Topcompetitie Vrouwen - 1 race to go!

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 27, 2010 11:56 AM EDT in Women's Cycling

Tomorrow is the Omloop Door Middag-Humsterland, a Dutch day-race that's not only warm-up for the Holland Ladies Tour, but the final round in the KNWU Topcompetitie Vrouwen. It's a great competition - 5 Dutch races, including a mini-Tour and the nearest thing we have to Amstel Gold Vrouwen - and in case you've missed any of it, here's my Story-So-Far.

The first 30 riders across the line of each race (or the GC for RaboSter) score points towards the competition, from 100 down to 1, like this:

100-80-70-60-50-40-36-32-30-28-24-22-20-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

and the first 3 riders across the line from each team also score points towards the team competition. You can read the rules and the results of each of the races - but it's much more fun to let me tell you what happened, right? Although if at any point you want to know more about the races, click through the title links to Monty's race previews, which have profiles, links and all kinds of handy and fun facts.

Round 1: Ronde Van Gelderland, 17th April

Despite the fact it was the week before the Fleche Wallone, this race was oversubscribed, so much so that teams were limited to 6, and in the nearest thing we got to controversy, Marianne Vos didn't race in sort-of protest, to let her team-mates have a chance to ride. You should check out Monty's preview for the, erm, misleading race profile - but although it wasn't as mountainous as that suggests, it was still 2 laps of a hilly course, with 3 laps 8.8km laps at the end - but despite Emma Johansson attacking on the Emmapiramide (where else?) and solo-ing for 40km, it came down to a bunch sprint, won by Kirsten Wild.

This is the only race in the series where we don't have a proper video - this is the nearest I could find. For more visuals you can see CJ Farquharson's photos of the race, with her report

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo
2.    Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Lotto, s.t.
3.    Kirsty Broun (Aus) Australia, s.t.
4.    Brooke Miller (USA), Tibco, s.t.
5.    Anne Arnouts (Bel) RedSun, s.t.
6.    Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC Columbia, s.t.
7.    Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, s.t.
8.    Natalie Van Gogh (Ned) Swaboladies, s.t.
9.    Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun, s.t.

10. Emma Mackie (Aus) Tibco, s.t.

Read on for sun, sea, sand, attacking, the Cauberg, escape artistry, videos, and more!

Round 2: Omloop Van Borsele, 24th April

This is one of my personal favourites in how to run and present a women's race. It took place as part of a cycling festival, with a men's race and a junior women's stage race (won by Laura Trott & Team GB, but I'd love it anyway). The website had tonnes of useful information, including a live race ticker, videos from fixed cameras at the finish line (I wish every race did this, it seems so simple) and photos... The actual race circuit was pretty flat, but that just gave the riders more energy to be able to attack..

and because the organisers are fabulous, you should also check out their finish line video, which they posted online:

It was a fast, hard race, with some serious attacks and work, especially from Cervélo. At about 25k to go an elite group of about 15 (including Cooke and Vos, 2 former road World Champions) escaped and gained 3 minutes on the peloton (check the video for Cervélo riding in beautiful formation, pushing that group harder and harder) - and then Nicole Cooke jumped from the front of the group, with Ellen van Dijk, Liesbet de Vocht and Charlotte Becker (who was there to run interference for Cervélo, working for Wild rather than with the group). It looked like this group could make it to the end, but then Marianne Vos took off from the chase group, to try and catch them, and that was one threat too many - with the chase group trying to get her back and the escapees wanting to keep her away... Cooke kept attacking, but kept getting pulled back, until at 3km to go the 4 escapees were caught by a group-ette of 9 riders that included Wild and Vos. You'd think they'd give up at this point and accept a bunch sprint, but in the final kilometre Cooke attacked AGAIN, this time with Van Dijk - but Wild lead the chase, and it ended in a photo-finish sprint for the line.

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, s.t.
2.    Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Lotto, s.t.
3.    Kirsty Broun (Aus) Australia, s.t.
4.    Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloiet, s.t.
5.    Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC Columbia, s.t.
6.    Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo, s.t.
7.    Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Nederland Bloeit, s.t.
8.    Chloe Hosking (Aus) HTC Columbia, s.t., s.t.
9.    Nicole Cooke (GBR) Great Britain, s.t.
10. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, s.t.

