The Women's Road Racing Thread 2016

[Libertine Seguros]

Post-race interviews from Strade Bianche:

Johansson - once the group had been whittled down to its elites Lizzie made the key move that set up the trio. She tried to save herself in the run-in knowing that the final climb would be decisive, she knew ELB was feeling good (indeed was best on the last climb) so anchored the group. She gives massive props to Lizzie, who's "the one to beat" at the moment and really honouring the rainbow jersey so far; when the group went was a real hard point in the race, and "everybody must have been on the limit, otherwise the group would be bigger, because everybody knows you can't give Lizzie any gap". She loves the race, as it has a bit of everything. She's happy with 3rd but always a bit disappointed not to be able to convert it.

Lichtenberg: She had a puncture in the longest section of sterrato, but to change wheels she had to sacrifice her last domestique and so was isolated against the superteams from then on; it's hard to police a breakaway as strong as the one that got away when you're outnumbered. The attacks came on the two steep climbs back to back, so they deserved the podium from the move; she's happy with her form nonetheless as she builds up for the spring.

Neff - "it was a very different race to what I'm used to from mountain biking because there were attacks all the time" but road racing is a learning experience for her for the time being. Because attacks were constant she had found it hard to work out when the all-important move had gone.

Niewiadoma - she apparently made the initial move at the same place as Sagan and Kwiatkowski forced the selection in the men's race in 2014. Wiggle apparently "had a different plan" so Emma told them she wasn't going to work in the run-in. Her next target is the Trofeo Binda, then the build up to Flèche Wallonne, so all the hilly races. She states outright that she can't sprint and "I will never win from a group on the finish line" so attacking is the only option.

 

[Jonhard]

Ooh. Marianne Vos is back on Sunday at the Acht van Westerveld. The WT Ronde van Drenthe on Saturday is presumably too soon... the Acht is not that easier a race or field despite its lower status. It's not as if people won't notice.

Jolien D'hoore is racing for Wiggle too, both races, after a spell of track focus. Didn't look great on track in London but she does go well in these races.

Does anyone know why so many riders were DQd at Strade? Something about a level crossing but haven't seen much info.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

Ooh. Marianne Vos is back on Sunday at the Acht van Westerveld. The WT Ronde van Drenthe on Saturday is presumably too soon... the Acht is not that easier a race or field despite its lower status. It's not as if people won't notice.

Jolien D'hoore is racing for Wiggle too, both races, after a spell of track focus. Didn't look great on track in London but she does go well in these races.

Does anyone know why so many riders were DQd at Strade? Something about a level crossing but haven't seen much info.

yep, neglected a train crossing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't think Vos is trying to return incognito so much as build back up, Acht van Westerveld will see her go up against a lot of the top riders, but with them mostly having done the Ronde van Drenthe as the bigger race, a lot of the bigger names may have expended a lot of energy there. With PFP only riding a restricted road calendar, having Merckx back will help plug some of the gap for them, I'm sure!

The provisional startlist for Drenthe is interesting. In particular the comparatively weak (by their high standards) all-Dutch Rabo squad. I mean, it's still a long way from being a weak squad, but I'm thinking they must be anticipating Anna VDB can solo this or Lucinda or Roxane can find the right move to be in. Only five riders apiece for Boels and Canyon suggests they each have another rider to choose as would seem very strange otherwise, although both teams are strong anyway. The track focus and the track Worlds are causing chaos for startlists here as well, Jolien returns but isn't on the best form, Giorgia would seem a more solid bet for Wiggle in a sprint, but Johansson will obviously always be up there when it counts (probably 2nd or 3rd, although Drenthe is the one World Cup race that Emma J has actually won, all the way back in 2009). And more importantly, defending champion Kirsten Wild is absent. Cylance are an interesting mixed bag as well; they have Shelley Olds who is well-suited to a reduced sprint, but they haven't really got an organized leadout, instead going with crazed attack-minded riders like Ratto and Scandolara. Kirchmann is on good form for Liv, but there will be a year soon that will be the Year of Floortje. I don't think it's yet, but it will happen. UHC I presume are led by Rivera, similarly looking for a selective sprint. Iris Slappendel is massively experienced and has done well here in the past though, albeit all the way back in the Cervélo Test Team days. Speaking of Cervélo, Bigla-Cervélo will probably be out for the same goals, with Lotta Lepistö their intended beneficiary. And Marta won a similarly-profiled race in Omloop van het Hageland last week of course, although the field here should be stronger.

