The women's road racing thread 2015

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

I've heard from sources connected to the race that actually they did have some other places willing to host, but they kept it this way for two reasons - firstly that they were happy to keep it as a slightly rolling race at this point - keep the time gaps small and mean that each stage meant something, so each finishing town would get some part of the race GC playing out for them. After all, in 3 of the 5 stages the catch was made inside the final kilometre, and at least the ELB break was NOT planned out that way, they caught her 150m from the line - so it offered excitement for the live fans. The second was that the race director said this year they aimed to use a lot of the towns that supported them in getting the race off the ground and that it's important to understand that unlike the men's race this isn't broadcasting itself as the Tour OF Britain, but as a women's Tour IN Britain; much like the Tour de l'Aude used to be based mainly out of Limoux and the Emakumeen Euskal Bira is based mainly out of Iurreta and Durango, they were thinking for logistical purposes and making it easier for the teams to budget in the more cash-strapped world of women's cycling, to keep it a Tour spending its 5 days in an area, and then move that area from year to year rather than try to cover all of Britain with 5 days, which would be impossible especially on the shorter distances seen in women's cycling.

This makes a certain amount of sense. If they do move area though, it will mean having to do an awful lot of preparatory work to get the same sort of big crowds.

Although, in a way that's an opportunity too. The race organisers really did a great job turning a brand new race in a part of the sport that generally gets far too little attention into a big deal in the locality. If they can repeat that over and over again in new places it would be a big step forward. Whatever about pros and cons of the route, even taking into account their relatively high budget a lot of other organisers could learn a lot from their success.

 

[Jonhard]

Re: Re:

I've heard from sources connected to the race that actually they did have some other places willing to host, but they kept it this way for two reasons - firstly that they were happy to keep it as a slightly rolling race at this point - keep the time gaps small and mean that each stage meant something, so each finishing town would get some part of the race GC playing out for them. After all, in 3 of the 5 stages the catch was made inside the final kilometre, and at least the ELB break was NOT planned out that way, they caught her 150m from the line - so it offered excitement for the live fans. The second was that the race director said this year they aimed to use a lot of the towns that supported them in getting the race off the ground and that it's important to understand that unlike the men's race this isn't broadcasting itself as the Tour OF Britain, but as a women's Tour IN Britain; much like the Tour de l'Aude used to be based mainly out of Limoux and the Emakumeen Euskal Bira is based mainly out of Iurreta and Durango, they were thinking for logistical purposes and making it easier for the teams to budget in the more cash-strapped world of women's cycling, to keep it a Tour spending its 5 days in an area, and then move that area from year to year rather than try to cover all of Britain with 5 days, which would be impossible especially on the shorter distances seen in women's cycling.

This makes a certain amount of sense. If they do move area though, it will mean having to do an awful lot of preparatory work to get the same sort of big crowds.

Although, in a way that's an opportunity too. The race organisers really did a great job turning a brand new race in a part of the sport that generally gets far too little attention into a big deal in the locality. If they can repeat that over and over again in new places it would be a big step forward. Whatever about pros and cons of the route, even taking into account their relatively high budget a lot of other organisers could learn a lot from their success.

That's more detail than i had tbf. I'd just read a report of the encounter between Guy Elliot (tour director) and Emma Johansson in which he referred to the introduction of Poggio-like climb. (In response to her "too easy, not coming back")

Logistics are a factor. They got a lot of praise for the organisation but that is in part down to a compact race area. Ties in with Libertine's comments about moving the whole race. I guess, north a bit!

If you watch something like the Tour of the reservoir it shows that there is hard racing available in the Uk. Not much fun even when it's not snowing.

 

[Jonhard]

Does anyone else notice that every time the GB riders are interviewed they are always smiling, they have a sort of weird smugness about them. They look like stepford wives...a bit weird IMO.

Armitstead can come off smug, not sure about anyone else.

 

[ray j willings]

Does anyone else notice that every time the GB riders are interviewed they are always smiling, they have a sort of weird smugness about them. They look like stepford wives...a bit weird IMO.

Armitstead can come off smug, not sure about anyone else.

Yes, she his bad loser. I mean really bad.
I think the GB girls have some kind of media training. Win or lose their interviews come across like sound bites
and the non stop smiles,,,,its wrong I tell you wrong. Women robots of brailsford

 

[BigMac]

Does anyone else notice that every time the GB riders are interviewed they are always smiling, they have a sort of weird smugness about them. They look like stepford wives...a bit weird IMO.

I sort of see what you mean. Though I was cruising through British Cycling's YT channel the other day and heard some of the girls in inverviews: young Eli Barker, for instance, seemed genuine. Laura Trott too, but I think her very pronounced accent plays against her. I wanted to hear an interview from Sharon Laws but couldn't find anything, only a short video with Mara Abbott by her side. Her giggles also seemed genuine. Not sure about the rest, apart from Lizzie ofc.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Giro Rosa startlist, from Velofocus:

RABO-LIV:
Lucinda Brand (NED)
Thalita de Jong (NED)
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA)
Shara Gillow (AUS)
Roxane Knetemann (NED)
Anouska Koster (NED)
Kasia Niewiadoma (POL)
Anna van der Breggen (NED)

Comments: Anna VDB is nominal leader. Pauline showed good form at the French nationals but doing it against the world's best might be a different matter, we'll see how she is recovering from her injury. Anna VDB beat Ellen van Dijk at the national ITT championships, so she's in scary form. Kasia is a wildcard especially in the mountain stages. Good backups on the flat with Gillow a useful climber too.

ORICA-AIS
Katrin Garfoot (AUS)
Chloe McConville (AUS)
Rachel Neylan (AUS)
Sarah Roy (AUS)
Valentina Scandolara (ITA)
Amanda Spratt (AUS)
Macey Stewart (AUS)
Lizzie Williams (AUS)

Comments: What, no Johansson!?!?!? Garfoot leads the GC candidates for the now almost all-Aussie team, and is good in the hills (5th at the Bira and 4th at Giro del Trentino) but don't be surprised if Neylan is the strongest GC after 10 days. She's inconsistent but very good when she does hit form once in a while. Macey Stewart is stupendously young and inexperienced, so it's a bit of a baptism of fire for her, while you will mostly be able to pick Scandolara out among the bunch with a simple test: if somebody is trying to attack it, it's probably Valentina Scandolara.

