Armstrong, KRISTIN Armstrong

Armstrong confirmed for US national team at Women's Tour of New Zealand

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-confirmed-for-us-national-team-at-womens-tour-of-new-zealand)

2008 Olympic time trial gold medalist and two-time world time trial champion Kristin Armstrong will compete in the NZCT Women's Tour of New Zealand as part of the US national team. The 38-year-old American will be joined in New Zealand by compatriots Evelyn Stevens, Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Kristin McGrath and Ally Stacher.

Armstrong, the 2008 Women's Tour of New Zealand champion, along with Stevens, the current US time trial champion, McGrath and Cliff-Ryan had already been named to the 13-rider strong US Olympic Games long team vying for positions for the London Games. The final women's selection will be determined by results of UCI races between January 1-May 31.

The UCI 2.2-rated stage race takes place February 22-26 in the city of Palmerston North, New Zealand and is one of 12 UCI-sanctioned stage races occurring within the qualification window.

Race organiser Jorge Sandoval is pleased about the powerhouse line-up his race has attracted in an Olympic year, with reigning time trial world champion Judith Arndt confirmed to compete with the GreenEdge-AIS squad, while 2010 road world champion Tatiana Guderzo will lead the Italian national team.

"We are so far away from the rest of the world, and top overseas teams are reluctant to come all the way to New Zealand for a five-day race," Sandoval said. "However, those coming know the importance of winning the tour, and picking up international ranking points which will help qualify riders and teams for the London Olympic Games later in the year."

Vos: 2011 Readers' Poll Winner

2011 Reader Poll: Vos voted Female Road Rider of the Year

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2011-reader-poll-vos-voted-female-road-rider-of-the-year)

Amassing 27 race wins in 2011, it was no surprise that Nederland Bloeit's Marianne Vos won the title of Female Road Rider of the Year in Cyclingnews' annual reader poll.

Vos, 24, has dominated women's racing this year. Her wins include the Ronde van Drenthe, La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, GP Elsy Jacobs and the Giro d'Italia Femminale, a well as the Dutch and World cyclo-cross titles. On the track, she also holds the Worlds scratch race title.

If there was a stumbling block, it was the UCI Road World Championships, where Vos was again left feeling disappointed, standing second on the podium for the fifth consecutive year after being pipped in the sprint in the elite women's road race by Italy's defending champion, Giorgia Bronzini. Given her dominance of the 2011, Vos was overwhelming favourite when it came to the race for the rainbow jersey in Copenhagen. Vos however, backed away from any talk that the pressure proved too much.

"It's the world championships. There's always a lot of pressure in that race. That's what you do it for, you race for the big races and it's great to do the world championships for your country," Vos said. "Of course when everybody in the team does the work for you, you want to end it perfectly. That's a bit of pressure. But it's also great to have and after this season, I was sort of used to it."

Showing her class, Vos praised the efforts of Bronzini - "Giorgia is a fantastic sprinter, she won in a great way. Of course you think back about whether you made a mistake in the sprint, but I didn't. She was the best."

One of 15 riders on the UCI's new athlete's commission, Vos' voice is key as the push for improvements to be made in women's cycling continues.

In 2012, Vos will lead the new Rabobank women's team which has taken over Nederland Bloeit.

Second place in the reader poll went to last year's winner Emma Pooley, who was runner-up to Vos in the Giro Donne. Pooley broke her collarbone early in the season but fought back for wins at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt der Frauen, GP Oberbaselbiet, Chur – Arosa as well as overall victory at the Tour de l'Ardèche

Next best in the poll, was Judith Arndt. The German veteran who capped a strong back end of the season with a gold-medal-performance in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.

