# Giro Donne/Giro d'Italia Femminile 2009



## Skip Madness (2 Jul 2009)

The biggest race on the women's calendar starts tomorrow (Friday 3rd July) in Tuscany. Here is a thread where we can follow and talk about it.

The prologue is in Scarperia, and consists of a 2.5km loop around the town with an essentially flat profile. Linda Villumsen has been imperious over these distances this season so look for her to take the first maglia rosa.

Stage one is interesting. There are two climbs which aren't categorised, but really ought to be. The first is a gentle rise over 7km about two-thirds of the way through, but the second is up to the finish in Pratolino di Vaglia. It is 1.7km long and averages 8.2%, and appears steep enough not just to upset the sprinters, but for the major favourites to steal a handful of seconds from each other. It's not dissimilar to the opening stage of last year's men's Tour, and is well-suited to a rider like Judith Arndt:






Stage two provides no rest for the GC contenders, as it dishes up the race's "long" (that word being used relatively, as with other recent editions of this race) time trial - 13.5km against the clock. The parcours is mostly unnoteworthy, although the final kilometre up to Santa Maria a Monte provides a little kick. This will be a good opportunity for Amber Neben to take advantage of.

By stage three, the sprinters will be getting really pissed off at the absence of opportunities (the first three road stages of last year's race were all flat). That will continue with the race's queen stage, a re-run of last year's stage to Monte Serra. The mountain is climbed twice from different sides - first up to the Prato a Ceragiola (8.4km at 7.0%, first-category) and later up to the finish at the Prato a Calci (10.7km at 6.6%, second-category but should really be first). Claudia Haüsler, Fabiana Luperini, Edita Pucinskaite, Amber Neben and Nicole Brändli will all like the look of this:





Stage four sees the sprinters breathing a sigh of relief, with a 109km stage that should provide Ina Teutenberg, Kirsten Wild, Regina Schleicher, Giorgia Bronzini and friends with their first cast-iron opportunity in Porto Sant'Elpidio.

Stage five serves up a gradual 90km ascent from sea level to 1000m before a descent into Cerro al Volturno. It's another chance for the sprinters, although the profile may also favour a long escape.

On the menu for stage six is more climbing - two first-category climbs come early on. They are Rionero Sannitico, the same as yesterday's long climb but from the other side (17.0km at 3.2%) and the tougher Prato Gentile (17.4km at 4.4%). There is also an uncategorised climb closer to the end at San Angelo in Grotte (3.2km at 5.4%), with 15km remaining until the finish at Sant'Elena Sannita. Today should see a group of favourites finishing together, but don't rule out a long breakaway - Emma Pooley will see her name all over a stage like this:





Stage seven is the race's second official mountain-top finish. The climbing is much easier than previous mountain stages, and might see the stage won in a break, but there could be a small rearranging of the GC as well. First there are two ascents of Spinazzola (4.0km at 4.0%, third-category), then the climb of Minervino Murge (1.7km at 5.5%, third-category) and then the finishing climb to Castel del Monte (5.8km at 3.8%). Those gradients won't strike fear into the climbers, but the final climb could see a fun free-for-all:





Stage eight is the last-chance saloon for anyone with hopes of turning the GC around. Early in the stage comes the Colle Sannita (17.4km at 2.7%, third-category), then an unclassified climb in Pesco Sannita (6.4km at 3.4%), but it's the day's final climb where mayhem may ensue. The climb of Molinara (10.7km at 5.2%, second-category) tops out just over 20km from the finish, so a mad dash to the finish in Pesco Sannita is on the cards. Claudia Haüsler won a much tougher but not-entirely-dissimilar stage last year, so if she's still down on GC then this will be the moment to seize:





That leaves the ceremonial final stage, with 111km of laps around a circuit in Grumo Nevano giving the sprinters the last word in this year's race.