Kirsten Wild's post-race interview:

Round 3: RaboSter Zeeuwsche Eilanden, 17th - 19th June

Ah, RaboSter! A time trial and 2 stages along the Netherlands coast - so flat, with wind, sea-front roads, windmills, bridges, wind, rain, sand, dams, rain, sun, wind blowing sand at the riders and many, many attacks. Half the peloton were the Giro del Trentino, but this had some big teams, although Cervélo and Nederland Bloeit ended up the two to watch...

The race website is fabulous and has tickers (click through the stage links), photos and great info. (Hello Reinier, if you ever read this!)

Stage 1 was a 7km ITT, and Cervélo were just super-strong. Out of their 6 riders, 5 were in the top 6, and their lowest-placed rider, Sarah Düster came 11th...

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, 9'03".89
2.    Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo, +10.26
3.    Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervélo, +12.46
4.    Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, +13.41
5.    Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo, +14.79
6.    Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) Cervélo, +17.69
7.    Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, +20.35
8.    Vera Koedooder (Ned) Batavus, +20.94
9.    Marie Lindberg (Swe) RedSun, +22.31
10. Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Nederland Bloeit,+24.94

Stage 2 was 114km that skirted the Zeeland shore as much as it could, and the wind helped the attacks, so the race continually split into small groups, reformed, and attacked again, with a core lead group of 19 riders (that included 5 out of the 6 Nederland Bloeit) gaining nearly 3 minutes on the peloton - and although there were many, many attacks off the front of this group, it came down to a bunch sprint

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, 2:54:20
2.    Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo, s.t.
3.    Martine Bras (Ned) Royal Antwerp Bicycle Club, s.t.
4.    Chantal Blaak (Ned) Leontien.nl, s.t.
5.    Sara Mustonen (Swe) Hitec, s.t.
6.    Suzanne de Goede (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, s.t.
7.    Janneke Kanis (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, s.t.
8.    Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, s.t.
9.    Marie Lindberg (Swe) RedSun, s.t.
10. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit,s.t.

Stage 3 went out and back over 2 8 km long, very exposed (but beautiful) dams, with at least 1 stretch of cobbles, before ending on 2 16km laps with parts along the seafront, including a small climb up to the top of the sea-wall. As you'd expect by now, the wind played a huge factor, this time aided and abetted by periodic showers of rain, and it seemed like everyone who was there attacked at some stage or another, breaking up the race into lots of groups that dissolved and separated all the time, ending up on the last lap with an elite group of 3 - Annemiek Van Vleuten and Janneke Kanis from Nederland Bloeit and Iris Slappendel from Cervélo. Watching it via the ticker was exhausting! But lots of fun, too - and it ended with a non-Cervélo-win-shocker!

1.    Janneke Kanis (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, 3:24:17
2.    Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervélo, s.t.
3.    Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, +9"
4.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, s.t.
5.    Vera Koedooder (Ned) Batavus, s.t.
6.    Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, s.t.
7.    Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo, s.t.
8.    Sarah Düster (Ger) Cervélo, +12"
9.    Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) Cervélo, s.t.
10. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Hitec, +16"

Leaving the GC for glory and Topcompetitie points, looking like this:

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, 6:27:33
2.    Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervélo, +4"
3.    Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, +25"
4.    Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo, +27"
5.    Vera Koedooder (Ned) Batavus, +31
6.    Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, +41"
7.    Lizzie Armitstead (GBR) Cervélo, +43"
8.    Marie Lindberg (Swe) RedSun, +46"
9.    Sarah Düster (Ger) Cervélo, +1'05"
10. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, +1'06"

Round 4: Park Hotel Rooding Hills/Holland Hills Classic, 8th August

The next race was completely different territory, and while I'm not usually one who approves of races changing their name, Park Hotel Rooding Hills stepped in to rescue this race, and deserve all the credit in the world, as this race is the nearest we have to Amstel Gold Vrouwen (well, it's not in the spring, and it's on the same day as at least 2 other major races, but any route that includes 4 ascents of the Cauberg (or as I'll always think of it after reading Marijn de Vries' blog on the race, the C-auauau!-berg... read her post on why) has got to be great!

