The Women's Road Racing Thread 2016

[Jonhard]

Nothing wrong with a hilly race on the calendar, and I don’t mind organisers thinking about what would suit local stars either. If the Polish public get behind Katy X, that can only improve the atmosphere and racing.

At the other end of the elevation scale, Boels won the TTT in Gronigen last night, surprisingly their first ever TTT win. 11km through the city probably suited their punchy line-up but it makes a change for them to beat Canyon. Some teams were doubtless keen to stay upright on a technical course in the fading light, which might explain why UHC (feat. Villumsen) and Liv-Plantur came home behind the very young and inexperienced GB squad (among others). There were mixed conditions through the evening as well, to be fair.

Ellen Van Dijk crossed first for Boels and wears the jersey.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria today, the traditional one-dayer preceding the Emakumeen Bira.

New course this year, as it was proving tough to use the Amorebieta climbs with the race being just two days after the Klasika Primavera!

So instead of Muniketa we get the first 4km of this as a final climb, a two stepped monstrosity with some serious ramps.

Now for the startlist: the date change has shored up interest but has affected the field, with most alarmingly no Rabo-Liv. Wiggle have Johansson, ELB and Hagiwara as climbers, Boels have Stevens, Armitstead and Guarnier, Alé have Jasinska and Muccioli, the Australian national team has Cromwell, Bepink has Amber Neben, Zabelinskaya and Sanguineti, Lotto have Lichtenberg, Cylance have Ratto.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

As the great philosopher GZA once said, "it's an everlasting game, and it never ceases to exist, only the players change"... and although he was talking about something a bit more serious than cycling, so it can be applied in the 2016 women's cycling season as, while the more rolling and rouleur-friendly courses may be starting to yield in favour of sharper, climbier races, all that's meant (especially in a péloton without Rabo-Liv, who have at least two of the strongest climbers in the women's péloton depending on who's lining up at any given time) is that Boels shift their attention from who will be picking up the wins away from Chantal Blaak and more towards Megan Guarnier; Guarnier won a two-up sprint in the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria quite comprehensively and comfortably from Elisa Longo Borghini (which is what you'd expect) after the Italian tried several times unsuccessfully to rid herself of the American on the final ascent. Wiggle do get to rack up some podium points though, with Emma Johansson - the defending champion in this, the Emakumeen Bira-preceding one day race - comfortably besting those remaining in the group, which had dwindled to just 19.

 

[Jonhard]

I don't understand the Rabo program so far this year. No Canyon in Spain this week either, but that's more understandable given their squad.

However, nice to see Bigla going well and contributing to the "Boels v the rest" fight. Decent show in Durango for Wiggle too, and I expect them to go well in the Bira. ELB is coming back, Dani King is desperate to prove herself as climbing domestique, Hagiwara is an excellent climber and Emma is competitive in any race really.

Notable result for Claire Rose of Podium Ambition coming in second in the prologue. Also a decent show from Jip van den Bos, just turned 20 and in the youth jersey for Parkhotel Valkenburg after coming 19th. One for the future I think.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

van den Bos is putting together a pretty nice season so far actually.

Rabo continue the head-scratching decisions as they prepare for the Flèche Wallonne - which ends on the Mur de Huy of course - by sending a climber-heavy squad to the Ronde van Gelderland. You know, at the same time as the Emakumeen Bira is on. Gelderland has been won in six of the last seven editions by either Kirsten Wild or Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, which tells you what to expect... so logically, they don't enter the likes of Lucinda Brand, and enter more climb-adept racers like Niewiadoma and Gillow. Although they do enter Vos, so that's something. Still, hard to imagine PFP or Kasia can get a better result here than they'd manage in Euskadi when, you know, they only won Bira the last two seasons respectively!

In the mighty Basque race, however, we have had the prologue and first stage. Lotta Lepistö won the prologue to break the Boels spell, a surreal sight to see somebody known mainly as a pure sprinter in the leader's jersey here, but then Cervélo-Bigla are a fairly small team and therefore tend to rely heavily on their cast of bigger stars - Moolman-Pasio, Lepistö, Small - as noted above, ahead of surprise Claire Rose, and then Carmen Small, probably the first of those who can be thought of as a GC threat. She was just a second ahead of Evie Stevie, who in turn was just a second ahead of Moolman-Pasio (who finished last year's race 3rd, just 2" behind Niewiadoma after a frantic battle for the seconds on the final stage). Guarnier was a further 2" back, ELB and Cromwell another second behind her, with Lichtenberg, not a fan of the chrono, a further 5" down - still she was 8" ahead of Emma Johansson, the unfortunate Swede having had a sickness bug that nearly kept her from the race, she only just made the start but it seems to have been a passing thing, perhaps just from something she ate, as afterwards she seemed back to her usual self.

