The 2013 Lotto-Belisol Belgium Tour in videos and links

Stage 1: The Team Time Trial, 19.75km

What usually happens when the women's peloton race a TTT?

1.   Specialized-lululemon (Ellen van Dijk, Lisa Brennauer, Carmen Small, Trixi Worrack, Evelyn Stevens & Tayler Wiles), 0:25:39
2.   ORICA-AIS (Nettie Edmondson, Emma Johansson, Loes Gunnewijk & Gracie Elvin) + 00:35
3.   Tibco (Lauren Stephens, Jasmin Glaesser, Chantal Blaak, Shelley Olds) + 01:22
4.   Hitec Products UCK (Rossella Ratto, Elisa Longo Borghini, Chloe Hosking, Emilie Moberg) + 01:29
5.   Argos-Shimano (Amy Pieters, Kirsten Wild, Floortje Mackay & Esra Tromp) + 01:31
6.   Sengers (Vera Koedooder, Julia Soek, Evelyn Arys & Sofie de Vuyst) + 01:36
7.   Lotto Belisol (Carlee Taylor, Marijn de Vries, Celine van Severen, Ann-Sophie Duyck & Jolien d’Hoore) + 01:44
8.   Cyclelive Plus-Zannata (Latoya Brulee, Annelies van Doorslaer, Annelies Dom & Monique van de Ree) + 01:54
9.   Belgian National Team (Liesbet de Vocht, Sanne Cant, Ellen van Loy & Lotte Kopecky) + 01:57
10. Topsport Vlaanderen (Kelly Druyts, Jessy Druyts, Stephanie de Croock, Anisha Vekemans, Else Belmans & Roten Gafinovitz) + 02:11

Full results, report and photos on womenscycling.net, photos on CJfoto, photos on the Lotto Cycling Club website and ORICA Q&A about the stage with DS Dave McPartland

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Stage 2: Omloop Angreau, 110.16km

9 laps of a 12.24km circuit - with 2 "climbs" of no more than 40m each.  So basically, sprinty!  It's so good to see Kirsten Wild back on top form.

1.   Kirsten Wild (Ned) Argos-Shimano, 3:21:27, + 10" bonifications
2.   Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t., + 6"
3.   Rossella Ratto (Ita) Hitec Products UCK, s.t., + 4"
4.   Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen, s.t.
5.   Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Specialized-lululemon, s.t.
6.   Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, s.t.
7.   Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Belgium, s.t.
8.   Thalita de Jong (Ned) Mix 2 Autoglas Wetteren-Rabobank, s.t.
9.   Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, s.t.
10. Christina Siggard (Nor) Rytger Cycling Team, s.t.

Results, report and photos on womenscycling.net, photos on CJfoto, photos on the Lotto Cycling Club website, Argos Shimano report and ORICA report.

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Stage 3: Omloop Nijlen, 115.12km

1 loop of 13.69km followed by 17x 14.49km laps - all flat....  and Wild isn't just back, she's back with a vengeance!  Nice to see Lisa Brennauer in the yellow leader's jersey after the stage, too.

1.   Kirsten Wild (Ned) Argos-Shimano, 2:45:23, + 10" bonifications
2.   Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, s.t., + 6"
3.   Nettie Edmondson (Aus) ORICA-AIS, s.t., + 4"
4.   Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen, s.t.
5.   Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, s.t.
6.   Jolien d’Hoore (Bel) Lotto Belisol, s.t.
7.   Liesbet de Vocht (Bel) Belgium, s.t.
8.   Kim de Baat (Ned) Boels Dolmans, s.t.
9.   Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec Products UCK, s.t.
10. Kaat van de Meulen (Bel) Belgium, s.t.

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Stage 4: Omloop Geraardsbergen

This was the Queen Stage, and a beautiful, difficult parcours, the perfect end for a race. 1 lap of 26.19, then 1 of 19.17 and 2 of 19.57 - with Oude Steenweg in the first lap and that icon of the Belgian Classics, the Kapelmuur and Oude Steenweg again in those last two.

Stage 4

1.   Nettie Edmondson (Aus) ORICA-AIS, 2:20:05, + 10" bonifications
2.   Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t. + 6"
3.   Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Specialized-lululemon, + 4"
4.   Rossella Ratto (Ita) Hitec Products UCK, + 00:03
5.   Amy Pieters (Ned) Argos Shimano, s.t.
6.   Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, s.t.
7.   Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen, + 00:06
8.   Thalita de Jong (Ned) Mix 2 Autoglas Wetteren-Rabobank, s.t.
9.   Kaat Hannes (Bel) Lotto Belisol, s.t.
10. Sofie de Vuyst (Bel) Mix 1 Sengers-Bizkaia, s.t.

The photos show how hard it was - and huge congratulations to Nettie Edmondson, winning her first European stage on such a day!  Look how happy she is, in the ORICA race report photos, and in the English interview at the end of the interview.  Massive congratulations, too, to Ellen van Dijk, who rode hard to win the overall GC - if Brennauer had to surrender the GC jersey to anyone, I know she'll be genuinely happy to hand it to a team-mate.

Final General Classification

1.   Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Specialized-lululemon, 8:26:51
2.   Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, + 00:07
3.   Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, + 00:27
4.   Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) ORICA-AIS, + 01:05
5.   Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, + 01:29
6.   Amy Pieters (Ned) Argos Shimano, + 01:38
7.   Sofie de Vuyst (Bel) Mix 1 Sengers-Bizkaia, + 01:46
8.   Rossella Ratto (Ita) Hitec Products UCK, + 01:47
9.   Chantal Blaak (Ned) Tibco, + 01:55
10. Celine van Severen (Bel) Lotto Belisol, + 01:57

Van Dijk really has upped her climbing skills this year, and is having an amazing season....  will she finish it with a gold in the ITT World Championships?

Congratulations are also due to Sofie de Vuyst for winning the overall Lotto Cycling Cup series, for Sengers.

Full results on the Lotto Cup site - stage & GC and overall series jerseys. Report and photos on womenscycling.net, photos on CJfoto, photos on the Lotto Cycling Club website.

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UPDATE!! Sylvan told us about this in the comments, and I enjoyed it so much, I had to edit it in.  I can’t imagine what it’s like when the first European race a rider’s experienced is something like this race – but luckily I don’t have to, because there’s a great blog by Canadian Anika Todd, all about how that feels.  Here’s to it being the first of many, Anika tells a great story!  Follow her blog and twitter.

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The Lotto Cycling Cup races are all filmed by the excellent Motomedia Team - to see other races in the series, visit their vimeo account, or their youtube - and for all the information about the other races in the Lotto Cycling Cup, look on their excellent website, in Dutch, French and English.