It was lots of little loops around the same area, with lots of sharp hills - perfect Classics territory, so it was no surprise when perfect Classics rider Grace Verbeke took off on the attack on the 2nd ascent of the Cauberg, in a move that distanced even seasoned attack-queens Emmas Pooley and Johansson, and then again on the 3rd time over the Cauberg, this time shaking off Cervélo's other mountain queen, Claudia Häusler. Leontien.nl rode a great race, with 3 riders in the top 10,

1.    Grace Verbeke (Bel) Belgian National Team, 3:14:17
2.    Chantal Blaak (Ned) Leontien.nl, +0:51
3.    Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervélo Test Team, +1:46
4.    Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Mix-team Nederland Bloeit-Topsport Vlaanderen, +1:47
5.    Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, +1:51
6.    Emma Trott (GBR) Weijers-Hako-MovingLadies, +1:52
7.    Vera Koedooder (Ned) Batavus Ladies Cycl Team, + 2:01
8.    Petra Dijkman (Ned) RedSun Cycling Team, +2:09
9.    Marijn de Vries (Ned) Leontien.nl, +2:34
10. Claudia Hausler (Ger) Cervélo Test Team, + 3:18

So if you've been following this at all, you'll have realised that whatever hapens tomorrow, Kirsten Wild has easily won the Topcompetitie.

1.    Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo, 307 points
2.    Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervélo, 165
3.    Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Lotto, 160
4.    Kirsty Broun (Aus) Australia, 140
5.    Lucinda Brand (Ned) Leontien.nl, 114
6.    Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, 106
7.    Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Nederland Bloeit, 101
8.    Grace Verbeke (Bel) Belgium, 100
9.    Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit, 100
10. Vera Koedooder (Ned) Batavus, 91

But take a look at the battle for 2nd and 3rd place - not only will Australian sprinter & Lotto Manager Rochelle Gilmore want to regain her 3rd spot from Iris Slappendel, but there are all kinds of great riders who'll want to take it from both of them. Check back later for Monty's profile of tomorrow's race - and follow it in the comments for what happens next.....

Tweet Comment 34 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

So we've got video of a sort from every race here

We get less than this from lots of the men’s races.

by Monty. on Aug 27, 2010 2:42 PM EDT reply actions

well, I'm unconvinced what the Gelderland vid actually is...

it could just be juniors…

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 27, 2010 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I saw the Cervelo car at 2:43

and a couple of their riders at 3:13, so it looks like it’s the real thing

by Monty. on Aug 27, 2010 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Then my google skills are better than I thought!

and it has the finish-line too! I rock!

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 27, 2010 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Monty...

Women get very little coverage on TV, unlike the men. That’s why youtube has become such a desperate format for them. It’s the only way to overule big media and let the world see them. Men don’t need youtube, everything is on TV.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions

And every men's race there is

is up on worldcyclingchannel2 on youtube anyway. Much to my enjoyment, for the record.

by tgsgirl on Aug 28, 2010 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions

And that's part of the problem

Both men and women enjoy men’s cycling in much greater numbers. Women like to watch the men more then the women. Men like to to watch the men too more then the women, so the women’s cycling is not as popular. If Women’s cycling is going to gain popularity, perhaps more women should support women’s cycling.

For the record, I don’t watch those male dopathons anymore, except the TDF which is more of a festive cultural event. Too many frauds in the peloton, and they are way overpaid compared to the women who race mostly clean.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Have a look at the "Cervelo folding" threads and see how many do take an interest

Would more turn up in these threads if we had better video? Of course. Look at all the discussions on what happened to Andy Schleck’s chain, and compare that to what was said during the Giro Donne when Emma Pooley punctured on the shores of Lake Como just as the Americans attacked, or when Mara Abbott dropped her on the run-in to Livigno. We didn’t see either of those. But we heard Bridie get lost in the middle of a war re-enactment and chatted about that. maybe one day someone will get the hint.

by Monty. on Aug 28, 2010 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Cervelo and Mara