2011 best female road rider results

1 Marianne Vos 6161 (28.5%)
2 Emma Pooley 3782 (17.5%)
3 Judith Arndt 2467 (11.4%)
4 Giorgia Bronzini 2105 (9.7%)
5 Clara Hughes 1768 (8.2%)
6 Emma Johansson 1667 (7.7%)
7 Elizabeth Armitstead 1462 (6.8%)
8 Amber Neben 1154 (5.3%)
9 Ina Teutenberg 835 (3.9%)
10 Annemiek van Vleuten 233 (1.1%)
Total: 21,634

Men's Worlds Championship TT

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-road-world-championships-2011/elite-men-time-trial/results)

Tony Martin (Germany) dominated the elite men's time trial world championship, setting the fastest time at each split, as he powered to his first world title on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The 26-year-old German recorded a scintillating time of 53:43.85 for the 46.4km parcours to beat silver medalist Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) by 1:15.83. Defending and four-time world champion Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), consistently setting the second-fastest splits throughout the day, overshot a corner late in the race, nearly crashing into the course barriers, and had to settle for the bronze medal 4.76 seconds down on Wiggins.

The world championship has capped off a stellar season for Martin as he claimed overall wins at the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice plus second overall at the Tour de Romandie. His performances against the clock have been superb season-long as he won time trial stages at the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice, Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Critérium du Dauphiné, now punctuated by his first-ever world championship.

Martin's ride also delivered Germany its second elite world championship in as many days as compatriot and HTC-Highroad teammate Judith Arndt won her first world title, too, in the elite women's time trial on Tuesday.

“In the last kilometre I was sure that I was going to win. It’s such a good feeling. It’s a dream come true. It’s amazing for me,” Martin said, revealing that catching David Millar during his ride helped him do even better.

“David was one of favourites and for sure when you pass him and you are 1:30 faster, you must be having a good ride. I gave my all, so I was really happy. I felt under pressure but I’ve learnt to work with the pressure.”

Martin's masterpiece

While the sky was overcast throughout the day, the rain held off for the elite men's time trial as 65 riders, competing in four waves for two laps of the 23.3km circuit, vied for the rainbow stripes in Copenhagen.

Alexandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan), the 20th rider to start, held the hot seat for much of the day until the cream of the time trial stalwarts got on the course in the last of four waves. The first to break Dyachenko's time of 57:03.61 for the 46.4km parcours was Australia's Jack Bobridge, who stopped the clock in 55:57.71, only to have the next rider across the line, former time trial world champion Bert Grabsch (Germany), top that with 55:15.61.

British road champion Bradley Wiggins, fresh off a podium finish at the Vuelta a Espana, picked up his pace throughout the day and became the first rider to crack the 55-minute barrier as he assumed the hot seat with a time of 54:59.68.

But Martin, the second-to-last rider to start, was simply on another level as he re-set the best times at each split. The German caught the two riders who started in front of him, David Millar (Great Britain) and Mikhail Ignatyev (Russian Federation), and came close to reeling in a third rider, Taylor Phinney (United States of American), who started 4:30 ahead of the German.

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Martin's time of 53:43.85 demolished the effort made by Wiggins, and the only question yet to be decided would be what medal Fabian Cancellara, the final rider off, would claim.

The Swiss powerhouse had been consistently in second place at each split, but he started faster than Wiggins and his advantage over the Briton had been decreasing throughout his effort.

Nonetheless, Cancellara looked to have the silver medal sewn up, but an uncharacteristic mistake at a right-hand turn late in the race likely cost him a second place finish.

The Swiss rider overshot a turn and came to a complete stop to avoid crashing into the course barrier. He strained to get his big gear rolling again and returned to top speed, but as he made his way down the finishing straight his time of 55:04.44 would result in a bronze medal, 1:20.59 down on Martin and a slender 4.76 seconds behind Wiggins.

Women's Worlds Championships

I know this is a day late, but better late than never I guess...

Women of the Worlds

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/women-of-the-worlds)

The women will be riding hard in Copenhagen at the UCI World Championships, looking for glory for themselves and their countries.  Who can be expected to stand atop the final podiums?

Time trial

The World Championship ITT is always a difficult race to predict, especially as the Olympics get nearer, when the riders from the peloton are joined by the specialists for the first time – and even the riders who have been racing in Europe all year haven’t raced against each other in a time trial that’s similar to this one.

The elite women ride 27.8km, two laps of the 13.9km city centre course that is the same circuit as the junior men and women.  There are one or two technical sections, including a small run of cobbles, but mostly this course will be combining straight roads – including a long part on different sides of the same road – with city corners.  With no climbs to face, it is the weather that could provide the biggest challenge for riders, especially if it changes over the course of the race.

A favourite for the race has to be Judith Arndt (Germany).  She not only has two bronze and three silver medals in previous World ITT Championships – coming second behind Great Britain’s Emma Pooley in Geelong last year – but she also has built up some superb form in the run-up to the race, winning the two September ITTs, the 23.6km Memorial Davide Fardelli in Italy and the 33.4km Chrono Champenois in France. 

Pooley herself will be a contender for the medals, although she may prefer a course with more hills, and the Netherlands' Marianne Vos will be well worth watching.  Last year Vos decided not to ride the ITT in order to focus on the road race, but this year she announced that she is planning not to contest the track events in next year’s Olympic Games, but to focus on the road race and the time trial.  Vos has been the stand-out rider of the year, and has already won a 2011 World Champion title at cyclocross and on the track, and this will give an idea of her chances of Olympic Gold.

Specialists in Copenhagen as part of their Olympic preparations are the Canadians,Tara Whitten and Clara Hughes.  Hughes won silver in the 1995 World ITT Championships, and bronze in the ITT and on the track in the Olympics the following year, before focusing on speed skating, winning Olympic medals.  She announced her return to cycling last year, aiming at London 2012.  Although she hasn’t raced in Europe this year, she won the Pan-American ITT title, the ITT and the overall GC at the Tour of the Gila, and the UCI 1.1-ranked Chrono Gatineau, and this will be her chance to benchmark herself against the European competition.

There is also the local rider Linda Villumsen.  Although she rides under a New Zealand licence, she was born in Denmark, and has been bronze medallist for the past two years.  She may prefer a more hilly course, but that home-country advantage can never be underestimated.

Road Race

If Vos is a favourite for the time trial, that goes double for the road race.  She has never finished lower than second since she rode and won her first elite World Championship Road Race in 2006 – and this course looks like it suits her down to the ground.

With ten laps of the same 14km circuit as the men, including some short, sharp climbs, this will be a real race of attrition, with the winds likely to play a key role.  When the women’s peloton ride courses like this one, it is usually all about which teams can use the wind and the climbs to force breaks, so positioning will be key, something that the Dutch riders excel at.  Vos is supported by 2011 World Cup winner Annemiek van Vleuten and sprinter Kirsten Wild, who currently sits eighth in the UCI rankings – either of whom are capable of winning the race themselves, if Vos misses a break.

If it ends in a sprint, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Germany) could be the woman to beat, and with the strongest German team for years, she will have the support to get her to the end.  2010 road race Champion Giorgia Bronzini, too, could contest this one – and the Italians always bring superb tactics to the World Championships, with riders for every outcome, as they demonstrated last year and in 2009, when Tatiana Guderzo took the gold and Noemi Cantele the bronze.

If it ends in a small break, watch out for Emma Johansson, the Swede who almost never misses the crucial break, Teutenberg’s team-mate Judith Arndt, and the queen of long distance attacks, Emma Pooley.  There maybe aren’t enough hills for her, and Team GB always seems to ride for Nicole Cooke in the road race - but Pooley is given an opportunity to escape, she could make it all the way.  Cooke herself finally broke her long run of bad luck with a solo attack out of a small group to win the flat Stage 5 at the Giro d’Italia, and she will be hoping for a similar situation in Saturday’s race.

The women’s race is always exciting, and this one should follow the pattern women’s cycling fans love – lots of attacks, and excitement up to the line!