The Event
The women’s road race, the end to what has been a fantastic year of racing for the women’s peloton what has benefited from far more constructive and insightful race planning as well as steadily improving coverage from TV broadcasts who can and should do better still.
The Course
Eight laps of the Bergen circuit.
Starts with the entry through a tunnel which will be well lit, lasting about 200m. There’s then nearly 2km before the first proper climb, which comes at Solheimsviken which goes for 500m, and then 5km into the course, there’s a 1km climb that goes up at 5%.
The road drops, before we then hit the most serious part of the course, Mount Ulriken (or Salmon Hill). The first 500m are 7.8% and there is then a kilometre at 6%, before the descent back into the city centre. This is an intensely technical descent that twists and turns all the way into Konstrad, and the roads that then follow into Bergen are all rolling roads.
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The last 5 kilometres go to the seafront and then back again, although much of the road is well protected so it’s hard to imagine winds playing a big role unless the conditions are seriously turbulent. They are, however, very technical once again.
The 700 metres stretch from Kong Oskarsgate (Kong Oscar Street) to halfway down Øvregaten (High Street) is cobbled. There is then a succession of curved corners that constantly turn, before a complete hairpin.
The finish is made very technical by a sharp left and then right before a flat-out sprint to the finish line.
The Winner
Will have a quick sprint but plenty of stamina, and be an excellent descender too. Team strength in depth is a major bonus here.
The Contenders
This is a tough course, but the second half of the circuit lends itself towards those with big finishing kicks unless the race becomes a severe war of attrition.
Who can stop the Dutch? Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vlueten, Anna van der Breggen and Ellen van Dijk make for a frightening combination and they also have the most tactical options of any squad. However, which ones they choose to use are an unknown to all and it will be very interesting to see who is the first choice.
Vos took the European Road Championships and should take the beating, but it is clear that Van Vleuten is the world’s in form rider at the moment. Having recovered from her dire crash at the Olympics, she has won two stages of the Giro Rosa, La Course on the Col d'Izoard, the Boels Rental Ladies Tour in Belgium and then the time trial here when she managed to beat Van der Breggen into second. Her best chance would appear to be a tougher race, but she s in such fine form she can sprint for the victory. van der Breggen would probably want a tougher course, as would Van Dijk, but both will play an important part.
Julien D’Hoore took the Madrid Challenge and a stage at the Lotto Belgium Tour along with a second. She would have to rate her chances of going well here over a course that suits perfectly. Lizzie Deginan has done well just to get here given her appendix issue and she did win the GP de Plouay in taking style.
Italy are most likely to come in for Giorgia Bronzini, the double World Champion who was sixth at the Madrid Challenge recently. Amalie Dideriksen is he prodigious defending Champion who slipped out of Kristen Wild’s slipstream to take the race last year in Doha. This race might not suit the pair of them so much but they would have big chances in a bunch kick.
Coryn Rivera took a wet sprint in the Prudential London Classic when showing a great kick to get the better of Lotte Lepisto, and she took the Tour of Flanders earlier in the year to boot. Roxane Fournier was eighth in London but fourth at the European Championships and then third at the Madrid Challenge, and is likely to be a good option for France who also have Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, a former World Champion who has raced very sparingly this season.
A World Title is a matter of time for Katarzyna Niewiadoma, whose solo win at the OVO Energy Tour of Britain was one of the rides of the season. A similar effort will be harder with so much attention but this course suits and she’s a fantastic descender.
Don’t discount Strade Bianche-winner Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) or Women’s WorldTour winner Megan Guarnier.
