UKC

Living 15 miles away from Oundle and pretty keen on cycling it seems a bit crazy that I've only recently found out the Womens Tour starts from there this morning. Finding out the start time has taken a bit of sifting but I'll be heading over to see whats going on.
Really don't know what to expect! Anyone else know much about it?!

In reply to aligibb:

No mention of the race on cyclingfans.com, steephill.tv or inrng.com unfortunately.

1 hour highlights on ITV4 @9pm each night.

Official site - Times, stages, results etc.
http://www.womenstour.co.uk/stages/index.php#.U2k_nt1EHec

Stage breakdown.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10808947/Womens-Tour-2...

Brief article for anyone that knows nothing about this race.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/may/06/womens-tour-britain-first...

Lots more info & links on this site.
http://prowomenscycling.com/2014/05/04/womens-tour-of-britain-2014-live/

Updates, interviews, videos.
https://www.facebook.com/thewomenstour

In reply to interdit:

Gutted that stage 2 comes through my village and I didnt find out soon enough to orgnise the time off work to see it. On the positive side the school are taking the kids down to watch so at least the kids will get to see it!

In reply to aligibb:

Great to see such a major women's race taking place at all, and even better that it's in the UK.

I guess there are logistical reasons why it is located entirely within one area, and a quiet, sparsely populated region, but it does look - on paper at least - a pretty boring route.

However I guess we've seen how the men's Tour of Britain has grown organically since it's reappearance 10 or so years ago, so lets hope this race will do the same.

In reply to aligibb:

Nothing obvious on Bikeradar or Road CC shame on them

In reply to jethro kiernan:

I know couldn't believe there was nothing on road.cc. I went down to watch it set off this morning and there was a great atmosphere with masses of people, couldn't believe it so that's all positive. The coverage in the Telegraph is good too.
I'm just so please that theres a womens multi stage road race and hope it will keep growing. As a girl who likes cycling its really good to see what pros are doing and to watch it develop.

In reply to aligibb:

Was really surprised to see how short the stages were especially considering the caliber of riders. Shortest stage is only a little over 50 miles with the longest only nudging a bit over 70.

In reply to Indy: UCI regulations limit women's stage races to an average of no more than 100km per day. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing; especially with smaller fields, it can lead to more attacking races rather than staid wars of attrition.

In reply to aligibb:

http://road.cc/content/news/118092-behind-scenes-friends-life-womens-tour-m...
Must of heard us

In reply to aligibb:

I watched it today just outside Northampton and then dashed into the town to watch the finish. Duston School allowed some of the kids out to watch which was great. I'm at work tomorrow so I will not be able to see it come through Northamptonshire again... Boo! I does lack a little of the razmataz that runs in front of the race like in Europe, giving out freebees to the kids etc.

In reply to aligibb:

No Trott the Elder.

Boo....

In reply to andymac:

Just watched the highlights, really good racing!

In reply to the sheep:

Awesome race today but 92km wtf????

E

In reply to Enty:

The 100k a day average rule is a relic from the last century, surely must be overdue for a change. Don't think the total ascent would be very significant either - by the looks of the profile the first QOM summit had a rise of 50m .

but these issues have to be viewed in context of the fact that this is a very ambitious new race

In reply to aligibb:

It was well over 15 minutes into the show before we even saw a wheel turn and then we got 27 minutes and 23 seconds of cycling for an hour of watching. Sheesh.

In reply to the sheep:

wouldn't worry its a bit like watching paint dry,or an indoor Bouldering contest

In reply to aligibb:

Well done ITV4 for showing it, but they do seem a bit lazy/obvious with the use of pink in the graphics.

Good rule 9 conditions today, by the looks of things.

Which, incidentally, make me wonder how much The Rules give mind to female cyclists? How are we supposed to regard ponytails, for example? Should there be a separate concession clause for women, or are The Rule The Rules regardless?

In reply to nufkin:


Seems to be more blue than pink
https://twitter.com/BritishCycling/status/464681234653003777/photo/1

Unlike everything in Ireland which is entirely pink !

In reply to aligibb:

The distances do seem short, but as someone else said, it means riders jockey for position much earlier in the race, perhaps?
I'm sure we all admire the men's teams battling it out over 200km a day, but from an armchair spectator's perspective, it's really only last 50km (or 100m in the case of a sprint finish) that it' gets really spicy... let's be honest, most of the time it's like watching cricket!

In reply to FrankBooth:

Length isn't everything ! Last weeks LBL apparently a borefest - so long and hard that nothing happened until the final mile, but on the other hand a good stage race should have a variety of terrain to ensure the selections get made. My problem with the route is it could give the impression that women aren't capable of doing anything more than a sunday club ride.

Then again yesterdays stage was good - how rarely do we see a lone break stay away these days in the tour, at least in the early stages? Should set things up nicely.

In reply to FrankBooth:


Wash your mouth out

In reply to aligibb:

I thought it was great yesterday, much as the Women's Olympic Road race was the better of the two. There were a few occasions when the peloton looked like it couldn't be bothered, but looking at the weather I'm hardly surprised. Most of the time there was a fair bit going on.

THe bikes do look odd with their almost headtube-less frames and comparatively huge wheels