In the first road stage, around Eskoriatza, it seems that some of the climbs have heavily reduced the field. Social media reports seem to suggest there were a few different permutations of attack moves before in the final couple of kilometres Emma Johansson and Carmen Small were able to get a small gap; while Emma J normally has a rule dictating that she must finish 2nd or 3rd in any given circumstances, this was a sprint she couldn't lose, and so she takes the stage and Small gets the leader's jersey. The bunch - reduced to under 20 - were led home by Giorgia Bronzini at 14", containing most of the big names for the GC such as AMP, ELB and Lichtenberg (although Stevens dropped a few seconds at the line). Riabchenko and Ratto were in the group that came in at 1'15 and are both capable climbers who may rue that, while Tiffany Cromwell lost nearly 3 minutes, which you wouldn't normally expect in the circumstances so something may have happened.

20 minutes of coverage from EITB here

 

[Califootman]

In the Euskal Emakumeen Bira, the top nine in the GC has three from Cervelo-Bigla, three from Wiggle High5, and three from Boels-Dolmans all within 26 seconds. Stage two ends with a Cat 3 climb that could at least provide an opportunity to shuffle the order:

That 11% section with just over a kilometer to go seems like a decent place for a strong climber like Stevens or Longo-Borghini to try to establish a gap and then hold it until the finish. Will Cervelo-Bigla try to contain things and defend Small's jersey, or perhaps send Moolman-Pasio on a pre-emptive attack to force others to chase? I'll leave that analysis to Libertine and others with more knowledge of the women's peloton.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Watch out tho - they're not finishing at the Puerto but actually at the Santuário which is another 400m of climbing onward - the grey bit here so 300m at 10% then easing up. With the stage until the HTF being the flattest stage ever presented in the Bira, I think Cervélo will try to control it until the last hill; Johansson will struggle to get all the time she needs on Small here, and Ash can keep her powder dry until the more sustained climbs when she'll be needed - whether that be to help protect Small or to try to take time on Emma J and go for the win herself. Lichtenberg and ELB are not going to stay quiet when the more sustained climbs come on the last two days either as both will need to make use of that terrain which suits them best.

 

[luckyboy]

Are there even highlights of Durango-Durango? All I can see is 35 seconds of the finish line on EITB

 

[jens_attacks]

What a disgrace, to climb the holy urkiola from that side! Kill it with fire

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They've done it before, three years ago, but that was actually all kinds of awesome as they climbed Krutxeta beforehand, then had the steep, twisty technical descent to the line. When I saw that there was a stage finish at the Santuário de Urkiola I got all kinds of excited before discovering it was from Otxandio rather than Durango, though; Urkiola is one of the great mythical climbs for real and I love it to pieces.

As it stands however, Emma J is on the warpath as she poured on the hurt and took her second stage in as many days, outsprinting Megan Guarnier on the final run-in; Carmen Small was dropped which means Johansson takes the race lead and Cervélo's assault on the GC will probably now be led by Ash Moolman, who finished 4th on the day but will be looking forward to the more sustained climbing to come. The big problem will be that Wiggle have another strong climbing weapon in their arsenal, as between Guarnier and Moolman was Elisa Longo Borghini, and, having won the Route de France stage finishing on Planche des Belles Filles last year she has proven pedigree on the kind of climbs - mid length and fairly steep - that País Vasco is known for.

Also very interesting is the prominent result for Solovey, now separated from the manager she claims was a big part of her rather controversial baptism in the sport, and the Astana team with whom she had a colossal falling-out last year, and rebuilding her career in the Low Countries with Parkhotel Valkenburg - ahead of Evie Stevie and Claudia Lichtenberg, no less (although if the status quo remains, they will likely leapfrog her in Sunday's stage).

Stage results:
1 Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5) SWE 2'51'57
2 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +1"
3 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) ITA +4"
4 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) RSA +5"
5 Anna Solovey (Parkhotel Valkenburg) UKR +7"
6 Paulina Brzezna-Bentkowska (MAT ATOM Sobótka) POL +10"
7 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +13"
8 Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) GER +15"
9 Pauliena Rooijakkers (Parkhotel Valkenburg) NED +15"
10 Eva Buurman (Parkhotel Valkenburg) NED +15"

The punchy finish also sees the domination of the biggest teams in the race rather reduced in the overall GC, although they still take up the top 6. Johansson now has quite a healthy gap at the head of the field following Small losing time today.