BOELS-DOLMANS
Lizzie Armitstead (GBR)
Chantal Blaak (NED)
Demi de Jong (NED)
Megan Guarnier (USA)
Romy Kasper (GER)
Kasia Pawłowska (POL)
Evelyn Stevens (USA)
Ellen van Dijk (NED)

Comments: interesting multifaceted team. You would anticipate the Americans provide the GC focus; Evie Stevie has podiumed the Giro before and at her best with the toughest routes, however Guarnier on recent evidence would seem the better bet. Lizzie is of course one of the best all-rounders in the world and coming off a dominant win in the nationals, but I will be surprised if she is able to make enough gains in the flat and intermediate stages to hold off the best in the mountains. Van Dijk is a TT queen.

WIGGLE-HONDA:
Mara Abbott (USA)
Giorgia Bronzini (ITA)
Audrey Cordon (FRA)
Jolien d'Hoore (BEL)
Emilia Fahlin (SWE)
Mayuko Hagiwara (JPN)
Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA)
Anna Sanchis Chafer (ESP)

Comments: A very strong multinational, multifaceted team. With Abbott and ELB they have two GC candidates for two different race types (I think the course this year suits ELB more than Abbott, there's no real monolithic climbing stage, with only the MTF at San Domenico di Varzo where she can really gain minutes). They can contend in a sprint with d'Hoore and a more reduced sprint with Bronzini, and especially with Cordon they have strong engines to defend a lead if need be too - though Abbott's modus operandi would surely be to take the maglia rosa on the final day MTF...

LIV-PLANTUR
Willeke Knol (NED)
Claudia Lichtenberg (GER)
Floortje Mackaij (NED)
Sara Mustonen (SWE)
Amy Pieters (NED)
Julia Soek (NED)
Kyara Stijns (NED)
Sabrina Stultiens (NED)
Molly Weaver (GBR)

Comments: Claudia Lichtenberg is the obvious leader here, having had a good season and a former Giro winner back in 2009. She's a good climber for the course, especially considering no Guderzo in the field and Pooley's retired. Stultiens is a very promising young rider who is reputed as a bit of a climber, although she hasn't always had the chance to display that to date, having not done many of the main climby races like the Bira or the Giro before. Pieters will be the sprinter. Weaver is on loan from Matrix, who weren't invited.

LOTTO-SOUDAL
Elena Cecchini (ITA)
Jessie Daams (BEL)
Carlee Taylor (AUS)
Susanna Zorzi (ITA)
+4 more TBC

Comments: the selected quartet include their best riders. Cecchini is the obvious leader, a strong all-rounder, while winning the nationals at the Basilica di Supergà tells us she can climb. Daams will be a good lieutenant - she was always in the second group behind the heads of state last year. Zorzi is a good wildcard for a stage win.

SERVETTO-FOOTON
Tatiana Antoshina (RUS)
Vittoria Cornolti (ITA)
Elena Franchi (ITA)
Elena Kuchinskaya (RUS)
Marina Likhanova (RUS)
Michela Pavin (ITA)
Anna Potokina (RUS)
Jessie Walker (GBR)

Comments: less star power here, but Antoshina is a more than serviceable leader. She's been top 5 in the Giro although that was a few years ago now. Kuchinskaya has been in good form but the races she's been showing in have been comparatively weak fields. The Italian arm of the team is very inexperienced.

AROMITALIA VAIANO-FONDRIEST
Serika Guluma Ortiz (COL)
Lija Laizaine (LAT)
Rasa Leleivyte (LIT)
Allison Elizabeth Linnell (USA)
Alessia Martini (ITA)
Jessica Parra Rojas (COL)
Ewelina Szybiak (POL)
+1 more TBC

Comments: quite a weak team. Perhaps the most well-known on the team is Leleivyte, a former sprinter (and a good one at that) who suddenly was able to climb to the edges of the top 10 at the Giro in 2012, only to test positive for EPO afterward. The final selection is down to two inexperienced teenagers and 2007 World champion Marta Bastianelli, whose career has never recovered from her diet supplements suspension but who still has a little name value.

BIGLA
Nicole Hanselmann (SUI)
Clara Koppenburg (GER)
Sharon Laws (GBR)
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA)
Joëlle Numainville (CAN)
Carmen Small-McNellis (USA)
Annemiek van Vleuten (NED)
+1 more TBC

Comments: another team with GC interest, either with all-rounder van Vleuten or climber Moolman, depending on how the race goes. Both have been riding well this season and have experience along with some pretty good backup (including guest rider Carmen Small-McNellis, on loan from the US). A few names fighting for that last spot, maybe Slappendal for experience? Lepistö to give them some more presence in the sprints?

INPA-SOTTOLI-GIUSFREDI
Alice Maria Arzuffi (ITA)
Valentina Bastianelli (ITA)
Claudia Cretti (ITA)
Rossella Ratto (ITA)
Tetiana Riabchenko (UKR)
Anna Zita Maria Stricker (ITA)
Anna Trevisi (ITA)
Daiva Tuslaite (LIT)

Comments: two-headed beast, with Rossella Ratto a rather awesome, aggressive rider who will no doubt leave at least some mark on the race and who has shown some good form after a rocky start with her new team recently. Riabchenko is a real climber, only ever really showing in the most hilly and mountainous races. She isn't really a threat to win but she'll get some very strong results in the toughest stages. The rest of the team isn't so strong, however, so while it's unlikely they get the maglia rosa, if they do the bigger teams might see it as open season to attack the inexperienced domestiques.

Velocio-SRAM:
Alëna Amialiusik (BLR)
Karol-Ann Canuel (CAN)
Tiffany Cromwell (AUS)
Elise Delzenne (FRA)
Barbara Guarischi (ITA)
Mieke Kröger (GER)
Loren Rowney (AUS)
Tayler Wiles (USA)

Comments: slightly strange that there's no sign of either Brennauer or Worrack, though they're presumably being kept back to go for the win in the Thüringen Rundfahrt straight after the Giro; from this team Amialiusik is the most likely GC threat, a strong climber who recently won the European Games RR. They'll be very dangerous stagehunters as well with the likes of Cromwell and Delzenne who will be hard to keep on a leash.

