World Tour Calendar Strade Bianche 04/03 Ronde van Drenthe 11/03 Trofeo Alfredo Binda 19/03 Gent-Wevelgem 26/03 Tour of Flanders 02/04 Amstel Gold 16/04 Fleche Wallonne 19/04 Leige-Bastogne-Liege 23/04 Tour of Chongming 5-7/05 Tour of California 11-14/05 Philadelphia Classic 04/06 The Womens Tour 7-11/06 Giro d'Italia 30/06-09/07 La Course 20/07 RideLondon 29/07 Vargarda TTT 11/08 Vargarda RR 13/08 Tour of Norway 17-20/08 GP Plouay 26/08 Holland Ladies Tour 29/08-03/09 Madrid Challenge 10/09
Other Major Races Santos Womens Tour 14-17/01 Omloop Niewuseblad 25/02 Le Samyn 01/03 Drentse Acht van Westerveld 12/03 Energiewacht Tour 05-09/04 Festival Elsy Jacobs 28-30/04 Tour of Yorkshire 29/04 Emakumeen XXX Bira 17-21/05 Gatineau Double 1-2/06 Thuringen Rundfahrt 12-18/07 BeNe Tour 13-16/07 Tour de Pologne 23-27/07 La Route de France 5-13/08 Lotto Belgium Tour 5-8/09
All provisional (Qatar has shown how quickly things can change).
A very quick glance at some of the big teams and riders.
Ale Cipollini
They've always been a sprint sided team, but with the additions of Ensing, Hosking, Kasper and Taylor they've become a real powerhouse. Chloe Hosking is the key piece alongside Marta Bastianelli. These are two of the top female sprinters and Ale can really back them up with a proper leadout. The let down here is that is all they can really do.
Boels - Dolmans
The killers of 2016. World Champion in Amelie Dideriksen is in line for a big breakthrough season, but she may have to wait another year. WWT winner Megan Guarnier will be going for the repeat and she's got every chance. But the chellenge in house is strong from Lizzie Deignan who's looking to improve on a sub-par year. Then we've got Olympic Champion Anna van der Breggen joining the fight. And lest we forget the still growing Pieters or Blaak. Basically this is a real super-team and are the ultimate benchmark for all others.
Canyon - SRAM
Best jersey in the peloton. Headline signing was Pauline Ferrand-Prevot as she hunts a return to road race form. Overall the team can do it all. Climbing with Amialiusik, time trialling with Brennauer, sprinting with Guarischi and Barnes. Plus one of my personal favorites in Tiffany Cromwell who can mix it with anyone on her day. Strong team who can take on the best and will be great to watch in any race they attend.
Cylance Pro Cycling
Bit of a mixed team this one. Kirsten Wild is the stand out rider, and she'll be desparate for revenge having missed out in Qatar. Kirsten is the best sprinter in the peloton, but can Cylance give her the real support? Well with people like Ratto, Jasinska and King they can try. Joelle Numainville is another strong addition after a great 2016. Then there's my second favorite rider in Alison Tetrick <3
Orica - AIS
Orica are an odd one. They've not really seemed to make much progress recently. They've got some good riders in Annemiek Van Vleuten, Katrin Garfoot and Gracie Elvin. I mean the whole team is pretty good. And yet there's not excitement here and overall a bit of a lack of x-factor. They will get results but you'd hope they could be more like the Mens team and do something really special.
Wiggle High5
Still a pretty good team. Emma Johansson is the big rider on the team, but she's under pressure. Watch for Jolien d'Hoore after her Olympics focused 2016, she will be excellent. The transfers are mostly about adding support and depth. Look at the Garner duo to excite and at Lichtenberg to add an extra uphill dimension. Very international team with 10 nations in 15 riders.
WM3 Energie
AKA Team Vos. Lauren Kitchen was a good signing that went under most radars. Then it was just a good job of holding as many riders as possible without a team in place. Katarzyna Niewiadoma is a real big possibility this year. She'll have a lot more room to lead now and she's ready to explode into that position. But don't expect this to be the same all-round contenders as it was with Rabobank backing.
Tayler Wiles
Kind of still can't believe Orica let her go. But a return home to UHC might not be a bad move. 2016 showed more progression and some great riders if not the quantity of results. Expecting Tayler to lap up the races state-side and bag a number of results this year. The USA national scene is probably the most competitive in the world, but Tayler has everything to take them on and win. Gonna be a good year i'm sure.
