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Trofeo Alfredo Binda
It's the new course for Binda, and I'd say it's got harder. A run in from Laveno Mombello to Cittiglio, then a loop with a significant climb, back to Cittiglio and four laps with a long climb, technical descent and uphill finish. It's apparently lovely weather in Italy, unlike last year's frozen eyeball territory, and it's always a great race.
There will be a live ticker in Italian on Tuttobici, the race twitter is excellent, people are using the #TrBinda hashtag to tweet about it and I've set up my twitter-list full of accounts to follow that will be tweeting from team cars, roadside and other places. The race starts at 13:30, and should finish around 16:45.
There will be an hour of highlights on RAI Sport 2 on 30th March - the schedule says it'll be on at 22:40 CEST, but the race says it's 21:00, so check before you look (if you're not in Europe, remember our timezones have changed!) and there'll be a short highlights video on the UCI youtube within 24 hours of the race, and 26 minutes within a week.
I interviewed Emma Johansson about Binda, Flanders and more - listen to it as a podcast, or read it right here. My prediction is for Emma to win this one!
ORICA-AIS' preview of the race with Q&A with the team, Jens' article on this week's racing, preview on Velofocus, course map, startlist
Tweets from https://twitter.com/_pigeons_/women-s-race-tweeting
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Trofeo Da Moreno
Before the World Cup, there's something really cool - a race for junior women, 62.3km, the same starting run-in as the elite women, then four laps of the same smaller loop. Can you imagine how fantastic it must be for the juniors to be racing on the same roads as the superstars? The races starts at 09:30 and finishes at 11:30, and the Trofeo Binda twitter should tweet a lot about it.
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Gent-Wevelgem
While the climbers are in Binda, the sprinters are racing in Belgium. The course is 121km and starts in Ieper, taking in the Kemelberg and Molenberg twice and the Baneberg once, using the same loop through that section as the men, and then the same run-in into Wevelgem.
If we're lucky, we might get to see a clip or two of the race on the men's feed - don't hold your breath though - and hopefully there'll be video after the race, too. It starts at 12:25 CEST and should finish around 15:20 - and my twitter list will hopefully have updates for this one too.
Jens' article on this week's racing, preview on Velofocus, startlist
Prediction: Kirsten Wild all the way!
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We'll be talking about the race in the comments, and please do join in. We're a friendly bunch, and if you're new to the Café, or to women's racing, we'd love your company. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and there are a ton of people here who love to answer anything, because we really love the sport - please join us!