Races
Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, that joyous old race of breakaways, beer and teddy bears.
Plus a mixed bag of one-dayers: two through the Breton lanes and gravel (Classique Morbihan and GP Plumelec) and a third in the USA (Winston-Salem Cycling Classic).
Coverage
Ah, how we’ve been spoiled so far this season! Here it was back to old school ticker plus twitter and Facebook updates for Thüringen, plus helpful regional tv stage summaries [scroll down]. Volksfeststimmung much in evidence. Thüringen is a fun, well-organised race with an entertaining parcours, its own traditions and great local support. TotW would love to be able to see more of it.
Pas grande chose for the Breton races. Even tweets seemed to be a bit of a struggle.
Winston-Salem had a live stream but, alas, TotW was asleep.
Riders
- Kathrin Hammes: Thüringen was shaped by a first stage breakaway containing all the strongest teams that finished with a seven minute lead over the peloton. When stage 1 leader Barbara Guarischi dropped back on the next day’s climbs, WNT’s Hammes took over the yellow jersey, securing the GC win with a fine TT performance which just held off Sunweb’s Pernille Mathiesen. Somewhat unexpectedly, rider of the week.
- Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig [3]: Alas, we didn’t get to see her celebrations, but Uttrup got her first win of the season—first win for quite a while, in fact—at GP Plumelec, succeeding her erstwhile teammate Ashleigh Moolman. No longer the highest VDS point-scorer without a win. (Amy Pieters inherits that position.)
- Christine Majerus [2]: After solid, podium-skimming performances at Yorkshire and Elsy Jacobs, finally got a win on the Classique Morbihan gravel, a repeat of her victory there two years ago.
- Vita Heine: The unusual race situation at Thüringen forced riders who might have expected to compete for GC into stage-hunting instead. Cecchini, Klein and Bastianelli all won stages from breaks. Hitec’s Heine, who’s having a great season so far, was perhaps a more typical attacking winner. Her victory on the legendary Hankaberg—named in honour of former rider Hanka Kupfernagel, who comes from the area—was TotW’s favourite of the week.
- Ellen van Dijk [2]: Won her second consecutive Thüringen TT stage, and by a margin over second-placed Lisa Brennauer that last year would have been enough to win her the overall.
- Pernille Mathiesen: Couldn’t quite make her TT strength tell enough to overhaul Hammes on the Thüringen GC, but still finished second and claimed the U23 jersey.
Honourable mentions
Lourdes Oyarbide also survived from the first stage winning break to make it through to the final step of the Thüringen GC podium. Sarah Rijkes, as so often this season, worked endlessly on the front in defence of her teammate Hammes’s overall lead. Leigh Ganzar won the Winston-Salem Classic, attacking solo from a small group then holding off the chasing Chloe Dygert and Arlenis Sierra, which is no mean feat.
Team of the Week
Bigla dominated GP Plumelec, winning for the third year running, this time with Uttrup Ludwig. Both Virtu (Guarischi and Bastianelli) and Canyon-SRAM (Klein and Cecchini) won two stages each in Thüringen. But WNT-Motor get the prize—yet again—for their iron grip on the Thüringen GC. You wouldn’t want to mess with them, either.
Furrowed brow of the week
Sadly, Ellen van Dijk’s pleasure at winning another Thüringen TT was undercut by the theft of her road bike from a supposedly secure hotel room where race bikes were being stored. Police are investigating.
And another thing
Van Dijk’s repeat TT victory put in focus the lack of time trials on the Women’s World Tour. Giro apart, all the main opportunities come in second tier races: Thüringen, Elsy Jacobs, Healthy Ageing Tour, Gracia Orlová etc. Bira dropped its TT this year, and the newly-expanded Women’s Tour hasn’t seen fit to include one. This strikes TotW as a bit of an issue, which the UCI should probably address as they develop plans for the future of the WWT. As Saul points out, some riders may not have had a chance to race a TT before national championships begin.
Breaking news of the week
Comes to something when we need the president of the UCI to notify us of a race result in person…
FSA DS
Only one team, mpena6’s Raw Dogs, was clever enough to pick Kathrin Hammes. Glorious overall victory at Thüringen, however, goes to eetteri’s Hammer & Nails, with Mathiesen, Guarischi, Rivera, Lippert and Cecchini. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig’s Breton success keeps Bethinho’s Bethinhas top of the league.
Draft
Awaiting updates. Kurt, however, has Kathrin Hammes. And Christine Majerus. Vlady—yes, Vlady—has Pernille Mathiesen. No one has Lourdes Oyarbide.
WWT Predictor
On hiatus until the Women’s Tour (starts 10 June). Look out for that start list filling up…