The cycling season is effectively on hold due to the worldwide measures against the coronavirus. So now is a good time to look back at the first 3 months of the season. We’ve seen plenty of different races, starting in Australia and New Zealand, then heading to Asia for the Dubai Tour and warm-up races in Turkey before finally racing back in Europe.
We’ve only seen the one WorldTour race after race cancellations came in and prevented Strade Bianche from taking place. There’s also only been one ProSeries race too. So we’ve seen some lower-level races with strong startlists and the start (and quick finish) of the Spring Classics season.
Lianne Lippert was the star of the Australian season, closely followed by Ruth Winder. Chloe Hosking appears to have found her mojo again on Rally Cycling and Arlenis Sierra was sprinting well. Brodie Chapman showed herself well with some great breakaways. Marta Bastianelli has already got off to a flying start with a win and a pair of 2nd places. The stars of Van Vleuten and Van der Breggen are already off the mark with wins too. Boels’ success continued with Chantal van den Broek-Blaak winning. British success was found in Lucy van der Haar winning for the first time since 2015.
I’ve compiled the races that have happened so far in 2020, included videos of highlights where possible and a brief summary of the race itself. The stand-out result aims to recognise, particularly youthful, riders having great results.
Women’s WorldTour Races
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Winner: Lianne Lippert
Stand-out result: Anna Henderson, 13th
Preview
Summary
The only WorldTour race to take place in 2020 so far. It was won by Sunweb’s Lianne Lippert in her biggest career win to date. She’d been in great form at the Tour Down Under, finishing 2nd Overall, so her win here was no surprise. Lippert attacked solo and stayed away, finishing with a gap of 15 seconds. Arlenis Sierra and Amanda Spratt rounded out the podium.
Highlights
Women’s ProSeries Races
Women’s Tour Down Under
Winner: Ruth Winder
Stage winners: Chloe Hosking, Amanda Spratt, Ruth Winder, Simona Frapporti
Stand-out result: Andrea Ramirez, 7th
Preview
Summary
The Tour Down Under was the first big race of 2020. Stage 1 saw Brodie Chapman caught just before the line with Chloe Hosking winning the sprint. A strong trio of Spratt, Lippert and Winder got a gap and stayed clear to the finish. Stage 3’s bonus seconds decided the GC. Ruth Winder won it with Lippert in 2nd. Spratt finished in 10th. Simona Frapporti won the flat city crit that made up Stage 4 ahead of the local talent.
Stage 1 Highlights
Stage 2 Highlights
Stage 3 Highlights
Stage 4 Highlights
Women’s .1 Races
Race Torquay WE
Winner: Brodie Chapman
Stand-out result: Emily Herfoss, 2nd
Summary
This warm-up race to the Women’s WorldTour Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race saw Brodie Chapman take the win. Chapman was part of a breakaway that managed to stay away from the chasing pack. In the closing stages, Chapman created a gap and took the win as the group split up. Local rider Emily Herfoss took her career highest placed finish.
Herald Sun Tour
Winner: Lucy Kennedy
Stage winners: Arlenis Sierra, Ella Harris
Stand-out result: Ella Harris, 1st Stage 2 & 4th in GC
Summary
After a quiet stage to 2020, Lucy Kennedy took the victory at the Herald Sun Tour. She finished in the first group on Stage 1 as the sprinters took over. On Stage 2’s summit finish, she finished 3rd, just 3 seconds behind young Kiwi rider Ella Harris. That was enough to see her take the GC win by 12 seconds ahead of local Aussie Jaime Gunning and Arlenis Sierra.
Stage 1 Highlights
Stage 2 Highlights
Vuelta CV Feminas
Winner: Marta Bastianelli
Stand-out result: Teniel Campbell, 3rd
Summary
The first race of the season to take place in Europe saw Marta Bastianelli take the win in a bunch sprint finish. She beat 2019 teammate Barbara Guarischi and Valcar’s new signing, Teniel Campbell.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Winner: Annemiek van Vleuten
Stand-out result: Elizabeth Banks, 6th
Preview
Summary
Another long break from Van Vleuten saw her take the win in the first Spring Classic of 2020. She attacked on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and no-one else could stand the pace. She ended up winning in Ninove by 42 seconds from Marta Bastianelli and Floortje Mackaij.
Highlights
Omloop Van Het Hageland
Winner: Lorena Wiebes
Stand-out result: Charlotte Kool, 6th
Preview
Summary
Despite repeated breakaway attempts and Trek Segafredo making the race as tough as possible, it came down to a bunch sprint. ParkHotel Valkenburg’s Lorena Wiebes showed that her off-season drama hadn’t dented her form and took the spring victory comfortably ahead of Marta Bastianelli (2nd again!) and Emma Cecilie Norsgaard.