A very quick glance at a few more teams and riders
Cervelo - Bigla
The squad boasts possibly the best Finnish rider ever, Lotta Lepisto. She found a new level in sprinting and we hope she can match that, and ideally get that real major win. Alongside that they weild Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio for climbing and stage racing. The South African is, i think, the most underrated/overlooked rider in all of cyling.
Team Sunweb
Formerly Liv-Plantur. Leah Kirchmann had an outstanding 2016 and the team has stepped up around her. Adding Ellen Van Dijk was big for them but she could do with a better WWT campaign this time around. Coryn Rivera is one to watch as she moves to Europe. Coryn was dominant in the Americas and competitive in Europe, now to make the step up.
FDJ
Or for their full name: FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitane Futuroscope. You'll excuse me for calling them FDJ. Great addition from FDJ in the sponsorship and a lot of shared work between the Men and Women teams. Adding Shara Gillow as a strong time trialist and Roxanne Knetemann as a puncher gives them some dimension. I like their French core though, this will be a good team on home soil.
Virtu Pro
Another stupid team name when fully typed, but a massively improved one! Carmen Small is the headline rider, and the American time trialist can win any battle with the clock. Amber Neben, World ITT Champion, will be here as well, making this a strong tt team. But beyond those two it's not the best, however it's a team that should be in a lot of breakaways.
Others To Watch Lisa Morzenti and Lara Vieceli at Astana. Two good young Italians who will be looking to make a mark of their potential this season. Leah Thorvilson at Canyon/SRAM. The Zwift Academy winner has an entire concept on her back. No pressure for old and injured failed Olympic-Trialist. Ann-Sophie Duyck at Drops Cycling Team. The Belgian really headlines the UK outfit and she's hoping to step-up and challenge the best time trialists this year. Lares-Waowdeals. The Belgian team added riders, and some half decent ones. They are trying to sneak automatic WWT invitations, but might be dissapointed.
I dont' really have time to go through every team and rider switch for 2017. But overall there's been a big spreading of talent and a lot more teams look more competitive. Certainly the gap between "WWT" and "PCT" teams has closed up which will only be good for the upcoming racing.
RadInconsistent wrote:
Looking forward to the Women's Strade Bianchi and the La Course, they were going to do a mountain stage this year right?
Yes La Course is up a mountain. 66km from Briancon up some of the Izoard. Less than half the mens distance, and they only go 10km up the Izoard. Frankly it's a major cop-out from ASO for various reasons. From having such a short race, not having the whole climb, not hosting more than one-day of racing and basically relegating it to even more of a sideshow.
It should be a good race but it should have been more and bigger and better.
Is Emma still racing this year? I though she would retire and go into management.
I assume you mean Johansson. Depends who you read/ask. She says she's quit top-level, but left the door open for lower level racing and non-Road racing. And she is contracted to Wiggle for that (as i understand it).
RadInconsistent wrote:
Looking forward to the Women's Strade Bianchi and the La Course, they were going to do a mountain stage this year right?
Yes La Course is up a mountain. 66km from Briancon up some of the Izoard. Less than half the mens distance, and they only go 10km up the Izoard. Frankly it's a major cop-out from ASO for various reasons. From having such a short race, not having the whole climb, not hosting more than one-day of racing and basically relegating it to even more of a sideshow.
It should be a good race but it should have been more and bigger and better.
Is Emma still racing this year? I though she would retire and go into management.
I assume you mean Johansson. Depends who you read/ask. She says she's quit top-level, but left the door open for lower level racing and non-Road racing. And she is contracted to Wiggle for that (as i understand it).
From what is mentioned at the team homepage, she is with the team, but most likely not as a pro riders, looks like she wont race on top level this season.
This means that Johansson, who won over 40 UCI races in her career, will retire from the top level but she still will be involved in the team attending team camps, doing cyclocross, mountainbike, kermesses, sponsor events just name it. As soon as Johansson is on the bike she will represent the Wiggle High5 team.
I was reading and suddenly - wait, no Rabobank ?
Then, I realized is WM3 now.
I will try to watch more women cycling this year. And I want to congratulate you for the good work you are doing on this forum regarding the women cycling .
So the first sort real race of 2017. Aussie Nationals arn't the biggest of races of the most competitive, but they are the first sight of the Pros since October.
Katrin Garfoot defends her ITT title, comfortably ahead of Shara Gillow and miles ahead of Kate Perry. The contest wasn't close, with a winning margin of 1'55.