Altogether, the parcours isn't that great. It's certainly the best of any major race this year, but stages six and seven are a little bit... Tour de l'Aude. It would have been nice to see another stage like the one last year that finished in Laveno Mombello and went over the Sette Termini and Cuvignone. But besides the return of Monte Serra, I also like stages one and eight.

As for who's riding - well the official start list is not up on the website yet, but Cycling News and another website have got their mitts on something, so based on that riders to look out for (with Brits in bold) include:

*Selle Italia:* Fabiana Luperini, Sigrid Corneo, Luisa Tamanini
*Cervélo:* Claudia Haüsler, Kristin Armstrong, *Emma Pooley*, Carla Ryan, Kirsten Wild
*Fenixs:* Svetlana Bubnenkova, *Catherine Hare/Williamson* (anyone know which she is using nowadays?), Evelyn García
*Flexpoint:* Susanne Ljungskog, Loes Gunnewijk, Loes Markerink, Trine Schmidt
*Top Girls:* Valentina Carretta, Alessandra D'Ettorre, Jennifer Fiori
*Chirio:* Clemilda Fernandes
*Columbia:* Mara Abbott, Judith Arndt, Chantal Beltman, Ina Teutenberg, Linda Villumsen
*Lotto:* Rochelle Gilmore, *Lizzie Armitstead
Nürnberger:* Amber Neben, Suzanne de Goede, Marlen Jöhrend, Regina Schleicher, Trixi Worrack
*Michela Fanini:* Monia Baccaille, Tatiana Guderzo
*System Data:* Deborah Mascelli
*Cmax Dilà:* Marta Vilajosana, Silvia Tirado
*Gauss:* Edita Pucinskaite, Tatiana Antoshina, Julia Martisova
*Safi:* Giorgia Bronzini, Inga Cilvinaite, Diana Ziliute
*Bizkaia - Durango:* Ana Belén García, Ariadna Tudel
*Bigla:* Nicole Brändli, Noemi Cantele, Jennifer Hohl, Modesta Vzesniauskaite
*Australia:* Chloe Hoskings
*USA:* Lauren Tamayo, Brooke Miller

It has been very difficult to judge form this year, so these are some rather ill-informed predictions:

GC:
1) Edita Pucinskaite
2) Claudia Haüsler
3) Fabiana Luperini

Points: Judith Arndt

Mountains: Mara Abbott

Young rider: Valentina Carretta

It would be nice if a young rider like Carretta or someone else really breaks through like Haüsler has. These Luperini-Pucinskaite-Neben-Brändli battles are getting a bit old. If Haüsler's form isn't top-notch it will be interesting to see if Emma Pooley can step up.


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## Legs (2 Jul 2009)

Nice preview, Skip. Best of luck to all of the British girls in this exciting event!


BTW,* '*Häusler' has the umlaut on the a (so it is pronounced 'Hoissler') not the u. She's definitely one with a glittering future ahead of her.


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## Skip Madness (2 Jul 2009)

Legs said:


> BTW,* '*Häusler' has the umlaut on the a (so it is pronounced 'Hoissler') not the u.


Thanks - I had a feeling I was doing it wrong but I was too lazy to check.


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## Skip Madness (3 Jul 2009)

Kirsten Wild is continuing her superb season - she has won this evening's prologue for Cervélo, beating her team mate Kristin Armstrong into second and Linda Villumsen into third.


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## resal1 (4 Jul 2009)

Nice result for Emma P. Well set up for today's stage. [thanks skip for taking the time to inform us.]


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## Skip Madness (4 Jul 2009)

Wow, we're really off now. Edita Pucinskaite won today's uphill sprint ahead of Fabiana Luperini, Judith Arndt and Mara Abbott. Emma Pooley lost only five seconds while her team mate Claudia H*ä*usler had a minor disaster conceding 21 seconds, as did Susanne Ljungskog.

Puckinskaite takes the lead on GC, with Arndt, Noemi Cantele, Luperini, Amber Neben, Pooley and Nicole Brändli all within 15 seconds.

