OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 – Stage 1 Preview

Jun 12
cyclical

If all goes to plan, the sprinters should have their day on the opening stage of the 2018 OVO Energy Women’s Tour. Then again, things don’t always go to plan on the opening stage: Exhibit A being Lizzie Armitstead’s horrific crash in 2015 which left us all fearing the worst.

The route

It’s a civilised 10.30am roll-out of the ancient market town of Framlingham, before a clockwise loop through the Suffolk countryside brings the riders through Ipswich and a third-category climb in Christchurch Park, on to Stowmarket, back through Framlingham, and a closing run-in to the holiday getaway town of Southwold, out on the North Sea coast.

All in all, a relatively benign 130 kilometers that barely climbs beyond 80 meters in altitude.

 

The contenders

Alé Cipollini bring a powerful team to back two of the top sprinters in the game, Commonwealth champion Chloe Hosking, and the on-fire Marta Bastianelli whose win count this season shows a woman at the top of her form. Can she hold what she had in the spring, though, or is this a chance to help Hosking ahead of the Giro d’Italia in July?

Cervélo-Bigla also have a proven sprint winner in Lotta Lepistö, who has taken some of her biggest professional steps at the Women’s Tour, breaking through in 2015 and then taking a stage win in 2016.

American speedster Coryn Rivera is a real danger, with a hugely experienced team to manoeuvre her into position, and she has a point to prove with 2018 not yet matching her stellar 2017 season.

Amalie Dideriksen could be the best bet for Boels-Dolmans, while Michelson-Scott will rely on Jolien D’Hoore’s recovery from a recently-broken collarbone for the sprint stages.

Wiggle-High5 have a drag-racing specialist in the fast-finishing Kirsten Wild, backed by the track speed of Katie Archibald and Annette Edmondson.

Cylance have another still-quick veteran in Georgia Bronzini. Virtu Cycling have Italy’s Barbara Guarischi and the powerful Dane Christina Siggaard to fly to the line.

Marianne Vos has happy memories of the Women’s Tour’s first visit to Suffolk – she took the opening stage in Bury St Edmunds in 2014, and she could be in the mix after her latest injury.

Roxanne Fournier could be in the mix for FDJ, while Canyon-SRAM are likely to look to Hannah Barnes for a sprint victory.

The prize at the end of the stage will e the first green leader’s jersey.