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Giorgia Bronzini Second On Final Stage And Overall In Luxembourg Elsy Jacobs Race

April 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

Luxembourg Elsy Jacobs Race

Luxembourg Elsy Jacobs Race

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Girogia Bronzini was narrowly beaten into second place in the second and final stage of the Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin Elsy Jacobs, in Mamer, Luxembourg. Having been beaten in the sprint the previous day, World and Olympic champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) attacked into the final bend with half a kilometre to go, and managed to hold off the rest of the peloton all the way to the line.

Former two-time World road champion Bronzini outsprinted the rest, just a few lengths behind Vos, ahead of Swedish champion Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) [Luxembourg champion Christine Majerus (Sengers), who finished fourth, is pictured on the podium].

 

“It was a bit chaotic coming into the finish,” explained Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “It was a very, very fast run final kilometre, with a right hand bend with 500 metres to go – off-camber and downhill – then with about 250 metres to go there was a chicane.

“Vos jumped into the final bend and got a gap over the rest of the field,” he added.

The race, also known as the GP Nicolas Frantz, was made up of a 54.1km opening loop five laps of a 9km circuit. Unlike the previous day’s stage, however, the peloton did not split up on the repeated climbs and arrived at the finish more or less together and ready for the sprint. The Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team once again did a good job protecting Bronzini from the wind, so that the Italian sprinter would be as fresh as possible for the final dash for the line.

Unfortunately Bronzini was just unable overhaul Vos once the World and Olympic champion had escaped on the final corner. Time bonuses on the line meant that overnight leader Vos held on to win the race overall, but Bronzini moved up to second place, just nine seconds behind her.

 

“You can’t fault it really,” said Cope. “It was a pretty good effort. Vos must have been confident with that finish, to be able to take Giorgia on, rather than take it to the line. If it had been a straight, normal, head to head sprint I think the race would have been slightly different.

“It’s good, but it’s just a shame that Giorgia couldn’t quite finish it off because it would have been the first stage race that she’s ever won,” he added.

 

Result
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)

Final general classification
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)

 

    
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A Tough Debut For Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling Riders In La Flèche Wallonne

April 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling endured a hard day in la Flèche Wallonne, the fourth round of the women’s World Cup, with Olympic champion Joanna Rowsell the team’s best finisher, in 46th place, after she was just unable to hold on to the fierce pace being set on the final few climbs of the race.

 

 

With Anna-Bianc Schnitzmeier the only rider on the team to have experienced what is arguably the hardest women’s one-day race, and with double Olympic champion Laura Trott making her debut in the World Cup, it was to be a day of survival for the young riders of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling. [Read more...]

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Laura Trott (Wiggle) Best young Rider

April 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott ended the day in the best young rider jersey after a chaotic first stage of the Energiewacht Tour in the north eastern Netherlands.  The 20-year-old was one of three Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders to make it into the 22-rider lead group as the peloton split in the crosswinds that always characterise the Dutch stage race. 

Olympic champion Dani King was Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s best finisher in tenth place, with Australian Lauren Kitchen in 13th place, and Trott 17th.

“It was a good ride by all of them to make that selection,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “They were making the selections all day.”

As well as the strong Dutch winds causing chaos in the peloton, the race had to be stopped four times as the riders were first sent off course, and then came across a closed railway junction and an open bridge as the race went outside its scheduled time.

Each time the 22 rider were allowed to restart first, with the rest of the peloton held back until it they had opened up their original lead.

“They’ve obviously looked at timings for the trains, and bridges and things, and once you go outside the fastest and slowest average speeds they put down the whole race gets screwed up,” Cope conceded. “So there’s no point trying to point the finger or anything, it’s just what it is.

“To get three riders in that group was good,” he added. “It would have been slightly different without the mishaps; I think Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier’s group would have definitely got back on to that group.”

As the only under-23 rider to have made the selection, Trott has a comfortable lead over the next riders in the classification.

“Laura was the lone young rider in the group,” Cope confirmed. “She’s got a lead of one minute and one second.”

Dutch sprinter Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) took the stage as she broke away in the closing kilometres with three compatriots. Wild beat Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) in the sprint for the line, with Iris Slappendel (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) taking third. The group containing Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s King, Kitchen and Trott finished just ten seconds behind the winner, keeping all three riders in overall contention.

Result
1. Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano)
2. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon)
3. Iris Slappendel (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)

10. Dani King
13. Lauren Kitchen
17. Laura Trott
27. Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier
58. Rochelle Gilmore
66. Emily Collins
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Update-Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling

March 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wiggle Pro Cycling

Wiggle Pro Cycling

Giorgia Bronzini was Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s best finisher in the tenth edition of the women’s Ronde van Vlaanderen – the third round of the 2013 World Cup – as the former World champion sprinted to 13th as part of a big peloton that finished 4’33” behind the winning group.  The result, which matches that of Lauren Kitchen in last week’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda, earns Bronzini eight points in the World Cup classification, and lifts Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling into the top ten of the team rankings.