Häusler's time loss today was significant. If - as one should expect - Pooley accelerates away from Häusler in tomorrow's 13.5km time trial then the Brit may find the team's resources heading her way. Kristin Armstrong will also likely move up the GC tomorrow so Cervélo may have a headache deciding what's what.


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## resal1 (4 Jul 2009)

Yes this is going to be a challenge to Cervelo. The Grande Boucle was easy, with only Vos to mark out. This one will require them to concentrate their efforts or face the consequences of them being disipated. What will High Road do ? Judith Arndt may have the form to take the TT as well and Pukinskiate seems very motivated. Luperini will also not be a push over. She has made an excellent job of getting her preparation all correct for this event over the years. It is a pity Vision 1 and DBS are not here. That is what is so frustrating with the women's callender. No one race has the status the Tour does on the men's circuit. One year the Giro may be the best Tour in the season, another year it might be L'Aude and another year Thuringen. It is such a pity that the Boucle has never really recovered from the legal battle over the name.


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## Skip Madness (4 Jul 2009)

I make Kristin Armstrong a good favourite for tomorrow. She seems in great condition, and as it's her final season she'll want to go out with a bang. But I really don't see her still there at the end, and as you say Arndt could be making the decisive move tomorrow. I am really hopeful for Pooley, though. This Giro may be about to open up for her. My only fear is that it will snap shut again on Monte Serra.



resal1 said:


> That is what is so frustrating with the women's callender. No one race has the status the Tour does on the men's circuit. One year the Giro may be the best Tour in the season, another year it might be L'Aude and another year Thuringen. It is such a pity that the Boucle has never really recovered from the legal battle over the name.


True. I don't see how the Boucle moving to July next year is going to help things, either.

The parcours can be so variable. In 2001 the Giro (held over 15 stages - what we would give to see that nowadays) featured back-to-back mountain-top finishes at Vetriolo Terme and Nevegal. The 2003 Boucle had back-to-back finishes at Valberg, Puy-Saint-Vincent and Vaujany. That's what grand tours are meant to look like. But as you say nowadays a good route can be a lottery, meaning no race has built up an insuperable reputation (or rather the Giro and the Boucle have lost the ones they had). Many websites will refer to Aude as the biggest race in the season, others the Giro and still the odd one the Boucle. I also saw the Trophée d'Or organisers refer to their race as the second-best in France (behind Aude). I wouldn't even say it's the third-best!

For what it's worth I tend to think of it nowadays as: (1) Giro d'Italia; (2) Tour de l'Aude; (3) Grande Boucle (except this year, where I'd put it below all of these); (4) Thüringen; (5) Toscana; (6) Ardèche. They tend to all have a mixture of good fields and decent-ish routes over remotely reasonable durations, compared to everything else in the calendar at least.


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## Skip Madness (5 Jul 2009)

Amber Neben took the victory in today's time trial. These are the time gaps she put into other major riders:


> *Selected Stage 2 results
> 
> * 01 Amber Neben........20'39"
> 02 Kristin Armstrong...+ 14"
> ...


The GC now sees Neben become the third different leader after three stages:


> *Selected GC after Stage 2*
> 
> 01 Amber Neben........3:10'18"
> 02 Kristin Armstrong.....+ 22"
> ...


Claudia Häusler didn't lose as much time as I thought she would, and still looks strong for a decent position with the time trials out of the way. If Emma Pooley produces a good ride tomorrow she becomes a serious contender for this Giro. With the deficit Fabiana Luperini has to make up, expect her to attack early tomorrow, possibly on the first climb. I still consider Edita Pucinskaite the favourite.


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## Legs (6 Jul 2009)

A couple of days ago I watched the video footage of Emma riding away from Cooke and Doppmann in the 2007 Grande Boucle. As long as Cervelo keep the pace high enough that there isn't a 'long shot' escape on the first ascent of Monte Serra, I reckon she could really stamp some authority on this race today. (Could be completely wrong, but I'd love to be right).