 

[Jonhard]

PCS is showing six for Canyon now - must be a work in progress.

Should be a good weekend. D'hoore is defending I think, won on her birthday last time. I find it impossible to predict races so far this year, but I suppose Lizzie is the obvious one for her devastating recent form.

RvD is being streamed, not sure about Acht... looks like highlights later for that.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ah yes, I'm misreading Kirsten's palmarès, it's Gelderland I was thinking of.

 

[andrew_s]

livestream of the Ronde van Drenthe at:
http://www.rtvoost.nl/tv/live.aspx?_ga=1.159280826.1200889701.1457788862

 

[Libertine Seguros]

We had to have had some serious attacking going on for a quartet to have pulled out nearly 2 minutes, although looking at its composition when they all came to the line together the result doesn't seem to have been in much doubt. If you'd asked me to list that quartet in order of sprint capabilities, I'd have got the result spot on, I think. Most people who follow women's cycling would; Blaak is stronger than Elvin in a sprint and has better form, Worrack is an aggressor, not a sprinter, and Anna van der Breggen, for all her excellent all-round skills, lacks a sprint almost entirely, and is one of the few people in the péloton who can lose to Claudia Lichtenberg in a duel for the line. It seems like we had everything you can come to expect from Dutch racing, road furniture, man-made climbs (the VAM-Berg is a grassed over rubbish dump, of which much is made in the race hype), short cobblestone stretches, wind and crashes. Usually it's the VAM-Berg that causes the selection in Drenthe, whether it be through trimming the bunch or through creating escape groups, but yesterday it was the cobbles instead. Most of the main teams were represented in the group, though it's understandable if Canyon or Rabo hadn't wanted to back their cards in a sprint. Wiggle missed the move, but it seems a series of crashes completely derailed the bunch's chances of catching the quartet. With a huge number of riders either crashing out, abandoning after crashing or being pulled from the finishing circuits, Lizzie Armitstead might actually feel lucky that illness meant she was already out of the race by that point, although she does cede the World Tour lead to van der Breggen. With the climber-friendly Trofeo Binda coming up, wrestling it back from her might take time...

 

[Jonhard]

Grim post mortem in the Wiggle van on Saturday.

Better today in Dwingeloo with two in the winning move but still not at last year's level.

Great show from Liv and Kirchmann. She's looking good for someone new to a full European season. Sounded like a better race today. RV Drenthe was not exciting, bit of a shame for the first live race of the year.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Teams slowly starting to filter through for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the next Women's World Tour race, and in recent years the season opener for the World Cup. It's one of the hillier races of the season, with a long and arduous circuit including a reasonably sized climb, then five laps of a circuit including a significant ascent close to the end. Centering around Cittiglio, hometown of the legendary Binda whose name is attached to the race, this is a race similar in character to the Trittico Lombardo, which use the same area later in the season. It also, quite excitingly, includes a Junior/U23 parallel race, the Trofeo da Moreno.

After a few years of alternating between Emma Pooley (who of course would win solo) and Marianne Vos (who won once solo, once in a two-up sprint and once from a group) the winners have become a little more unpredictable in recent years, with Longo Borghini solo in 2013, Johansson in a group of 8 in 2014 and Armitstead in a group of 6 last year. We can expect a selective race and with 5 of the last 9 editions won by a rider crossing the line alone this is a race that may well favour the attacker. Certainly the race gives plenty of scope for those who don't fancy their chances from a group, and those who do will need to be durable and monitor those moves to prevent somebody slipping away and not being catchable on the twisty, hilly circuit.