 

“Our goal was the top ten, and Giorgia wasn’t that far away,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “I think she did a really good ride for the course, as it’s not her type of course at all.

“It was unlucky in some respects,” Cope added. “We lost Lauren early on, due to a crash; then Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier crashed as well, but she made her way back up. She had such a long chase, but when she got back she did a really good job for Giorgia.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, there were just a lot of crashes and we were a little bit unlucky,” he added. “On the whole it was a very good performance.”

Current World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) won the race ahead of Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) and Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) after the three of them escaped with Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products) on the climb of the Oude Kwaremont with just over 25km to go.

 

Result
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon)
3. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)

13. Giorgia Bronzini
58. Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier
72. Mayuko Hagiwara

 

 

    
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Giorgia Bronzini sprinted to her first victory

March 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

padova2

 

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini sprinted to her first victory of the 2013 season at the Grand Prix Città di Padova in northeastern Italy. The Italian two-time World champion crossed the line several lengths clear of second place Trixi Worrack (Sepcialized-lululemon) and third place Marta Tagliaferro (Cipollini-Giordana) after Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders Beatrice Bartelloni, Mayuko Hagiwara, Lauren Kitchen, Joanna Rowsell and Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier had worked hard to neutralise several breakaway attempts during the race.

 

“It was not so tough during the race,” explained Bronzini. “There were a few attacks from [Specialized] lululemon, but we were always present as a team, and there was only one break of Cantele and Amialyusik. It was for this reason that I asked the team to pull the bunch, so we could finish in a sprint, and the girls worked so hard for me.

“In the finale it was very important to have Lauren with me,”she added. “She guided me onto the right wheel so I could do the perfect sprint.”

The 126km race was made up of a 26.8km opening loop, followed by eight laps of a 12.4km circuit to the east of the city of Padova.  There were several attempts by riders to escape the peloton on the mostly flat course – including one group that contained Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Mayuko Hagiwara with three laps to go – and Be Pink duo Alena Amialyusik and Noemi Cantele managing to get 35 seconds clear on the penultimate lap.

The two riders were chased down the peloton, however, and caught with just over a kilometre to go, and the race was all together as it arrived at the finish where Bronzini dominated the other sprinters.

“They rode really well as a team today,” confirmed Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “They were really active and, as Lauren said, the other teams are looking at Wiggle Honda, and they’re afraid of us.”

    
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Wiggle signs World Time Trial Championship medallist Linda Villumsen

March 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

image

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is very pleased to announce the signing of four time World Time Trial Championship medallist Linda Villumsen, who becomes the team’s second New Zealand rider.  The Danish-born 27-year-old adds considerable power to the team’s time trial strengths and, having finished 2012 as number nine in the World, lifts Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling into the top five of the UCI rankings. 

Having taken a little time away from the Elite Women’s peloton, Villumsen explained her reason for choosing to return for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling. [Read more...]
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Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Emily Collins

February 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

MG_1690

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Emily Collins won the sprints classification at the Le Samyn des Dames race, the first round of the Lotto Cycling Cup, in the town of Dour in southern Belgium.  The 119.2km race, run on the same day and the same course as the elite men’s version, was made up of a 38.8km loop, followed by four laps of a 20.1km circuit. Each lap was to feature the climbs of the cobbled Côte de la Roquette, and the Côte d’Audregnies. 

“There was a sprint on the first, second, and third times through the finish, and Emily won the first two,” Wiggle Honda directeur sportif Simon Cope explained. “The third one was take by the breakaway, but none of them were any danger, and so she took the competition.” [Read more...]
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Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Wiggle Honda)

February 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

IMG_1558

Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier was the best finisher for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling in the women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in 25th place, as the team had no luck in the European season opener. The freezing cold conditions in Gent, Belgium, saw the peloton stay together for the first half of the 125km race, but the succession of tough Flemish climbs in the middle of the course served to split it into several pieces.Schnitzmeier was in the front half of the peloton, along with Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Emily Collins, but when the race was shattered on the ferociously steep cobbles of the Paterberg, both riders found themselves trapped behind the split as the winning 13-rider move got away.

With several teams having multiple riders in the leading group it was impossible to chase it down once the gap had been established.  The race was won by Australian Tiffany Cromwell of Orica-AIS, who outsprinted US champion Megan Guarnier of Rabobank-Liv/Giant, after the two of them escaped the others with 15km to go. Cromwell’s teammate, Swedish champion Emma Johansson, won the sprint for third place from the chasing group.

“We were riding for Lauren [Kitchen] today, but she had a bit of a crash and she said it affected her gears,” explained Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope after the race.

“Anna obviously had some good legs though, and ended up in that second group, which is a pretty good ride really,” he added. “Orica seem to be dominating everything at the moment, but Anna’s ride was a really positive performance.”

Also performing beyond expectations in the biggest race of her career to date was Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s youngest rider Amy Roberts; she finished the race safely in the main peloton, which was unfortunately declared to be outside the time limit.

