Giro Donne - The Contenders pt 2
To carry on from where I left off last time. This wasn't planned as an extensive preview, it just developed from a few notes I made for myself while reading up on the teams. I may be wrong at times, feel free to add and correct.
AUSTRALIA NAZIONALE
Carlee Taylor
Tiffany Cromwell
Belinda Goss
Amber Halliday
Lauren Kitchen
Shara Gillon
Chloe Hosking
Myfanwy Galloway
The Australians regularly bring a squad to the Giro and every year some flourish and eventually join the European circuit, while others wheeze their way through eight days of grupetto and go home to find an easier way of making a living. Tipped for stardom this year is young sprinter Chloe Hosking. Will she be able to outfox Teutenberg?
GAUSS RDZ ORMU - COLNAGO
Tatiana Antoshina
Julia Martisova
Tania Belvederesi
Martina Corazza
Emanuela Azzini
Edita Pucinskaite
Eleonora Suelotto
Alice Donadoni
Pucinskaite won this race on 2006 and 2007, and this team is very much hers as she tries for a third victory. Antoshina, the new Russian TT champion might try her luck on one of the two chronos, but the others will probably only get the chance to go for a stage win if things happen to fall right for them on the day.
TEAM CMAX DILA
Marta Vilajosana 34
Chiara Vanni
Francesca Faustini 20
Saneila Biagi 20
Arien Torsius 22
Alessia Quarta
Silvia Tirado Marquez 22
The star rider on CMax is likely to be new Spanish National champion Marta Vilajosana, who has been team leader since the team was founded in 2007. But the fact that everyone else is very young (2 twenty and 2 twenty-two year olds) and that they are a strong track team too, seems to suggest that they are likely to be an appetiser when the big girls come out to dine.
TEAM COLUMBIA HTC WOMEN
Mara Abbott
Kim Anderson
Judith Arndt
Kate Bates
Chantal Beltman
Ina Yoko Teutenberg
Linda Villumsen
Alex Wrubleski
The juggernaut in the room. The elephant behind the curtains. Whatever you call them, be nice. They are bigger than you. This team dominated last year and seemed set to do the same again this year. And not only did they win, they even had time to stop and pose for photos for us at Podium Cafe. Well anyone whose name is Dan can pretend that they did. Judith Arndt will be contesting the GC, helped by promising finds Mara Abbott and Linda Villumsen, Teutenberg will be hoping to equal last year's four stage victories. But the last year's plan seemed to be taken straight from the big book of USPS blue train tactics. Cervelo have shown this year that they are not prepared to be intimidated. Prepare for battle.
TEAM FLEXPOINT
Susanne Ljungskog
Mirjam Melchers Van Poppel
Loes Gunnewijk
Loes Markerink
Trine Schmidt
Iris Slappendel
Saskia Elemans
Elisabeth Braam
No obvious GC contender, but expect the likes of Susanne Ljungskog, Miriam Melchers Van Poppel and Loes Gunnewijk to be out hunting stages. Miriam Melchers is married to Cervelo DS Jean Paul van Poppel. Does this cause any conflicts, especially in stage races like the Giro?
TEAM SYSTEM DATA
Deborah Mascelli
Alena Dylko
Marina Vinnikava
Aleaksandra Lohvinova
Silvia Trovellesi
Zaira De Luca
Alessandra Lari
Liz Hatch
So you decide to sponsor a cycle team. For the publicity. The next step might be to give it a distinctive sort of name that would push it somewhere near the top of the results when someone searches for it. So, they've got Liz Hatch, who needs to do something to not become the Anna Kournikova of women's cycling. In the photos she posts on Twitter she seems to be wearing a McDonalds-Amore e Vita lookalike top. Is there a link? I don't know. He's on third base.
TOP GIRLS FASSA BORTOLO RAXY LINE
Valentina Carretta
Serena Danesi
Alessandra D' Ettorre
Maddalena Dinato
Jennifer Fiori
Laura Pisaneschi
Chiara Rozzini
Marta Tagliaferro
Once one of the big names in Italian cycling, Fassa Bortolo are now only present as sponsor of one of the lower budget teams. Nineteen year old Valentina Carrettais spoken of as a possible next big thing, and contender for the white jersey, but it's a tough world out there and her contemporaries Mariane Vos and Emilia Fahlin are already performing at a higher level. They will need their team jersey to be even more glow in the dark than usual to get noticed.
USA NATIONAL TEAM
Katharine Carroll
Lauren Tamayo
Brooke Miller
Meredith Miller
Megan Guarnier
Shelley Olds
There are others here who know far more about these riders than I do, so feel free to add something below.
USC CHIRIO FORNO D’ASOLO
Clemilda Fernandes Silva
Uenia Fernades Da Souza
Edita Unguryte
Tetyana Riabchenko
Simona Frapporti
Viktoria Vologdina
Olena Oliynik
Tetyana Mykhaylova
Lots of Ukrainian riders, apparent website www.chiriofornodasolo.it doesn't work for me.
0 recs |
9 comments
Comments
Huh
Interesting field.
The Arndt v. Armstrong rivalry should be fun to watch.
by gavia on Jul 1, 2009 8:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
"System Data-McDonald's"
is the women’s team affiliated with Amore & Vita-McDonald’s through Fanini (http://www.faninigroup.it/), so yeah, similar kit. No idea why they’re not just called A&V-MickeyD like Columbia and Cervélo. Perhaps because they are not UCI registered.
http://www.cqranking.com/women/asp/gen/team.asp?year=2009&teamcode=TSD
Also try http://www.cqranking.com/women/asp/gen/searchTeams.asp , select UCI from Class dropdown box and click Search.
by tedvdw on Jul 1, 2009 8:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Just to make clear,
Van Poppel is DS for the Cervélo men’s team, not the women’s team. But yeah, odd dynamic. BTW, Melchers finished DFL in the NatChamps RR. Not sure what happened there.
by tedvdw on Jul 1, 2009 8:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
really? dfl?
That doesn’t sound like her usual style.
by gavia on Jul 1, 2009 9:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Myfanwy Galloway
Is that Daffyd’s friend, the barmaid?
Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.
by TheFigurehead on Jul 2, 2009 3:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I doubt it
The likelihood of Little Britain’s Welsh barmaid character the size of Ruth Jones (who also co-wrote and starred in ‘Gavin and Stacey’) riding for Aussie cycling team is pretty low.
In case anyone’s wondering it’s pronounced muv-ANN-wee, with the emphasis on the middle syllable.
Formerly known as ruralwales.
by Simon_E on Jul 2, 2009 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
USA National Team
Katharine Carroll placed third in the US nat’l road champs last year. Lauren Tamayo & Brooke Miller are teammates on TIBCO, and took 3rd at Montreal and 2nd at Philly this year, respectively. Meredith Miller is also on TIBCO, raced in Europe for a while, but I can’t recall recent results. Megan Guarnier and Shelley Olds are teammates on PROMAN. Megan gets credit for an excellent playlist, and we last saw Shelley Olds taking third at Philly this year.
by Sui Juris on Jul 2, 2009 10:14 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

by 














