Following a three-week hiatus, in part due to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the UCI Women’s WorldTour returned for a double-hitter in Vårgårda, Sweden. The races on offer included the only stand-alone team time trial on the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar and a 141-kilometre road race. Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team won the Friday evening team time trial, stopping the clock at 51:43 after 42.5 kilometres. The time was 36 seconds quicker than Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling, who surprised with second place. Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team, the 2015 Vårgårda TTT winners, rounded out the podium at 1:16. Reigning UCI Team Time Trial World Champions, Canyon SRAM Racing, were best of the rest with fourth place. On Sunday, Emilia Fahlin (Alé Cipollini) proved a popular winner in the road race when she outsprinted her breakaway companions to become the first Swedish winner on home soil since 2006. Fahlin was part of a group of nine riders that escaped the peloton’s grip on the 53-kilometre loop before entering the final four 11-kilometre laps. Amy Pieters (Wiggle-High5) was the first to open her sprint. Fahlin played a waiting game, timing her sprint to perfection, to outkick Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling) and Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team) to the line. Although UCI Women’s WorldTour leader Megan Guarnier opted out of racing last weekend, the results in Sweden make it impossible for her to lose her lead in the overall classification in the final two rounds. The American will be the first winner of the UCI Women’s WorldTour. While the top spot is already determined, the fight for second and third remains fierce. Leah Kirchmann (Liv-Plantur) jumped ahead of UCI Road World Champion Lizzie Armitstead to slot into second following Sunday’s race. The pair are separated by just nine points.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) has a 12-point lead in the youth classification over Floortje Mackaij (Liv-Plantur).
After 15 rounds and 33 days of racing, the UCI Women’s WorldTour has covered 3287.7 kilometres.
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GP de Plouay-Bretagne (FRA) > Saturday 27 August
Last year’s results
1. Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) 2. Emma Johansson (SWE) 3. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA)
The 15th edition of GP de Plouay Bretagne comprises four laps of a 27-kilometre circuit with three climbs followed by a shortened last lap of 14 kilometres. The terrain is unrelenting, offering little respite for weary legs, and the timing of the race ensures that many riders will have good form and excellent motivation. Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team) won a six-up sprint to win both Plouay and the World Cup overall last year in what was arguably one of the most animated, aggressive and exciting one-day races of the season.
South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio played a key role in Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling’s second place in the team time trial in Sweden on Friday. The 30-year-old, like many in the women’s peloton, was a latecomer to the sport. She was introduced to cycling by her now-husband, Carl Pasio, when studying chemical engineering at university. Upon graduation, Moolman-Pasio turned professional with Lotto Ladies Team.
Career Highlights 1st – Auensteiner – Radsporttage, overall (2015-2016) 1st – Auensteiner – Radsporttage, stage wins (2015, 2016) 1st – African Continental Championships, road race (2012-2013, 2015) 1st – African Continental Championships, time trial (2012-2013, 2015) 1st – National Championships South Africa, time trial (2013-2015) 1st – National Championships South Africa, road race (2011-2015) 1st – Boels Rental Hills Classic (2013) 1st – Tour de Free State, stage four (2012) 1st – Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche – stage 2 (2012) 2nd – Le Samyn des Dames (2014) 2nd – Euskal Emakumeen Bira, overall (2015) 2nd – Aviva Women’s Tour, overall (2016) 3rd – La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (2013) 3rd – Commonwealth Games, road race (2014) 3rd – Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile – stages 2, 6, 7, 8 (2015) 4th – Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile – overall (2015)
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