Some teams have dropped their men and keep their women. It’s much, much cheaper to sponsor a women’s team, and if you read the Gilmore interview, Honda actually got a good return on that investment. However, I wonder if Cervelo would keep their women’s team if they really were forced to pay them decent salaries. I doubt it. I’m not sure where you heard that the Americans attacked when Emma flatted, cause that would be very poor sportsmanship. I’ve met Mara many times and she’s very nice, maybe too nice. I doubt Mara would of attacked Emma when she flatted. I believe she wanted to beat her fair and square, both on the climbs and the overall. I had friends there on both Bernia and Stelvio, but I also read one guys report who was alone on another section of the Bernia when Mara went by, he said the hair on the back of his neck stood up, she is that good, he was really impressed. I believe Mara is the best climber in the world currently also, and she doesn’t need any gifts, nor were any given really if you heard her interview. Emma flat was unfortunate though and I felt bad about that one. However, as DR noted, there were no throngs lining the slopes of Stelvio, so more has to be done, lots more, although Rai-3 was very good this year. However, without the underground, none of that would have been seen by the USA fans.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I didn't mean it to sound like that re Mara

The US had a plan (which I’m sure was designed to be a Pooley killer, just not in that way) of getting their sprint train to absolutely kill it along the shores of Lake Como before the road turned up to go to the Sormano, then leave Mara and Amber to sort things out. Pooley was unlucky to puncture, and I’ve absolutely no idea what Cervelo did then, but she lost a couple of minutes and was chasing for the rest of the day. I bet that the US women didn’t even know she’d punctured until a couple of hours later, because they don’t use radios nowadays. I don’t think there was any hint of bad sportsmanship, but I’d like to see what did happen.

And I’d just as much like to know exactly where Mara dropped Emma on Bernia, because I hadn’t up till then thought of Mara as a great descender. She used to be better than Emma if she had a wheel to follow, but was a bit ropey on her own. Part of Mara’s advantage on the Stelvio was because she had gained two or three minutes over Emma on the previous descent. I wonder if Amber Neben’s crash came from another US TTT on that descent.

by Monty. on Aug 28, 2010 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Pooley Slayer

Well, as Mara said, she had been dreaming of winning the Giro ever since she got 2nd last year! The Pooley slayer is Mara herself, but the USA team did a great job with Manel, and if there is one person who seems to get Mara up, Manel seems to be doing a great job. They even made a cake for Mara before stage 8! Alpine climbing is in Mara’s blood, unlike Emma, Mara grew up in the Rockies, and I know about how that gets in your blood cause I also live in the Alpines myself. For Mara, this year’s Giro was like destiny, this edition called her name for sure!

However, I feel bad Emma was not in the best form, as her sub par TT demonstrated. Then the flat, a disaster that the Cevelo car was not around for a quick change. I was aware they had no radios and perhaps Mara didn’t know, so it’s kind of like one of those Rudy Dhaenens moments for Emma, and an unwanted plus by Mara. I am sure she didn’t want to win that way, but that’s the breaks. I don’t believe Amber was ever a factor unless Mara crashed out of the race. It’s Mara race, and Amber is nowhere near the climber Mara is. However Amber was in a great supporting role for Mara. I think going in everyone knew this was going to be Mara’s race, 2nd last year, 2nd at the Aude. This special climbers edition was clearly the Mara-Emma fest.

Just from what I have seen and know, Mara is the better climber, Emma a not too distance 2nd. On the Bernia, it’s well known Emma is a poor decender, so Mara took full advantage of that. That’s fair play. From what I can recall, Emma and Mara topped Bernia together, but lost Emma on the descent before the Forcola. The problem is we didn’t get full coverage of the Maloja, Bernia, Forcola, Surmano or the Stelvio. We got only glimpses on Rai-3. From Mara’s interview, she said Emma and herself had stayed together until the Forcola.

