After all the sad news this winter about the cancellation of races and collapse of teams we should start to look a bit more positively towards the new season. So you think that women’s racing is dead? Well next weekend there are two races on the UCI calendar, about as far on the globe from each other as it is possible to get, and both have pretty healthy looking fields. And if you think that cycle racing starts and ends on the cobbles, then maybe you just need to have a closer look at the Women’s Tour of New Zealand which gets going this Wednesday, 24th February and has five stages over four days around the towns of Palmerston North and Masterton before heading to Wellington for a criterium finish.
If you want to know something about Palmerston North then don’t ask John Cleese who said of the place back in 2005 "if you wish to kill yourself but lack the courage to, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick." I don’t remember seeing him papped falling out of bars in the arms of assorted mini-skirted blondes, so maybe that’s code for "bring your own Horlicks" Palmerston North was actually named after the 19th century English politician Lord Palmerston who gave the world both liberal intervention and gunboat diplomacy, so he would probably be delighted that something bearing his name is still managing to piss off liberals and limey pinkoes.
This race is the final flourish of the southern hemisphere season. Australia has a fairly healthy winter circuit of its own but that wound up a couple of weeks ago. Some Australian riders on their way to Europe have flown across to NZ ride in those winter colours, some are riding in the colours that they will be wearing for the rest of the season, there are a couple of Japanese teams and one Chinese, some National squads, and on top of that the organisers say "Any rider who enter on her own, would be place on a composite team." Others can’t claim to be stopping off on the way to somewhere else but instead have to make the long deliberate journey, for example Nathalie Lamborelle, Luxembourg champion on the Norwegian Hitec Products UCK team, "Nach 40 Stunden Autofahren, auf dem Flughafen warten, etlichen Sicherheitskontrollen und im Flugzeug hocken mit Zwischenstationen Brüssel, London, Singapore, Melbourne, bin ich nun endlich am anderen Ende der Welt angekommen: in Neuseeland." That’s 40 hours, five flights and six airports. Amber Neben’s 13 hrs beside a chemical toilet sounds relatively easy.
The course isn’t flat but neither is it vicious, mostly gently rolling countryside apart from a couple of notorious climbs. Stiill, at race speed gently rolling soon turns into endlessly painful. Stage one from Martinborough to Masterton crosses Te Wharau which is probably the steepest climb of the week (the profile looks as if it may be up to 10% - does anyone know any better), but that is followed by 30km of flat which will work against any true climbers who get away. Stage two looks to be far more decisive as they head towards Palmerston North via the Pahiatua Track and over Admiral Hill Road. Admiral Hill Road is where last year’s race was decided when the completely unknown Amber Halliday sneaked off to victory despite only having got out of her eight and onto a bike five months previously. If the winds blow then this will be a really nasty stage, if they don’t then there are still lots of places where it will hurt. Stage three puzzles me. It is described as a circuit, but the profile doesn’t look particularly repeptitive. Does New Zealand really have blocks that are 50km long? Probably a day for the sprinters, although they may want to keep something in their legs for the afternoon’s time trial. Stage 5 tackles Admiral Hill Road again, but is followed by 100km of flat so should be another bunch sprint unless the winds have something to say. The whole show then moves to Wellington where a 1 hr crit on Sunday afternoon forms the highlight of a family day out on the bike. You can see maps and profiles on the official site, and a report with lots of photos from a team car at last year’s version here.
Eighteen teams are entered of which I reckon six are genuinely competitive. Having said that, last year’s race was won by an unknown rider on a minor team so there is plenty of room for egg on face if you start making predictions. So on with my best egg-proof mask and here goes. The NZ National squad looks very good. Their strongest rider is probably Linda Villumsen, on secondment from HCT-Columbia and technically still the Danish champion even though she changed nationality a few months back, but race numbers suggest that they are riding for Joanne Kiesanowski. Catherine Cheatley is a pretty reasonable sprinter if it comes to that, and Rushlee Buchanan is the new national champ. The Aussies have an equally strong national squad riding for Kirsty Broun, with Shara Gillow anf Tiff Cromwell ready to provide good support or alternative plans of attack as required, and Carly Light has had a great winter season. And if that weren’t enough they have what looks like a reserve team in Nashua Ladies Pro Cycling Team led by Ruth Corset, team leader at last year’s Worlds and supported by Amber Halliday. And while Lotto may not technically be a third Australian team they certainly look that way with sprinter Rochelle Gilmore, the tough Vicky Whitelaw and yet another young hopeful in Josie Tomic (and fans of the behind-the-scenes blog Greasemonkey who may have been growing concerned over the fate of Benny after he just popped out for a spanner last March should note his reappearance here as team manager). The US, out for the first time under new manager Manel Lacambra have a great front-line attack with GT woman Amber Neben and sprinter Shelley Evans (Olds as was). Elsewhere Lisa Rachetto, the Ron Jeremy of women’s bike racing sneaks in as an Australian on R.A.C.E. Team.