Last year's race saw Lizzie Armitstead win the sprint of a group with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Anna van der Breggen, Elisa Longo Borghini, Alena Amialiusik and mountainbike specialist Jolanda Neff. The bunch was trimmed to 30 and came in at 1'30. Obviously we can expect the defending champion to want to show well, but after pulling out of Drenthe sick, it remains to be seen whether she's on the destructive form she showed at Omloop and Strade Bianche.

First to announce their team was Liv, with Leah Kirchmann, Floortje Mackaij, Riejanne Markus, Rozanne Slik, Carlee Taylor and Molly Weaver. I'm not sure how dramatically they can impact such a hilly race, with apart from Taylor the team seeming more set up for rouleur type racing (no Stultiens?) but Mackaij is a phenomenal talent and can probably do anything if she puts her mind to it, while Kirchmann has shown a great deal more versatility this year and was very strong in Strade Bianche; with a good sprint on her, if she can get over the obstacles she will be of concern to the big stars.

Next up is Cervélo-Bigla, which is as expected led by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, backed by Carmen Small, Clara Koppenburg, Gabrielle Pilote-Fortin, Joëlle Numainville and Lotta Lepistö. With just 9 riders, Cervélo is a pretty small team but nevertheless it's a bit strange to see a relatively pure sprinter like Lepistö lining up here. Ash can be counted on to be at least close to any key moves, and Small is vastly experienced and finished 12th here last year so is a more than capable secondary option.

Then came the first of the major teams, Rabo. Their sextet are Lucinda Brand, Thalita de Jong, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Roxane Knetemann, Kasia Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen. Two of those were on the podium last year, and each and every one of them can be a threat, although realistically de Jong and Knetemann are probably likely to be sacrificed as workers. Although PFP is useful from smaller groups, Brand is the only one who can feel particularly confident of success in a sprint, so expect attacks to rain down from Rabo jerseys if the race situation demands it. Niewiadoma podiumed Strade Bianche a couple of weeks ago and is targeting the hillier races, while Anna vdB can't be allowed any leeway becausec of her TT skills.

PC Futuroscope '86 announced their sextet as Aude Biannic, Charlotte Bravard, Séverine Eraud, Victorie Guilman, Greta Richioud and Amélie Rivat. Biannic and Rivat are the most likely leaders from the team in the absence of the more rouleur-based Roxane Fournier, but they will likely look to breakaways to impact the race and hope to piggyback the right moves.

 

[Jonhard]

Wiggle’s team for Cittiglio is out on twitter:

ABBOTT Mara
BRONZINI Giorgia
HAGIWARA Mayuko
JOHANSSON Emma
KING Danielle
SANCHIS CHAFER Anna

No ELB in her home race is a surprise, but she’s not been that great after some early season illness. Lots of climbing talent there.

Edit:

Cycling Fever has the Binda startlist up here:

http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjY5NzY=

Usually quite accurate but still provisional at this stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

ELB announced on her social media that she had to withdraw through sickness. Sanchis is the replacement as she is omitted from the earlier startlist. Despite her great climbing skills, Mara Abbott is pretty bad at descending and as a result has never really accrued the results in this race her talent should suggest. Also, she's a bit of an Andy Schleck about races she isn't targeting. I therefore expect Johansson to be Wiggle's best rider, though Hagiwara and Abbott are useful cards to play for sure.

Boels of course have Lizzie defending, but after she withdrew sick from Drenthe we don't know if she's in the same kind of form she was beforehand. The Boels six (Armitstead, Evie Stevie, Blaak, van Dijk, Canuel, Guarnier) look very threatening, with at least three genuine weapons to win, much like Rabo. The race might be a bit too climby for Blaak, but both of the two Americans can be a serious threat in different ways and Lizzie, well, she won last year and she's the World Champion.

