Three years ago, the very first edition of the Women’s Tour was launched in the very same venue as that which hosted today’s press conference. Little did the organisers, Sweetspot, know just how the race would grow over such a short time span.
Sitting in front of the camera lenses today were Boels-Dolmans team-mates Lizzie Deignan and Anna Van Der Breggen, the on red-hot form South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio for Cervelo-Bigla, and Wiggle-High5’s Elisa Longo Borghini.
It’s quite the line-up: the 2016 race podium, and the reigning Olympic and European champion who blitzed the Ardennes Classics with three stunning wins in just seven days.
Lizzie Deignan joked that the Boels-Dolmans leaders would have to fight out the race on the road, before saying that the team hadn’t held their tactical meeting yet. However, there is always a steel to the defending champion’s comments; glibly answering one question about her race ambitions, she simply said that she wants to win every event she enters. And there was barely a sideways glance at Van Der Breggen when she said that.
Van Der Breggen has the confidence of a massive spring campaign behind her, and her calm demeanour belies the drive and tactical nous she possesses. Having sacrificed her own chances in the Women’s Tour of Yorkshire at the end of April, she’s looking forward to a hard, but hopefully rewarding week. She told the press conference:
“It’s different to ride here. Last year I was really surprised by the roads. There are almost no straight roads here. I don’t know if you’ve been to Holland but there are only straight roads there! The roads go up and down all the time, it’s never flat, it’s really tough. You have to look out for everything. The stages are pretty long here, it’s going to be tough racing here for five days.”
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio told me that she’d had a slow start to the year after coming back from a horrendous injury sustained in the final race of the 2016 season.
“It was really a case of just using the experience that I have to manage my recovery and not worry about coming back too quickly.”
“This race is a good one for me, although there is not one single really big climb that I can point to. IT’s more that there is constant climbing and it’s a real race of attrition. The longer and harder the race is, the better it is for me.”
On her team: “We have a really good group of girls here this week, and we are really tight as a unit. There is so much respect for each other, and I’m very confident in the riders around me. We have some experienced riders, but the younger riders have really stepped up this year already.”
Elisa Longo Borghini told me what her strong spring and Strade Bianche win brings her: “Of course, it was great to win Strade Bianche at home, in front of my fans and family, and it gives me a lot of confidence. But you can be good in one race and then in the next race you can … flop! So, it is important to do each race as a new race.”
“This week, we have a good strong team, and we can attack all the stages, maybe more that than go for the GC.”
Race Director Mick Bennett confirmed that a request has been made to the relevant bodies to extend the event to six days, as part of his vision to see what would be a truly nationwide Tour, something that would mean a lot to racing fans across the country. The men’s tour reaches Scotland, Wales and the south-west, so why shouldn’t the women get to do the same?