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Katrin Garfoot (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:43:05
2 Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope 0:01:55
3 Kate Perry (Aus) Specialized Women's Racing 0:03:14
4 Rebecca Wiasak (Aus) High5 Dream Team 0:03:27
5 Lucy Kennedy (Aus) 0:03:47
6 Louisa Lobigs (Aus) Holden Women's Team 0:04:16
7 Rebecca Mackey (Aus) 0:04:32
8 Emily Cunningham (Aus) 0:05:19
9 Erin Kinnealy (Aus) 0:05:22
10 Alexandra Manly (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:05:34
11 Jaime Gunning (Aus) QAS 0:05:39
12 Ella Scanlan-Bloor (Aus) Specialized Women's Racing 0:05:49
13 Lucy Barker (Aus) 0:06:59
14 Geraldine Blomfield-Brown (Aus) 0:08:41
15 Hannah Macdougall (Aus) VIS 0:09:21
16 Kerry Knowler (Aus) 0:09:49
DNS Lisen Hockings (Aus) Holden Women's Team
DNS Chloe Moran (Aus) SASI
Fairly easy double for Katrin Garfoot as she won the RR yesterday. She out-sprinted teammate Amanda Spratt in a two-up finish. Lucy Kennedy lead in the chasers for 3rd, and Shannon Malseed claims the U23 with her 4th place finish.
Thought i'd try and write a little preview of the Womens Tour Down Under. Want to do more of these throughout the season, but that will be dependent on a) me remembering in time, and b) being able to find accurate startlist information in good time. Anyway...
Santos Womens Tour
Without the Tour of Qatar a number of teams have stepped up their interest in the TDU, making it one of the biggest "pre-season" races of the year. 4 Days of hot racing around Adelaide await the peloton in what will be a pretty good race by the looks of things.
Stage 1 - Hahndorf to Meadows @ 106km
Few bumps early in the stage should encourage breakaway attempts. The late climb over Paris Creek Road will ignite the race late one, as it will encourage attacks with just 4km from the summit to the finish line.
Stage 2 - Adelaide Crit @ 32km
Pretty simple really. The standard Crit route in downtown Adelaide for the sprinters to enjoy.
Stage 3 - Tanunda to Lyndoch @ 92km
Very tricky stage. Plenty of bumps in the opening half to sap the legs and allow breakaways to get away. Then two ascents of the Whispering Wall should really break the race up. About 11km from the final summit to the line should be full throttle.
Stage 4 - Adelaide Crit @ tbckm
Back into downtown for another Crit. An actual crit of 1.2km for 1 hour + 2 laps. So distance unkown but in the 35km area at a guess. Perfect for the sprinters, and maybe very daring riders if the GC gaps are small
It's a nice route. Couple of classic circuit days for the Aussies but those two road days will be tough given sapping terrain and the expected heat. The locals in their racing season will be at the forfront with the main bulk of the international peloton just getting back up to speed.
Orica-Scott are the home team. Garfoot the probable leader coming off her NC wins. Spratt, Allen, Manley and Crooks all repping the nation. And we get sight of Van Vleuten putting miles in her legs, so watch out as she's always a contender. Wiggle-High5 always like the Aussie races. Edmondson and Cure are local. Garner the younger could be fun in town, whilst Leth and Hagiwari are sure bets for breakingaway. Canyon-SRAM have a strong team on paper. Cromwell wants to be very good on home turf, and the whole team could compete anywhere. Especially Guarischi in the sprints. Ale-Cipollini run out their new sprint team for the first time. Hosking will be desperate for a good start at home, as will Taylor. Cylance bring the big hitting Wild, who must be missing Qatar already. Watch if Ratto can attack the race, and Jasinska must be hungry for results. Twenty20 is noteworthy to see Dygert's progression. But watch Thomas as she could really upset the GC UHC bring Wiles along, so do you need to hear more? Fine, will Hall, Hansen and Winder this will be an active team for certain Hagens Berman have Mullens as their main weapon, and it's not a bad one. She could go very well here. Drops are worth an eye for Barnes the younger on the crits, and Duyck or Zorzi for attack the tougher roads. Maaslandster with McKay at home, and Jamieson from over the water. But not really special at all. High5 Dream Team will be confused with Wiggle, but this Aussie team is sort of different and probably won't be as good. Holden can be watched for Malseed coming off a strong NC and Pooley who is still going strong. Rush, Specialized and Mercedes are all local squads out for experience and fun. NZL are similarly here for experience. As is UNI-SNS but Kitchen is capable of big result here away from FDJ.
Racing starts tomorrow (today because of timezones) and ends on th 17th (16th). Not sure where it can be watched, if at all, because the site just talks about the main TDU. Hopefully there'll be some highlights on YT each day. But i'm not complaining about the website, it's one of the best out there and should be a target for all races to match it. It's going to be a really good season opener!