GC:
1 Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5) SWE 4'54'25
2 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +20"
3 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) ITA +24"
4 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) RSA +26"
5 Carmen Small-McNellis (Cervélo-Bigla) USA +29"
6 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +40"
7 Anna Solovey (Parkhotel Valkenburg) UKR +42"
8 Edwige Pitel (SC Michela Fanini Rox) FRA +46"
9 Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) GER +46"
10 Małgorzata Jasińska (Alé-Cipollini) POL +55"

 

[Jonhard]

Happy day for Wiggle... that lineup is excellent for medium mountain type terrain it seems to me, and balanced. The team for the flat spring races looked disjointed and ineffective compared to last year's powerhouse, but this is more like it.

Also a jolly outing for Parkhotel. Solovey's qualities, and tribulations, have been evident in the past, but the rest of their young Dutch lineup has also shown well. Top ten for Rooijakkers and Buurman is pretty good and Jip retained the youth classement (which is not the strongest in this race to be fair).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Video from the Urkiola stage.

We only get a short clip today, but the finish is good as they use the nice steep final 400m to the Santuário. Though after the line there's nobody, decent crowds on the final ramps considering the Santuário's a little out of the way from most population centres! Even better news though, ETB has signed up to produce TV coverage for forthcoming years' race (which will no doubt help with the securing of sponsorship as well).

 

[Jonhard]

Race coverage hasn't been too bad. At least there's a bit, up on the day.

Is it basque they're speaking? Not that I would understand Spanish, but it seemed pretty unrecognisable to me and I normally get the odd word.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, ETB is the Basque regional broadcaster, it also provides the footage for the Itzulia, GP Big Mig and San Sebastián. ETB2 broadcasts in Spanish, but all the other ETB channels broadcast in Basque. Some of the interviews (Johansson, for example) are in Castellano, but the commentary, summary and the interview with Basque riders (Santesteban here, Eskamendi yesterday) are in Euskera.

Hey, we're getting TV coverage of the Emakumeen Bira, I'm not complaining - the clip today is as long as we got of the queen stage last year (which from live-following via tickers and social media was ridiculously fun) plus we got interviews, and yesterday's was more than twice that... this year the final stage is being broadcast live and we're getting more in the future. This is a good thing.

 

[Califootman]

Stage 3 Profile:

In-depth analysis: Lumpy.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Away from the hills of the Basque country, we have the pan-flat Omloop van der IJsseldelta, and it is a momentous occasion, because Anna van der Breggen beat somebody in a sprint. The unfortunate victim on this occasion is Dutch hardwoman Vera Koedooder, a strong track-road time-splitter who went to the line with Anna nearly three minutes ahead of the rest of a splintered break; a group of nine had gone away from whom the duo escaped. Floortje Mackaij won the race to the line from the remnants of the group at +2'46".

 

[Jonhard]

Quite hard to find info on the IJsseldelta race, but an AVDB vs Koedooder sprint sounded like they had to be alone. A good result for PHV even so.

At the Bira, Bronzini won after Wiggle successfully kept the race together, by the sound of it. Kanuel had a long escape near the end, getting nearly a minute, but couldn't hold off the reduced bunch. EmmaJ retains the lead and secured the moutains jersey... youth (JipVDB) and best Basque (Santesteban) are unchanged.

Edit - just seen the classements and Emma does not have the mountains jersey, Carmen Small does. EJ in the points jersey.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yes, Lepistö DNSed today so that's pretty much the only competition Emma could have had for the points jersey gone now.

Daily highlights here. Sets up some interesting racing for tomorrow's finale which is around Portugalete and has a slightly uphill uncategorized finish along with two climbs, the toughest being Las Muñecas. Johansson's lead looks fairly sturdy, with 25" over Guarnier and 28" over Small with teammate Longo Borghini at 29" and Moolman at 31", after picking up some sprint bonuses today. With the strength that Wiggle have in reserve I think they'll be able to block most attempts to break down that lead until late on enough that Emma can police things herself; ELB as superdomestique is a pretty useful force to be able to call on, mind.

