The Women's Road Racing Thread 2017

[Libertine Seguros]

Sarah Roy is a decent enough sprinter, and the fact the team is, apart from Annemiek, all-Aussie may limit some of their selection aims. Obviously in that context, the bonanza signing would be Chloe Hosking. From people not currently established, maybe they hope for something from Lauretta Hanson or Shannon Malseed, both of whom are 22-23 and did well on the BeneLux crit circuit last year.

Excitingly, if you go here on Sunday you will be able to watch the Trofeo Alfredo Binda - GP Cittiglio live. This is one of the more hilly/climber-friendly races in the World Cup, featuring one long circuit around the Varese area before four loops of a circuit around the mythical Binda's hometown including a 3km " 7% climb called Orino.

The lineup will be strong and we'll get to see defending champion Lizzie Deignan go for her third win in a row, making hay while the sun shone with Vos absent or out of form and Pooley retiring, after the two duelled over the race crown for several years. However we won't have a chance to see the other two athletes from last year's podium; Boels did a 1-2 last year after the chase was caught on the line, but Megan Guarnier is still absent as the team tries to juggle all of its stars and will not be on the startlist, while having ceased riding for Servetto and focusing on mountain bike means that there will be no Jolanda Neff either unless she rides as a guest for her old team, which is a shame as she's added plenty to the race the last few years. The Boels team therefore looks like a two-headed beast, with Deignan and van der Breggen the two major threats, and the opposition will have to make it brutally hard to drop Deignan, and if they do they've still got Anna to contend with. Majerus and Canuel give them some strong race controlling legs while Blaaki and Pieters will offer up options for counterattacks and to try to force other teams to go hard in the hills and produce a race favourable to Boels' hilly riders.

They're far from the only team with a strong lineup though. Canyon look formidable, though a lot will depend on how PFP's form is as she returns to the road after a disaster-ridden 2016 season. Opposition will have to really go hard to drop Amialiusik, while the team has very solid sprinting options in Barnes and, in a more selective race, Cromwell, and Elena Cecchini on home roads will be very dangerous owing to her incredible racing brain. Cervélo-Bigla have probably the strongest pure sprinter announced, in Lotta Lepistö, while if the racing is punchy they have the in-form Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, and if it's really hard they have Ash Moolman-Pasio. While for Cylance the race is a bit too tough for Gutiérrez, they'll be reliant a bit more on their Italian contingent, hopefully this is the year Ratto gets it together. For Orica, their most likely threat is Annemiek, but the course suits Amanda Spratt well too and she had her best year to date last year. Also they have Katrin Garfoot who's one of the top CQ scorers to date but then, given the high percentage of her points coming from the Aussie calendar, it's hard to quantify what her form will be like. Among the Sunweb lineup, VeloNews have for some reason decided that Ellen van Dijk is the main threat, which will probably be news for the TT powerhouse on one of the hilliest courses of the year (she laughed at holding a QOM jersey last year because "this can only happen in the Netherlands". A more pragmatic choice to ride for would be Leah Kirchmann, who possesses a very strong kick in a sprint finish and was 8th overall in the Giro in her breakout year last year. They also have former junior sensation Juliette Labous, another sprint option in Coryn Rivera and a sentimental pick for one to watch, Sabrina Stultiens, who is a very good rider for this type of parcours but has been on the long-term injury list for some time. Wiggle have the reduced sprinter par excellence, Giorgia Bronzini, but they also make use of their hydra-headed onslaught on climbing races, with two of the pélotons best climbers, who double up as two of the péloton's worst sprinters, Elisa Longo Borghini (who is great at climbing and terrible at sprinting) and Claudia Lichtenberg (who is even better at climbing and even worse at sprinting). Elisa will be looking to defend the WT leaders' jersey and is probably the better shout for the win given her all-round skills and abilities on the flat for opportunism, but again Claudia is a sentimental pick because I'm a huge cheerleader for her. And finally, WM3 have at least two valid options for the victory in Marianne Vos and Kasia Niewiadoma, but the latter needs a really hard race to be able to get away given her lack of a sprint weapon which has all too often cost her in the recent future, having to do a lot more of the work to pull groups back or get away from the group she's in due to not having a chance if it goes to the line and then losing the sprint from them. They also have Lauren Kitchen who has the capability to make an impact in both styles on this kind of parcours, and Anna Plichta who can prove a tactical star to set up her personal friend Kasia as we've seen from the Polish national team over the last couple of years.

