The weekend prior to the start of the UCI Women’s WorldTour marked the start of the European season for the women’s peloton.
UCI World champion Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) made her rainbow jersey debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday – and what a debut it was. Armitstead soloed to victory 29-seconds ahead of a 22-rider chase group, which was led home by Armitstead’s teammate Chantal Blaak. Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon SRAM Racing), who won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2013, rounded out the podium.
Racing in Belgium continued on Sunday with the Omloop het van Hageland, which was streamed live from start to finish – much to the delight of women’s cycling fans. Italy’s Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) won the 62-rider sprint ahead of Leah Kirchman (Team Liv-Plantur) and Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo Bigla Pro Cycling Team).
Gracie Elvin (ORICA-AIS) was the only rider to feature in key breakaways on both days of Belgian racing. The Australian marked Armitstead’s acceleration in the finale of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, staying on the UCI World Champion’s wheel until the final ten kilometres. In Hageland on Sunday, Elvin went away with Rabobank-Liv’s Anouska Koster. The duo spent 40km up the road.
Crashes over the weekend have sidelined several riders. Ellen van Dijk broke a rib in an early crash at Het Nieuwsblad. Barbara Guarischi is out with a broken collarbone following a late race crash at Hageland.
Strade Bianche > March 5th
Last year’s results – 2015 Strade Bianche 1. Megan Guarnier (USA) 2. Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) 3. Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA)
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Strade Bianche is the first race in the inaugural UCI Women’s WorldTour series. The one-day race is held in the Italian region of Tuscany.
The race began as an amateur fondo called l’Eroica, which is held in October every year following the UCI Road World Championships. The professional race began in 2007 and was a men’s only event until last year (2015) when the women joined the party.
Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) won the first edition of the women’s race, soloing to the finish following a late race attack. Lizzie Armitstead, Guarnier’s teammate, beat out Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) in a two-up sprint to take the second spot on the podium.
The second edition of the race will cover 121km, starting and ending in Siena. Strade Bianche means ‘white road’ in Italian. The race name comes from the gravel sections on the course. Last year, there were five sections of gravel road. This year there are seven gravel sectors covering 22.4km in total.
Megan Guarnier
The reigning American road champion was born on 4 May 1985 in Glenn Falls, New York. She started racing while in college at Middlebury College in Vermont when persistent shoulder injuries forced her out of the pool and onto the bike and turned professional with Team TIBCO in 2010.
Currently starting her third season with Boels-Dolmans, Guarnier has her sights set on Olympic gold in Rio following a breakout season last year that included a win at Strade Bianche, her second national road title, a stage win and a six-day run in the maglia rosa at the Giro Rosa, her first World Cup podium with third place at Flèche Wallonne and a bronze medal at the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia.
Key results:
Two American national road titles (2012, 2015) 1st - Strade Bianche (2015) 1st – Ladies Tour of Norway overall (2015) 1st – Premondiale Giro Toscana Int. Femminile - Memorial Michela Fanini (2011) 1st – Euskal Emakumeen Bira, Stage 1 (2015) 1st – Giro d’Italia, Stage 2 (2015) 1st – Ladies Tour of Norway, Stage 1 (2015) 2nd – Giro d’Italia – Stages 5, 6, 7, 8 (2015) 2nd – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (2013) 3rd – Flèche Wallonne (2015) 3rd – Giro Rosa overall (2015) 3rd – UCI Road World Championships – Road Race (2015)
We are 157 days from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
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