MEXICO
Wendoline Chávez
Arianda Gutiérrez
Ana Hernández
Veronica Leal
Dulce Pliego
Marcela Prieto
Erika Varela

Comments: in fairness, not likely to provide much more than a few early breaks. Veronica Leal was a pretty useful rider a few years ago but she's now 37 and hasn't been racing in Europe for nearly five years.

Teams yet to confirm:
ALÉ-CIPOLLINI (Cauz their best Giro name, 7th in 2013, but has really struggled since then; Tagliaferro, Confalonieri, Berlato and Jasinska are other names worth mentioning, while Dalia Muccioli is a potential surprise name, a rider renowned as a pure climber that hasn't had the chance to do many real climbers' races)
ASTANA-ACCA DUE O (a team in turmoil after the split from BePink; the firing of Solovey basically removes their only recognizable - if notorious - name and leaves them headless for the race)
TOP GIRLS-FASSA BORTOLO (now rather headless as well after losing Cauz, they have mostly young Italians. Asja Paladin is quite promising but the most notable names is Rossella Callovi, who a few years ago and a few injuries fewer was one of the great potential stars of the future and is still only 24 but a shell of the rider she was)
SC MICHELA FANINI-ROX (a team which was hurt by the formation of INPA-Sottoli Giusfredi, as they lost a few riders to them in the post-Estado de México fallout, they're now shorn of Riabchenko, Rist and other recognizable names, now their best-known rider is Edwige Pitel, who is now 48)
BTC CITY LJUBLJANA (an interesting team who should be motivated with the race starting in Slovenia, they also have some pretty reasonable riders for the race, with Bujak for the flats and Polona Bagatelj a reasonable stage racer who's top 10ed Trentino and the Bira before)
BEPINK-LA CLASSICA (the split with Astana didn't really help either team, though BePink have done better out of it. Chulkova and Valsecchi are their best riders, hard to see them impacting the race too heavily though)
TRE COLLI-FORNO D'ASOLO (another small Italian team with ties abroad, this time to Lithuania. Unlikely to impact the GC).

 

[Jonhard]

Cheers for that. I was looking at PCS last night and noticed the Orica lineup… I couldn’t tell if it was 100% confirmed and final. Seems bizarre to leave out your best rider (and among the best full stop) especially when she’s just caned the TT and RR nationals. Not the best races but seems to demonstrate form and fitness. Maybe a contract issue? This is her third year with Orica, not sure when it’s up though. Looking for a final payday maybe? I reckon her options are better now than in 2012/3 – that was when AA Drink-Leontien folded and it was probably more of a buyers’ market. Wild speculation there but it does seem an odd one. I think she said (last year) that she didn’t plan to carry on much longer, but she’s also spoken about her 2016 schedule…

It’ll be interesting to see if Jessie Walker rides for Servetto-Footon, she’s another mid season switch from Matrix and potentially a good punchy road rider (and daughter of stalwart domestic pro Chris). She was showing ok in the nationals.

 

[Jonhard]

Re:

Cheers for that. I was looking at PCS last night and noticed the Orica lineup… I couldn’t tell if it was 100% confirmed and final. Seems bizarre to leave out your best rider (and among the best full stop) especially when she’s just caned the TT and RR nationals. Not the best races but seems to demonstrate form and fitness. Maybe a contract issue? This is her third year with Orica, not sure when it’s up though. Looking for a final payday maybe? I reckon her options are better now than in 2012/3 – that was when AA Drink-Leontien folded and it was probably more of a buyers’ market. Wild speculation there but it does seem an odd one. I think she said (last year) that she didn’t plan to carry on much longer, but she’s also spoken about her 2016 schedule…

So much for that nonsense. She's just skipping it - doesn't like it and wants to be good at Thüringen.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/interviews/pez-talk-emma-johansson/

Interview from May makes this clear.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Full startlists now together. I am super-excited for this, more so than the Tour. The Tour will be a freak show battled out as much in the press and in bickering forum posts as on the road, while the Giro is the most open it's been in a while - Vos is absent, but there's only the one real summit stage for Abbott to take control of the race and it's at the end, meaning others will need to gap her before that, while PFP's form is unclear after having the fastest time on the road last year. There's an hour of coverage every day on RAI Sport 2, which will no doubt find its way online before long.

ALÉ-CIPOLLINI
Elena Berlato, Francesca Cauz, Annalisa Cucinotta, Uenia Fernandes Sousa, Małgorzata Jasińska, Dalia Muccioli, Flavia Oliveira, Marta Tagliaferro
AROMITALIA-VAIANO FONDRIEST
Marta Bastianelli is the 8th member
ASTANA-ACCA DUE O
Marika Campagnaro, Ksenia Dobrynina, Larisa Pankova, Natalia Saifutdinova, Makhabbat Umutzhanova, Elena Sitsko, Carolina Rodríguez
BEPINK-LA CLASSICA
Anastasia Chulkova, Ana Maria Covrig, Giorgia Fraiegari, Ruby Livingstone, Jaime Nielsen, Ilaria Sanguineti, Silvia Valsecchi, Georgia Williams
BIGLA
Doris Schweizer is the 8th member
BTC CITY-LJUBLJANA
Eugenia Bujak, Polona Bagatelj, Špela Kern, Alenka Novák, Olena Pavlukhina, Ursa Pintar, Mia Radotič, Anja Rugelj
INPA
as above
LOTTO-SOUDAL
Elena Cecchini, Jessie Daams, Lieselot Decroix, Chantal Hoffmann, Anouk Rijff, Carlee Taylor, Anisha Vekemans, Susanna Zorzi
MEXICO
Tere Casas is the 8th member
SC MICHELA FANINI-ROX
Michela Balducci, Nina Gulino, Azzura Intino, Eyerusalem Kelil, Laura Lozano, Federica Nicolai, Vittoria Reati, Lara Vieceli
TRE COLLI-FORNO D'ASOLO
Isotta Barbieri, Jasmine Dotti, Marina Lari, Aurora Mancini, Emma Marcelli, Leidy Múñoz Ruíz, Olena Novikova, Olena Oliynyk

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Thanks for the Giro preview, by the way. It's very helpful, particular in terms of the smaller teams.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Prologue going on as we speak... Roxane Knetemann has the best provisional time at the moment, 2" faster than Ellen van Dijk... Evie Stevie the nearest thing to a major GC name to have gone so far I think, she's at +6".

Edit:
Roxane averaged 48,3km/h - aware it's a pure power test with just two roundabouts, but that's some going.

Scandolara +2"
Stultiens +7"
Amialiusik +8"
Zorzi +13"
Delzenne +13"
Riabchenko +16"

Edit:
Van der Breggen +1", Roxane still leads! From the hotseat she tweeted that she's excited but usually a teammate will beat her in the end...

Edit:
Annemiek van Vleuten now fastest, 1" inside Knetemann. New times:

Annemiek
Knetemann +1
Anna VDB +2
van Dijk +3
Scandolara +3

Edit:
PFP goes 6th with +6". We'll see how she goes form-wise - if she's in good form the longer TT will suit her. around 30-40 riders still to come.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The first maglia rosa of the Giro Rosa goes to Annemiek van Vleuten, of the Bigla Cycling Team!

Having won a technical 1,9km prologue last month at the Emakumeen Bira, Annemiek had to be considered among the favourites here; short power TTs with a couple of bits of road furniture suit Dutch riders for one thing - we know the Dutch love their road furniture. The main challenge came from the Rabo-Liv team, who spread their strong TTers out in the race, with Knetemann going early, van der Breggen and Ferrand-Prévot in the middle and Lucinda Brand late on; the three Dutchwomen took 2nd to 4th with Brand in the last spot of all being the closest to dethroning her former teammate. Former World TT champ Ellen van Dijk completed an all-Netherlands top 5, and with no Lisa Brennauer in the startlist she will likely be the favourite for the long TT even despite the rolling profile later in the race. Megan Guarnier (+4") also put in a good showing, ahead of the likes of Ferrand-Prévot (+6") and her compatriot and teammate Evelyn Stevens, with whom she will probably need to form a GC hydra-head (+7"). Elisa Longo Borghini (+6") also is close enough to feel happy with the day's work.

We are likely to see the maglia azzurra of best Italian rider quite visible in the next couple of days since it's on the shoulders of combativity queen Valentina Scandolara; van Vleuten obviously also has the points jersey (which will be worn by Brand, presumably). Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will be trading in her rainbow stripes for the maglia bianca of best young rider.

1 Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) NED 2'48
2 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +1"
3 Roxane Knetemann (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
4 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +2"
5 Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Dolmans) NED +3"
6 Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) ITA +st
7 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +4"
8 Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +6"
9 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo-Liv) FRA +st
10 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +7"

HIGHLIGHTS ON RAISPORT 2 NOW.

Edit: so according to RAI's coverage you can stick Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio between Van Dijk and Scandolara, so that's very interesting indeed.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Video highlights from the prologue

Warning: the theme music is almost as bad as the Volta a Portugal theme, and that's saying something. They follow a number of key riders in the prologue but not some of those who are perhaps important to the GC who aren't of major relevance to a prologue results (Mara Abbott or Claudia Lichtenberg, for example); they pay attention to a few of the big name Italians as you'd expect, like Elisa and Giorgia Bronzini, and also Jolien d'Hoore is shown because she had quite a nasty crash on the final corner. Biciciclismo has a fully laid out set of results which include everybody and shows the time losses of the climbers. Some have limited their losses quite effectively (Niewiadoma, Amialiusik), others have lost the kind of time that's remarkable over just 2km (Abbott, Cauz), notwithstanding the strength of Moolman-Pasio, Guarnier, Garfoot, Anna VDB, Ferrand-Prévot, Longo Borghini and Stevens, who are all capable enough GC riders who start the race on the front foot - and not forgetting, of course, that Annemiek van Vleuten is a pretty useful GC rider in her own right, especially now she's striking out on her own.

1 Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla Pro Cycling) NED 2'48
2 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +1"
3 Roxane Knetemann (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
4 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +2"
5 Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Dolmans) NED +3"
6 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla Pro Cycling) RSA +st
7 Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) ITA +st
8 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +4"
9 Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +6"
10 Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) NED +st
-
11 Katrin Garfoot (Orica-AIS) AUS +st
12 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo-Liv) FRA +st
13 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +7"
16 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +st
19 Shara Gillow (Rabo-Liv) AUS +8"
20 Sabrina Stultiens (Liv-Plantur) NED +st
24 Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM) BLR +9"
28 Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +st
29 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) GBR +10"
36 Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) ITA +11"
45 Polona Bagatelj (BTC City-Ljubljana) SLO +13"
50 Rossella Ratto (INPA-Sottoli-Giusfredi) ITA +st
51 Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +st
52 Marta Tagliaferro (Alé-Cipollini) ITA +14"
68 Audrey Cordon (Wiggle-Honda) FRA +16"
78 Claudia Lichtenberg (Liv-Plantur) GER +17"
80 Tetiana Riabchenko (INPA-Sottoli-Giusfredi) UKR +st
114 Dalia Muccioli (Alé-Cipollini) ITA +23"
122 Francesca Cauz (Alé-Cipollini) ITA +25"
123 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +st

Today's stage:

Kamnik - Ljubljana (103km)

Just the one categorized climb and it's not very steep (though the profile doesn't indicate that it's a little more inconsistent than that) so this should be one for the sprinters unless a late move can get away, which wouldn't be a shock, however the run-in looks to favour the bunch. With no Wild, Vos or Brennauer in the race, the sprint field could be interesting, especially given Jolien d'Hoore, who has been a very strong sprinter over the last year, crashed in the prologue, so Wiggle have a decision to make on form, who they prioritize, Jolien or Giorgia Bronzini, though Giorgia would prefer a longer and slightly tougher race to bring her Óscar Freire-like ninja skills to the fore. The chances are there for the likes of Armitstead to involve themselves in the sprint, but how many risks is she willing to take after crashing out of her home race in spectacular fashion? It's not that strong a sprinting field this year, so will the likes of Knetemann or even van der Breggen try to involve themselves in the run-in to challenge for the maglia rosa?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Break of the day, 3 minutes up the road at the halfway stage, consisted of Chantal Hoffmann (Lotto-Soudal), Małgorzata Jasińska (Alé-Cipollini) and Ana Covrig (BePink-La Classica). Jasińska won the sprint at the top of the climb to take the GPM jersey for the next couple of days, ahead of Covrig. Hoffmann was dropped when the Pole sprinted away to the summit, and was unable to chase back on. The bunch slowly reeled them in and with 15km to go had them within their sights. It looks to have become that type of race I truly hate, though, as they then let the break sit there until reeling them in with 5km to go to prevent any real attacks going late, although Silvia Valsecchi (also of BePink) had a dart on her own late on. Disappointing that it was so much like a typical men's flat race, as I thought with a few of the biggest name sprinters missing it would be a bit more open season for attacks in the last few kilometres with less control at the front late on even if the sprint was still the likely outcome.

Anyhow, the finale was mostly controlled by Velocio-SRAM (well, they are descendants of HTC!), and they took the initiative into the finale, with the sprint being won by their Italian sprinter Barbara Guarischi, ahead of Lucinda Brand and Tiffany Cromwell (also of Velocio). Rabo took over after Valsecchi was brought back, utilizing their flat engines such as de Jong and Knetemann, with some help from Gillow and Ferrand-Prévot, which seems to confirm the team's initial contention that Anna VDB is the protected rider as she was nowhere to be seen on the front but still finished in 15th place, where she should be, away from risk on a finish like this like all good GC riders but not risking the time gaps by sitting near the back of the group like Abbott. The right hander at 300m to go seemed to catch Rabo off guard though, as their leadout ran out there, and Brand opened up quite a long sprint. Guarischi confirmed afterwards that this was mainly as they turned into a headwind which they were not expecting as much of the run-in until that point had been sheltered. She therefore sat in Brand's wheel until 100m to go and passed the fading Dutch champion to take the win; Cromwell was in her wheel but Brand held on to prevent the Velocio 1-2.

The bonus seconds mean that Lucinda Brand takes over the race lead, so it will become interesting to find out what Rabo-Liv's intentions are with it, as they will likely not be too keen on burning too many domestique matches early in the race when they may need the help in the more mountainous stages later on.

1 Barbara Guarischi (Velocio-SRAM) ITA
2 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
3 Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +st
4 Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) ITA +st
5 Floortje Mackaij (Liv-Plantur) NED +st
6 Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +st
7 Annalisa Cucinotta (Alé-Cipollini) ITA +st
8 Änna Zita Maria Stricker (INPA-Sottoli-Giusfredi) ITA +st
9 Mia Radotič (BTC City-Ljubljana) CRO +st
10 Anna Trevisi (INPA-Sottoli-Giusfredi) ITA +st
11 Michela Pavin (Servetto-Footon) ITA +st
12 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo-Liv) FRA +st
13 Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM) BLR +st
14 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) GBR +st

No news of any major names losing any time just yet.

New GC:
1 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED
2 Barbara Guarischi (Velocio-SRAM) ITA +4"
3 Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) NED +5"
4 Roxane Knetemann (Rabo-Liv) NED +6"
5 Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +7"

Everybody else of note is at their prologue time +5" for Brand's new lead over van Vleuten, of course.

Annemiek trades her maglia rosa for the maglia ciclamino (the Giro Rosa still uses the old Giro jersey colours) which Brand had been wearing for her, while Knetemann gives up the maglia verde (which was a bit irrelevant at this point anyway) to Jasińska. PFP remains best young rider, and Guarischi gets the maglia azzurra.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Today, the first obstacles, in a 122km stage from Gaiarine to San Fior.

Last year the stage linking the same two towns was the toughest climbing stage, seeing the first of Emma Pooley's three stage wins and the first emergence of Kasia Niewiadoma as the teenage neo-pro domestique was the last to be shelled by the women's péloton's best climber on the way to La Crosetta, before a lengthy run-in saw the main GC riders pull Pooley's lead back to just 15" by the end - eventually though, Vos, Ferrand-Prévot, van der Breggen, Longo Borghini and Abbott found themselves some four minutes ahead of the field (Niewiadoma dropped back to the group to do domestique work before dropping on the uncategorized final rise).

This year there's no La Crosetta, so the gaps aren't expected to show similar size, although the run-in does feature the same uncategorized bump at 6km out - it's about 1km at 5-6%, so nothing too spectacular but it will give a fulcrum for attacks if the pace has been high elsewhere in the stage. The stage will be more for the punchier riders, one expects, or a reduced sprint competed for by the likes of Armitstead. It's not a stage for the Abbotts and Lichtenbergs of this world just yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the latter comparatively active late on, especially as it's Rabo-Liv that now have the leader's jersey so teams will want to put some pressure on their domestiques so that they can't control the whole race from here on in.

Because the scale of the official profiles aren't especially clear and some gradients are flattened out by the profile style they use, velofocus have produced a more accurate profile here to show that while it's not the killer stage from last year, it's harder than it initially looks:

The early TV sprints are also having their effect; the bunch has been kept together with an average pace of 41,5km/h for the first hour, and Lucinda Brand has taken some seconds at the first sprint to extend her lead.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What was I saying about it not being an easy day? After the intermediate sprints were done with, the break finally got a bit of separation, and Carlee Taylor (Lotto-Soudal) and Flavia Oliveira (Alé-Cipollini) were able to get away. The race has really shredded on the climb to Piai, and while the duo are still away, there is now an EXTREMELY strong chase group of eight, which starts to suggest who the main protagonists in this year's Giro will be.

We have Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Kasia Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen (all Rabo-Liv), Elisa Longo Borghini and Mara Abbott (both Wiggle-Honda), Sabrina Stultiens (Liv-Plantur), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) and Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans). Key riders who've missed the move include Lichtenberg, Stevens and van Vleuten... time lost to riders of this level now could be hard to win back - though all have teammates in the move; the question is, will teams like INPA be strong enough to chase, and will the likes of Alé-Cipollini WANT to chase with Oliveira in the break? Velocio and Orica the main teams doing the work in the bunch as they've missed the break.

Edit:
On the descent, Taylor crashed, leaving Oliveira alone in the lead with about 35" on the leaders. A few more riders are able to rejoin the heads of state group, but this does go some way to showing us the riders who are likely to be the strongest.

Edit:
With 20km to go Oliveira caught and incorporated into the fast-moving lead group, which now consists of Anna van der Breggen and Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv), Mara Abbott and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda), Megan Guarnier and Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans), Flavia Oliveira (Alé-Cipollini), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) and Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM). This now means Orica and Liv-Plantur have no representatives up there and are chasing, and a group with Brand, Ferrand-Prévot and van Vleuten is 1'26" behind. I wouldn't normally expect a rider of PFP's class to lose that much time on a descent (she's a world champion in CX and former junior world champion in MTB!!!) so presumably a crash or mechanical has caused that.

Edit:
And that's how it ended, with the group of eight staying away. Megan Guarnier outsprinted Anna van der Breggen for the stage win, which means that with the time bonuses she therefore takes the maglia rosa, with Brand finishing in the second group, which eventually numbered around 20 and finished 1'47 back. Further groups behind mostly contained riders not expected to challenge for the GC, although Katrin Garfoot in the group at +3'44" removes Orica's main GC bullet in the gun, which with no Emma Johansson in the team really harms their chances of impacting the race, while after making the front group uphill, Sabrina Stultiens ending up in the group at +6'18" suggests she probably had a fall or some bad luck too; this will likely end her GC tilt; she's renowned as a strong climber but is inexperienced, and even if she is a strong climber that's too much time to expect her to pull back from the likes of Mara Abbott. However, Abbott and/or Longo Borghini will have to be careful in picking up the maglia rosa, because two of Wiggle's worker ants, Anna Sanchis and Audrey Cordon, DNFed after crashing today, meaning they already have some depleted resources especially for the flats.

1 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA 3'12'44
2 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) RSA +st
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +st
5 Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM) CAN +2"
6 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +st
7 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +st
8 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +6"
9 Eugenia Bujak (BTC City-Ljubljana) POL +1'44"
10 Rachel Neylan (Orica-AIS) AUS +1'47"

The new GC:

1 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA 5'47'49
2 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +2"
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) RSA +5"
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +13"
5 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +15"
6 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +17"
7 Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM) CAN +24"
8 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +37"
9 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +1'40"
10 Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) NED +1'53"

Lucinda Brand trades the maglia rosa for the maglia ciclamino, owing to her two 2nd places and then points picked up in the intermediate sprints today. Carlee Taylor's breakaway garners her the QOM after the day's racing, while the reduced GC classifications both change hands as well - Elisa Longo Borghini takes the best Italian jersey (which I would now expect her to take to the end of the race), while PFP hands over the best young rider's jersey (for U23 riders here) to teammate Kasia Niewiadoma.

Edit:
Post-race twitter fills in some of the gaps. Both Cordon and Sanchis broke their collarbones in a fairly sizable crash, hence the DNF. Carlee Taylor's crash on the descent was quite dramatic - going over a fence and into some gardens below. She posted video of her watching it on the highlight show, commenting "oh f*£%!"... Sabrina Stultiens, after being in the lead group at the top of the climb and being 6 minutes down at the end, didn't have a crash OR bad luck as I guessed - she had a crash AND bad luck, as after her crash she had to wait for a new bike which caused her to drop not only from the lead group but behind the chasers too.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

RAI's coverage of yesterday's awesome stage is here, and people who enjoy cycling for the racing should watch it - I'm aware some people prefer to watch the biggest and best because it feels more important, but if you like good bike racing, this was a good, good stage to watch.

It's perhaps fitting then, that on a relatively controversial and busy day at the Tour, the Giro Rosa would present a relatively uneventful flat stage. The profile was quite typical for the Po Valley: barely even rolling. A clear day for the sprinters, you would think. But this is women's cycling, so there would be a good chance you would be wrong, and indeed so it proved, with a nine-woman breakaway escaping and putting a minute into the field, including almost all the major teams. Most notably, Liv-Plantur's representative in the breakaway was Claudia Lichtenberg, one of the elite climbers of the women's péloton, who lost 1'47 in yesterday's chaos. Because what time is a bad time to gain time back on your rivals? NO TIME. Because Rabobank had Lucinda Brand in the break, who was the best GC-placed rider in it, they elected not to assist Boels with the chase, and with the main teams interested in a sprint, Orica and Velocio, both also having riders in the break (surprise, surprise, one of them was Female Pirazzi, the amazing Valentina Scandolara, the Velocio rider was Loren Rowney). Wiggle - who with Jolien d'Hoore and Giorgia Bronzini may also have been interested in the sprint - had Mayuko Hagiwara up there, so Boels were left with a pretty thankless task - Brand targeting the maglia rosa, Lichtenberg trying to win back lost GC time, Cecchini targeting a stage win in the national champions' jersey, the maglia bianca and the maglia azzurra, and Scandolara targeting ANY ATTACK AT ALL TIMES - and the break fought out the stage, with Brand predictably proving the strongest in the final sprint to take Rabo's first stage win of the race - though Boels were able to keep the gap just small enough to keep Megan Guarnier in the maglia rosa. The last five kilometres were complete chaos with several moves to get away from among the nine, but eventually eight contested the final sprint, with only Pierobon, the least experienced of the group, unable to fight it out for the win.

1 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED 3'17'57
2 Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) ITA +st
3 Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal) ITA +st
4 Loren Rowney (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +st
5 Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle-Honda) JPN +st
6 Daiva Tuslaite (INPA Sottoli-Giusfredi) LTU +st
7 Małgorzata Jasińska (Alé-Cipollini) POL +st
8 Claudia Lichtenberg (Team Liv-Plantur) GER +st
9 Chiara Pierobon (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo) ITA +10"
10 Annalisa Cucinotta (Alé-Cipollini) ITA +1'15"

Yes, that's the Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian AND Polish champions in that break.

New GC:
1 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA 9'07'01
2 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +2"
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) RSA +6"
4 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +12"
5 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +13"
6 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +15"
7 Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +17"
8 Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM) CAN +24"
9 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +37"
10 Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal) ITA +43"

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

What was I saying about it not being an easy day? After the intermediate sprints were done with, the break finally got a bit of separation, and Carlee Taylor (Lotto-Soudal) and Flavia Oliveira (Alé-Cipollini) were able to get away. The race has really shredded on the climb to Piai, and while the duo are still away, there is now an EXTREMELY strong chase group of eight, which starts to suggest who the main protagonists in this year's Giro will be.

We have Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Kasia Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen (all Rabo-Liv), Elisa Longo Borghini and Mara Abbott (both Wiggle-Honda), Sabrina Stultiens (Liv-Plantur), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) and Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans). Key riders who've missed the move include Lichtenberg, Stevens and van Vleuten... time lost to riders of this level now could be hard to win back - though all have teammates in the move; the question is, will teams like INPA be strong enough to chase, and will the likes of Alé-Cipollini WANT to chase with Oliveira in the break? Velocio and Orica the main teams doing the work in the bunch as they've missed the break.

Edit:
On the descent, Taylor crashed, leaving Oliveira alone in the lead with about 35" on the leaders. A few more riders are able to rejoin the heads of state group, but this does go some way to showing us the riders who are likely to be the strongest.

Edit:
With 20km to go Oliveira caught and incorporated into the fast-moving lead group, which now consists of Anna van der Breggen and Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv), Mara Abbott and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda), Megan Guarnier and Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans), Flavia Oliveira (Alé-Cipollini), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) and Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM). This now means Orica and Liv-Plantur have no representatives up there and are chasing, and a group with Brand, Ferrand-Prévot and van Vleuten is 1'26" behind. I wouldn't normally expect a rider of PFP's class to lose that much time on a descent (she's a world champion in CX and former junior world champion in MTB!!!) so presumably a crash or mechanical has caused that.

Edit:
And that's how it ended, with the group of eight staying away. Megan Guarnier outsprinted Anna van der Breggen for the stage win, which means that with the time bonuses she therefore takes the maglia rosa, with Brand finishing in the second group, which eventually numbered around 20 and finished 1'47 back. Further groups behind mostly contained riders not expected to challenge for the GC, although Katrin Garfoot in the group at +3'44" removes Orica's main GC bullet in the gun, which with no Emma Johansson in the team really harms their chances of impacting the race, while after making the front group uphill, Sabrina Stultiens ending up in the group at +6'18" suggests she probably had a fall or some bad luck too; this will likely end her GC tilt; she's renowned as a strong climber but is inexperienced, and even if she is a strong climber that's too much time to expect her to pull back from the likes of Mara Abbott. However, Abbott and/or Longo Borghini will have to be careful in picking up the maglia rosa, because two of Wiggle's worker ants, Anna Sanchis and Audrey Cordon, DNFed after crashing today, meaning they already have some depleted resources especially for the flats.

1 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA 3'12'44
2 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) RSA +st
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +st
5 Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM) CAN +2"
6 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +st
7 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +st
8 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +6"
9 Eugenia Bujak (BTC City-Ljubljana) POL +1'44"
10 Rachel Neylan (Orica-AIS) AUS +1'47"

The new GC:

1 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA 5'47'49
2 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +2"
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla) RSA +5"
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-Honda) ITA +13"
5 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +15"
6 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +17"
7 Karol-Ann Canuel (Velocio-SRAM) CAN +24"
8 Mara Abbott (Wiggle-Honda) USA +37"
9 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +1'40"
10 Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) NED +1'53"

Lucinda Brand trades the maglia rosa for the maglia ciclamino, owing to her two 2nd places and then points picked up in the intermediate sprints today. Carlee Taylor's breakaway garners her the QOM after the day's racing, while the reduced GC classifications both change hands as well - Elisa Longo Borghini takes the best Italian jersey (which I would now expect her to take to the end of the race), while PFP hands over the best young rider's jersey (for U23 riders here) to teammate Kasia Niewiadoma.

Edit:
Post-race twitter fills in some of the gaps. Both Cordon and Sanchis broke their collarbones in a fairly sizable crash, hence the DNF. Carlee Taylor's crash on the descent was quite dramatic - going over a fence and into some gardens below. She posted video of her watching it on the highlight show, commenting "oh f*£%!"... Sabrina Stultiens, after being in the lead group at the top of the climb and being 6 minutes down at the end, didn't have a crash OR bad luck as I guessed - she had a crash AND bad luck, as after her crash she had to wait for a new bike which caused her to drop not only from the lead group but behind the chasers too.

WOOHOOO Megan!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Another scorching hot day in the Giro Rosa, according to some sources even reaching a staggering 47ºC! If his career history is anything to go by we could have seen the women's peloton drop Michele Scarponi in this. Riders have joked about the conditions of this Giro, taking place during a freakish heatwave (one rider who I've forgotten - sorry! - tweeted yesterday "at least I'm getting pretty good at collecting bidons, since I've had a lot of practice the last few days") but once the race is on, the fun stops.

Today is the last flat stage of the race, and as a result the péloton was not willing to let the break deny it again, and so the breakaway was carefully monitored and the likes of Brand and Lichtenberg were never going to be allowed away today. Eventually, German TT champion Mieke Kröger (Velocio-SRAM) and Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) managed to forge ahead, and were shortly joined by Valentina Bastianelli (INPA Sottoli-Giusfredi) and Silvia Valsecchi (BePink-La Classica) for the thankless task of driving ahead in the searing heat. Worse, as a bit of a looping stage through an industrial region in the Po Valley, there wasn't even much for the cameras to make a big deal of either. Even worse for the riders, an amendment had had to be made to the route which lengthened the stage slightly - and also meant that there was a potentially catastrophic error where marshals accidentally re-opened a road before they should have done, similar to the end of a couple of Tour Down Under stages a couple of years ago, when stragglers including Mark Cavendish had to deal with traffic for a period before reaching the safe haven of the main, closed race route. The combination of the heat and the increased length allayed to the difficulties of top level stage racing have taken an effect on some of the smaller teams, and there were 10 riders leaving the race today - 2 not starting and 8 climbing off. Astana, Michela Fanini-Rox and BePink lost two riders each; most of the abandons were from inexperienced riders, which is perhaps not surprising.