Among the smaller teams also some intrigue. Not least from the Lares-Waowdeals team, whose signing of Thalita de Jong opened a few eyes in the off-season. Though the final climb isn't as long nor the run-in quite as long, this finish is reminiscent of the final day of the Giro last season, which was just the other side of Lake Maggiore, which Thalita won, while the team also has some useful backup in veteran Brazilian journeywoman Flavia Oliveira (a former Giro QOM) and Alice Cobb, the 21-year-old Briton having been very promising in the Tour de l'Ardêche last season. Lensworld also have a couple of threats in Tatiana Guderzo, who won the not dissimilar Mendrisio World Championships course eight years ago, the Ukrainian climber Tetyana Riabchenko and the versatile Maria Giulia Confalonieri. Rasa Leleivyte is there for Aromitalia and likes this kind of parcours, or at least she does since her suspension ended (she was more of a sprinter who then learnt to climb before her positive test); her history makes her an outsider given that she seems persona non grata among the big teams, but she regularly crops up in the top 10-15 of races like this, especially in Italy, and she has a very good finishing kick on her owing to her past life as a sprinter.

Most of the national péloton haven't finalized squads though. Astana have confirmed Arlenis Sierra will be capitalizing on her current form, while Alé have only confirmed Janneke Ensing but have plenty of choice for people who can make an impact, most likely Daiva Tuslaite, Carlee Taylor and Soraya Paladin in this type of route. BePink could feasibly make a real impact with Zabelinskaya but I'd be more excited to see Tuhai, the 21-year-old Belarusian grimpeuse who made the top 10 of the Giro. Hard to believe BTC won't have Stricker, Bujak and Bagatelj on hand.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

One of Alé's better riders for hilly and mountainous terrain is unfortunately not going to be at their disposal for the Trofeo Binda, or in fact probably anywhere for the foreseeable future, as their Basque rider Ane Santesteban has been found unconscious in a pool of blood on the road by a couple driving near Errenteria. Police are treating it as hit-and-run, as her bike had apparently been collected and removed from the road showing evidence of what appeared to be vehicular impact, but the rider was left face down and unconscious in the road.

 

[Jonhard]

Jesus. That's incredibly grim.

 

[GuyIncognito]

She's alive and talking. It's not life threatening. She's already giving interviews.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I hope they catch the scumbag who left her for dead.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah!
Glad she's - relatively - okay.

 

[Echoes]

Last Wednesday Het Nieuwsblad informed about the new Tour of Belgium route but it was pretty concise:

Prologue in Nieuwpoort on 5 September and then to Ninove, to Herselt and then the final stage on the remparts of the Kapelmuur just like previous years. I hope there's more to find on the net.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Interesting podium at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda!

Rivera apparently wasn't joking around when she said she wanted to be a hilly classics rider rather than the Queen of the US crits.

Sierra seems to be the best out of left field signing any European team has made in years.

Uttrup Ludwig seems like a big talent.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

One thing about Coryn is that she's quite small and light for a sprinter, so I guess she was thinking that if she wanted to make it in Europe she would need to move towards getting over a few hills and obstacles and follow the same kind of path as Leah Kirchmann than trying to mix it up with the more powerful rouleur types.

