by Anna Magrath | Jun 15, 2016
Christine Majerus sprinted to victory in Norwich to clinch the opening stage of the Aviva Women’s Tour and with it the Aviva Yellow Jersey of race leader.
The Boels Dolmans rider, and Luxembourg national champion, took her first UCI Women’s WorldTour victory, pipping Marianne Vos and Giorgia Bronzini as Cylance Pro Cycling’s Alison Tetrick was caught in the final 100-metres of the stage into Norwich city centre.
The 31-year-old American spent the final 21-kilometres in a solo break on the Norfolk roads, building a lead at one-point of almost two-minutes. But come the technical run through the centre of Norwich, and the uphill drag to the finish line in the Market Place the Cylance rider was pipped, holding on to finish eighth, just ahead of a six second time gap.
We catch up with Alison Tetrick of Cylance Pro Cycling Team after her solo attempt to take Stage 1 of the AVIVA Women’s Tour 2016. A gutsy performance but the win eluded Alison, however it’s not dampened her desire to take another stage win. #AvivaWT2016
Tetrick did claim the day’s combativity prize for her fighting ride that so nearly paid fruit, especialy after she had been brought down in a crash earlier in the stage, until the final corner when first Majerus, and then Vos brushed her aside.
Majerus also claimed the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Jersey, with her stage win giving her the advantage over Vos, with the two level on 15-points apiece.
Christine Majerus of Boels Dolmans Cycling Team take the Yellow Jersey after Stage 1 of the AVIVA Women’s Tour 2016. Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with her after the stage press conference.
Top Brit on the day was Lizzie Armitstead in 18th, pulling on the Adnams Best British Rider jersey with Dutch rider Ilona Hoeksma of the Parkhotel Valkenburg team holds a three point advantage in the Strava Queen of the Mountains competition over Orica AIS rider Taylor Wiles.
Team Liv Plantury’s Floortje Mackaij wears the Best Young Rider Jersey presented by Stoke-on-Trent European City of Sport, taking a three second advantage over Rossella Ratto into day two of the Aviva Women’s Tour.
For full results and standings following Stage One, please click here.
The Aviva Women’s Tour resumes in Warwickshire, with its first ever stage in the county, heading south from Atherstone to Stratford-upon-Avon, via the likes of Kenilworth and Warwick.
Along the way the race will pass the National Cydists’ Memorial in Meriden, where a wreath will be laid to remember the cyclists of the First World War commemorated, and pass through the campus of the University of Warwick, who are partners to the stage.
For more information on Stage Two, please click here.
Amateur cyclists can also ride part of the Aviva Women’s Tour route this year in the Tour Ride Northamptonshire, the official sportive of the Aviva Women’s Tour. Taking place one month after the final stage, on Sunday 17 July, 40 and 80-mile routes starting and finishing from Delapre Abbey in Northampton will take place using sections of the Stage Five route, while there is also a fun, off-road 10-mile route for families. To sign-up head to www.tourride.co.uk
by Chris Maher | Jun 14, 2016
All images ©Copyright www.chrismaher.co.uk | CyclingShorts.cc
The Aviva Women’s Tour 2016 is a UCI Women’s World Tour event. Starting in Southwold on June 15th and finishing in Kettering on June 19th. Covering a total distance of six-hundred-and-twenty-one kilometers in total is the longest distance covered so far in this third edition of the Women’s Tour. With an increase to under seven-thousand-four-hundred meters of ascending, this is by-far the toughest Tour to date.
The five day stage race’s longest individual stage is stage two from Atherstone to Stratford-upon-Avon at a distance of one-hundred-and-forty kilometers. This years Tour will visit seven counties; five, new to the Tour.
Marianne Vos makes a welcome return to the Tour this time around after missing most of last seasons racing. Vos won the inaugural Women’s Tour back in 2014 riding with Rabo Liv and returns again with her Rabo Liv team-mates to reclaim her crown winning races already this year in Europe Vos will still be a force to recon with this Tour.
Defending champion Lisa Brennauer returns to the Women’s Tour in the re-jigged Canyon-SRAM team along with the winner of the final stage from last year in Hemel Hemstead, Hannah Barnes. Hannah was back in America last weekend riding the Philadelphia Classic, the last round of the UCI Women’s World Tour where American National Champion Megan Guarnier, Boels Dolmans took the victory.