On the Stelvio, when Mara went away, Emma got up out the saddle and tried to chase, but it was to no avail, and couldn’t match Mara’s pace. The rest you know. We didn’t get hardly any early footage of the Stelvio, tunnels and such. What Rai-3 offered was nice, but not on the scale of a men’s grand tour. However, Mara probably improved her downhill skills a lot riding with Judith Arndt who is fearless. People know and Emma has said she’s a horrible descender. Clearly though I think there should be little doubt that Mara Abbott is the better climber.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not so sure it's that easy to separate the two of them

I wouldn’t be sure of who would win if you put Mara and Emma side by side at the bottom of a big climb and set them off. And I ‘m not sure that Manel Lacambra was either, because everything in the US team tactics on the Giro seemed to be designed to stop that happening. Instead of letting stage 7 roll along the side of Lake Como to the Sormano, they had pretty much a TTT. Emma’s puncture may have been unexpected, but she hasn’t been that confident riding in the pack in the past and spends far too much time on the edges and in the wind, so there was a goodish chance that she would be dropped anyway. But what happened when she punctured? Cervelo had already lost two riders, and they were still saying in public that they were riding for Claudia Hausler, so did anyone give up a wheel or hang around to try and pace her back?

Mara definitely came out on top on stage 8, but you say it was on the descent, not the climb.

Then on stage 9, the US tried to repeat their earlier trick and cranked the pace up on the laps around Livigno. Emma led over the first climb of the day, but according to a Cervelo press release from then, Emma was dropped in the last descent and was a 1:20 behind the leaders when they came to the Stelvio. Were the US women asked to do another TTT on that long descent into Bormio? Was that why Amber Neben crashed? I don’t know. But if you are looking at raw climbing times then Emma was the fastest up the Stelvio, not Mara. Who would have won if they had started side by side at the bottom? I really wouldn’t like to say. Part of Mara’s victory was because her team put everything behind her, expected Emma to be the closest challenger, and acted accordingly.

by Monty. on Aug 29, 2010 6:43 AM EDT up reply actions

agree with Monty

Mara was stronger in Italy, but that was partly circumstances – including the huge crash in that early stage that hurt Emma & took out her best climbing support, Sharon Laws – but Emma was better in Tour de l’Aude. Emma was untouchable at Trentino and at the Fleche Wallone – she’s definitely THE pre-eminant climber of 2010, with Mara in honourable 2nd. Emma’s achieved her riding in the middle of a full season, wheras Mara has cherry-picked 2 big races, which has been tactically great, but you can’t say she’s the best when she’s not riding the other climbing races

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 29, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Mara-Emma

That’s flawed logic. You can’t determine who is the best climber that way. Those are tactical races depending on who has the best team and (IF) both riders raced those competitions. Just because Mara didn’t race in Europe this year doesn’t mean Emma is a better climber then Mara, that’s nonsense. Clearly Emma is the most active, best climber in Europe and won the most races, but I believe Mara is the superior climber. You can’t fairly put Mara in 2nd unless she raced those competitions, which she didn’t. Mara didn’t cherry pick cause she didn’t race in Europe this year. She did not have any options to race in Europe this year, except the National Team. Partly, or mostly really, this was Mara choice, watch the interview.

I can say Mara is the best as my personal opinion, IMHO. However, I guess this calls for a match race!!

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions

It's a really tough one to call

if you look at l’Aude, then the difference bvetween the two came down to the fact that Cervelo had a better team then and they gave Emma a nice comfortable lead firstly in the TTT, then by breaking things up on a really windy day. But in the mountains they were side by side all the way. OK Emma grabbed a few seconds in the last few (flat) kms, but Mara had needed to get a few minutes, she hadn’t managed that, and those seconds made no difference to the overall.

It’s a shame Mara went back to the US, because it would be nice to see them racing side by side a bit more often. Still, next year Marta Bastianelli’s back, a few other Italians are starting to come through, Grace Verbeke will hopefully ride one or two of the longer tours, Evie Stevens looks promising, we know Tiff Cromwell can do better, and maybe some of the South Africans will have a better idea what to expect when they come back.

by Monty. on Aug 29, 2010 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Cervelo

I was just looking for a photo I remember where Emma was in tears after stage 7 flat. Claudio consoling Emma here, Emma in tears.

http://tinyurl.com/39hwsm7

I just think the whole thing with Cervelo was nuts in the Giro. Anyone who’s thinking clearly should of known this climbers editions is custom made for Emma, not Claudia. If you remember last year, Claudio clearly was out of her league on Mount Serra when Emma and Mara went mono el mono to the Top. You’ll see Claudio climbing alone must further down the mountain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_G4KFpxrB4

They got their loyalties mixed up this year, backwards, IMO. Emma should of supported Claudia in a two up this year in the Aude. Then Claudia should of been supporting Emma in the Giro, but they knew about the Giro courses since the beginning of 2010, so they knew this would be an epic climbing edition. The idea that Claudia is the frontrunner for the Giro is stupid beyond belief, IMO.

