Abby-Mae Parkinson thrills crowds before Jolien D’hoore sprints to stage one victory at Women’s Tour
A soggy opening stage of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour was rescued late in the day by a 21-year-old from Dewsbury.
Abby-Mae Parkinson [Drops Cycling] broke clear of the bunch with around 22km remaining of the 157.6km route from Beccles to Stowmarket, and looked for a while as if she might be capable of holding off the pack.
Parkinson held a 90-second lead as the race passed through Stowmarket for the first time, with one 12km loop of the finish circuit remaining.
In the end, she was swallowed up with 2km to go, Belgian sprinter Jolien D’hoore (Boels-Dolmans) winning the opening stage of the Women's Tour for a second year running. But she did win the combativity prize - awarded to the most aggressive rider on the day - and gave the thousands of fans lining the Suffolk roads something to cheer about on a day which had threatened to be something of a damp squib after all the build-up.
Parkinson, who is coached by recently-retired rider Dani Rowe, also gave British cycling a bit of a shot in the arm. Drops are the only British team at this year's race and face a constant battle for survival. They needed crowdfunding over the winter to make this season, and required a wildcard to get in to this race.
Team manager Bob Varney was understandably delighted with Parkinson's efforts, and with Ellie Dickinson who sprinted home 12th and is now in the Best British Rider jersey.
“We ticked a few boxes today what with Ellie Dickinson picking up the best British rider jersey,” Varney said afterwards. “I had a feeling Abby-Mae might do something. I think she was a bit frustrated coming back from Thüringen [last week’s Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour] because the other girls were in the action, Manon Lloyd and Anna Christian. So I thought she would be right up for it today. And she’s very canny and she chose her moment to go well.”
Asked whether he thought she might pull of a fairytale solo win, Varney admitted: “The gap got up to 1min 30sec on the radio and I guess there was a moment when we thought it might. But when you look at the firepower behind, the calibre of sprinters which teams have brought, it was a nailed-on sprint to be honest.
“We’re just pleased that we’ve showcased the best young British talent in the best race in the world. It lifts the spirits of everyone; staff, riders. We’ll enjoy the highlights programme tonight, that’s for sure.”
The fact that it is still a highlights programme, rather than live race coverage, is perhaps the one thing stopping this race from becoming the complete article.
But nevertheless, it remains the outstanding race on the women’s calendar, a fact reflected by the quality of the field. Every one of the race’s five winners is here, including Lizzie Deignan, who gave birth last September and only returned to action in April.
The 2015 world champion was 13th over the line on stage one, 4sec behind D’hoore, but said her main priority had been simply to survive the opening day.
“It was just one of those days when you had too much time to think how much nicer it would be on the sofa,” Deignan said. “It was long. And it was inevitably going to be a sprint, so it was one of those boring long days.”
Deignan, who won this race in 2016, played down her chances of doing so again. Speaking between bouts of hacking coughing, she said her body was starting to feel the effects of the last two months and declared she would be having a rest after this week. Deignan’s main goal this season is the world road race championships, which take place in her native Yorkshire.
“It kind of depends on how I feel in the race,” she said of whether she might look to take on the big GC riders such as Marianne Vos and Kasia Niewiadoma once the race hits the hills on Thursday and Friday. “The legs are good but I’m at that point now where I can tell I’m on the cusp. I keep almost getting sick. So I need to step back a bit.”
D’hoore’s Boels-Dolmans team-mate Amy Pieters, of Holland, was second on Monday with Germany’s Lisa Brennauer (WNT-Rotor) taking third spot.
Tuesday’s second stage is a bit of a novelty for the Women’s Tour – a criterium-style race around Kent CycloPark in Gravesend. The riders will complete the 2.5km course 25 times, amounting to a total of 62.5km. If the weather is anything like it was on Monday, there could well be spills.