I don’t know what sort of press coverage there’ll be, but if anyone out there stumbles across this piece as an alternative to killing themselves one evening and knows of anything then many many thanks in advance for adding something in the comments, otherwise Peta Mullens MulloLive twitter feed is a good place to start. The full start list (taken from the organisers) is thus:
NZCT New Zealand National Team
Manager Andy Reid
Soigneur Justin Ralph
Mechanic Olli Brooke-White
1 Joanne Kiesanowski New Zealand
2 Kaytee Boyd New Zealand
3 Rushlee Buchanan New Zealand
4 Courteney Lowe New Zealand
5 Linda Villumsen New Zealand
6 Catherine Cheatley New Zealand
Giant Pro Cycling Team – China
Team Manager; Chan Shu Kiu
7 Lang Meng China
8 Ming Gao China
9 Liu Xin China
10 Gu Hui Li China
11 Ling Luo Xiao China
12 Wong Wan Yiu China
Ready Go Japan
Team Manager: Sudoh Mutsumi
13 Hory Yukiyo Japan
14 Takeda Waka Japan
15 Sato Sakico Japan
16 Yoneda Whitson Japan
Japan National Team
Team Manager; Takahashi Matsuyoshi
19 Mayuko Hagiwara Japan
20 Ayako Toyooka Japan
21 Nishi Kanako Japan
22 Morita Masami Japan
23 Katayama Rie Japan
24 Uwano Minami Japan
Australia NTID Team
Team Manager: Benjamin Cook
25 Alexandre Carle Australia
26 Sarah Roy Australia
27 Bronwyn Ryan Australia
28 Laura Luxford Australia
29 Rebecca Halliday Australia
30 Elizabeth Jacobs Australia
AIS Australia Women’s Cycling
Team Manager: Dave McPartland
31 Kirsty Broun Australia
32 Shara Gillow Australia
33 Lauren Kitchen Australia
34 Amanda Spratt Australia
35 Carly Light Australia
36 Tiffany Cromwell Australia
Hitec Products UCK
Manager: Thijs Rondhuis
37 Sara Mustonen Norway
38 Tone Hatteland Norway
39 Nathalie Lamborelle Norway
40 Kristine Saastad Norway
USA National Team
Team Manager; Manel Lacambra
Mechanic Rob Love
Swanee Nadia Zuccherelli:
43 Andrea Dvorrak USA
44 Amber Neben USA
45 Janel Holcomb USA
46 Jessica Phillips USA
47 Shelley Evens USA
48 Alison Starnes USA
Prime State Team - Australia
Team Manager: John Dean
49 Nicole Whitburn Australia
50 Rebecca Locke Australia
51 Carma Watson Australia
52 Irene Digenis Australia
Lotto Ladies Team
Team Manager; Benny Devcich
55 Rochelle Gilmore Australia
56 Nimesha Smith New Zealand
57 Ashleigh Moolman South Africa
58 Josephine Tomic Australia
59 Vicki Whitelaw Australia
R.A.C.E. Team - Australia
Team Manager: Kim Howard
61 Kendelle Hodges Australia
62 Liza Rachetto Australia
63 Rebecca Domange Australia
64 Emma Lawson Australia
65 Chole McConville Australia
66 Felicity Wilson Australia
Cyclosport Team
Team Manager; Eddie Bright
67 Serena Sheridan New Zealand
68 Emma Crum New Zealand
69 Tracy Best New Zealand
70 Jessica Jolly New Zealand
71 Emily Collins New Zealand
72 Jeanne Kuhajek New Zealand
Litespeed Team
Team Manager; Dean Fulton
73 Karen Fulton New Zealand
74 Lana King New Zealand
75 Emma Peterson New Zealand
76 Toni Bradshaw New Zealand
77 Josie Giddens New Zealand
78 Yvette Hill-Willis New Zealand
Mercedes Benz Team
Team Manager: Stephen Elden
79 Laura Medley Australia
80 Nikolina Orlic Australia
81 Anna Kauffmann Australia
82 Janine Copp New Zealand
Handy Rentals Team
Team Manager;
85 Naila Hassan New Zealand
86 Rachel Mercer New Zealand
87 Gayle Brownlee New Zealand
88 Sia Svendsen New Zealand
Penny Cycling team
Team Manager;
91 Tracy Clarck New Zealand
92 Chubby Hale New Zealand
93 Melanie Burke New Zealand
94 Anna Stevenson New Zealand
BP Team
Team Manager;
97 Kate Chilcott New Zealand
98 Eyelien Bekkering Netherlands
99 Kerry-Anne Torckler New Zealand
100 Genevieve Whitson New Zealand
Nashua Ladies Pro Cycling Team - Australia
Team Manager: Marcel Bengtson
Mello Boumeester
Martin Millwood
103 Amber Halliday Australia
104 Ruth Corset Australia
105 Jessie Maclean Australia
106 Cherise Taylor South Africa
107 Charlotte Van de Merve South Africa
108 Davina Summers Australia