The white roads, which we’re promised will be dry and dusty this year as opposed to 2018’s cloying mud, herald the start of the Women’s World Tour for 2019. Anna van der Breggen, the reigning world champion, will be back to defend a title she won in glorious solo isolation.
The women’s peloton faces eight gravel sectors comprising 31.4 kilometers of ever-increasing agony, almost a quarter of the 136-kilometer race which twists and turns across the Tuscan countryside.
The route
Sector 1 comes after the opening 18 kilometers from Siena. More or less straight, and downhill, this is a relatively benign introduction which lasts for 2.1 kiometers.
Sector 2 (5.8 kilometers) is a major test, descending at first before ramps of over 10% begin to bite.
After passing through Radi, Sector 3 is quickly followed by “La Piana”, an iconic sector over five kilometers in length and a feature on every edition so far, even if the gradients aren’t too severe as the race heads for Buonconvento.
Sector 5, San Martino in Grani, comes in at almost six miles, through the Crete Senesi. Continuouslt rising and falling, it features a final corkscrewing ascent to join the tarmac.
Coming after Castelnuovo Berardenga are 300 meters of flat gravel before Sector 6 which comes after Monteaperti. Less than a kilometer long, but fearsomely steep, it presents a huge barrier before the riders find some relief at Vico d’Arbia and Pieve a Bozzone.
Sector 7 (2.4 kilometers) sees the race ascend toward Colle Pinzuto, with gradients up to 15%. The final gravel is Sector 8, just over one kilometer in length, with technical descents and a steep 18% climb to Tolfe.
This is a launchpad for attacks as the riders prepare for the final 12-kilometer run to the iconic finish in Siena’s Piazza del Campo via those leg-ripping ramps of double-digit gradients.
The contenders
As ever, the world champion Anna van der Breggen is a hot favorite, even if she is still feeling her way into the season. She’ll be backed by Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Chantal Blaak, and Jip van den Bos who took GP Le Samyn des Dames in mid-week.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio leads CCC-Liv, and is surely capable of a signature win given her climbing prowess, and the team welcomes Marianne Vos back to the road, backed by a strong pack of domestiques.
Annemiek Van Vleuten, like van der Breggen, claims not to be in flying form but she was fourth at Het Nieuwsblad last week off the back of a stint training with the Michelton-Scott men’s team. If everyone else is watching her, then the cards may fall for Lucy Kennedy who looked strong last weekend.
Bigla will be headed by Cecille Uttrup Ludwig, another rider with the climbing prowess to make a difference, and FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope will have Shara Gillow as their likely go-to rider, someone who was at the sharp end of the race last year.
2017 winner Elisa Longo Borghini is missing with flu, so Trek-Segafredo will have a team of freelancers, essentially chasing their own opportunities. This might open things up for Audrey Cordon-Ragot.
Lourdes Oyarbide is among the Movistar climbers who could score a top result; Malgorzata Jaskinska has been riding strongly already this season and has the capacity to make a long-range breakaway stick.
Kasia Niewiadoma will lead the line for Canyon-SRAM, a former podium finisher previously, and although she might not be the rider on paper who first springs to mind, there is nothing to say Elena Cecchini can’t be in the mix.
WNT-Rotors have Valenciana winner Clara Koppenburg is form, and Alison Jackson is an outsider for Team Tibco. Sunweb have a powerful line-up headed by Lucinda Brand.