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## Skip Madness (6 Jul 2009)

It would be great to see that. Taken as a pure head-to-head on climbing abilities there's no reason why Pooley couldn't be a contender for today's stage. The thing that makes me a bit reticent, though, is that she has ridden a longer and harder season than Luperini, Pucinskaite and Neben. I get the feeling she may pay for that today, or if not then further into this week. I hope I am wrong, though.

At least the fact that it's a mountain-top finish somewhat neuters what Cicloweb referred to as her "allergy to descending."


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## Skip Madness (6 Jul 2009)

Mara Abbott took the victory today on Monte Serra, but *Emma Pooley finished with her on the same time and put some distance into everyone else.* 

These stage results are *provisional* official.


> *Provisional** Official stage results*
> 01 Mara Abbot..........
> 02 Emma Pooley.........
> 03 Claudia Häusler.......+ 36"
> ...





> *Provisional Official selected GC*
> 01 Emma Pooley.........
> 02 Mara Abbot..........+ 1'07"
> 03 Claudia Häusler.....+ 1'18"
> ...


Brändli and Luperini out of it already?

I can't wait to see how this unfolds between Pooley and Häusler now. Get Häusler attacking on the tough stuff and let Pooley keep an eye on the other favourites? Both of them stay quiet and wait for a chance to counter-attack?


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## Legs (6 Jul 2009)

Crikey!


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## Will1985 (6 Jul 2009)

Excellent. That is a nice gap back to the main contenders. Let's hope that there aren't any massive breakaway wins in the next few days to disrupt the GC.

This is a proper stage race unlike the Grande Boucle, but I'm willing to bet that the British media brush over it with minimal coverage if Emma continues to do well. I'm sick of the coverage that Cooke gets when Emma has been riding many more high profile events this year and doing well. (Mini rant over )


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## Skip Madness (6 Jul 2009)

Will1985 said:


> This is a proper stage race unlike the Grande Boucle, but I'm willing to bet that the British media brush over it with minimal coverage if Emma continues to do well. I'm sick of the coverage that Cooke gets when Emma has been riding many more high profile events this year and doing well. (Mini rant over :troll


I have been trying to use an Italian proxy to capture some of the half-hour highlights programmes on RAI Sport, without success so far. If you go to Giro Donne YouTube account then there are videos to see, but they don't show much of the actual racing. Better than nothing, though.

Oh, and Lizzie Armitstead now leads the young rider classification! And she's 15th on GC.


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## resal1 (6 Jul 2009)

Legs - you were right. Pooley is now in the driving seat to take the event. Cervelo have the team and the management to get behind Emma. Columbia will definitely attack but Cervelo should be able to get Pooley up to any serious threat. Will - I don't know about Cooke getting any coverage - none of the girls get any coverage that is anything other than tokenism. In the daily papers after the GB Champs it was as if we were in Victorian times, only the Guardian gave anything other than a sentence to the women, after a decent bit on the men's event.


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## Will1985 (6 Jul 2009)

resal1 - a general sports fan will have heard of Cooke and probably Pendleton but that is it. Of course the coverage of women's cycling is poor, but what exists is heavily skewed towards Cooke because she is the Olympic and World champion. It took a team of quality riders on both occasions to put her in the position to get the wins but many of the reports ignored this.

A recent episode on the BBC was Cooke winning the Giro del Trentino - report was posted within 6 hours of the victory. Emma won 2 stages and the GC at the Grande Boucle, yet it took over 36 hours post victory (plus the 606 posters doing a lot of pestering) for the BBC cycling correspondent to even write that, despite updating his blog twice about Cooke in that time period.


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## Skip Madness (7 Jul 2009)

Ina Teutenberg won today's bunch sprint ahead of Kirsten Wild and Monia Baccaille. There do not appear to have been any shifts on GC, unsurprisingly.


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## resal1 (7 Jul 2009)

Emma still going well. A pity about those few seconds. 