Now, the group contesting the win with the chase on in Binda has varied in size over the years, there being around 25 here is larger than anticipated, but then there was also no Jolanda Neff to go mad on the last climb and it seems those climbers who were able to put the pressure on weren't on strong enough form to make it stick. The group contesting the win is perhaps most notable for those that missed it - the first real shock is only one Boels rider in the group, the second is that it was Chantal Blaak - nothing against Chantal, but she isn't the most climbing-adept on that Boels squad and after they would have three or four in most selections of that size last year, for her to be left alone like that is unexpected. Niewiadoma was also foraging alone after Vos missed the move, with the added problem that she obviously stood no chance in a sprint. Wiggle were going well as Longo Borghini continues her strong season start, while Cervélo had both their young Danes in the break as well as their most established star in Moolman-Pasio.

To tell the truth as last year wore on, I was starting to think that Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was overtaking Dideriksen in the "young Danish prospect" stakes, having had an excellent second half of the season and come to real prominence in hilly races. Although Amalie has clearly wrestled that crown back by virtue of, oh, I don't know, winning some colorful jersey or another, Cecilie's still got plenty of chops, and Vilmann was signed along with her because Cervélo loved the way the two worked with tactical and personal chemistry in much the same way as Anna Plichta has got her WM3 contract because of how well she works with, and for, Niewiadoma. And Sierra is hitting the ground running in Europe for sure. She's durable and she has a fast finish - definitely a dangerous threat for the near future and, given they lost half of their Latin American contingent in Ingrid Drexel, a very shrewd pickup from Astana.

Surprised at Deignan missing the group more than anybody else, as though she's not had much racing she was very strong at Strade Bianche and last year she was sparing herself a lot of race days and then alternating "not racing" with "annihilating everybody". Vos still isn't quite back to her best although I would still have thought she'd make the selection, while PFP is slowly getting closer to where she should be with her new team. Not surprised at Lichtenberg being dropped, once ELB and Cordon-Ragot had made the move she was almost surplus to requirements, and her season's goals don't come for a while yet.

 

[Ricco']

Just saw the finale of the race and that was some powerful sprint from Rivera, all out from far! I don't know why Sierra celebrated in the end, the difference to Rivera was enough to make sure that the north-american had won, even from the perspective of two riders battling for the win. Maybe she was just happy for a 2nd place on a WWT race.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Just saw the finale of the race and that was some powerful sprint from Rivera, all out from far! I don't know why Sierra celebrated in the end, the difference to Rivera was enough to make sure that the north-american had won, even from the perspective of two riders battling for the win. Maybe she was just happy for a 2nd place on a WWT race.

You know how Astana riders are in italian classics

Seriously though, she was just over the moon at 2nd. It's understandable, she spent a while winning in american races which a few have done over the years without getting chances in europe. She gets one and breaks through almost immediately. Anyone would be over the moon

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

To tell the truth as last year wore on, I was starting to think that Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was overtaking Dideriksen in the "young Danish prospect" stakes, having had an excellent second half of the season and come to real prominence in hilly races. Although Amalie has clearly wrestled that crown back by virtue of, oh, I don't know, winning some colorful jersey or another, Cecilie's still got plenty of chops, and Vilmann was signed along with her because Cervélo loved the way the two worked with tactical and personal chemistry...

Just fair that Cecilie got the WWT Best Young Rider back from Amalie. After all; Amalie's got a pretty nice jersey already, no need to be greedy.

 

[yaco]

Orica Scott animate these races but struggle to win without a class sprinter - The cycle continues.

 

[Jonhard]

Re:

Orica Scott animate these races but struggle to win without a class sprinter - The cycle continues.

Well maybe... people said Boels didn't have a sprinter last year and it worked for them well enough. If you've got the strength to dominate the front end of a race, maybe you don't need a sprinter so much?

I don't see them signing a big name, and I'm not sure Chloe Hosking would ever sign for them. I seem to recall she has not always been a massive fan of the AIS system that rejected her early doors. I may be wrong but isn't there a fairly close link with Orica?

With fine weather and light winds in Waregem tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see how the likes of Boels, Sunweb and Orica race it. They don't have their quickest riders but strong teams with some sharp finishers so will presumably want to drop D'Hoore, Hosking, Lepisto et al.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Orica Scott animate these races but struggle to win without a class sprinter - The cycle continues.

Well maybe... people said Boels didn't have a sprinter last year and it worked for them well enough. If you've got the strength to dominate the front end of a race, maybe you don't need a sprinter so much?

I don't see them signing a big name, and I'm not sure Chloe Hosking would ever sign for them. I seem to recall she has not always been a massive fan of the AIS system that rejected her early doors. I may be wrong but isn't there a fairly close link with Orica?

With fine weather and light winds in Waregem tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see how the likes of Boels, Sunweb and Orica race it. They don't have their quickest riders but strong teams with some sharp finishers so will presumably want to drop D'Hoore, Hosking, Lepisto et al.

My post comes from the context that Orica allegedly have a bigger budget for the women's team next year, and they have 2 gaps on their roster, which are a pure sprinter and pure climber - Hence, why I suggested Didrieksen - Orica has always had one quality overseas rider on their roster, and at times a second developing/worker type rider - Yes, Orica's recruitment is strongly influenced by the AIS - Yes,Hosking has issues with the AIS, and its unlikely she will ever join Orica - Reckon between LS and myself we could write an essay about the failings of the AIS, especially its role in influencing recruitment of riders for Orica and Olympic selection.

 

[Jonhard]

Re: Re:

Orica Scott animate these races but struggle to win without a class sprinter - The cycle continues.

Well maybe... people said Boels didn't have a sprinter last year and it worked for them well enough. If you've got the strength to dominate the front end of a race, maybe you don't need a sprinter so much?

I don't see them signing a big name, and I'm not sure Chloe Hosking would ever sign for them. I seem to recall she has not always been a massive fan of the AIS system that rejected her early doors. I may be wrong but isn't there a fairly close link with Orica?

With fine weather and light winds in Waregem tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see how the likes of Boels, Sunweb and Orica race it. They don't have their quickest riders but strong teams with some sharp finishers so will presumably want to drop D'Hoore, Hosking, Lepisto et al.

My post comes from the context that Orica allegedly have a bigger budget for the women's team next year, and they have 2 gaps on their roster, which are a pure sprinter and pure climber - Hence, why I suggested Didrieksen - Orica has always had one quality overseas rider on their roster, and at times a second developing/worker type rider - Yes, Orica's recruitment is strongly influenced by the AIS - Yes,Hosking has issues with the AIS, and its unlikely she will ever join Orica - Reckon between LS and myself we could write an essay about the failings of the AIS, especially its role in influencing recruitment of riders for Orica and Olympic selection.

British Cycling are making everyone else look a bit better at the moment but have often made some baffling calls too imo.

Annette Edmondson is pretty fast, not far off Chloe I reckon.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Orica Scott animate these races but struggle to win without a class sprinter - The cycle continues.

Well maybe... people said Boels didn't have a sprinter last year and it worked for them well enough. If you've got the strength to dominate the front end of a race, maybe you don't need a sprinter so much?

I don't see them signing a big name, and I'm not sure Chloe Hosking would ever sign for them. I seem to recall she has not always been a massive fan of the AIS system that rejected her early doors. I may be wrong but isn't there a fairly close link with Orica?

With fine weather and light winds in Waregem tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see how the likes of Boels, Sunweb and Orica race it. They don't have their quickest riders but strong teams with some sharp finishers so will presumably want to drop D'Hoore, Hosking, Lepisto et al.

My post comes from the context that Orica allegedly have a bigger budget for the women's team next year, and they have 2 gaps on their roster, which are a pure sprinter and pure climber - Hence, why I suggested Didrieksen - Orica has always had one quality overseas rider on their roster, and at times a second developing/worker type rider - Yes, Orica's recruitment is strongly influenced by the AIS - Yes,Hosking has issues with the AIS, and its unlikely she will ever join Orica - Reckon between LS and myself we could write an essay about the failings of the AIS, especially its role in influencing recruitment of riders for Orica and Olympic selection.

British Cycling are making everyone else look a bit better at the moment but have often made some baffling calls too imo.

Annette Edmondson is pretty fast, not far off Chloe I reckon.

I was nearly made to eat my words with Elvin the closest of seconds to Lepisto - Though it was a reduced sprint.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Short video here.

Interesting in this kind of race to see the composition of the break, Janneke Ensing is having a very strong start to the season since her move to Alé, and a trio of Ellen van Dijk, Annemiek van Vleuten and Kasia Niewiadoma alongside makes a very imposing quartet to have allowed up the road. The race is a bit too flat for Kasia to get away from TT engines as strong as those, though, especially as the others all had somebody in the chase and she didn't. Plus of course Canyon had no fewer than 4, although it was pretty bizarre that once the quartet was caught and made into the group of 15-20 that eventually contested the win that the one to try their luck solo was Hannah Barnes, probably the strongest finisher of the four. Luckily their blushes were saved thanks to Brennauer's putting them on the podium regardless, but still. Lepistö did have a helper in the group, although Lisa Klein is the least experienced of the riders to make it, the 20yo German doing a very good job however. Also quite a statement from Lotta to still be there in such a reduced bunch when most of her sprinting adversaries - d'Hoore, Hosking, even more durable ones like Bastianelli - were over 2 minutes back. Wiggle had all their eggs in the Jolien basket, at least Alé had a couple of riders up front. And this makes 4 top 5s in 5 racing days for Lucinda Brand, so she's starting very well - though if Coryn continues on her move towards being more durable for hilly races they may find themselves also in the hunt for a pure sprinter, even if Brand, Rivera and Mackaij all have a pretty good turn of pace.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Shows how well Gent-Wevelgem went that there's not one single, solitary comment about it.

As it was, the great start to the season for the strengthened Cervélo-Bigla team continued apace as a group of just short of 50 duked out the final victory after a disappointingly tame race, with the wind not blowing and the group intact at the base of the first ascent of the Kemmelberg. It seems a more complex array of obstacles might be needed in such events as this was easily the least interesting edition of the women's Gent-Wevelgem to date, despite Orica's attempts to shake it up with Annemiek van Vleuten and Katrin Garfoot.

It's quite positive to see Boels' domination far from the feared brutality considering the strength in depth that they have; with both Guarnier and Lizzie having very little race mileage in their legs at this point; at this time last year, if you'd said that Boels would strengthen with Pieters and van der Breggen AND have Dideriksen step up in the rainbow jersey, then only have won 1/4 WT races and their best finisher 8th here, I'd have looked at you funny. That's not an anti-Boels thing, but more relief as there was a lot of fear they would just run roughshod over the calendar with Wiggle losing their most reliable points-scorer and Rabo (now WM3) downsizing. Having Dideriksen miss the group was fatal for their chances as she was no doubt the logical sprinting option.

And also for the race, it might have seemed more promising for the spectacle to see on the 2nd ascent of the Kemmelberg with Garfoot, Moolman-Pasio and Niewiadoma up at the front of the race, but with Ash coming off a long-term injury and Lepistö climbing comfortably over the obstacles of the Heuvelland, Cervélo having 5 of their 6 riders in the group meant the chances of a group getting away were drastically reduced as they needed enough riders to feel confident of taking it home; with Wiggle also riding to protect Elisa Longo Borghini's WT overall lead and having Jolien d'Hoore in the bunch as well as Sunweb putting the formidable engine of Ellen van Dijk to bring a sprint together for Coryn Rivera, attacks seemed doomed - and indeed the sprinters took it, in that order - Lepistö, d'Hoore, Rivera. Too many of those who wouldn't have fancied the sprint were flying solo or heavily outnumbered in the group - for example Tatiana Guderzo and Olga Zabelinskaya - one interesting feature is Lisa Brennauer sprinting rather than Hannah Barnes for Canyon, however, makes me wonder if the versatile German has designs on the overall at some point, being very good in a reduced sprint and an incredibly powerful engine.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Shows how well Gent-Wevelgem went that there's not one single, solitary comment about it.

Wondering the exact same thing, decided to post. Finish writing, click submit. "There's been a reply, still want to submit?"

With very little wind, it was likely to not be a very busy race.
Don't let that detain you, I enjoy your comments as well as those of everyone else in here

Anyway, the gist of what I was about to post is that Lepisto's a bit like Guarnier. Clockwork step by step improvement every year

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yes, although Guarnier has dialled up her climbing ability from a better starting point than Lotta

Definitely though, Lotta can get over more obstacles than she used to and given her finishing burst that makes her quite the threat. Especially with the new, revamped, stronger Cervélo team having sufficient engines to control races (last year with only 9 riders - even 8 for a few months - they were often entering races short-changed or hoping to surf others' trains) as well as at least two viable options for punchier, hillier races with Ash and Cecilie, they're looking very much like the most improved team of the winter.

Rivera also has improved the number and severity of obstacles that she can get over, although she always said this was her intention since moving to Europe - she's looking to more follow Leah Kirchmann's progression but with a faster finish it seems.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, another reason - actually, two other reasons - we haven't heard much from G-W could be:

1: No live footage.
2: The ladies didn't turn into a bunch of bitches during/right after the race.

---

Err... got a bit of a question: So Amalie Dideriksen is ahead of Cecilie Uttrup in the Senior ranking on the WWT, yet Cecilie is ahead of Amalie in the Best Young Rider ranking? How's that possible? I thought the BYR ranking was simply the overall ranking, just for riders under a certain age (23? 25?), bit like the BYR ranking in a stage race.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Well, another reason - actually, two other reasons - we haven't heard much from G-W could be:

1: No live footage.

It's getting frustrating that we only get highlights, race after race.

2: The ladies didn't turn into a bunch of bitches during/right after the race.

Funny you should mention that. Just yesterday I heard an interview with a former Wiggle DS where part of it was about the differences between coaching a male/female team and he mentioned the greatest difficulty as knowing which riders you can rely to on to work for others because they're all friendly face to face even when they hate each other so you often you've got a "locker room problem" and a bad team mood that the DS doesn't even realize is there. While with the men it'll be very obvious when there's riders who don't get along.

(And calling "those two" bitches is giving them too much credit IMO)

Err... got a bit of a question: So Amalie Dideriksen is ahead of Cecilie Uttrup in the Senior ranking on the WWT, yet Cecilie is ahead of Amalie in the Best Young Rider ranking? How's that possible? I thought the BYR ranking was simply the overall ranking, just for riders under a certain age (23? 25?), bit like the BYR ranking in a stage race.

As far as I understand it, if X finishes 3rd and Y finishes 7th they get:

X: 3rd place points for the world ranking, 1st place points for the youth ranking
Y: 7th place points for the world ranking, 2nd place points for the youth ranking

Diederiksen has a ton of points for a an outright win while Uttrup has a ton of youth points for 1st and 2nd youth places

 

[Jonhard]

Re:

Shows how well Gent-Wevelgem went that there's not one single, solitary comment about it.

I was too sad after Jolien muffed her sprint

I do like the variety on the podiums this year so far. Looking at the Flanders start list, there is quality all over the place.

Annette Edmondson won Pajot Hills today, winning the (uphill) sprint from a group of 60 odd. It wasn't a top, top sprinting field, and was a drag made for the power sprinters, but she had two lengths on Guarischi in second which is a good show.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think its funny how politically correct some reporters/journalists are trying to be when they are including the women's race in a preview of a men's race, even though you easily can tell they are giving a rats ass about it and just want to get it over with so they can talk about the men's racing.

Anyone else noticed that?