The 2011 Women’s World Cup comes to its somewhat premature end with the Grand Prix Plouay this Saturday. The 114.6km race, arguably the toughest round of the season-long series, will be run over six laps of a hilly 19.1km circuit, based on the cycling-mad Breton village that played host to the 2000 World Championships.
The previous two editions of the race have been won by World time trial champion Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervélo); the first, in 2009, after a long solo break and last year’s with an attack on the final lap. The former British champion has headed an identical podium on both occasions, with Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) outsprinting Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK) both times as a very select group tried, and failed, to catch Pooley.
With the season had by those three riders so far in 2011, it would take a brave gambler to bet against a third consecutive Pooley, Vos, Johansson podium this time.
A Nederland Bloeit rider WILL win the World Cup
Since Pooley’s victory in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Cittiglio, Italy, back in March, the World Cup has been dominated by the Nederland Bloeit team. Annemiek van Vleuten – emerging as so much more than a powerful lieutenant to Vos – won the Ronde van Vlaanderen, which, added to her second place in Cittiglio, gave her the lead in the competition, and the team has held it ever since.
Vos then won the Ronde van Drenthe, in the Netherlands, followed by her fourth victory in la Flèche Wallonne, taking the jersey from van Vleuten. With the 24-year-old sitting out the Chongming Island round in China, fourth place for van Vleuten, behind über-sprinter Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad) – saw her take it back; only for Vos to retake it with her victory in the GP Cuidad de Valladolid in Spain.
Nederland Bloeit could only manage fifth, behind HTC-Highroad, in the GP de Suede Vårgårda team time trial, but the result had little effect on the individual standings. Van Vleuten promptly won the Swedish road race two days later though, and with Vos sitting up to celebrate her teammate’s win, van Vleuten took the jersey back again.
Van Vleuten’s lead over Vos is just seven points going into Saturday’s race, with 287 points to 280; the winner of the series will be one of these two riders, with Vos the likely favourite on a course that really suits her. The next rider in the classification is Johansson, on 212, and with 75 points for a victory, the Swedish champion can mathematically only tie with van Vleuten – if van Vleuten finished outside the top twenty and Vos were to finish 15th or worse – and, even in that event, the Dutchwoman would win anyway since she would have two race victories to Johansson’s one.
Can Emma Pooley make it three in a row?
Supporting Pooley will be another two-time Plouay winner in Noemi Cantele. The Italian champion took the 2005 and 2007 editions of the race, also from breakaways, and can always be relied upon to attack wherever possible. Behind the two former winners will be the strong British trio of Lizzie Armitstead, Sharon Laws and Lucy Martin, with powerful Dutch rouleur Iris Slappendel.
Vos and van Vleuten will lead Nederland Bloeit as usual, with a powerful team behind them made up of Sarah Düster, Loes Gunnewijk, Janneke Kanis and Marieke van Wanroij. Either Vos and van Vleuten could potentially win the race but, with the World Cup at stake, either might defer to the other; with riders like Pooley to contend with though, the team may have trouble dictating the race.
Of the teams of last year’s three podium finishers, Johansson’s is probably the weakest, but what it lacks in power it makes up for in dedication to the Swedish champion. It has also been strengthened in the second half of the season by the addition of Australian Tiffany Cromwell. The Norwegian outfit will be buoyed with confidence after back-to-back stage wins for Johansson and Emilie Moberg in the recent Trophee d'Or.
HTC-Highroad will, as usual, field one of the strongest teams in what will be its final World Cup race in its current form. The squad’s German contingent will be to the fore as usual, although Teutenberg will sit the race out, with last year’s fourth place Judith Arndt leading. With her will be compatriot Charlotte Becker, who was sixth in 2010, while riding for Pooley’s Cervélo TestTeam. The other four riders in the team will be Americans, in the shape of last year’s fifth place Evelyn Stevens, 2008 World time trial champion Amber Neben, with Amanda Miller and Ally Stacher.
MCipollini-Giambenini is another team boasting two previous winners in 2008 World and Olympic champion Nicole Cooke, the winner of the 2003 edition – and of the junior women’s road race at the 2000 Worlds – and Fabiana Luperini, who won in 2008. Elsewhere, the Italian team is bristling with former champions, with 2009 World champion Tatiana Guderzo, two-time Italian champion Monia Baccaille, two time Swiss champion Jennifer Hohl, and former junior World champion Rosella Callovi.
Other likely contenders include Tatiana Antoshina (Gauss); second to van Vleuten in Flanders, the former Russian champion took the overall Trophee d’Or last week to add to her recent second place in the Tour du Limousin and fifth in the Giro d’Italia. The powerful Dutch AA Drink-Leontien.nl team brings super-sprinter Kirsten Wild, as well as developing Dutch prodigy Chantal Blaak and the experienced Trixi Worrack.
Riders to look out for include Ruth Corset (Bizkaia-Durango), fifth here in 2009, World champion Giorgia Bronzini (Colavita-Forno d’Asolo), 2010 Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Grace Verbeke (Topsport Vlaanderen 2012-Ridley), Olga Zabelinskaya and Shelley Olds (Diadora-Pasta Zara), and Elena Berlato (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo).
By the end of the race, either Annemiek van Vleuten will be celebrating hier first World Cup title, or Marianne Vos will be celebrating her fourth.