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I know there is already a Grande Boucle 2009 thread but it is a little unwieldly and since the Giro del Trentino and Zeeuwsche Eilanden start on the same day as the Boucle (tomorrow) I thought it would make sense to have a new thread for all three.
So the Grande Boucle is a disappointment this year at only four stages - hardly a Tour de France - although the organisers seem to have had their hands tied a bit after being let down by the British (the race was meant to start over here but Britain pulled out late).
Stage one is a largely flat individual time trial of 18.3km in and around Bressuire. That is followed by a 62.5km stage the next day from Bressuire to Niort where one fourth-category climb is the only bump of note. After a bloody enormous transfer the next stage runs from Hagetmau to Pau over 92.7km, where three fourth-category climbs should not spoil another day for the sprinters. The fourth and final day should decide the race, taking in two first-category, two third-category and two fourth-category climbs en route from Irún in the Spanish Basque Country to Anglet in the French Basque Country. Among the climbs is the Jaizkibel, famous for its annual use in the men's Clásica de San Sebastián.
The start list includes defending champion Christiane Soeder for Cervélo with a strong team around her - including Emma Pooley, although there are also reports that she is down for the Giro del Trentino, and she can't be doing both so we shall see. Marianne Vos is riding for DSB and she will probably never have a better chance to win a Grande Boucle than this year owing to the fairly tame parcours. Other than that, other GC threats will most likely come from within the Cervélo team - Pooley (if she is riding) and Sarah Düster. Sprints should be a bit more competitive, with Vos, Giorgia Bronzini (Safi), Kirsten Wild (Cervelo), Fanny Riberot (Lointek), Hanna Amend (Charlottenburg Berlin) and Simona Frapporti (Chirio).
The Giro del Trentino should have a stellar line-up which will include Fabiana Luperini for Selle Italia, Claudia Haüsler (and possibly Emma Pooley depending on whether she's here or in France) for Cervélo, Judith Arndt for Columbia, Regina Schleicher for Nürnberger, Diana Ziliute for Safi, Tatiana Guderzo for Michela Fanini and Nicole Cooke for Vision 1. It is only two stages this year - the first pretty much flat, the second a day for the climbers with a mountain-top finish at Faedo (6.5km at 7.7%). This will be a great chance for Haüsler and Luperini to go head-to-head before the Giro.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the Zeeuwsche Eilanden starts with a 7.1km individual time trial, and then has two long flat stages. The line-up is of excellent quality, exemplified by Columbia who with Teutenberg, Fahlin and van Dijk it is hard to see past in the sprints. DSB have brought along Adrie Visser, while Susanne Ljungskog, Trine Schmidt, Loes Gunnewijk, Mirjam Melchers and Loes Markerink attend for Flexpoint. Sara Mustonen heads up the Swedish national team, and Lizzie Armitstead will be present for Lotto along with Rochelle Gilmore - Gilmore ought to be the de facto leader of the team, but Armitstead picked up her first win of the road season the other day in the Netherlands. Other major names include Andrea Bosman and Chantal Blaak (Leontien.nl) Nathalie van Gogh (Swaboladies), Latoya Brulée (Red Sun), Claudia Witteveen (Restore Cycling), Sissy van Alebeek (Ton van Bemmelen), Tanja Hennes (Nutrixxion Lady), Suzanne de Goede and Eva Lutz (Nürnberger) and Kelly Druyts (Belgium national team).
Also of note is the extraordinarily high number of Brits who will be at the Dutch race. They are as follows: Lizzie Armitstead (Lotto), Emma Trott, Sara Cramoysan, Nikki Harris and Kate Cullen (Movingladies), Pippa Handley (Tubanters), Alice Monger-Godfrey (De Sprinters Malderen) and Alex Greenfield, Lucy Martin, Katie Colclough, Ella Sadler-Andrews, Hannah Mayho, Anna Blyth, Corrine Hall and Sarah Reynolds (British national team). Fifteen Brits!
So the Grande Boucle is a disappointment this year at only four stages - hardly a Tour de France - although the organisers seem to have had their hands tied a bit after being let down by the British (the race was meant to start over here but Britain pulled out late).
Stage one is a largely flat individual time trial of 18.3km in and around Bressuire. That is followed by a 62.5km stage the next day from Bressuire to Niort where one fourth-category climb is the only bump of note. After a bloody enormous transfer the next stage runs from Hagetmau to Pau over 92.7km, where three fourth-category climbs should not spoil another day for the sprinters. The fourth and final day should decide the race, taking in two first-category, two third-category and two fourth-category climbs en route from Irún in the Spanish Basque Country to Anglet in the French Basque Country. Among the climbs is the Jaizkibel, famous for its annual use in the men's Clásica de San Sebastián.
The start list includes defending champion Christiane Soeder for Cervélo with a strong team around her - including Emma Pooley, although there are also reports that she is down for the Giro del Trentino, and she can't be doing both so we shall see. Marianne Vos is riding for DSB and she will probably never have a better chance to win a Grande Boucle than this year owing to the fairly tame parcours. Other than that, other GC threats will most likely come from within the Cervélo team - Pooley (if she is riding) and Sarah Düster. Sprints should be a bit more competitive, with Vos, Giorgia Bronzini (Safi), Kirsten Wild (Cervelo), Fanny Riberot (Lointek), Hanna Amend (Charlottenburg Berlin) and Simona Frapporti (Chirio).
The Giro del Trentino should have a stellar line-up which will include Fabiana Luperini for Selle Italia, Claudia Haüsler (and possibly Emma Pooley depending on whether she's here or in France) for Cervélo, Judith Arndt for Columbia, Regina Schleicher for Nürnberger, Diana Ziliute for Safi, Tatiana Guderzo for Michela Fanini and Nicole Cooke for Vision 1. It is only two stages this year - the first pretty much flat, the second a day for the climbers with a mountain-top finish at Faedo (6.5km at 7.7%). This will be a great chance for Haüsler and Luperini to go head-to-head before the Giro.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the Zeeuwsche Eilanden starts with a 7.1km individual time trial, and then has two long flat stages. The line-up is of excellent quality, exemplified by Columbia who with Teutenberg, Fahlin and van Dijk it is hard to see past in the sprints. DSB have brought along Adrie Visser, while Susanne Ljungskog, Trine Schmidt, Loes Gunnewijk, Mirjam Melchers and Loes Markerink attend for Flexpoint. Sara Mustonen heads up the Swedish national team, and Lizzie Armitstead will be present for Lotto along with Rochelle Gilmore - Gilmore ought to be the de facto leader of the team, but Armitstead picked up her first win of the road season the other day in the Netherlands. Other major names include Andrea Bosman and Chantal Blaak (Leontien.nl) Nathalie van Gogh (Swaboladies), Latoya Brulée (Red Sun), Claudia Witteveen (Restore Cycling), Sissy van Alebeek (Ton van Bemmelen), Tanja Hennes (Nutrixxion Lady), Suzanne de Goede and Eva Lutz (Nürnberger) and Kelly Druyts (Belgium national team).
Also of note is the extraordinarily high number of Brits who will be at the Dutch race. They are as follows: Lizzie Armitstead (Lotto), Emma Trott, Sara Cramoysan, Nikki Harris and Kate Cullen (Movingladies), Pippa Handley (Tubanters), Alice Monger-Godfrey (De Sprinters Malderen) and Alex Greenfield, Lucy Martin, Katie Colclough, Ella Sadler-Andrews, Hannah Mayho, Anna Blyth, Corrine Hall and Sarah Reynolds (British national team). Fifteen Brits!