Will, the mainstream press write about not much more than Nicole because it is all they can mention in the 1 sentence they write. The BBC are shocking with their coverage of the women's scene. In fact I think it is worse this year than in the last 3 or 4 years now that they are gripped with the twin pre-occupations of "return of the great one" and "wonder Cav". Cycling Weekly give little space to women's races, I can't ever remember seeing a proper report on one for years. It is a shame because in the mid 90's and earlier, I can remember them doing excellent reports on the women's national champs. However CW do seem to give Pooley a fair deal and Lizzie - in fact wasn't last week's magazine the first time they have featured a shot of Cooke racing in the World Champs jersey ? Perhaps they were trying to go the whole year without featuring a picture of her racing in the jersey !! but still we get no reports of races and so it is very hard to develop an understanding of the characters around Armistead, Pooley and Cooke.


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## Skip Madness (7 Jul 2009)

resal1 said:


> Emma still going well. A pity about those few seconds.


Yes. They aren't necessarily going to be important but it was a bit of a daft thing to happen. Not sure why it did - anyone know?


> Cycling Weekly give little space to women's races, I can't ever remember seeing a proper report on one for years.


I got my hands on this weeks Tour de France preview issue today, and I can't find a single mention of this race. Not even a page.


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## Legs (8 Jul 2009)

Skip Madness said:


> Stage five serves up a gradual 90km ascent from sea level to 1000m before a descent into Cerro al Volturno. It's another chance for the sprinters, although the profile may also favour a long escape.



According to the race manual, today's finish is 500m of cobbles at 16% - not exactly the sprinters' domain! I expect Abbott, Arndt and Neben will be looking to claw some time back on Emma in the mad scramble.


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## Skip Madness (8 Jul 2009)

Yep! You can't see that in the profile graphic which is what I was going on before, but I read about the finish yesterday and it should be a good one. I'd be surprised if we see gaps much bigger than 5-10 seconds between any of the big names, but there are also the time bonuses to make things more exciting. I reckon Noemi Cantele will be the one to beat today.


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## Legs (8 Jul 2009)

Good call Skip! EP still in pink, will have to wait a while longer for fuller results...


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## Skip Madness (8 Jul 2009)

Thanks. Bronzini and Teutenberg finishing second and third suggests the finish wasn't as selective as we thought it might be. The tension of waiting on the full results always bugs me, though - hopefully all is as it was at the start of the day.

Edit - Pooley made a bit more time on everyone except Häusler and Arndt.  Häusler is now up to second, still at 1'11", Arndt is third at 1'27", while Mara Abbott has slipped to fourth at 1'29". So it _was_ pretty unforgiving, but Bronzini and Teutenberg were strong enough to power up it thanks to the short distance.


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## Skip Madness (8 Jul 2009)

Sadly Amber Neben had a bad crash today and had to withdraw from the race.


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## Flying_Monkey (9 Jul 2009)

Pooley has been riding a very canny race so far. This is part of what makes her a really fine rider - sure, she can look like a crazed mountain escape artist sometimes, but she's got a very good tactical head on her shoulders. 

Go Emma!


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## Legs (9 Jul 2009)

Shake-up today:




*Risultati: 6a tappa Giro d'Italia* 
*9 luglio - Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile, VI tappa - 2.1 UCI - 119,3 km*

1. Judith Arndt (Team Columbia-HTC Women) 
2. Claudia Häusler (Cervélo Test Team) 
3. Nicole Brändli (Bigla Cycling Team)
4. Mara Abbott (Team Columbia-HTC Women)

*Classifica generale*

1. Claudia Häusler (Cervélo Test Team)


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## Skip Madness (9 Jul 2009)

Thanks Legs. So Pooley must have lost at least 1'02" today, most likely more. I wonder if she couldn't hold up with the pace or if it was a tactical move by Cervélo to let Häusler chase/initiate the move.

Here we go with the waiting again...


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## Flying_Monkey (9 Jul 2009)

Skip Madness said:


> Thanks Legs. So Pooley must have lost at least 1'02" today, most likely more. I wonder if she couldn't hold up with the pace or if it was a tactical move by Cervélo to let Häusler chase/initiate the move.
> 
> Here we go with the waiting again...



Looks like I chose the wrong moment to praise Pooley's tactical nous!


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## Legs (9 Jul 2009)

Nah, it was Skip wot did the cursing... 



Skip Madness said:


> Emma Pooley will see her name all over a stage like this



Wish they'd put up the results faster!


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## Legs (9 Jul 2009)

1 ARNDT Judith (GER) - Team Columbia Highroad Woman 3:26'20 
2 HAUSLER Claudia (GER) - Cervelo Test Team 3:26'20 
3 BRANDLI Nicole (SUI) - Bigla Cycling Team 3:26'23 
4 ABBOTT Mara (USA) - Team Columbia Highroad Woman 3:26'34 
5 WORRACK Trixi (GER) - Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 3:31'38 
6 LUPERINI Fabiana (ITA) - Selle Italia Ghezzi 3:31'42 
7 RYAN Carla (AUS) - Cervelo Test Team 3:31'49 
8 POOLEY Emma (GBR) - Cervelo Test Team 3:32'04 
9 BUBNENKOVA Svetlana (RUS) - Fenixs 3:34'15 
10 PUCINSKAITE Edita (LTU) - Gauss Rdz Ormu Colnago 3:34'17 

http://www.girodonne.it/portale/classifica2009/6tappa_generale.pdf

Emma's now out of GC contention, will be supporting Haeusler from now on. Lizzie maintains a slim lead over Berlato for the U23 classification.


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## Skip Madness (9 Jul 2009)

Legs said:


> Nah, it was Skip wot did the cursing...


When I posted that I was operating under the impression that she wouldn't have been riding at the front for the entire race previously!

Sadly, a day like this was overdue after Pooley's strong season. Today was one of those stages where if leaders get clear than huge time gaps can open up.

Interesting to see Armitstead and Berlato coming in virtually together again. They seem to have been holding hands throughout this race. I am not sure whether one is following the other or if they have become best friends.

What a next couple of days we have. Judith Arndt will strongly fancy her chances at tomorrow's shallow mountain-top finish. Pooley's not the only one who has had a long season; Häusler will be starting to feel her campaign catching up with her, too. Mara Abbott is also far from out of contention.

Here's a thought - suppose that come Sunday morning Arndt is still in second but within ten seconds of Häusler - do you reckon we would see Ina Teutenberg leading her out for the sprint for the time bonus?

Another thing (which I will look up in a minute) - has anyone ever done the Tour de l'Aude-Giro d'Italia double in the same season? Luperini in the late nineties? Because Häusler may be on the brink of it. EDIT - looked it up. Fabiana Luperini did indeed achieve it in 1998, and Catherine Marsal got there first in 1990. Anyone know how long the Tour de l'Aude was back then? Anyway, if Häusler does manage it she will be one year younger than Luperini was when she did.

Good ride by Nicole Brändli today, rescued her Giro a bit.

The GC for anyone who hasn't seen it:


> Claudia Häusler...15:50'43"
> Judith Arndt..........+ 12"
> Mara Abbott...........+ 38"
> Nicole Brändli......+ 2'33"
> Everyone else.......STUFFED


By the way, for anyone who hasn't got Eurosport, I have uploaded the British National Championships women's road race to YouTube in three parts: one, two and three.


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## resal1 (9 Jul 2009)

Skip, thanks for doing a fantastic job on the results and analysis. I agree with your analysis and would suggest that they will even be going for bonuses during the stages as well. Sort of brings back memories of the fight Cooke had for the Geelong Tour in 2007. Emma has done brilliantly. I thought the section in CW today did not do her achievements justice by any stretch of the imagination.


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## Skip Madness (10 Jul 2009)

Provisional stage 7 results from Cicloweb - time gaps not yet up.


> 01 Claudia Häusler
> 02 Judith Arndt
> 03 Mara Abbott


GC is the same.


> 01 Claudia Häusler
> 02 Judith Arndt
> 03 Mara Abbott


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## Legs (10 Jul 2009)

Haeusler, Ardnt, Abbott on today's stage.

edit: Snap!


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## Skip Madness (10 Jul 2009)

Hehe.

Häusler took it by one second over Arndt, six seconds over Abbott and ten seconds over Brändli. Pooley came in 52 seconds down. Armitstead and Berlato came in together _again_. Noemi Cantele didn't take to the start today - I don't know why.

Häusler's lead over Arndt has increased to 17 second thanks to time bonuses, and she now leads Abbott by 50 seconds. If Arndt or Abbott have anything left then it's all going to have to go into the climb of Molinara now. Armitstead still leads Berlato by 43 seconds in the young riders' classification. Her white jersey should be safe unless Berlato breaks the habit of this Giro.


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## Skip Madness (10 Jul 2009)

This isn't related to the Giro, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it - at the Tour Feminin-Ceskeho Svycarska, Emma Trott has won today's stage.


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## Flying_Monkey (11 Jul 2009)

As Skip says, Pooley is just playing super-domestique now. Can Hausler hang on?


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## Skip Madness (11 Jul 2009)

Trixi Worrack won today's stage with a gap of more than a minute. Cicloweb is reporting that Arndt has slipped out of the top three, with Häusler remaining in pink, Mara Abbott in second and Nicole Brändli now occupying third. The full results should be interesting...


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## Skip Madness (11 Jul 2009)

Unfortunately Judith Arndt's fall down the classification was actually worse than that - she crashed out. Hopefully it isn't too serious. It must have been all of a couple of months that she has recovered from her previous injury.

It doesn't sound like Häusler had any problems dealing with today. Tomorrow she will become the youngest rider to achieve victory in the Giro and Aude in the same year. After a slow start like last year - where she also lost a notable gap on Monte Serra - she came good and this time had the strength to see it out through today's final test. There hasn't been any suggestion that she has been in trouble once since assuming the race leadership.

Is this the next few years, then? Are we going to have to start taking bets on who is going to come second whenever Claudia takes to the line in a major stage race? Because at her age she will probably still get stronger over the next few years. But the good news is that Mara Abbott is the same age and is displaying great strength in the hills. The question is whether Häusler has been riding within herself to hold Abbott off. Either way, Abbott should go much further than this result. Second place on GC and victory in the mountains competition mark a sensational Giro.

And speaking of young riders improving - at 20, Lizzie Armitstead's excellent 16th place and imminent victory in the young rider classification (she pulled out a handful of seconds over the also-impressive Elena Berlato) bodes very well coming on the back of her second-place in the Aude's young rider standings. Like Bradley Wiggins, she is displaying many more attributes on the road than other riders who have conquered the track.

Arndt's withdrawal puts Emma Pooley into fourth. Maybe she would have been a couple of spots lower were it not for Arndt and Neben's departures, but three days in pink were just reward for a great ride. There is a question mark over whether she has the capacity to challenge for a race of this duration and difficulty, and she's going to find it tough to get a chance to answer them while Häusler rides in the same colours.

While Nicole Brändli showed admirable fortitude after a demoralising start, the at-times feeble performances of Pucinskaite, Luperini and Ljungskog all suggest that their chances of victories in future Giri have passed. On the other hand, Carla Ryan is very much heading in the right direction, and gives an indication of the frightening depth within the Cervélo squad. Tatiana Guderzo deserves praise for another strong ride. It looks as though the new generation are putting their seniors to the sword.

I believe that Häusler's lead in the points can't realistically be lost tomorrow, so the sprinters will have to console themselves with one more battle in what has been an incredibly lean Giro for them.


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## resal1 (12 Jul 2009)

Thanks once again Skip for the update. Any news on the seriousness of the injury to Arndt ? This year's Giro was a parcours well suited to the climbers. It is not always the case. I cannot remember the sprinters having such a lean time. 

I am still a bit worried about Vision 1 and Cooke. Your comments about Hausler bring that into persepctive. Cooke is just 18 months older than Hausler and yet her Giro win was in 2004. Cervelo and Highroad obviously have the budget and squads to be able to go to the races. The rest seem to have to pick and choose. Cervelo under Lacambre seem to be more succesful than its forerunner Univega were, under Campana. We saw at the Boucle how Cervelo were able to deal with Vos, who was basically the single threat to their dominance. Cooke is in a similar position to Vos and perhaps it made sense for DSB and Vision 1 not to even show at the Giro. It would be interesting to know the dynamic within Cervelo regarding the support for an Emma win, prior to the start. Certainly that video clip of the Boucle of 2007 seemed to show that Dopman was going flat out for the win against her team-mate Cooke. Was Dopman connected to Campana in some way ?

Both Cooke and Vos need more effective/stronger squads around them if they are to challenge for the longer stage races.


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## Skip Madness (12 Jul 2009)

resal1 said:


> Thanks once again Skip for the update. Any news on the seriousness of the injury to Arndt ?


She has broken her upper arm. It is not yet apparent how long she will be out for, but her chances in Mendrisio are jeopardised considerably.


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## Skip Madness (12 Jul 2009)

One other thing - when I started last year's thread, I presumed there wasn't the interest in this race to make it worthwhile posting and analysing results every day. The result was a thread with two replies. I know that this year's thread has largely been dominated by three of us drinking too much lemonade and running round the play pen getting excited about toys we aren't even allowed to play with, but I think it's great that everyone who has contributed anything to this thread has seen last year's three-post footnote turn into five whole pages of drivel. It might not be gargantuan compared to many threads on here, but go and find me a similar thread on the Cycling News forums. One doesn't exist.

What I'm trying to say is group hug.


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## Will1985 (12 Jul 2009)

It is probably significant that there was no British presence last year.


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## Legs (13 Jul 2009)

Re: Arndt's crash, that's a real shame, I could have imagined Judith challenging Haeusler right to the end otherwise.

I think Will's right - the Brit interest has (for me at least) really lifted the excitement of the racing this year.

Thank you all very much - especially Skip - for the insight and updates you've given in the last week or so. As you say, this has been by far the best online resource for women's cycling chat, at a time of year when you would expect it to be completely drowned out by the TdF.

Cheers,
- Tim


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## Flying_Monkey (13 Jul 2009)

I also really appreciate Skip and Legs's knowledge and insight, and even though I may not always reply on any given day, I do read the posts.


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## yello (13 Jul 2009)

I'd echo what FM says. I do read the posts but have to admit that I don't the know the names and players sufficiently to make informed comment. It's still a learning process for me and I do appreciate having some masters to teach me!


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## Skip Madness (8 Jun 2010)

Why am I bumping this _vecchio_ thread when it's about an event which finished almost a year ago?

Because some kind soul (I don't use the word "legend" lightly, but we may have one here) has posted all of the RAI coverage of the race on YouTube. Of particular note to Pooley fans will be stage three (part one, part two), where Pooley finishes second to Marra "Habbott" on Monte Serra and takes the pink for a few days.

But every moment of TV coverage of every stage is there.


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## resal1 (8 Jun 2010)

Thanks for the info Skip. Had a look at a couple they are fantastic. It will be great to look at them all over the coming days.


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## BigSteev (8 Jun 2010)

That's no work getting done tomorrow then 

Oh and hopefully this year's thread will have even more contributors. I shall definitely be looking in.


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## Legs (10 Jun 2010)

Thanks Skip. Just wish my Italian was better. Like Steev, I'm looking forward to next month's race


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