 

[jens_attacks]

http://www.eitb.eus/es/deportes/deporte-en-directo/


basque weather!

go hanna/ganna

 

[jens_attacks]

snoozefest. except evelyn, whom i really like. great person and rider.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They got a bit of a gap on a group with Carmen Small, but not enough collaboration in the front group, probably because Ash was there and isn't going to work with Carmen caught behind. Now it looks like it's going to be a dart to the line from this group, a far cry from last year's final stage sadly. Emma J looks too strong to get the required time on given she has ELB to domestique for her, gonna be hard to get away from the both of them.

Boels (Canuel and Stevens at least) and Moolman looking keen to move, but Wiggle annulling them early.

Guarnier wins the stage from a group of 8, Moolman tried to push the pace in the slight uphill ramps of the final kilometre and got a few seconds on many of the competitors but couldn't drop the big guns; Guarnier has picked up a few time bonuses during the stage but not enough to overcome Emma J who will keep the overall.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So the group of 17 splintered to 8 finishing on the same time as the winner, with the rest trailing thanks to Moolman's late dig, mostly just a few seconds down but a couple further back, notably Mavi García and Pauliena Rooijakkers who's been having a great week. Santesteban defended her jersey by coming in just a few seconds down for a very strong week's racing for her, but Jip van den Bos lost five minutes today after missing the first move and suffering on Las Muñecas. She nevertheless maintains the youth jersey as none of her competitors for it were close enough to take advantage.

Doris Schweizer also compounded the dogpile on Small today by taking her polka dots. Johansson unsurprisingly keeps the points after two stage wins and Lepistö going home before yesterday's stage where she could have contended in the sprint. Vekemans takes the Tarteko Helmugak (Metas Volantes) by a landslide, while Cervélo-Bigla take home the team prize, just pipping Boels. Wiggle are a couple of minutes behind owing to some DNFs today and only two up front, ELB defending Johansson after the others had done their jobs.

Final GC:
1 Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5) SWE 9'56'12 (Points classification winner)
2 Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) USA +12"
3 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) RSA +27"
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) ITA +27"
5 Carmen Small-McNellis (Cervélo-Bigla) USA +28"
6 Anna Solovey (Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental) UKR +41"
7 Claudia Lichtenberg (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) GER +50"
8 Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) USA +54"
9 Małgorzata Jasińska (Alé-Cipollini) POL +58"
10 Doris Schweizer (Cylance) SUI +1'07" (Queen of the Mountains)
-
11 Ane Santesteban (Alé-Cipollini) ESP +1'12" (best Basque / best Spanish rider)
36 Jip van den Bos (Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental) NED +9'01 (best U21)
55 Anisha Vekemans (Lotto-Soudal Ladies) BEL +17'10" (Metas Volantes winner)

Meanwhile, further evidence emerges that this weekend we live in bizarro world. After yesterday's mind-blowing situation developing where Anna van der Breggen beat somebody head to head in a sprint, we moved on to the Ronde van Gelderland, based around Apeldoorn. While it does use a couple of short bergs around Arnhem, it's generally a flat race; the last three editions had been won by Kirsten Wild and apart from Suzanne de Goede winning from a group of 6 in 2012 it has normally been won by a sprinter, with Teutenberg taking it twice as well; finishing groups varying between circa 10-15 and 60-70, but always with some sprinting types remaining. So Anna Plichta of BTC-City Ljubljana decided for a speculative long range solo which went on for a great many kilometres before being brought back so that the next top notch sprinter to write their name into the race's winners list could be... Kasia Niewiadoma?! Yes, the Polish grimpeur and U23 European champion was part of a trio which formed with around 10km to go, consisting of her, Parkhotel Valkenburg's veteran Nathalie van Gogh (the 41-year-old continuing a strong week's racing for the team) and Lotto's Lieselot Decroix. They only had 5 seconds with 5km to go but the group behind was quite reduced and organisation was poor; they increased the gap to 11 seconds at 2km remaining, working well with one another. With my Phil Liggett hat on, I can point out that the presence of a certain Miss Marianne Vos in the group may have played a part in the disorganization of the bunch and their unwillingness to pull the trio back as their advantage was never more than a few seconds, but held at that gap until the line.

So despite the seemingly bonkers decision to skip the climbing of the Basque country to send the climbers to a bunch of rouleur races to prepare for La Flèche Wallonne... it seems that the decision actually paid off, and the fact that their two most climbing-centric and least sprint-adept riders are the two that pulled off the victories is quite something.

For those that missed it, the final 10km of the Emakumeen Bira stage are for video here although it is worth noting that the important action precedes this section of the race as the selection has already been made.

 

[Jonhard]

Not a bad weekend for Rabo, and their Fleche squad looks pretty scary. Also good for Parkhotel with two second places in NL and good show in the Bira. Bigla seem to have started the season at Easter. Boels overshadowed for once... mixed feelings for Lizzie perhaps.

For Wiggle, some much needed improvement and success. The 'northern' squad still looks relatively awkward despite 5th for Lucy Garner today. They miss Jolien D'Hoore, obviously, although it hasn't all been horrible.

A good weekend for the Garner family as Lucy's sister Grace won stage 1 of the Tour of the Reservoir yesterday in typically freezing Northumberland conditions, not bad for 18... it can be a very grim race. She lost the overall title today, unsurprisingly, to domestic veteran Nikki Juniper. Alice Barnes, another talented cycling sibling, won the stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Marianne makes her World Tour début tomorrow, in Rabo's "what's an Indian, exactly?" squad which boasts at least four legitimate contenders for the win. It's her first road race at the top table since the Ponferrada Worlds; her form is a bit of guesswork, likewise Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who was excellent at de Ronde but her reduced road calendar with a view to the MTB Olympics makes gauging her form tougher. Van der Breggen and Niewiadoma both won races that riders with their skillsets didn't really have much business winning (well, with her TT expertise, Anna less so than Kasia), but the Dutch weekend race parcours are less indicative of form for Huy than the Basque hills. Boels-Dolmans are the obvious main threats, having won every WT race so far. Lizzie Armitstead isn't normally a Flèche contender, the steep gradients are sustained a little longer than she prefers, but she has come 2nd here before, and apart from Gent-Wevelgem where she rolled in after Blaak's victory was assured, she's won just about every race she's been healthy at this season (withdrawing from Drenthe and the Basque races with sickness). Guarnier has an excellent sprint and all three of their North Americans - Canuel and Stevens the others - showed good form in the Emakumeen Bira so should be ready to fire here. For Canyon, Amialiusik is the designated leader and rightly so; Tiffany Cromwell didn't show good form in País Vasco and the climb is almost certainly too sustained for Brennauer to be a factor in the finale. Wiggle will obviously be looking, as so often this season, to the double act of Emma Johansson, fresh from victory in Euskal Herria including the HTF at Urkiola (although from the south it is significantly easier than the Mur de Huy of course), and Elisa Longo Borghini, whose most recent performance on such a steep finish was to win at Planche des Belles Filles solo last season and who ably shepherded Emma J around in Spain.

Cervélo's limited roster means they use the same squad from Bira, which means Small will likely be active with Ash Moolman the main actual threat; she has to be considered a favourite in terms of pure last 2km climbing, but the numbers game with Boels, Rabo and Wiggle will as ever be her biggest problem; the same goes, as usual, for Claudia Lichtenberg, but based on current form Ash is the more realistic threat for the win. Orica will probably centre around Annemiek, but Amanda Spratt has been very aggressive this season, really showing the Aussie champions' jersey with pride, and I expect to see her continue that. Liv rest Mackaij as the race doesn't suit her; it doesn't especially suit Leah Kirchmann with the finish at the hilltop (she can get over some obstacles but would prefer to chase back on I think) but she's a better choice for leader here, while Carlee Taylor is a decent climber as well.

Thus far this year Cylance have flattered to deceive. Ratto has shown glimpses of the great rider she can be but not frequently enough, while Shelley Olds has yet to fire on all cylinders and is of course not suited to a race like this. They're going to need to step up their game as the season goes on however, as they have been less visible than the talent assembled suggests they should be. In smaller teams I anticipate Flavia Oliveira to be characteristically combative but ultimately come up short; she needs a tactical break and a longer climb I feel, neither of which Flèche really offers. Parkhotel will see if Anna Solovey can capitalize on her form from the Bira, but the field here is stronger and she's not explosive which will count against her. They've been on a good run of results though. Jolanda Neff for Servetto-Footon is as ever a wildcard; her superb podium at the Trofeo Binda was based on her climbing skills, although in fairness some of that was due to being underestimated within the group; how she will do in a pure climbing shootout remains to be seen, but don't be surprised if she's in the top 5 at the line!

 

[Jonhard]

Not much to add to that comprehensive analysis! I wonder if Ane Santesteban might place after going well in Bira? I don't know too much about her but have seen her tipped in some Spanish reviews.

Feels like one for the big guns today. It's a fierce line up from Boels and Rabo, who I reckon will take the spoils today. I'll go out on a limb and tip Emma J for third...