None of the break were any threat to Lucinda Brand's lead in the points classification, nor were there mountains points to threaten Carlee Taylor's lead in the GPM, so they were allowed to build up a lead and duke out the intermediates, while Boels-Dolmans controlled the bunch. Here's something about the smaller nature of women's cycling: for much of the day, the peloton was being pulled by Lizzie Armitstead. That's right, the leader of the World Cup was on Bert Grabsch duty on the front protecting her stronger-climbing American teammates from losing out unnecessarily. Also, having such a strong rider pulling the bunch is a good way to dissuade strong riders from making attacks like Lichtenberg's yesterday, since Lizzie is capable of responding to most riders' burst on the flat... so in the end, the group came back together, and save for a nasty crash that saw the retirement of Astana's young Kazakh prospect Makhabbat Umutzhanova, we proceeded to the sprint with little further incident... and it was a strange one, with Italians coming to the fore in a disorganized finale. Annalisa Cucinotta of Alé-Cipollini took the stage, which is a mild surprise, but then she is a highly promising rider, while national champion Elena Cecchini was 3rd for the second day running; she is a talented all-rounder for flat routes and small hills and it wasn't quite as straight-forward a run-in as had perhaps been anticipated. But the big surprise was that, for the small Vaiano team, in second place, 2007 World Champion Marta Bastianelli, who had almost disappeared into the ether after initially returning from her vitamin supplements ban to some fanfare. It's her most high profile result in a long time and is a huge bonus to the cash-strapped squad as well. The GC remained unaffected by the day's action, with nobody relevant to the upper end of the GC losing any time.

1 Annalisa Cucinotta (Alé-Cipollini) ITA 2'46'44
2 Marta Bastianell (Aromitalia-Vaiano Fondriest) ITA +st
3 Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal) ITA +st
4 Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM) AUS +st
5 Ilaria Sanguinetti (BePink-La Classica) ITA +st
6 Barbara Guarischi (Velocio-SRAM) ITA +st
7 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +st
8 Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) NED +st
9 Änna Zita Maria Stricker (INPA Sottoli-Giusfredi) ITA +st
10 Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) AUS +st

 

[May0maniac]

Yes, at the moment the heat is horrible, I climbed Lienzer Dolomitenhütte on Saturday and we had 38°, it was brutal and even riding the flat before it and the Pustertaler Höhenstraße that should be a nice warm-up was way harder than expected.
Sorry if I went a little bit off topic but now back to the Giro, why are they just climbing Aprica as the only climb on stage 5?
That's just stupid, they really could use harder climbs.

 

[Jonhard]

Incredible depth of coverage here, and thanks for the link. I read some twitter comments about the extra 10k but not why/how.

Wiggle have suffered but I thought to see more from them in the sprints, perhaps harshly. ELB and Mara are there though.

Impressed by the strength of Boels thus far.

Half way-ish... any predictions yet?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Yes, at the moment the heat is horrible, I climbed Lienzer Dolomitenhütte on Saturday and we had 38°, it was brutal and even riding the flat before it and the Pustertaler Höhenstraße that should be a nice warm-up was way harder than expected.
Sorry if I went a little bit off topic but now back to the Giro, why are they just climbing Aprica as the only climb on stage 5?
That's just stupid, they really could use harder climbs.

It is pretty disappointing to have a one-climb stage to Aprica, but part of the thinking is that they want to balance it out, and I think they fear that with the ITT being hilly, if they put a HC mountain mid-race it'll be like Monte Beigua a couple of years ago when Mara won very easily with Pooley only doing a part-time schedule at the time, and closing off the GC. In reality stage 5 is more a transitional stage with an MTF - expect a group of the elites at the front at the end. Stage 6 is a much tougher stage, 3 climbs of approx. cat.2 with a descent finish. That and then Naso di Gatto the next day, should be pretty good fun.

Boels look strong so far in terms of backing up their riders, but how really elite are they uphill? In general I'd consider Stevens a better climber than Guarnier, but Guarnier is in much better form. Liv only have Claudia as a bullet in their gun, and she missed the move on stage 2. The big question is going to be how Boels control it once Rabo start a real targeted assault on this race. And the question is going to be how they do it? My thought is that if they can keep them in a relative status quo on Aprica, they'll stick Pauline up the road in either stage 6 or stage 7 and make Boels really work hard, since they've had to pull the péloton in the scorching heat for the last two days. Anna VDB and Kasia are still at the top of the GC standings, and Anna is a fearsome ITT rider too. Ideally, we have Mara - who's not a great descender and though she's a stunningly good climber she's a Basso-type diesel - needing around 2 minutes on San Domenico, whoever it be from. If she's learnt anything from last year, we could be left with an interesting situation. I always thought last year, if Abbott had got away, Rabo would have had to salvage the maglia rosa by abandoning the woman wearing it (i.e. if Abbott had dropped Vos, PFP would have been caught between trying to protect Vos' lead, and chasing Abbott down, which would have resulted in taking the win off her teammate to prevent Abbott stealing it from both). Might Boels have the same issue? Or even Rabo? Moolman's ITT is vastly improved too and she was 2nd in the Bira by 1", could she potentially steal it from the big power teams, given Bigla offloaded the jersey early and the likes of Van Vleuten are very useful domestiques to have?

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Thanks for your coverage. You're doing great recaps

 

[RedheadDane]

Have to admit I was a bit disappointed when Dideriksen wasn't picked to ride for Boels Dolmans, but I guess as a 19-year-old neo-pro that wasn't really to be expected.

 

[BigMac]

Pauline d'Aprica