Amanda Spratt claimed the opening stage solo. Attacking just ahead of the main climb to drop Ensing and go clear, she rode in alone to take a 19" lead. Katie Hall was third, stealing a few seconds on the main group.
It does set-up an interesting couple of days with a lot of riders very close together. Advantage definitely in Orica's court but they will need to be vigilant to maintain the lead.
Sprint win for Wild, good start to her time at Cylance. Hosking in third will be dissapointed, but it will take a bit of time to get the Ale train working to it's potential. Not much else to say, it was a circuit race...
I expected the Whispering Wall to make more of a selection for Stage 3. But it didn't, and Chloe Hosking timed her sprint excellently to claim victory. Wild, as always, in the fight. Alexis Ryan having a promising race under the radar for 3rd. No worries for race leader Spratt.
So one stage to run, the proper Crit in downtown Adelaide. Spratt looks to have this sealed up, but bonus seconds could still shuffle the Top10 around a bit.
Rapha Films have been making short videos with Canyon/Sram, which is the best video i have thus found for the race (Orica has also done videos which are more detailed but that i don't like as much).
Kirsten Wild gets a second win on the final stage of the race. This secured her 3rd place on GC. Good sprint from Edmondson to beat out Hosking. There were some minor time gaps today, dropping Hall from 7th to 14th and King from 9th to 15th, whilst time bonuses jump Ryan from 13th to 5th. Tayler Wiles finishes the race 25th.
So Amanda Spratt holds the win thanks to an aggressive Stage 1 ride. Hosking holds the Points. Ensing's efforts on stage 1 are rewarded with the QoM. Ryan jumped into the Youth at the death.
Check out the Orica yt channel later today for what will, i'm sure, be a good video of the final day. Now a short pause in racing until the CEGORR on the 28th.
I love the Aussie races, they genuinely understand the point of websites. How to make them good and keep them updated well in advance of race day. A lot of races could learn from them.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
113km follows the same route as the Mens race, just without laps in Geelong. So it's a sort of rolling route, but not particularly challenging hills. Should still go to a breakaway group of some variety given how it played out last year and that the route is unchanged.
Orica-Scott lead with Amanda Spratt off her TDU win. This makes her the media favorite. Although with riders like Van Vleuten, Garfoot, Elvin and Roy Orica have a plethora of options and will look to dictate the race. UHC have mostly the same team again. Wiles is here and should go on the front foot. Watch for Winder and Hall as well, both could animate the race and finish strong. Wiggle-High5 will need to really attack to win. Hope to see Hagiwara or Leth making moves, whilst Garner will be a good option if we get some sort of sprint finish. Drops can have a good race if Zorzi and Duyck are feeling good. Barnes for a sprint finish if it happens. Canyon/SRAM have high hopes for Cromwell and Ryan who've began the year strong. But the whole team could win, that's their strength. Ale Cipollini will be lead by Hosking, who'll hope to make the right moves to sprint. If that doesn't work Taylor will be itching to take her own chance. Cylance have Wild, but will need either a strong team ride with Ale for a sprint or to get Ratto and Jasinska attacking off the front.
Then there's also Hagens Berman, Sho-Air, Maaslandster, NZL, High5, Holden, Rush and Specialized to try something different. But a win for these teams would be an upset.
Race is on the 28th. It'll be live on TV in Australia, although International broadcasts are unconfirmed yet and will probably be scattered highlights.
Excellent race. Plenty of action throughout, and a hard fought finish. Pooley really ignited things late on, and it's great to see how she's still got legs if not a sprint. But if Orica couldn't get Spratt involved they could get Van Vleuten in the finish to deliver another win for the team. Winder just beaten for 2nd, with Hagiwara a great 3rd.
Happy i mentioned Van Vleuten, Winder and Hagiwara in my preview And Zorzi, Wild and Hosking. Got 6 of the Top10, not bad.
Strade Bianche 04/03
Ronde van Drenthe 11/03
Gent-Wevelgem 26/03
Tour of Chongming 5-7/05
Tour of California 11-14/05
The Womens Tour 7-11/06
La Course 20/07
Vargarda TTT 11/08
Tour of Norway 17-20/08
Madrid Challenge 10/09
Santos Womens Tour 14-17/01
Festival Elsy Jacobs 28-30/04
Gatineau Double 1-2/06
Thuringen Rundfahrt 12-18/07
Tour de Pologne 23-27/07
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Virtu Pro
