Standing on the banks of the River Nene, Oundle has a population of just 5,800 residents. Yet the ancient Northamptonshire market town will be the epicentre of women’s road cycling on Wednesday 7 May, when the Friends Life Women’s Tour begins the first of its five stages across the East Midlands and East Anglia.
An impressive roster of 16 professional and national teams will form a peloton of around 100 of the world’s best female road riders, including current Olympic and world road champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands.
Great Britain Cycling Team will field a squad of six academy-level riders. Double junior world road champion Lucy Garner will lead the team and is excited at the prospect of seeing women’s road cycling capture the imagination of the British public.
“I just think it's such a great opportunity, not only for British women but the whole women's peloton to show the public how we race and how we ride,” explained Garner, who will race past her family home in Cosby, Leicestershire on stage two.
Garner will be supported by five riders who represent the cream of emerging British talent on the road and track. The core of the squad comprises three of the four 2013 junior team pursuit world champions, Amy Hill, Hayley Jones and Emily Kay.
Kay, who helped Garner to her 2012 junior world title in Valkenberg, can’t wait to compete in support of her team leader and square up to her all-time cycling idol, Marianne Vos.
"In other sports when people have people that they look up to, they never get to compete against them,” said Kay, “But I think that's something quite special in cycling. I get to compete against my inspiration and my idol."
Team pursuit world champion Katie Archibald will add further firepower and is in great form after a big domestic win at the Cheshire Classic. The 20-year-old is looking forward to competing in only her second stage race and is right behind Garner’s big for home glory.
“It's a huge opportunity and it's going to be an amazing race, said Archibald. “"I'd be very keen to be there at the end, helping Lucy to the last minute."
The squad will be completed by the experienced 24-year-old Ciara Horne, who rides on the domestic scene for Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International having represented the Welsh Team USN on the at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup.
The Great Britain team will be managed by Darren Tudor, who has worked extensively with the riders on both road and track for Great Britain and the Welsh Team USN squad.
Tudor said: “I think the Friends Life Women’s Tour will be an interesting race for the Great Britain team that we’re entering. Lucy Garner is making a real impact on the professional women’s road scene and I think she could be in with a chance here, given the nature of the course.
Outside the Great Britain Cycling Team squad, British representation is strong with fourteen other Brits taking the start in Oundle. Chief among the home grown talent will be Lizzie Armitstead, Olympic silver medallist and current UCI Women’s Road World Cup leader, riding for the powerful Boels Dolmans squad alongside fellow Brit Emma Trott.
Olympic and world champion team pursuit champions Laura Trott, Dani King and Elinor Barker form the British spine of the Wiggle Honda along with multiple road and track world champion Giorgia Bronzini of Italy.
Tour de France Feminin winner in 2009 and world time trial champion in 2010, Emma Pooley is the British component of the Lotto Belisol women’s team.
Beijing Olympian and former national road champion Sharon Laws rides with 2013 British Cycling Women’s Road Series winner Hannah Barnes in the United Healthcare Pro Cycling Team managed by former Great Britain Cycling Team athlete Rachel Heal, while fellow London 2012 Olympian Lucy Martin is the sole British competitor on the Estado de Mexico Faren squad.
Matrix Fitness – Vulpine field a predominantly British squad headed up by multiple British cyclo-cross champion and 2013 silver medallist Helen Wyman, who is joined by Harriet Owen, Jessie Walker, Jo Tindley and Penny Rowson.
The route
Stage 1 – Wednesday 7 May - Oundle to Northampton – 92.4km
The opening stage will see the field leave the town of Oundle, heading south west through Northamptonshire to finish in Northampton itself. The stage has two intermediate sprints at Rushton and Hunsbury and two Queen of the Mountains (QoM) points at Harrington and Spratton. View map.
Stage 2 – Thursday 8 May - Hinckley to Bedford – 118.5km
Stage two begins in the market town of Hinckley in Leicestershire and heads north east towards the outskirts of Leicester before turning south east back through Northamptonshire and on to the finish on the Embankment in Bedford. It has two intermediate sprints at Lutterworth and Turvey, while the Queen of the Mountains points are at Kilworth and Naseby. View map.
Stage 3 – Friday 9 May - Felixstowe to Clacton-on-Sea – 90.5km
Stage three sees a move to East Anglia with the start at the port town of Felixstowe in Suffolk. The route heads inland to pass through Ipswich city centre before making its way back to the coast for the finish at the seaside resort of Clacton-on-Sea. On the way there are two sprints at Little Bealings and Thorpe le Soken and two QoMs at Freston and Holbrook. View map.
Stage 4 – Saturday 10 May – Cheshunt to Welwyn Garden City – 87.8km
The penultimate stage begins in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, looping north to Letchworth Garden City before heading back south the finishing in Welwyn. Two sprints punctuate the route at Baldock and Codicote, with the day’s QoMs are at Hertford and Digswell Hill. View map.
Stage 5 – Sunday 11 May – Harwich to Bury St. Edmunds – 108.3km
The Women’s Tour finale begins on the coast in the harbour town of Harwich in Essex, heading inland via Sudbury and Stowmarket to finish in Bury St. Edmunds. The final two sprints are a Mistley and Long Melford while the last chance to grab QoM points comes at Long Melford and Brettenham. The grand finale will take place on Angel Hill in Bury St. Edmunds, where the inaugural Women’s Tour winners will be crowned. View map.