I know Cervelo is supposed to be calling the shots, but ever they should of known Emma would of been the best bet for winning the Giro, and that is what the sponsors want, winners not misguided team loyalties which end up losing races. I just think Cervelo got it wrong, or Emma and Claudio also got their paybacks crossed up.

On Mara I don’t believe the Aude was a target for Mara, but more like warm up for the Giro, the same ways pro men used to use the Giro to train for the TDF. Also the Aude doesn’t have the kind of Alpine climbs where are long enough to give Mara the advantage she needs. Mara needs long hard climbs to excel, not those little rinky dink climbs that most stage races have now. We haven’t seen anything like the Stelvio since 2003 in the Grande Boucle.

TIffany didn’t seem to find her form this year, or didn’t try hard enough, I don’t know. She got screwed over early on with Neben, Cooke and the others when their team fell apart. I’ not sure what she’s doing, but she looked much better last year as a climber, very thin, lean, good climber at Redlands early on.

Marta, I like. I missed Marta a lot. She’s still young though.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Cervelo touched on this in an earlier press release

Claudia took the early part of this year off to catch up on her studies (I presume she did the whole academic year from October onwards), expecting to be semi-fit for l’Aude where she would support Emma, then fully fit in time for the Giro which was her main target for the year. It was unfortunate that while she was off they announced a really, really climby Giro. I don’t get why Cervelo didn’t stand by her in some other way, like bunging an extra year on her contract in commiseration, because everyone thought that this year’s race was between Mara and Emma.

by Monty. on Aug 29, 2010 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

That figures

That right there just smacks of what’s wrong with this sport on the women’s side. Heck, you would expect to hear something like that from the US women who are mostly working jobs or going to college while they take up pro cycling. In Europe you would fully expect UCI pros to be full time paid pros, but that’s not always the case with women, even at the highest levels on these top teams like Cervelo and HTC. If they paid them a pro wage to race full time, then none of this nonsense would be going on. It’s like a friggin hobby on the side. Even Emma has a Phd, and cycling is not really a career path like the men, although Emma is probably the best in the world right now. What kind of signal does that send to women about Pro cycling? Anyway, I see Brooke Millar retired, and I bet Meredith Miller will retire as well. I’m also betting Kim Anderson will retire, wait and see.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 5:50 PM EDT up reply actions

But Emma was queen of the mountains too

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 29, 2010 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

well, but you didn't say that it was your opinion

you said there was little doubt she was the best…. so, you know, if you think she’s the best cos of the Giro, I can think she’s the best because of the season.

by Sarah Connolly on Aug 29, 2010 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Emma

Yes, Emma won the QOM, but based on the ability to climb, pure climbing, long alpine climbs, I think surely Mara would outlast and outclimb, come out on top, and perhaps by a nice margin. I’d like to see Emma and Mara climb from Denver to the top of Mount Evans. I know Mara got a lot of heart to climb, more so then anyone i have seen since Luperini. She deserves credit for that. Emma is the better rider overall obviously, there is no disputing that based on her palmares, but Mara is the top climbing specialist. I see it both as a fact and my opinion. Mara grew up climbing in the Alpine region. A lot of these climbers and just great riders came from Boulder. Mara has not even peaked yet, she will get even better. With Emma, she doesn’t need cycling and I’m willing to bet she will retire soon and start her career.

However, we a match race to set this to rest.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Mara-Emma

I never believed Claudia was ever in with a shot of winning this tour, and if anything, everyone should of been supporting Emma, not Claudia. That’s my view anyway. On stage 8, “Mara said” in the interview that they crested Bernia together, and then she said she lost Emma on the descent before the Forcola which she climbed alone. Check Velonews interview to verify that.

