The 2017 HSBC UK | National Women’s Road Series gets underway in Lincolnshire on Sunday 9 April as the HSBC UK | Spring Cup Series reaches its second round.
The Tour of the Wolds sees a thrilling double header of road racing with an impressive field set for the start line in both races.
About the Series
HSBC UK | National Women’s Road Series
The Tour of the Wolds is the first of nine races in this year’s National Women’s Road Series, which runs from April until August.
From the Wolds in Lincolnshire, the competition heads to the Essex Giro later this month before the Lincoln Grand Prix in May.
June sees three races, starting with the CiCLE Classic in Leicestershire, followed by the Curlew Cup in Northumberland and the Otley Grand Prix in West Yorkshire.
The first weekend of July sees the always popular two-day Alexander Tour of the Reservoir followed by the Newton Longville Festival of Cycling Grand Prix in Buckinghamshire later that month.
The series concludes on Sunday 6 August with the Ryedale Grand Prix in North Yorkshire. Individual honours are up for grabs with an overall and under-23 champion to be crowned.
HSBC UK | Spring Cup Series
The Spring Cup Series is a four-round British road race series which runs throughout April and May and sees riders compete across a variety of courses.
The series opened on Sunday 2 April as Team Wiggins’ Chris Latham picked up the win at the East Cleveland Klondike Grand Prix.
Attention now turns to another race new to the Spring Cup Series, the Tour of the Wolds in Lincolnshire, before a return to two classic fixtures in the road calendar, the Chorley Grand Prix and the Lincoln Grand Prix.
As well as individual honours for riders, teams will aim to come out on top in the team standings.
The courses
National Women’s Road Series
Starting at 9am, riders will do battle over 100 kilometres at the Tour of the Wolds, starting in Louth and heading through the Wolds to the Caistor Loop via a series of climbs.
They'll take on the 25 kilometre loop which heads out of the Wolds into Caistor and Nettleton, before returning back towards Louth and the finishing circuit, four laps of a 3.4km, mostly flat section around the town centre.
Spring Cup Series
The men will face a similar course to the women starting at 12.30pm in Louth town centre.
They'll take on the Caistor Loop three times before heading back to Louth for eight laps of the finishing circuit, a total distance of 164 kilometres.
What happened last year
The Tour of the Wolds is a brand new event for 2017, following on from a rich tradition of cycling events in Lincolnshire, which has played host to national championships and the Lincoln Grand Prix - a regular fixture in the Spring Cup Series and National Women’s Road Series lineup.
In addition to the men’s and women’s elite races, there is also a cycle sportive taking place in and around Louth and the Wolds on Saturday 8 April.
Ones to watch
National Women’s Road Series
Nikki Juniper has dominated the National Women’s Road Series in recent years, claiming the title in 2016 for the third year in a row.
The Team Ford Ecoboost rider will aim for a fourth successive title, starting with this weekend’s Tour of the Wolds.
Paralympic legend Dame Sarah Storey will be among the riders planning to prevent that from happening - lining up for her new team Storey Racing, while her Great Britain Cycling Team team-mate Corrine Hall will also be in action, in the colours of Matrix Pro Cycling.
One of the biggest challengers could be Great Britain Cycling Team Junior Academy rider Pfeiffer Georgi.
The young Liv Cycling Club - Epic Coaching rider is in terrific form after racing away to victory in the junior women’s race at Gent Wevelgem last month.
Drops Cycling Team’s Abi Van Twisk is another young rider who will be looking to make her mark in Lincolnshire.
Spring Cup Series
Team Wiggins’ Chris Latham is the early series leader following his win at the East Cleveland Klondike Grand Prix - but the Bolton rider won’t be in action at the Tour of the Wolds.
Latham is set to compete for the Great Britain Cycling Team at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Hong Kong and international duty rules him out of this weekend’s racing.
Second place in the series opener went to Enrique Sanz and the Raleigh GAC rider is set for the start line in Louth - his team mate Adria Morena Sala was last year’s Spring Cup Series winner and also always poses a threat.
BIKE Channel Canyon’s Harry Tanfield took third place at the Klondike Grand Prix and will be hopeful of another strong performance to keep him in overall series contention - his team are also currently top of the team standings after one race, 11 points clear of Metaltek Kuota Racing Team, for whom George Pym and Zachery May started the season well, securing top ten finishes in East Cleveland.
JLT Condor’s Ian Bibby is always a threat in domestic competition and Tom Stewart, a winner at the Lincoln Grand Prix last year, will also be among the fancied riders as he represents new team ONE Pro Cycling.
How to follow the racing
- Follow the action from the Spring Cup Series and National Women’s Road Series on our live blog from 8.45am on Sunday for race updates, images and social media.
- Follow @BritishCycling on Twitter for updates from both events throughout the racing
- Video highlights, reports, results, images and reaction will appear on the British Cycling website.