“Another good performance from a young rider was Amy Roberts,” said Cope. “She’s not been training for the road, she’s been working on the track. She finished in the same group as [Argos-Shimano’s junior World champion] Lucy Garner, whose been on loads of road training camps, and for an 18-year-old – and a young 18-year-old at that – to finish that race is very good.”

Result
1. Tiffany Cromwell (Orica-AIS)
2. Megan Guarnier (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
3. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)
4. Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
5. Shelley Olds (Team Tibco-To The Top)

25. Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier
38. Emily Collins
49. Lauren Kitchen
51. Mayuko Hagiwara
DNF Rochelle Gilmore
DNF Amy Roberts
DNF Joanna Rowsell

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Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is Golden

February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

wiggle

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling trio Laura Trott, Dani King and Elinor Barker took Gold for Great Britain in the World Track Championships, in Minsk, Belarus, to successfully defend the title won the previous year.  Reigning World and Olympic champions Trott and King were joined in the championships by 18-year-old Elinor Barker, replacing Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Joanna Rowsell, who is concentrating on the beginning her road season.

The British team went fastest in the morning qualification session, with 3 minutes, 18.704 seconds for the three kilometres; more than four seconds outside their own World record, set in the Olympic final of London 2012, but good enough to go almost two seconds quicker than Australia, to set up a gold medal contest between the two big rivals. [Read more...]
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Giorgia Bronzini Sprints To Fourth (Wiggle Honda)

February 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

5eme Ladies Tour of Qatar 2013 - Stage 4, Sealine Beach Resort - Doha Corniche, 86.5km

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini came tantalisingly close to a second straight podium finish in the Ladies’ Tour of Qatar, as she sprinted to fourth in the final stage between the Sealine Beach Resort and the Doha Corniche.  The sprint finish came at the end of the 86.5km stage after the riders from Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling took on the responsibility of chasing down a ten-rider break that had escaped just before halfway.

The stage was won by Argos-Shimano’s Kirsten Wild, as the Dutch sprinter confirmed overall race victory with her third win of the race.

Although she spent most of the race looking after the interests of her teammates, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Lauren Kitchen held on to her tenth place overall in the race, and finished second in the young riders’ classification.

“It was a very good day, ” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “The team rode very well together to help pull back that group, and then Giorgia finished it off pretty well. I’m pretty pleased really; considering how the week’s gone it’s all been positive, and we rounded it off pretty well today.

“I think the terrain just needed to be a little bit tougher for Giorgia to come through, compared to Kirsten; and Kirsten just sat in all day, whereas Giorgia was doing a bit of work.”

The wind that had played such a big part in the first three stages was much lighter on the fourth and final day, and the peloton stayed together until the first intermediate sprint, in Al Wakra after 38.5km. Shortly afterwards, however, the ten-rider group escaped and, since nobody in it was any threat to Wild’s overall lead, the Dutchwoman’s team was happy to leave it to the rest of the peloton to close it down.

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling decided to take responsibility at this point, with Beatrice Bartelloni, Emily Collins, Lauren Kitchen and Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier all working hard to bring back the group for Bronzini.  As the race arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, with 36km to go, the gap was at its maximum of 1’25” but, as the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders exchanged turns on the front of the peloton, it steadily came down.

On the five laps of the 6km Doha finishing circuit Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling pulled the ten riders back as the Orica-AIS team joined in the chase, and, with just over two laps to go, the race was all together. Argos-Shimano then took over for the final two laps, suppressing several solo attempts to break away; Wild’s overall rival Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products tried to take the stage with an early jump, but the Dutchwoman powered to her third straight win.

Bronzini managed to position herself well in the mêlée behind the Dutchwoman’s wheel, but was just unable to make the podium places as she sprinted for the line. The former World champion also moved up one place in the general classification to eleventh, just behind Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Kitchen, and heads to the World Track Championships later this month with confidence.

“It’s all good really,” said Cope, reflecting on the four day race as a whole. “That was the first race for the team. What you’ve got to remember is that Argos-Shimano have been together for a long while, so have Specialized-lululemon and a few of those other teams, so I think Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling gelled pretty well really.”

Result
1. Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano)
2. Lucinda Brand (Rabobank-Liv Giant)
3. Marta Tagliaferro (Cipollini-Giordana)
4. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
5. Simona Frapporti (Be Pink)

19. Emily Collins
27. Lauren Kitchen
29. Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier
58. Beatrice Bartelloni @ 1’49”

General Classification
1. Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano)
2. Chloe Hosking (Hitec Products) @ 14s
3. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) @ 29s
4. Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS)
5. Trixi Worrack (Specialized-lululemon) @ 39s

10. Lauren Kitchen @ 2’15”
11. Giorgia Bronzini 3’53”
23. Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier @ 7’23”
34. Emily Collins @ 11’40”
51. Beatrice Bartelloni @ 14’54”

    
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