There is a video out there of Amber Neben, which she explains what happened in the crash. She said a non USA rider crashed just in front of her on the descent, and she had no place to go and did a Peter Pan, and I can’t remember all the details, but she explained it good detail. IIRC, she also said she was working for Mara on that stage.

I totally don’t agree on the Mara-Emma thing. Mara can easily raise her pace if needed, and if you put both of them together in a match race, I’ll bet money that Mara would win out over Emma anyday. The video is pretty clear on the Stelvio. When Mara took flight, Emma couldn’t keep pace. I just don’t believe she could match Mara. I have been watching Emma style of climbing for years, and I believe Mara has another gear on the climbs Emma doesn’t have.

Mara won Mount Evans twice for crying out loud. She was already a specialist climber before Emma came on the scene. When Emma crashed in the Worlds many years ago, she wasn’t a great climber back then, but became known as a climber a short time later. Mara always has been, living in the Alpine Regions. If you want to start a pot for a match race, I’d be the first to throw some money in it. Mara as Sea Biscuit and Emma as War Admiral. I think we know who will win this one.

However, Evans to too long and gradual, Washington too short and steep. I say at least 6000-8000 feet of climbing, steady, with nice pitches between 10 and 18 percent.

If Podium Café want to start a pot, maybe we could sponsor a Match Race with enough prize money to get these two titans onboard.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Amber's Crash

She explains briefly here..
http://tinyurl.com/23scwra

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 29, 2010 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Most of us don't get that many races on our TV

The Tour, perhaps the Giro, then maybe Paris-Roubaix if you’re lucky. The only way you’ll get more is by moving to Belgium or Italy, otherwise you’re probably watching low quality streams over the web anyway. So where’s the difference. What we’re trying to do here is to draw attention to the coverage that there is, and to disprove the idea that it is completely impossible to watch women’s races. OK some of the footage we come up with is a bit rough, such as those little 30 second pieces we got from l’Aude and the “mate with a camcorder” stuff, but we’ve come up with lots of proper TV channels, like L’Ora del Ciclismo who stick all their films up on the web a couple of days after broadcast and had a 15 minute report on the G.P. Cento Carnevale d’Europa, RTV Drenthe who do the same but use You Tube, and the Belgian Motomediateam who, as best as I can tell, seem to be a group of cycling fans filming races as their own hobby.

I just wish that more teams, races and riders would stick up their own footage instead of complaining that the main TV channels aren’t interested. There are far more alternatives to on the telly or totally invisible nowadays.

by Monty. on Aug 28, 2010 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Youtube and TV

Well, in the USA, there has been no shortage of races between Versus and Universal Sports. It’s incredible how many tours and classics they air here for men. They even show national races for men here, but not the women, nothing for the women, pathetic. Not lopsided, one sided.

The problem with Youtube is they are mostly third party clips, not very good, and many are horrible. There are a fair number of underground media clips of the races posted by those who really feel a passion to get this stuff out to the rest of the world, since Big Media refuses to run those events on national and worldwide TV. I agree sometimes there are some clips from the real media sources but not very many really, and it’s nothing at all like seeing a full length race on TV.

Youtube is really a toy compared to TV, just a 4×5 box, and is for a unique audience who are willing to spend the time digging for those videos. Finding this stuff is much too much trouble for users compared to Big Media TV channels. Most people only have TV too, but not Internet, and many of those don’t have broadband, so it’s a non starter for most.

I do agree Podium Cafe seems to be doing a lot for Women’s cycling, that’s a good thing.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think that watching streams over the net is that niche nowadays

OK you won’t catch the casual channel-hopping casual viewer, but even Lance Armstrong tweets about watching races on his laptop. And some of those amateur clips are in a lot better definition than the official France 3 stream we got from Plouay in super-blurry-vision.

by Monty. on Aug 28, 2010 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions

True, but...

The problem is you just can’t reach the masses with the Internet like you can with TV, and TV would be the single biggest factor in moving women’s cycling forward. If they run the World Cup next year all year long on TV, then this will be a huge step forward for women’s cycling. Wait and see. That’s also the way to tap into a huge cross spectum of sports fans.

by Sarah Bishop on Aug 28, 2010 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions