SPRINTER SHINES ON STAGE ONE OF THE ASDA WOMEN’S TOUR DE YORKSHIRE, BUT VOS-SING IT! MARIANNE WINS THE OVERALL 2019 ASDA TOUR DE YORKSHIRE WOMEN’S RACE
Press Release – Round Up, Images Chris Maher.
Barnsley To Bedale
It was a stage for the sprinters and, unlike their male counterparts in yesterday’s TDY stage, the peloton refused to let the break steal the limelight and a bunch sprint saw Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg CT) cross the line ahead of Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) and Alison Jackson (Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank).
A rainy start to the day did nothing to dampen spirits in Barnsley as hosts of fans gathered to see some of the world’s best female cycling talent take to the start line of the Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire.
The race saw its strongest field to date with the top two riders in the UCI World Tour rankings Annemiek van Vleuten and Marianne Vos ready to tackle the General Classification.
The extremely talented field also hosts domestic and world talent with eyes on the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries Blue leader’s jersey and it is hard to pick an out and out favourite.
Anna van der Breggen, fresh from her record-equalling fifth consecutive victory in La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, will be one to watch and don’t rule out home favourite Lizzie Deignan, who may say she is here looking to get more kilometres into her legs ahead of the UCI Road World Championships in September, but will definitely have one eye on taking back the Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s title that she last held in 2017.
The race rolled out of Barnsley at a steady pace and as the riders approached the first intermediate sprint at Pontefract 20km in, the bunch was still together with Susanne Andersen (Team Sunweb), Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) and Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) all taking points.
There were plenty of attempts to break after this point with none gaining too much traction as a strong peloton retained control, Sheffield’s Lizzy Banks (Bigla) was looking active and after a couple of attempts managed to break with serious effort to gain a 2-minute lead over the bunch as Leah Dixon (Brother-Tifosi p/b On Form) rode on to join her.
It would be Banks who would take the only Queen of the Mountains points of the day, resulting in her gaining the LNER Red QOM jersey.
Just before the Harrogate Circuit, a key feature on the UCI Road World Championships route this coming September, four riders joined the break.
Kelly Murphy (Storey-Racing), Ingrid Lorvik (Hitec Products-Birk Sport), Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Valcar Cylance Cycling) and Lauren Kitchen (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futoroscope) all rode on to contest the next sprint in Harrogate. Kitchen took the spoils here ahead of Confalonieri and Lorvik.
The gap out of Harrogate was at just 37 seconds and the peloton started to ride aggressively to reel in the break. Trek-Segafredo made eye-catching moves with Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Tayler Wiles and Lizzie Deignan all offering big pushes for their team.
Lauren Kitchen in the break held on to take the Black Sheep Straight section of the race, winning her height in beer but it was here original break partner Leah Dixon who took the Dimension Data Digital Jersey.
As the race came into Bedale, the break was caught and although the Barnes sisters from CANYON//SRAM pushed from the front it was Parkhotel Valkenburg’s Lorena Wiebes who would sprint on to take the stage win.
Stage 2 Bridlington To Scarborough
The world’s best riders put on a show on the final stage of the Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race today as a rider with a palmares longer than today’s stage won the 2019 race.
Mariana Vos showed the world that she is still an unreal force in women’s cycling with a convincing victory into Scarborough in front of great crowds.
Sign on in Bridlington was greeted by all seasons and at a time when wind, rain and hail hit the stage, Kelly Murphy (Storey Racing), involved in the breakaway in stage one offered some advice for the race: “You can ride through anything, it’s just mind over matter.”
It was a day for attacks and the first came from Canyon-Sram’s Alice Barnes who pulled away with around a 12 second advantage. It wasn’t to hold but did breed more attacks from a number of different riders, including the Queen of the Mountains jersey holder, and Yorkshire native, Lizzy Banks (Bigla).
From an attack, Banks went on to take the sprint points at the Harwood Dale intermediate sprint, ahead of GC leader Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv).
As the race wound its way towards the descent into Robin Hood’s Bay, World Champion and race favourite Anna van der Breggen timed an attack perfectly to break away and flew up the Cote de Hooks House Farm climb too to go level with Lizzy Banks in the QOM classification.
Home favourite, and former race winner, Lizzie Deignan tried to match the attack and went after van der Breggen and a chase group rode on to join her as the peloton began to panic and stretch out as they attempted to reel the world champion in.
A huge effort up the climb at Lythe Bank saw the pursuing group join van der Breggen that saw around 8 riders at the head of the race. Things didn’t calm down here though as Mavi Garcia (Movistar) attacked and gained a 31 second advantage ahead of the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote de Grosmont, where she took all the points.
Garcia also crested the final climb of the day at Ugglebarnby to take pole position in the QOM competition before Vos and Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini); 12 seconds ahead of a chasing trio of Hannah Barnes (Canyon-Sram), Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) and Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans).
Majerus, known for being a super domestique, seemed to offer a threat to Vos, who decided to push on alone but it wasn’t long until Paladin, who was riding off the front the whole time, reeled her in.
Hannah Barnes looked threatening at this point as she was sitting in the pursuing group exerting little energy as the front group pushed on. The old adage, as ITV4 commentator Ned Boulting remarked, goes ‘look out for those doing the least amount of work’ but it was not a slight, rather a compliment on the smarts of the Canyon-Sram rider.
However, it became evident that the three riders at the front would not be caught and, despite the headwinds causing great distress in the final few kilometres, a sprint ensued and it was CCC-Liv’s Vos who took the stage win and the overall title to be crowned Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race champion 2019.
Although not a race win for Lizzie Deignan, it was clear that the ride helped with the Otley native’s training for the upcoming world championships and after helping to thin out the field earlier on in the race with a strong attacking performance, the former winner was voted the most active rider sponsored by Dimension Data in a live Twitter poll @letouryorkshire.
Jersey Holders after Stage One
Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries GC Jersey: Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg)
LNER Queen of the Mountains Jersey: Lizzy Banks (Bigla)
Asda Points Jersey: Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg)
Dimension Data Most Active Jersey: Leah Dixon (Brother-Tifosi p/b On Form)
Race Winner Marianne Vos said afterwards:
“I was nervous coming into the final because I didn’t know what power I had left in my legs after such a hard stage but to finish it off was incredible. I’m really happy to win here and the crowds in the last few days have been fantastic. Like us, the spectators have braved some bad weather over the last two days but they have always cheered us on. It’s been a very good race.”
Dimension Data jersey winner Lizzie Deignan said afterwards:
“Marianne is a phenomenal rider and thoroughly deserves this win because she rode it very smartly, so congratulations to her. This has been another fantastic race and the whole women’s peloton is incredibly grateful for the support we have received from the organisers. This is a top-class race and I’m looking forward to returning in September for the World Championships.”
General Classification after Stage 2
1 31 VOS Marianne CCC NED 7h34’27” 00″
2 91 GARCIA CAÑELLAS Margarita victo MOV ESP 7h34’34” 07″
3 123 PALADIN Soraya ALE ITA 7h34’36” 09″
4 5 MAJERUS Christine DLT LUX 7h35’55” 01’28”
5 25 SPRATT Amanda MTS AUS 7h36’02” 01’35”
6 62 BRENNAUER Lisa WNT GER 7h36’17” 01’50”
7 82 ARZUFFI Alice maria VAL ITA 7h36’41” 02’14”
8 41 BARNES Hannah CSR GBR 7h36’46” 02’19”
9 131 BANKS Elizabeth BIG GBR 7h37’03” 02’36”
10 51 LIPPERT Liane SUN GER 7h37’17” 02’50”
11 144 HEINE Vita HPU NOR 7h37’27” 03’00”
12 4 PIETERS Amy DLT NED 7h37’48” 03’21”
13 101 JACKSON Alison TIB CAN 7h38’26” 03’59”
14 73 FAHLIN Emilia FDJ SWE 7h38’30” 04’03”
15 116 VOLLERING Demi PHV NED
16 83 BALSAMO Elisa VAL ITA
17 54 LABOUS Juliette SUN FRA
18 53 GEORGI Pfeiffer SUN GBR
19 21 VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek MTS NED
20 12 CORDON RAGOT Audrey TFS FRA
Jersey Holders after Stage Two
Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries GC Jersey: Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv)
LNER Queen of the Mountains Jersey: Mavi Garcia (Movistar)
Asda Points Jersey: Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans)
Dimension Data Most Active Jersey: Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo)