Looking at the Canyon team I'd think on this parcours their best threat is Alena Amialiusik, but Cromwell can accumulate strong placements over all manner of parcours. She seems to rack up a lot more placements than she does wins, and I always tend to overlook her but she is capable of mixing it up for the win in most one day races. And if it gets really broken up you can pretty much guarantee Worrack will last long enough to get at least half a dozen attacks in.

Lotto have a combative team with aggressive riders like Delzenne, but their obvious leader is going to be Claudia Lichtenberg of course; she's unfortunately liable to get into her problem of the last few years, finding herself isolated against 3-4 riders from the superteams. She's a superb rider who will make the most of her chances though, and I really hope she does well as she's a personal favourite.

For Orica, the obvious threat is Annemiek, but Garfoot and Neylan have plenty of experience and are useful over this kind of parcours, while Amanda Spratt was showing good form a couple of weeks ago. Hitec are usually stronger in the Benelux thanks to Wild, who obviously Binda is not suited to, a lot will rest on Kitchen's form and how much Guderzo still has to give, she's not raced much so far. Cylance bring Shelley Olds, although she's durable for a sprinter I can't see her making it to the end in the front group here, so attack queens Scandolara and Rossella Ratto are the more likely way they'll impact the race. UHC are a bit of a weird one in that they've brought seemingly a flat-specialising team although Rivera has made noises about trying to become more versatile and is young and talented enough to at least make a decent fist of it. Among smaller teams, there's Bujak and Bagatelj for BTC City Ljubljana, who are both capable in the right move but likely to come up short when the ultimate selection is made; maybe worth keeping an eye out for Ilaria Sanguineti, who won silver in the European U23 road race last year and the Tour de Brétagne; having served a doping suspension as a teenager however, some may have reservations about her improvements, although to mitigate that she is still young enough to be improving - she turns 22 next month. Alé-Cipollini have a few options, perhaps the most interesting is the young climber Dalia Muccioli, given that Francesca Cauz misses the race. Jasińska is typically aggressive and got caught in a chasse-patate at Strade Bianche, while Bastianelli won the Omloop van het Hageland; she is however more of a durable sprinter these days and her rainbow jersey is really a long time ago in her storied career, which includes childbirth, eating disorders, appetite suppressant positives, CAS arguments, crashes and facial reconstruction... for Lensworld, Flavia Oliveira is the reigning Giro QOM of course, while it seems Hanna Solovey has re-surfaced on Parkhotel Valkenburg, we'll see how long that lasts. Servetto-Footon have Jolanda Neff who did so well here last year as well, so it will be fun to see how she does as she adjusts to the road; she was strong in Strade Bianche but she is also quite tactically naïve and riding for a small team so that could hamstring her. INPA will be led by Riabchenko, one of that second-tier climbing set who can show interestingly but are unlikely to impact the top 5-10 by the end of the race.

 

[andrew_s]

Re:

Boels of course have Lizzie defending, but after she withdrew sick from Drenthe we don't know if she's in the same kind of form she was beforehand.

It was migraine, which I wouldn't expect to have any lasting effect

 

[Jonhard]

Feels like Boels vs Rabo to me. Wiggle will be desperate to show well but ELB was an important card for them.

 

[RedheadDane]

I feel a bit sorry for Baur here...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/2016-trofeo-alfredo-binda-provisional-start-list/

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lol, weird startlist error there.

Another blow struck by illness as Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has had to drop out of the race, she is replaced by Anouska Koster. Koster is a talent but is likely to be sacrificed as a worker ant. Anna VDB and Kasia therefore will be Rabo's main threats, PFP may rethink her calendar as a result.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

While the main attention on the women's side of the sport is on Italy this weekend for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, back in the Netherlands we had the relatively small Ronde van Oud-Vossemeer, a small town in Zeeland close to Hoogerheide and Bergen op Zoom. A flat race with a national calendar field, but important for one reason: the first comeback win for Marianne Vos, besting Ellen van Dijk at the end. They were the biggest names in the race so it is not surprising to see them at the head of proceedings, but still, normal service is being resumed

Meanwhile, the Trofeo Binda parcours is here (too large for the forum). Two climbs on the finishing circuit now, as a second, smaller climb earlier in the circuit has been added to try to enforce a bit more selectivity, possibly as a response to the high volume of flat to slightly hilly races on the Women's World Tour as opposed to real puncheur/grimpeur races; Binda was already one of the most climber-friendly races in the calendar, but this will play into the hands of those who want this race broken up - so the strong climbers on teams with less depth (Ash Moolman, Claudia Lichtenberg) and those who can get over the obstacles but lack a finishing kick (Anna VDB) will surely welcome the change.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

First climb done with, and the group is shredded. An initial solo move from Marta Bastianelli (really rolling back the clock there, she's nowadays more of a Bronzini or Freire-type durable sprinter) was nullified and the pace has been massively upped. First over the summit was Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, trying to rid the group of some domestiques for the Rabo, Wiggle, Boels and Canyon squads.

Cervélo definitely have a plan, as Carmen Small has gone on the attack with Ann-Sophie Duyck (TopSport Vlaanderen) over the rolling plateau section. They got a gap of just over a minute at one point, but the group have started reeling them in. Although this part of the course has no real climbs, it's pretty constant uphill drag/downhill or short leg-breaking digs; nothing long enough to categorize but really rhythm-breaking. Trixi Worrack has crashed in the bunch, probably from not being used to being in it given her tendency to attack. Hall, Walle and Beggin also go down, so that's two Tibco riders and one of the Astana youngsters. No word on the cause.

Coming to the end of the first loop, before the circuit section, Small has left Duyck behind. Race situation as we head back to Cittiglio is Carmen Small, Duyck +15, bunch with all the big names for the race +40.

Duyck has been caught on the first time up the Orino, Carmen is still 26" up the road on the bunch; the bunch is now being attacked by Flavia Oliveira, last year's Giro d'Italia QOM.

Big crash in the bunch! Megan Guarnier, Anna van der Breggen, Thalita de Jong and Arianna Fidanza. Two Rabos and a Boels along with another of the young Astana riders - the Astana team has confirmed Beggin has injured her knee and is on her way to the hospital for check-ups. No reports on Fidanza yet but the other three have chased back on; quite likely that their teams, as two of the strongest, will have roadblocked the bunch to allow their weapon riders to rejoin, and also given it's a crash there's probably little inclination to force the issue.

Looks like it's not a good day for Anna VDB, she's now punctured at the base of the climb on lap 2...

First two hours at 39,3km/h, which gives you an idea of the pace given how hilly the course is. Heading up to Orino on lap 3, Jolanda Neff is stretching the bunch out - very much a MTB specialist but as she rides for Servetto-Footon they put her into the Italian classics. She takes the mountain prime.

Hmm, much bigger group than anticipated at this point in time, although the weather is MUCH better at Trofeo Binda than we're used to - some years it's been almost 2010 Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne bad (the year Pooley went solo on the first long lap was pretty memorably bad with heavy rain iirc). Rach Neylan the next to get caught up in a crash.

Now we have the key move, eight riders are going away. The immediate panic to try to work out who's away. Boels first to confirm their riders: they have Guarnier and Armitstead in the move.

The ever reliable Karl Lima, DS of Hitec Products, tells us our eight:
Lizzie Armitstead & Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans), Kasia Niewiadoma, Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv), Emma Johansson (Wiggle), Jolanda Neff (Servetto-Footon), Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM), Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica)

This puts a lot of pressure on because Cervélo and Lotto will really need to chase as they've missed the group but they don't have the same strength to chase as the big teams, and they all have somebody up there. Wiggle may have some concerns as Emma is outnumbered by both Boels and Rabo. Rabo will have to attack as they've got their two weakest sprinters in that group. Apart from Neff, I'd back any of the others over them in a two-up...

Quite surprised to see neither Moolman-Pasio nor Lichtenberg make the selection, also no Cylance, if Ratto is not in form their big issue is going to be that they need to keep the pace soft enough for Shelley Olds to stay in the group, which will make chasing those who climb like the eight in the move pretty difficult. Around 20km to go now. The group has pulled out a lead of 35" and it seems to be going up... once they're ahead by a bit more they may start to attack one another...

One lap of 14km to go, Annemiek leads them across the line with Guarnier, Niewiadoma and Johansson in that order behind. It looks like Boels and Rabo are sabotaging the chase. Yea, this move looks like the decisive one, the bunch is at 1'05" crossing the line, and has only about 35-40 riders now.

 

[luckyboy]

This supposed coverage is awful. Just men talking

Didn't the UCI youtube have coverage of races a few years ago?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

This supposed coverage is awful. Just men talking

Didn't the UCI youtube have coverage of races a few years ago?

RAI will have highlights up later. This was apparently a mistranslation issue. It was meant to be ongoing commentary and ticker with fixed cams at Orino and the finish, but was reported wrongly. A lot of disappointed fans who'd been hoping for live coverage.

Lead reduced down to 42" at the base of the climb, and Jolanda Neff attacks! Whoa, Jolanda now has 15" on the other 7, and 30" on the bunch, so they've almost caught the lead group while they were playing games with one another!!!

As a mountain biker, Neff has some serious descending strength, and this could well be a dangerous move, she's a dark horse candidate on a small team but others marking each other out of it?

The bunch is now out of it, Neff has 21", the bunch however now has nearly a minute on a solo chasse-patate move from Tiffany Cromwell (!?) who in turn has a few seconds on the group. World Tour points and Olympic qualification apparently a motivation for placements, which may well be to do with Cromwell's move.

Jolanda apparently attacked in the same place she did last year, being caught in the run-in, although last year she had Amialiusik for company. On her own she may be stronger as not saving anything for a sprint, or she could be weaker on her own as she doesn't have any help. Whoa, Neff's gap is now up to 40", this might be decisive! There could well be a war from bigger teams to get hold of her next year at this rate, since she's only moonlighting here, she doesn't have the season-long WWT points to think about...

If nothing else, it's now almost certain Neff has the mountain prime. The péloton is at 1'20 (péloton is stretching it, it has about 25 riders in it). Boels and Rabo are having to do the chase because the others won't contribute as they're outnumbered, not sure who's chasing for them. Presumably Guarnier for Boels given Lizzie's the strongest sprinter in the group.

At 8km to go, however, at the top of the climb, Jolanda's gap is being cut down - just 25" now. Annemiek has been dropped by the chasers who now only number six. They're cutting her gap down over and over... 4km to go, Armitstead goes!!!

OK, now Neff has 8" on Armitstead, the others at 18"...

2km remaining, Armitstead and Neff together at the front of the race. Jolanda happy to co-operate as the podium is a huge achievement for her... but, there's only 5" gap for the duo over the chasers...tense!

But they hold on. Armitstead takes the two-up sprint... no, Neff gives up and Guarnier nips second so Boels take 1-2. They are unstoppable this season. 1-2 at Omloop, 1st at Strade Bianche, 1st at Drenthe, 1-2 here. As anticipated, Rabo had the weakest sprinters in the group and bring up the rear; evidently they didn't have the legs today as they would have needed to go on the climb, but though they pulled a lot of time back on Neff they didn't have enough.

Results now confirmed:

1 Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) GBR 3'11'10
2 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +4"
3 Jolanda Neff (Servetto-Footon) SUI +4"
4 Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5) SWE +4"
5 Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM) BLR +4"
6 Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) NED +4"
7 Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo-Liv) POL +11"
8 Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-AIS) NED +39"
9 Lauren Kitchen (Team Hitec Products-UCK) AUS +1'00"
10 Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-High5) ITA +1'00"

Worst result for the home racers since 2011, but that's perhaps to be expected with Elisa out sick. Brian Cookson taking a seat with Lizzie at the post-race conference to celebrate the Women's World Tour getting going. Where are the mountainous races, Brian?

With many of the main protagonists from Drenthe not racing here, it does mean that despite recording that DNF in Hoogenveen, Lizzie takes the overall World Tour lead back thanks to two wins from three races, and a 100% races completed:races won record. Similarly, despite not even starting in Drenthe (which in fairness is about as unsuited to her as it gets), the Strade Bianche podium and top 10 here means Niewiadoma takes the U23 leader's jersey back from Floortje Mackaij. They could have an interesting battle over that jersey, since Kasia is more established and more of a threat to win in the biggest races, but the number of races on the WT calendar that suit Floortje's skillset outnumber the number that suit Kasia's quite considerably.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Video of Trofeo Alfredo Binda highlights here from RAI. A brief clip from the junior race beforehand, then about 15 mins highlights of the race. One thing is clear: Jolanda's hair is truly spectacular. The highlights consist of a few clips from early in the race and then the last few kilometres as-live (so Jolanda is already away solo when we join them, but we see Lizzie's counter and the tense run-in). It looks like Lizzie actually made up the time to Neff on the descent, which is impressive given the technical skills needed for mountain bike. In the closing stages it appears Anna VDB burnt her matches chasing or needed to save something to try to compete in the sprint because of the overall World Tour title, and as Rabo had two in the chase group you were left with a TT battle of Armitstead vs. Niewiadoma in the closing stages, both getting only a small amount of assistance - neither are truly renowned for their TT skills, but Armitstead shades it by enough to hold on with just enough time to be able to take Neff to school in how to conduct a two-up sprint. Not that she'd not have almost certainly won even if Jolanda had made her lead out, but nevertheless, it was textbook. Kasia was obviously spent, as the group distanced her quite comprehensively in the sprint. It seems Neff also thought she had a bit more in hand than she did as she sat up once she'd clearly lost the two-up sprint, then suddenly had to try to fire a second bullet when she realised the group was chasing her down; the intent was there, but the legs hadn't enough left in them to respond.

 

[Jonhard]

Who beats Lizzie on this form? She just glides away. It would be amazing to see an in-form Vos in the mix, but presumably not for a while. You have to say Boels are the strongest squad at the moment too - which may also change in time.

Looked a bit close with some of the motos on that descent. Great show from Neff.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They really need some more sustained climbs to be able to get away from her at present. While Binda is a climby race, it's with several puncheur climbs - they probably need something more like Il Lombardia to shake her. She's just too powerful to get the jump on on shorter ascents, while the fact she will beat most of those who are in the mix in this kind of race in a sprint also factors into it. With so few real climber's races in the World Tour, unless they go ballistic on the number of points for the Giro I can't see Lizzie not winning it. She's far stronger in the sprinty races than the likes of van der Breggen, and the number of stage races where people like Anna hold the cards are limited. Boels are definitely the on-form team, I don't think anybody can contend against that. Rabo with a healthy PFP and Vos obviously are going to be up there. Wiggle have the riders, but both Rabo and Boels are riding smarter than them at the moment; Wiggle completely flubbed their lines at Drenthe, and Emma J found herself outnumbered in the group today. Yes, she got a better finish than either of the Rabo girls, but they can't sprint and she can. Would have been interesting had ELB been fit, though. Still, a lot of strong climbers missed the selection, though those like Moolman and Lichtenberg have less protection which often plays into it.

 

[Califootman]

Neat to see all steps of the podium in nat'l champ or world champ jerseys, although I guess that was fairly likely no matter who out of the final move made the top three. Of the final eight,I believe only Annemiek Van Vleuten was in "standard" team kit. All others had some type of special jersey on (WWT, national champion, world champion, or U23 European champion).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Next up on the World Tour is Gent-Wevelgem, or more accurately in the women's race's case, Ieper-Wevelgem. Although the race's level has increased, they've stayed with the same parcours because, well, it was working, so let's see how it works with all the top teams there. Two times up the Kemmelberg and two times up the Monteberg with the Baneberg in between, then the same run-in as the men.

Before that we have Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, although as a Belgian .NE event the field may be limited. Also of interest is that mid-week between Gent-Wevelgem and the Ronde van Vlaanderen, we have the brand new Pajot Hills Classic, which given its base around Gooik and inclusion of the Muur van Geraardsbergen in the route, looks to in reality be a moved version of the old late May one day Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik race. Either way - placing a race with Kapelmuur and Bosberg on the calendar in between two World Tour cobbled classics would certainly seem to be a good statement of intent for getting a good field and some attention to the race as a form guide ahead of de Ronde.

And then we'll be onto the hilly races. In theory. This year's Emakumeen Bira has moved back in the calendar to April, as mentioned before, so it piggybacks the Vuelta al País Vasco and serves as a lead-in to La Flèche Wallonne. As ever, it's preceded by the one-day Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria, which with the new format would appear to back directly from the men's Klasika Primavera Amorebieta which uses a very similar parcours including the same key climb, from the opposite direction. Last year's race had one of the stages of the year, with the final stage around Markina with the same climbs we saw in the Vuelta al País Vasco around the town seeing relentless attacking as Emma Johansson and Ash Moolman tried to depose Niewiadoma in the lead of the race with the narrowest of margins to defend. She tried to drop them on the climbs knowing she couldn't win a sprint, in the end defending the GC with Johansson at just 1" and Moolman at 2" making up one of the closest podiums ever in a mountainous stage race.

This year's race is, if I'm honest, a bit disappointing parcours-wise, with relatively little in the way of big climbing (although to be fair when I saw a stage finish at Santuário de Urkiola I thought it unlikely they'd have gone with a full MTF much as I'd have loved it), however we do have a HTF at Urkiola and, of course, this is Euskal Herria, so there is plenty of bonus climbing to be had.

Prologue - Iurreta - Iurreta (3,3km)
Stage 1 - Eskoriatza - Eskoriatza (77km)
- key obstacles are the short but steep Untzilla 24km from the line - which will probably see the moves with those 2km at 9% at the start - and then weirdly they're climbing the easy side of Arlaban and descending the tougher side instead of having the last 2km of the climb at 9,5%. Anyway, it should be a frantic descent to the line with the climb cresting just 7km out.
Stage 2 - Etxarri-Aranatz - Santuário de Urkiola (110km)
- starting in Navarra, this one is mostly on the higher plateau of Álava, and is probably the flattest non-TT stage that the Emakumeen Bira has ever presented! Still, we have a puncheur finish - the southern side of Urkiola is way easier than its legendary northern face, but given that they're finishing at the sanctuary, not the col, there's the additional 400m at 10% you can see on the normal side's profile at the end there.
Stage 3 - Berriatua - Berriatua (109km)
- three laps of a circuit which only has the one categorized climb, the less-than-imposing Milloi, but plenty in the way of short leg-breakers, there's next to no genuine flat on that Basque coast road, so this could be tougher than it looks. I hope so, as I'd like a nice GC battle set up for the final stage.
Stage 4 - Portugalete - Portugalete (76km)
- a short and tricky stage around the westernmost tip of the Bilbao estuary. The toughest challenge in the stage is Las Muñecas at the halfway stage, but that leads straight into Saltacaballo which crests 24km out; that last 500m at 9% will be a useful platform I think. Off the back of that there's the uncategorized El Haya (1,6km @ 5,5%) straight afterward, plus an interesting uncategorized ramp between Muskiz and Zierbena which is the same as the one used in the first stage of the 2010 Vuelta al País Vasco when Valverde started attacking and the field broke up unexpectedly. There's then a rolling run-in to a slightly uphill finish in Portugalete.

This is particularly interesting because for the first time ever we're getting live coverage from the final stage. In the past it's been cut down to short highlight packages and clips, but they seem to be going all-in on the calendar move to take advantage of the attention paid the sport in the area (well, more than usual) because of the Itzulia and make a big deal of the race, which is good because it didn't get the WT status.