Boels Rental Ladies Tour
We started with a 10.1km Individual Time Trial, and guess what happened?
1. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, 0:13:15.30
2. Lisa Breannauer (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, + 00:12
3. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Specialized-lululemon, + 00:24
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabobank-Liv, + 00:29
5. Ann Sophie Duyck (Bel) Belgium, + 00:30
6. Evelyn Stevens (USA) Specialized-lululemon, + 00:31
7. Lizzie Armitstead (GBr) Boels-Dolmans, + 00:35
8. Emma Johansson (Swe) ORICA-AIS, s.t.
9. Karol-Ann Canuel (Can) Specialized-lululemon, + 00:38
10. Alison Tetrick (USA) Astana-BePink, s.t.
There are some great post-stage videos - here's the short Omroep Gelderland video
and interviews from the race:
and two more - Elisa Longo Borghini, in English, and fastest club rider Henriëtte Woering.
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So what's coming next?
Serious prep for tomorrow's flat, fast, technical race in Holland. Each plate eaten adds 50 watts. Really. pic.twitter.com/rVgF1Q9u3a
— Andrea Dvorak (@DreVorak) September 2, 2014
Velofocus has a preview you should read, but basically it's going to be very hard racing, with wind, echelons, elbows and attacking - everything we love about "Dutch-style racing". Stages 2 and 3 are flat and windy, Stage 4 is in Limburg, with short climbs, Stage 5 is flat again, and Stage 6 is the traditional hilly finale. We can follow along as it happens with the race twitter and a great race ticker, and the twitter hashtag of #BRLT2014. Videos will go up on the race Youtube, photos on sportfoto.nl and the race facebook, and doubtless a ton more media on the race website and elsewhere, as we are in the Netherlands after all!
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Tour de l'Ardèche
Different kinds of attacking over in France, where it's well known for being hilly, although they started with a sprint. This race always includes a lot of mixed teams, and international teams, in case you're wondering about the startlist...
Stage 1 results are wrong on the official results - they have Tayler Wiles 3rd, but Chloe says it's her!
Evidence that it was indeed @chloe_hosking that took third behind @GiorgiaBronzini in Ardèche today (pic: @bartoli84) pic.twitter.com/4MDDxcPDfR
— Ben Atkins (@benatkins_uk) September 2, 2014
1. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda, 2:38:30
2. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Australia, s.t.
3. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Mixed Team 1, s.t.
4. Lizzie Williams (Aus) Australia, s.t.
5. Elena Kuchinskaya (Rus) RusVelo, s.t.
6. Elena Cecchini (Ita) Estado de Mexico-Faren, s.t.
7. Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo, s.t.
8. Elena Valentini (Ita) Servetto Footton, s.t.
9. Christina Malling Siggaard (Den) Denmark, s.t.
10. Daiva Tuslaite (Ltu) Lithuania, s.t.
UPDATE! Wiggle Honda video
Chloe is promising us daily blogs from this race - here's her Stage 1 blog.... Chloe in the Mountains jersey? Keep an eye on her twitter and website for more! As she says, tomorrow's a very un-Chloe day, with a 6.7km ITT in the morning, then a hilly road race in the afternoon; Stage 4 has even more climbs, Stage 5 an enormous climb and descent with extra hills towards the end and an uphill finish; Stage 6, you've guessed it, hilly, and then the final stage is more rolling, but tough! Check out all the profiles on the Velofocus preview.
Bart Hazen is out there, and tweeting from the race. There are always great stage reports on the race website, with photos and so on, and it's always great for social media, for some reason. Results will be fastest up over here.
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Please do put anything you see in the comments - and keep an eye out on what happens during the races. It's going to be a great week!