Highlights
Sprint finish
Women’s .2 Races
GP Belek
Winner: Olha Kulynych
Stand-out result: Olha Kulynych, 1st
Summary
On the Europe Tour but not actually in Europe, the GP Belek doesn’t appear to have had any video coverage. Ciclotel’s 20-year-old Ukrainian rider Olha Kulynych escaped from the pack with 2 other Ukrainians and a Kazakh. She then dropped her breakaway companions to win by 13 seconds. The bunch finished over 4 minutes behind these 4 riders.
Gravel and Tar La Femme
Winner: Niamh Fisher-Black
Stand-out result: Niamh Fisher-Black, 1st
Summary
In her first full season racing in Europe for Bigla-Katusha, Niamh Fisher-Black took a career first pro win back home in New Zealand. The Southern Hemisphere equivalent of Strade Bianche saw Fisher-Black dominate the field and win by 28 seconds.
Highlights
Grand Prix Alanya WE
Winner: Diana Klimova
Stand-out result: Hanna Tserakh, 2nd
Summary
Another of the Turkish races to not have any video coverage for it. Russian rider Diana Klimova smashed it, finishing over 2 minutes ahead of Hanna Tserakh. The 21-year-old Belarussian would go on to finish 4th in Stage 1 of the Women’s Dubai Tour but this initial result showed she had some form.
Grand Prix Gazipasa WE
Winner: Olga Shekel
Stand-out result: Mariia Novolodskaia, 4th
Summary
A Turkish race I found a little bit of video for! Astana rider Olga Shekel took the sprint victory, with 2 other riders finishing just ahead of the main bunch. 20-year-old Mariia Novolodskaia won the bunch sprint behind the front 3 riders to take 4th place.
Highlights
Dubai Women’s Tour
Winner: Lucy van der Haar
Stage winners: Lucy van der Haar, Samah Khaled, Tatsiana Sharakova, Nicole Steigenga
Stand-out result: Samah Khaled, 1st Stage 2 & 3rd in GC
Summary
Lucy van der Haar took her first victory since the 2015 season on Stage 1. She briefly lost the overall on Stage 2 as Samah Khaled took the stage win. Sharakova took a great win (and the race lead) on the climb to Hatta Dam and van der Haar finished 3rd to stay 2nd overall. The final stage saw Van der Haar win the sprint from the bunch for 6th ahead of Khaled and Sharakova. Van der Haar and Sharakova finished the race with the same time but Van der Haar took the GC win on results countback.
Highlights
Setmana Ciclista Valenciana
Winner: Anna Van der Breggen
Stage winners: Emma Cecile Norsgaard, Anna van der Breggen, Lizbeth Salazar, Leah Thomas
Stand-out result: Greta Marturano, 18th in GC
Summary
A crash near the end of Stage 1 split the peloton so only the first 12 riders finished on the same time. Norsgaard took the sprint for her first pro win. Stage 2 saw a long solo breakaway from Anna van der Breggen who took the race lead by 29 seconds. Only Clara Koppenburg and Demi Vollering finished with 90 seconds of the leader. A breakaway was allowed to get ahead on Stage 3. Astana rider Lizbeth Salazar taking the win ahead of Drops’ Elizabeth Holden. Stage 4 saw a group of 5 allowed to break away. Leah Thomas won ahead of Katie Hall and Mavi Garcia.
Stage 1 Finish
Stage 2 Finish
Stage 3 Finish
Stage 4 Finish
Grand Prix Velo Alanya WE
Winner: Daria Malkova
Stand-out result: Mariia Miliaeva, 2nd
Summary
The addition of Velo to the race title separates it from the previous GP Alanya. It’s another Turkish race without much coverage though. A group of 7 created a gap and it was Cogeas-Mettler rider Daria Malkova who took the victory. Her 18-year-old teammate Mariia Miliaeva took 2nd place and will be one to watch in the future.
Le Samyn Des Dames
Winner: Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
Stand-out result: Claire Faber, 9th
Preview
Summary
The last women’s race to take place before the cessation of the 2020 season. It was Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak’s turn for a long breakaway. She went solo for well over 25km and the chasing pack was never able to close the gap. She finished 90 seconds ahead of teammate Christine Majerus and Lotte Kopecky. 4 Boels Dolmans riders finished in the top 7 to show their dominance.
National Champions
Australian National RR: Amanda Spratt
Australian National TT: Sarah Gigante
Colombia National RR: Maria Catalina Gomez
Colombia National TT: Ana Sanabria
Namibia National RR: Vera Adrian
Namibia National TT: Melissa Hinz
New Zealand National RR: Niamh Fisher-Black
New Zealand National TT: Teresa Adam
South Africa National RR: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio
South Africa National TT: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio
