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Podcast 2017 Episode 19 – Always Ad Lib Improv

This week Sarah and Dan recap the Ovo Energy Women’s Tour held in the United Kingdom, reviewing each of the stages and exploring some of the more surprising results. Along the way they accidentally reveal which one of them is the REAL comic book geek (you won’t be surprised when you hear who it is!) and of course, take some time to wrap up the other things that they’ve seen around the way over the past week. (1:00:04 MIN / 55.00 MB)

You can get automatic updates via our RSS feed here, or via the iTunes store here.

Things we saw this week

OVO Energy Women’s Tour

Stage 1 Highlights, Videos and more.

Stage 2 Highlights, Videos and more.

Stage 3 Highlights, Videos and more.

Stage 4 Highlights, Videos and more.

Stage 5 Highlights, Videos and more.

Other things

Here’s the link to the Ella CyclingTips article about power output in the women’s peloton that Dan found both interesting and annoying, and that Sarah found mostly annoying.

And just in case you needed it, here’s the link to CQ Ranking’s current rankings for the women.

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Videos, media and more from Stage 5 of the 2017 OVO Energy Women’s Tour

The final stage – a crit-like stage in London that 2 hours before the race was shortened to 10 laps of a 6.2km course for reasons I’m still not sure of.

The big questions were could Katarzyna Niewiadoma keep her General Classification leader’s jersey, or would the teams in second or third, Boels-Dolmans and Sunweb, attack her and steal her win?  And would the rest of the GC stay static, or with so many riders so close together, would there be a shake up?  With intermediate and finish-line bonus seconds, there was all to play for, and that was before we could factor in the sprinters’ teams, and other teams who really needed the win so they could claim some of the race glory.

The stage didn’t disappoint, with the first major breakaway in pretty much the first kilometre, and I’ve got videos, photos, results and media for you.  There’s not much up, yet, but I’ll add in more as I see it.

First, the 40-minute highlights from ITV4, which will be here for 30 days (you may need a VPN).  If you can, please watch on ITV, for the viewing figures, but if you can’t they’re also here on YouTube.

More highlights, from the UCI, from the race, and Wiggle High5’s view of the day:

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OVO Energy Women’s Tour Stage 4 videos and media – and Stage 5 #RiderResults competition

Wow, this stage was completely thrilling!  So hard to keep up with the action, and with Kasia Niewiadoma going in with a weakened team to defend her General Classification lead against the massed peloton of ravenous, attacking, ferocious big squads, it was always going to be nail-biting.

And wow, they didn’t disappoint!  On the short, sharp climbs and descents, it was attacking at every opportunity, with the Leader’s jersey being passed back and forth – where would it end?

As usual, videos first, then the final Look Mum No Hands! #RiderResults game – and then results, reports, more videos, photos and the usual media.  As always, I’ll edit more in as I see it.

First, the 40 minute highlights from ITV4 – and yes, if you’re not in the UK, you’ll need a VPN – or watch them here (please do try to watch on ITV if you can, though)

Next, shorter highlights from the race organisers and the UCI.

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OVO Energy Women’s Tour Stage 3 videos & media – and Stage 4 #RiderResults competition

Stage 3 was the longest we’ve ever seen in a women’s stage race, at 151km long, and it always looked like it would be a battle between escapees and bunch sprint teams, especially with the finish, a long, swooping drag absolutely perfect for power sprinters.  But with this year’s race being so unpredictable, what would happen?

I’ve got the highlights videos for you, then the rider for the Look Mum No Hands! Stage 4 #RiderResults competition, and then Stage 3 results, photos, reports and rider tweets for you.  As always, I’ll add in more as I see it.

First, the 40 minute highlights from ITV4, available for the next 30 days (you may need a VPN to see these).

Highlights from the UCI and the race organisers:

Continue reading →

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Videos & media from Stage 2 of the 2017 OVO Energy Women’s Tour – and Stage 3 #RiderResults competition

Stage 2 of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour was billed as the Queen Stage, and at 144km long, in wind and rain, was a brutal day.  But how did it play out?

I’ve got video highlights, and then I’ll tell you about the rider I’ve picked for the Look Mum No Hands! #RiderResults competition, and after that, give you the full results, photos and other media.

