenaya		18y + 354d

 

[yaco]

Two Non-WT riders in the top ten today.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

One for the future is that Marion Bunel.

She's definitely been the revelation of the race so far. She is a stagiaire at St Michel-Auber 93, but she might receive offers from other teams after the race.

Realini was unsurprisingly the strongest today, but the GC is not decided yet. Niedermaier is only 33 seconds ahead of Realini with Shackley and Van Anrooij in-between before the queen stage tomorrow. Logic says Realini will be impossible to beat in the high mountains, but there's also quite a lot of descending to deal with, where other riders might have an advantage over her.

 

[Dk one]

She's the 13th youngest. There are 11 riders who haven't even turned 19 yet.

1	VEGA Camila Salome		18y + 90d
2	MARTINI Johanna		18y + 244d
3	MARR Sophie		18y + 253d
4	KAKITA Maho		18y + 257d
5	STEWART Lucinda		18y + 270d
6	VADILLO Eneritz		18y + 300d
7	TAMEZ Jaqueline Jimena		18y + 304d
8	COLNAR Špela		18y + 310d
9	BUNEL Marion		18y + 325d
10	JOORIS Febe		18y + 328d
11	FRANCIS Jenaya		18y + 354d

Ahh But I guess she is still performing quite well for her age.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

She's definitely been the revelation of the race so far. She is a stagiaire at St Michel-Auber 93, but she might receive offers from other teams after the race.

Realini was unsurprisingly the strongest today, but the GC is not decided yet. Niedermaier is only 33 seconds ahead of Realini with Shackley and Van Anrooij in-between before the queen stage tomorrow. Logic says Realini will be impossible to beat in the high mountains, but there's also quite a lot of descending to deal with, where other riders might have an advantage over her.

It is quite ridiculous that the best designed mountain stage of the year is going to be in l'Avenir.

And that the queen stage of the women's l'Avenir is longer than 2/3 mountain stages from the men's. And the men's one that is longer than this one was longer by less than 2km.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It seems the stage has been as eventful so far as one could have hoped for. All in the top 4 has been virtually leading the race at some point, and only Niedermaier appears to be completely out of it after Roselend. Van Anrooij is leading at the moment, but Shackley is possibly not too far behind her, while Realini has been dropped in the descent.

Kerbaol has abandoned.

Edit: DirectVelo is now saying Shirin has 2:30, so it looks like the race is over now.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Never had her down as a GC contender. Chapeau.

Shackers 2nd!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Never had her down as a GC contender. Chapeau.

Shackers 2nd!

Van Anrooij not a bad climber at all, but I didn't expect her to be stronger than Realini today. But it also seems like it became important how well the riders managed their efforts. Realini was dropped on the first descent, then got back at the bottom of Roselend and attacked almost straight away, building up a gap of over a minute, but then lost it all again. Meanwhile Van Anrooij had Van Empel to help her throughout the stage, and she's obviously better descender than Realini and Shackley.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Going by procyclingstats... i'm presuming the time gaps are mega.

 

[theyoungest]

Never had her down as a GC contender. Chapeau.

Shackers 2nd!

She won the white jersey in the Tour last year...

Strangely, in her big objective of the year, the Giro Donne, she didn't have it at all and Fem van Empel was way stronger.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

She won the white jersey in the Tour last year...

Strangely, in her big objective of the year, the Giro Donne, she didn't have it at all and Fem van Empel was way stronger.

She didn't hit her best level in the Giro, but she was also only meant to be a domestique for Longo Borghini and Realini, whereas Van Empel was JV's best rider on the harder stages.

 

[yaco]

Today two non WT riders in the top ten and one finished in the top ten of the GC.

 

[Didinho]

Impressive Shirin!

 

[theyoungest]

She didn't hit her best level in the Giro, but she was also only meant to be a domestique for Longo Borghini and Realini, whereas Van Empel was JV's best rider on the harder stages.

I'm not sure she was just meant to be a domestique, she peaked for the race and asked to do it instead of the Tour. She was definitely disappointed about her level, also at the Dutch nationals just before. Van Empel did it more as an afterthought to the MTB season, and she hasn't felt at home with Jumbo, so her level was more of a surprise.