These races all happen on a small alluvial island in the Yangtze river, that's connected to Shaghai by a bridge and a tunnel. The things you need to know about the island - it's pancake flat, the highest point of the race is when they ride the ramp onto the bridge. It tends to rain a LOT at this time of year - and there's generally a lot of wind that makes the race very hard. It's one for the sprinters - breaks will try to get away, and riders will be shed from the bunch, but it has always come down to a bunch sprint.
Tour of ChongMing Island Stage Race
The stage race is three stages, and the videos are really great, they'll tell the story FAR better than I can! Stage 1 is above, and there's race race report and GREAT photos by CJ Farquharson on WomensCycling.net, and stage reports from Argos-Shimano, Wiggle Honda, Hitec and ORICA-AIS.
It was won by Lucy Garner for Argos Shimano, ahead of Hitec Products' Chloe Hosking and RusVelo's Oxana Kozonchuk. Garner was stepping up into lead sprinter role, after Kirsten Wild broke her shoulder in the Omloop van Borsele - and she more than rose to the challenge. Garner is in her first elite season, after winning the Junior Road World Championships in both 2011 and 2012 - and the various photos of her win and her quotes afterwards show how delighted she was to win her first elite race.
Stage 1
1. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano, 1:47:08
2. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec Products UCK, s.t.
3. Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo, s.t.
4. Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t.
5. Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, s.t.
6. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
7. Simona Frapporti (Ita) Bepink, s.t.
8. Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Cipollini-Giordana, s.t.
9. Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France, s.t.
10. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
Stage 2
After the crashes of Stage 1, stage 2 was a much less chaotic affair - and after a two-time Junior World Champion won stage 1, Stage 2 was won by Giorgia Bronzini of Wiggle Honda - the 2010 and 2011 elite World Champ! Chloe Hosking's second place and intermediate sprint bonifications meant she kept the leader's jersey, but only by 6 seconds ahead of Nettie Edmondson...
Race report and photos on WomensCycling.net, and stage reports from Wiggle, Hitec, ORICA and Argos.
1. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda, 2:44:26
2. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec Products UCK, s.t.
3. Nettie Edmondson (Aus) ORICA-AIS, s.t.
4. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
5. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
6. Kim de Baat (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, s.t.
7. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano, s.t.
8. Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels-Dolmans, s.t.
9. Roxane Fournier (Fra) France, s.t.
10. Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo, s.t.
Stage 3
It has to be said, ORICA raced a VERY canny race, resulting in Nettie Edmondson's first road win. Edmondson is a young track superstar, and her rivalry with Laura Trott and the GB Team Pursuit squad has been part of the fun of the last few track seasons.
1. Nettie Edmondson (Aus) ORICA-AIS, 1:58:09
2. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
3. Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t.
4. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, s.t.
5. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda, s.t.
6. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano, s.t.
7. Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, s.t.
8. Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France, s.t.
9. Roxane Fournier (Fra) France, s.t.
10. Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Wiggle Honda, s.t.
Stage report and photos on WomensCycling.net - and on ORICA-AIS and Argos.
Final General Classification
1. Nettie Edmondson (Aus) ORICA-AIS, 6:29:26
2. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec Products UCK, + 00:01
3. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano, + 00:17
4. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda, s.t.
5. Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, + 00:19
6. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, + 00:21
7. Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo, + 00:23
8. Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, + 00:25
9. Amy Pieters (Ned) Argos-Shimano, s.t.
10. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland, + 00:26
Edmondson's win - and Hosking ending in 12th, meant that Edmondson had won the GC by just 1 second. It was a beautiful podium - when Hosking won this race in 2009, it was her first big win - and this it was the first elite GC podium for both Edmondson and Garner. And it set up a very interesting competition for the World Cup...
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Tour of ChongMing Island World Cup
The race will take place on the same roads as the stage race - and while we don't know what the course will be, it's likely to be two laps of a course that includes going over the bridge and back through the Yangtsze tunnel. Read Monty's preview of the race from 2011 - that'll tell you all you need to know - or you can read ORICA-AIS' Melissa Hoskins' race preview. It will come down to a bunch sprint, though...
Implications for the World Cup
CyclingFever’s startlist is probably the best for the World Cup – and note, no World Cup leader Marianne Vos... That doesn’t mean that anyone will overtake her in the current World Cup standings – after Flèche, she has 249 points, with Ellen van Dijk, who’s not there either, in second on 159. It’s 75 points for the winner of each WC race, 50 for 2nd and 35 for 3rd, 30 for 4th, then 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 11 for 10th, then 1 point increments down to 20th – so while this could be good for Emma Johansson (currently 4th in the rankings on 147) and Elisa Longo Borghini (3rd, on 155), and they could both overtake Van Dijk, it is more about the ongoing narrative of the competition, rather than changing things too much at the top.
How to follow the race
Following the race live is hard, because of the Chinese internet restrictions, but Anton Vos is out there, and Hitec manager Karl Lima has been tweeting live updates – and you can try my live race update twitter list. And Cyclingcn.com is covering the race. And of course, after the race all of the people who had information on the Stage Race will have info about the race, we’ll make a post right here, with the video.... It's going to be exciting times - here's to a safe, exciting, sprinty race!