The Aviva Women’s Tour is the second longest event in the UCI Women’s World Tour calendar in 2016. The longest being Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile starting on July 01st and ending on July 10th.
Listen to the Pre Tour Press Conference below with Marianne Vos, Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Johansson & Lisa Brennauer.
With less than 24 hours to the start of the 2016 Aviva Women’s Tour CyclingShorts.cc brings you the pre race press launch with Marianne Vos, Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Johansson & Lisa Brennauer.
Pre Race Press
Mick Bennett: He can’t remember having such a line up! Defending Champion Lisa Brennauer, World’s number one Emma Johansson, Olympic Champion Marianne Vos and the World Champion Lizzie Armitstead.
Press: Aims for the week?
Lizzie: Finishing my first ever Women’s Tour, with a chuckle! I’ve managed to do that. Lizzie went on to say that she just wanted to enjoy being the (World) Champion and having a good race. She wants to come out of this weeks Tour feeling stronger than she has coming into it.
The girls are all eager to get a good GC contention for themselves or one of their team mates, Emma had said that should they get a good first result, they would fight all the way to Sunday.
Press: Women’s Cycling has grown significantly over the past few years. How important is the Tour in the Women’s Calendar?
Lizzie: Races like these are the blueprint of how they should be put on. In 2016, this is how it should be done. The Women’s Tour is leading the way. She went on to say that the UK has the most prestigious stage race in Women’s Cycling. In terms of professionalism and race organization the Tour leads the way.
They all agree that the Tour has a really good feel to it and that the crowds that line the roads are the best in Women’s Cycling too. They love the school children on the roadside and the enthusiasm.
Mick Bennett hinted that it’s Sweetspot’s intention to make it a seven day stage race next year, and the possibility of a time-trial or team-time-trial too! The Women’s Tour has a very, very good future with stars like this here year-on-year!
UCI Women’s World Tour Ranking after the Philadelphia Classic
Words by Chris Maher
by Chris Maher | May 18, 2016
Images ©CyclingShorts.cc/www.chrismaher.co.uk
Woaw! A Big Deal for Eileen Roe as she seals her first win of 2016 in Round One of the Matrix Fitness GP in Scotland, wining a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line for Lares.
Round one of the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix took place in Motherwell this year. One of six-in-the-series, saw former National Circuit Champion and Scottish local Eileen Roe take the victory in a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line to the cheers of a home crowd.
Now riding for Belgium outfit Lares-Waowdeal on the continent, Eileen had wanted to returned home, feeling a little lonely after a nine-week stint in Europe. Being the only fluent English speaking girl on the squad, rode the first Women’s Lincoln Grand Prix on the weekend before finishing tenth, behind winner Alice Barnes, Drops Cycling Team, and Nikki Juniper, Team Ford Ecoboost who came in seventh.
It was Barnes that initiated the first move in Motherwell after Aprire-HSS Hire, Team WNT and Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa drove the peloton for a couple of laps of the relatively square one-point-two-kilometre-circuit that finished with a long drag from the bottom final corner.
Juniper had counter-attacked and Roe knew which girls she had to look out for. She had seen how well Barnes rode to victory at Lincoln, and decided to go with group, with Annasley Park, Team Breeze joining them as the peloton strung apart, they soon built up a fifteen second lead.
The race was run over forty-five minutes with five final count-down laps to the finish line.
With two laps to go there was a pile up which unfortunately took out Mel Lowther who was later taken to hospital to be checked over.
The four leading riders increased to a twenty-five second gap on the chasing group as they started passing back-markers. An aggressive ride by Barnes also saw her claiming the two sprints and the jersey along the way.
It looked at one point like the main peloton would reel-them-in with Podium Ambitions Gabby Shaw and Lauren Creamer chasing hard, and Jo Tindley and Lydia Boylan, Team WNT taking over, but the impetus went off and the four extended their lead.
With the final laps quickly approaching, the girls started looking across at each-others moves, trying to anticipate who would be their biggest rival.
As the final one-hundred meters marker pasted, it was Eileen that kicked the hardest to win the second visit to the Motherwell round on the Matrix Fitness GP.
Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with the delightful Eileen Roe after her solo effort at round two of the Matrix Fitness GP in Motherwell.
Talking to Eileen after the race she had said, “There was a rider represented from each team” in their group, and she though if they worked together, they would say away to the end”.
“I guess that they weren’t bothered about myself because the Tour Series is all about the “team” this year. So I think they were happy to have me along with them and contributing to the work”.
She went on to say that she wouldn’t be contesting any more of the Matrix Series as she returning back to her own team duties shortly before starting a big block of European racing on the continent. Firstly a big 1.1 UCI event in Belgium, the Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik on May 29th, from then-on it continues every week, she went on to say. Check out this Testogen review that is one of the most popular fitness products that can really work out for you.
This is Eileen’s first win of the season, finishing third in the recent Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Results:
Team Classification & Overall after Round One
Rank Team Points
1 Drops Cycling Team 98
2 Team Breeze 79
3 Team Ford Ecoboost 78
4 Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa 70
5 Team WNT 52
6 Aprire HSS Hire 25
7 Velo Schils – Interbike RT 23
8 Sunsport Velo 21
Sprint 1
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5
2 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 4
3 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 3
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1
Sprint 2
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5
2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 4
3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 3
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1
Sprints Classification & Overall after Round One
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 10
2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 7
3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 7
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 4
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 2
Individual Round Classification
Rank – Bib – Name – Team – Race Time – Laps Completed – Points
1 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 0:46:02.227 24 40
2 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 0:46:02.404 24 38
3 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:02.803 24 36
4 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 0:46:02.817 24 34
5 102 Ellie Dickinson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:10.183 24 32
6 20 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 0:46:10.751 24 30
7 142 Hayley Jones Team Breeze 0:46:11.007 24 29
8 109 Annie Simpson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:11.495 24 28
9 2 Lauren Creamer Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.406 24 27
10 11 Gabriella Shaw Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.605 24 26
11 65 Louise Laker Aprire HSS Hire 0:46:12.661 24 25
12 182 Charlotte Broughton Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:13.067 24 24
13 120 Lou Collins Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:46:13.164 24 23
14 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 0:46:15.979 24 22
15 205 Alice Sharpe Sunsport Velo 0:40:18.392 24 21
16 243 Neah Evans Scotland Cycling Team 0:46:53.406 24 20
17 110 Abi Van Twisk Drops Cycling Team 0:46:59.443 24 19
18 183 Henrietta Colborne Team Ford Ecoboost 0:47:00.483 24 18
19 4 Amy Gornall Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:47:00.952 24 17
20 143 Emily Kay Team Breeze 0:47:14.119 24 16
21 3 Grace Garner Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:48:09.436 24 15
22 187 Charline Joiner Team Ford Ecoboost 0:45:43.561 23 14
23 28 Hannah Walker Team WNT 0:45:43.972 23 13
24 160 Madison Campbell Team Footon Velosport 0:45:44.071 23 12
25 106 Rose Osbourne Drops Cycling Team 0:45:46.540 23 11
26 47 Jenny Holl Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:45:49.554 23 10
27 85 Kelly Murphy Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:45:57.220 23 9
28 163 Suzetta Guerrini Team Footon Velosport 0:46:13.646 23 8
29 68 Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:13.426 20 7
30 203 Josie Knight Sunsport Velo 0:40:14.430 20 6
31 184 Julie Erskine Team Ford Ecoboost 0:40:15.218 20 5
32 61 Lucy Chittenden Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:16.366 20 4
33 208 Genevieve Whitson Sunsport Velo 0:40:16.870 20 3
34 206 Maddy Scott Sunsport Velo 0:40:17.026 20 2
35 84 Nikola Matthews Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.558 20 1
36 82 Monica Dew Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.574 20
37 246 Tanya Griffths Starley Racing 0:40:30.932 20
38 126 Nicola Soden Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:02.256 20
39 41 Sarah Bradford Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:15.743 20
40 21 Sam Burman Team WNT 0:41:23.097 20
41 44 Rhona Callander Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:23.302 20
42 200 Eileen Burns Sunsport Velo 0:41:32.233 20
43 124 Sandra MacKay Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:39:56.977 19
44 123 Katherine Kimber Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:40:32.075 19
45 121 Caroline Guest Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:12.207 19
46 80 Ellie Coster Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:39:46.289 18
47 83 Kristy Howells Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:41.746 17
Non-finishers
146 Melissa Lowther Team Breeze
25 Keira McVitty Team WNT
9 Katie Prankerd Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa
You must be logged in to post a comment.