I’ll add in more videos as I see them – and watch out for spoilers just below, because what we have now gives away the results!

Here are the 40 minute highlights from ITV4.  These will be available for 30 days, but if you’re not in the UK, you might need a VPN to see them.  I really want people to try ITV first, for the stats, but if you can’t see them, they’re also here on YouTube.

Highlights from the race, the UCI, and the race’s press conference videos:

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Videos & media from Stage 1 of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour – and Stage 2 #RiderResults competition

I have to admit, I spent the entire evening laughing about how Stage 1 of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour went down.  I know, I know, Schadenfreude is a bit mean, but that was a really fun stage to “watch” online.  I’m not going to spoiler it, watch the highlights below – and then I’ll tell you who I’ve picked for the Look Mum No Hands! #RiderResults Stage 2 competition, and then share the results, photos and more social media I’ve enjoyed from day 1.  As always, I’ll add in more highlights as I see them.

First the 40 minute highlights from ITV4.  These will be available for 30 days now, but if you’re not in the UK, you might need a VPN to see them.  Of course I recommend watching them on ITV, but if you can’t do that, watch them here:

Next, very short highlights from the race, 5 minutes from the UCI, Wiggle High5’s take, and then the UCI highlights (with spoiler on the video cover, sorry!) and then the winner’s interview:

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Podcast 2017 Episode 18 – and how to watch the OVO Energy Women’s Tour

This week marks the beginning of the Ovo Energy Women’s Tour, the United Kingdom’s best known (only) women’s UCI stage race. We run through a full preview of each stage, the riders that are likely to do well and the teams who have very clearly come prepared for this year’s contest. Following that we also take a quick look at the recent downhill mountain bike event at Fort William, with a bit of a surprise result. (52.14 MIN / 47.77 MB)

You can subscribe for automatic updates via our RSS feed here or via the iTunes store here.

How to watch the OVO Energy Women’s Tour, 7-11th June 2017

The race stage information is on the excellent race website, including the start times.  The UK is in he BST timezone, one hour behind European CEST and 9 hours behind Australian AEST, and 5 hours ahead of USA EDT.  So if a stage starts at 11am BST, that’s 12:00 CEST, 8pm AEST and 6am EDT.

Follow me on twitter to see the things I like from the race, and my own updates – and I’ll put up daily posts here with stage video, media and more, including each #RiderResults rider…. which reminds me…

Join in the Look Mum No Hands! daily #RiderResults game

Every day, excellent London cycling café chain Look Mum No Hands! will be offering prizes in their #RiderResults competition.  I’ll be picking a rider for every stage, and telling you a bit more about them, and you need to tell Look Mum where you think they’ll place in that particular stage, on their fantastic twitter, with the #RiderResults hashtag – if you’re right and they pick your name out of their hat, you’ll win something great from their shop (which you should check out, there are gorgeous things).  The cutoff point is 5km to go in each stage.

For Stage 1, I’m picking Marianne Vos, who has the most interesting race history.  In the first year, she won 3 stages and the overall GC; in 2015, she couldn’t race as she was having injury issues, but presented the TV highlights (I interviewed her about that here); then last year, she “only” won one stage and came 4th in the GC.

This year she had a great cyclocross mini-season, winning the first race of the year on New Year’s Day, and coming second in the most thrilling World Championships we’ve ever seen – but her Spring Classics were disappointing to her, and her best result was 7th in Ronde van Drenthe WorldTour race, as she was injured again. She was especially disappointed to miss two of the first ever women’s Ardennes Week races, especially Amstel Gold.  She seems to be feeling better in May, winning a couple of smaller day races, and then winning Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik in a classic, exhilarating Vos style.  But is she back?

In her time, she’s won, well…..practically everything!  Olympic golds on the track and road, and 13 World Championships across road, track and CX.  But more than that, she lives for cycling, and loves it passionately.  She has run her own team for years – this year as WM3 Procycling – and the scariest thing about her is that as good as she is at winning, she’ll also work her heart out for her team-mates as well, as in the Rio Olympics.

Fans are desperate to see her back on top – but is she?  Where do YOU think she’ll finish Stage 1?

Find out more about Marianne on her website, and follow her on twitter and instagram.