The Aviva Women's Tour, one of the best supported races on the calendar in its inaugural two editions, returns next week for its third edition, as the next round of the World Tour and the first major European stage race in that World Tour calendar. And this year, they've looked to balance it out a bit, moving a little away from the "Tour of the East of England" route they went with in the first two years, to incorporate some of central England as well, in an attempt to balance rewarding those loyal regions that helped get the race off the ground against the need to move the race on from being a bonus-second special.
The
first stage from Southwold to Norwich is absolutely a sprint, a very flat stage through the pan-flat East Anglia region, however with six corners in the final kilometre it could be a very technical finish and it may be possible to outfox the sprinters either by staying out of sight while they try to organise, or with the jump from a long range sprint as Christine Majerus did at last year's race.
Stage 2 runs from Atherstone to William Shakespeare's home of Stratford-upon-Avon as the riders navigate the eastern edge of the Birmingham urban sprawl, and while much of the stage is flat there are a couple of climbs in the last 20km that ought to at least ensure some selectivity. It's also a long stage at 140km off the back of 132km on the first day, so attrition could play a role.
Stage 3 runs from Ashbourne to Chesterfield through the southern edges of the Peak District. The race is another victim of "Terrible Profile Disease" as the profiles make no allowances for the fact they each have a different vertical scale which disguises some of the difficulties. This is a somewhat shorter stage (112km) but should have the highest likelihood of sizable time gaps.
After that,
Stage 4 traverses the Peak District in the opposite direction, from Nottingham on its east to Stoke-on-Trent on its west. Stoke you will all be aware is a major supporter of cycling, featuring most years in the Tour of Britain, and this stage somewhat resembles some of the 2009-10 era stages over there with some puncheur climbs then a rolling run-in.
Finally, the race is bookended by sprints with its
final stage being a rolling stage through another supportive area for the race, Northamptonshire, which has hosted the race each year, this year from Northampton to Kettering.
Although the race differs from much of the previous World Tour events in Europe by being a stage race, the parcours nevertheless suggests this is definitely well within the remit of those who were strong in Classics season, while its value as Giro preparation for the GC contenders in that race is somewhat limited (indeed many of the climbers don't enter, but a few are here), and this should continue the run of World Tour events that favour a certain type of rider (as you'll know, I've been critical about the paucity of real climber's races or time trial mileage in the overall World Tour calendar, but that's not necessarily something that the organizers of the individual races can help); as a result the field is extremely strong when it comes to that type of racing, however several such riders have been either on breaks or riding reduced calendars since the end of the Classics, skipping Chongming Island and the North American mini-season, and so form is a little harder to predict going in.
Canyon-SRAM:
Lisa Brennauer, Alena Amialiusik, Hannah Barnes, Elena Cecchini, Tiffany Cromwell, Barbara Guarischi
Canyon-SRAM start us off by virtue of having the reigning champion, Lisa Brennauer. While Lisa isn't really renowned for climbing, the short stuff here may well be inside her remit, after all, she made 2nd in the Ponferrada Worlds, but if she does struggle the team have more than enough options. Guarischi can contend in the sprints, Cecchini can get over obstacles to compete in reduced sprints, Cromwell can place well in most terrain and certainly nothing she has to face here should faze her, Barnes will be motivated on home soil and Amialiusik is a threat in the hillier stages. All killer no filler from Canyon.
Wiggle-High 5:
Emma Johansson, Jolien d'Hoore, Dani King, Elisa Longo Borghini, Amy Pieters, one more TBC
Another super-strength team, King is now established as the worker ant of choice at the team, d'Hoore is of course a sprint specialist, but Pieters is a good rouleur who can spirnt if Jolien isn't on form, having focused on the track this year; Emma J and ELB have records that speak for themselves, and with bonus seconds as well Emma J has to be counted among the biggest favourites, although of course her record also suggests she has a good chance of coming either 2nd or 3rd in every stage...
Boels-Dolmans:
Lizzie Armitstead, Chantal Blaak, Amalie Dideriksen, Ellen van Dijk, Nikki Harris, Christine Majerus
The hits just keep on coming. Of course Armitstead has to be one of the favourites coming in, with her form on the road having been almost completely unstoppable this season on typical women's cycling terrain of rouleur/short hills, and almost as strong on the longer hills too. However, the technical run-in on stage 1 may give her cold feet after crashing out after winning stage 1 in dramatic fashion last year. Majerus is one of the most selfless domestiques in the women's bunch but she had great success in the Tour of Britain last year, while Chantal Blaak is on a career season and Ellen van Dijk has one of the biggest engines in the péloton. Dideriksen is a developing talent while Harris has transitioned well to a domestique role on the road.
Alé-Cipollini:
Marta Bastianelli, Annalisa Cucinotta, Emilia Fahlin, Małgorzata Jasińska, Marta Tagliaferro, Anna Trevisi
At least these girls are difficult to miss - their one rider who isn't in cornea-scorching fluorescent yellow is Jasińska, who is a very combative rider I'd expect to see attacking up near the pointy end in at least one stage. Besides that they have several options for reduced sprints, with Marta the most likely to upset the apple cart.
Liv-Plantur:
Molly Weaver, Leah Kirchmann, Floortje Mackaij, Sara Mustönen-Lichan, Rozanne Slik, Carlee Taylor
Weaver gets the leader's numbers, but I think Kirchmann and Mackaij are the threats here. Taylor needs a hillier race typically, while Kirchmann has shown a real development in durability this season and has made a clear step up, after her escapades in the Tour of Yorkshire I think she's got a good chance of placing well in this race. And Floortje is a phenomenal talent who can sprint, can ride in the reduced groups, and had a good head on her young shoulders. I expect her to be busy and prominent at times.
United Healthcare:
Linda Villumsen, Annie Ewart, Katie Hall, Coryn Rivera, Hayley Simmonds, Iris Slappendel
Fresh from the US mini-season, UHC may well, assuming they deal well with the travel, have riders in better form than some of the bigger teams, and may be able to spring a surprise or two. My biggest concern for them is that I'd expect them to feature more heavily in the flatter stages with Rivera, however while she's massively improved for this over the past two seasons, coming from US-style racing, the technical run-ins and difficult narrow sprints we are likely to be in for may be less suited to them. Slappendel will be able to guide them through anything though, she's been there and done that many times, after all most Dutch races feature over 800 pieces of road furniture in the last 10k.
Poitou Charentes-Futuroscope '86
Roxane Fournier, Coralie Demay, Eugénie Duval, Victorie Guilman, Pascale Jeuland, Amélie Rivat
The French team par excellence has picked up some very useful WT points thanks to races like Chongming, and here they have the chance to mix it in the sprints again, with Fournier and Jeuland both having pretty good seasons to date. Not sure how prominent they'll be in the hillier stages but certainly they should start and finish strong.
Orica-AIS
Amanda Spratt, Gracie Elvin, Alex Manly, Loren Rowney, Sarah Roy, Tayler Wiles
An all-Australian lineup for this race (no Annemiek) and they may well be one of the more active teams too; Sarah Roy is the best sprinter of this lineup (though Rowney is no slouch) but in a field as stacked as this relying on that may not be the best option; Amanda Spratt can be relied on to not let opportunities to attack go begging, while Gracie Elvin has been having an excellent season in classics terrain and hilly races and really putting it all on the line to try to get into the Olympic squad despite an unfavourable parcours for her. She's a really gutsy rider and will at least try to be part of the important moves or make some herself.
Cervélo-Bigla
Lotta Lepistö, Clara Koppenburg, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Joëlle Numainville, Stephanie Pohl, Carmen Small
The relatively limited race roster for Cervélo means that they just shift people's roles around more than they do the race lineups; here Lepistö is the leader for obvious reasons; Ash is a climber and while she has a pretty good finish on her for that type of rider, there isn't anything severe enough on the parcours for her not to be saddled with a group with others who can outsprint her unfortunately. Numainville has had a quietly strong season as a helper, while the trade last year of Small for Olds has looked like a masterstroke for the team as Shelley hadn't been fitting in (and with Lepistö's productivity increasing she was becoming surplus to requirements) and Carmen has been a very active rider both for Ash and Lotta and for her own goals.
Rabo-Liv
Marianne Vos, Lucinda Brand, Shara Gillow, Anouska Koster, Roxane Knetemann, Anna van der Breggen
Marianne Vos has a 100% record in this race of course, one entry, one GC win, since last year she was out injured and covered the race for TV instead. Here it seems Rabo have eschewed their development team they used the race for last year, in favour of an all out assault on the GC. Anna VDB with her lack of a sprint may be relegated to helper duties with the climbing not so severe she's the last bullet in their gun, but she has just come from altitude training in the Sierra Nevada. Lucinda Brand is of course a second weapon, with a good sprint finish, technical nous and the ability to make it over any of these hills, Knetemann is a beloved and respected helper, Gillow is a very useful climbing helper and Anouska Koster has had a really impressive first half of the season. Rabo have absolutely gone from the team that used to control and dominate around Marianne to the most aggressive and active team in the women's péloton, often using rider upon rider to make others chase.
Parkhotel Valkenburg
Jip van den Bos, Janneke Ensing, Ilona Hoeksma, Jermaine Post, Esra Tromp, Eva Buurman
The Parkhotel girls have been having a pretty good season, and have shown well of late, however sprinting well in the Tour of Chongming Island field vs. sprinting well in this field is a whole different ball game. That said, Hoeksma was very active in last week's races in Belgium, while Buurman and Jip have both produced some more than useful results this season. They may be absent in some of the more selective moves, but they're an interesting wildcard for the rolling stages.
BTC City-Ljubljana
Eugenia Bujak, Polona Bagatelj, Olena Pavlukhina, Urša Pintar, Anna Plichta, Mia Radotić
BTC are one of those teams who've really benefited from the World Tour, getting to do a lot of races they otherwise wouldn't. Pavlukhina is perhaps their strongest rider here in terms of form, but I'm not sure how much this race will suit them.
Cylance Pro Cycling
Rossella Ratto, Rachele Barbieri, Sheyla Gutiérrez Ruíz, Shelley Olds, Valentina Scandolara, Alison Tetrick
Perhaps the most frustrating team of the season, Cylance have struggled to get going. This may help, since it's Shelley Olds' first race back, however they've been a much more interesting team in her absence, and having natural attackers riding outside their comfort zone to protect a sprinter who, at 35, is no longer a sure thing at the end of the day, has had limited results. A lot will depend on whether Olds is raring to go or if she's easing back from her injury lay-off in which case Gutiérrez would probably take over the sprint mantle and free up Ratto and Scandolara for the attacks they are known for.
Drops:
Alice Barnes, Sophie Coleman, Rebecca Durrell, Jennifer George, Laura Massey, Hannah Payton
I'm afraid I don't know that much about the UK domestic teams, but I do know that Alice Barnes, younger sister of Hannah, has been apparently having a monster season in the domestic scene, so she will be the likely leader here.
GB National:
Emma Pooley, Emily Kay, Grace Garner, Manon Lloyd, Annasley Park, Jessie Walker
Jessie Walker is a good rider. Grace Garner is another of the younger sister brigade and has high expectation of her; Annasley Park has gathered some momentum from the national races. But who am I kidding? The only important thing here is that EMMA FREAKING POOLEY IS ON THE WORLD TOUR. Having had months out, only a few race days in her return and targeting Rio for the chrono rather than the road race means her performance level is unknown, but still, it's Emma Pooley.
Hitec Products:
Kirsten Wild, Simona Frapporti, Tatiana Guderzo, Lauren Kitchen, Julie Leth, Emilie Møberg
The first stage looks like the target for Norway's long-running Hitec team; a pure Dutch-style flat stage in a windy region sounds like perfection to the queen of the echelon and monster sprinter Kirsten Wild. Kitchen will provide able back-up, however how well they go in the hillier stages will be unclear. They've been relying on Guderzo for a bit in those but her best days are a while ago now. That said, with enough time to get back Wild was able to win the Tour of Yorkshire, so she's not a mug when it comes to obstacles; she remains their biggest threat.
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