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On Sunday thirteenth August, the ladies’s World Championships Highway Race will happen, seeing the riders finishing a 154.1km route within the hopes of gaining the celebrated rainbow jersey.
The race is sizzling off the heels of the second Tour de France Femmes, which completed simply two weeks in the past. Lots of the riders could have additionally taken half in different occasions throughout this 12 months’s World Championships and, whereas success could also be an indicator of fine kind, fatigue may even be one other consider figuring out this 12 months’s winner.
The route sees the peloton begin from Balloch, Loch Lomond, heading throughout the Crow Highway climb and into Glasgow.
The Glasgow circuit stays unchanged from the lads’s and junior races, with Mathieu van der Poel claiming a triumphant win regardless of a crash whereas he was off the entrance.
The riders should sort out the 14.3km circuit six occasions, which suggests six occasions up the now notorious Montrose Avenue climb with a mean gradient of 13%. With round 50 corners per lap and the punchy climbing, it’s a route that may probably see the pure sprinters straight out the again and there’s a excessive probability of a diminished bunch or solo end.
The sphere is powerful, with lots of the high riders in glorious kind, so let’s check out our favourites for this 12 months’s ladies’s Highway Race World Championships.
Lotte Kopecky, Belgium
It might be mad to not pitch Lotte Kopecky as a agency favorite for this 12 months’s champs. After profitable the primary stage of the Tour de France Femmes, she held the coveted maillot jaune for the subsequent six phases earlier than simply shedding out to crew mate Demi Vollering.
Kopecky has already demonstrated glorious kind at these championships, profitable each the Elimination and the Factors races over on the observe. It’s clear she’s in glorious kind however she nonetheless has to sort out the formidable beast that’s the Dutch ladies’s squad who will probably be united with a typical objective. If anybody can do it although, it’s Kopecky in 2023.
Score: 5/5
Demi Vollering, Netherlands
Winner of this 12 months’s TdFF, Demi Vollering has gone from power to power this 12 months. She had an exceptional begin to the season, with a stack of Classics wins together with Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race, and he or she’ll have the drive of the Dutch crew behind her so will probably be a tricky act to beat.
If we had been to place cash on it, we’d say a combat between herself and SD Worx teammate Kopecky can be a viable final result.
Score: 5/5
Annemiek van Vleuten, Netherlands
This will probably be Annemiek van Vleuten’s final 12 months within the professional peloton and the 2022 World Champion is bound to need to make it rely. She was additionally the winner on the inaugural TdFF final 12 months and is about as skilled as you will get.
It’s not been her finest 12 months performance-wise however the climbing ought to go well with her and, with the bit between her enamel, there’s no discounting the Dutch rider from competition. We might properly see Van Vleuten and Vollering attacking off one another for one to solo clear.
Score: 4/5
Elisa Balsamo, Italy
Within the unlikely occasion that we do see a dash end, Elisa Balsamo might shake issues up within the remaining throws. She was World Champion again in Leuven in 2021 and will shock everybody with the assistance of her Italian counterparts if she’s up there on the end line.
Score: 3/5
Lorena Wiebes, Netherlands
One other one who’ll be a robust contender in a dash end, Lorena Wiebes has had an amazing 12 months, with stage wins on the TdFF, the Giro Donne and Vuelta a Burgos Feminas. The course is unlikely to work in her favour – although her climbing has improved in 2023 – but when it appears prefer it’s coming right down to a mass dash, the Dutch crew would possibly collect around her to carry her to the road.
Score: 3/5
Kasia Niewiadoma, Poland
Kasia Niewiadoma gained the Mountains classification on the TdFF, coming 2nd on the Tourmalet. Montrose Avenue is not any Pyrenees mountain however there’s an opportunity that the relentless laps of the climb would possibly favour the Polish rider and others after a diminished end. She’s positioned persistently properly this season so there’s an opportunity she would possibly pull one thing extraordinary out the bag and shock us all.
Score: 2/5
Lianne Lippert, Germany
Fourth finally 12 months’s World Championships street race, Lianne Lippert has already proved her mettle this season with an surprising win at Stage 2 of the TdFF forward of Kopecky. The German rider has been in teammate Van Vleuten’s shadow for some time however it appears like a passing of the baton as Van Vleuten’s profession attracts to an in depth. She’s bought respectable climbing kind and would probably have the most effective probability at glory in a diminished dash end.
Score: 2/5
Outdoors contenders
With the depth within the ladies’s peloton in the mean time, there are various sturdy riders who we haven’t talked about who might nonetheless throw up just a few surprises. Chloé Dygert has gone from power to power, already taking Golds within the particular person time-trial (ITT) on the street and the person pursuit on the observe. Silvia Persico might do properly in a dash, whereas Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio is a superb climber.
For the Brits, there are sturdy contenders amongst Pfeiffer Georgi, Claire Steels and Anna Henderson, with the latter coming a formidable 4th within the ITT earlier within the week.
Bike owner‘s prediction
I feel Kopecky has had a stellar 12 months and simply shedding out on the TdFF win could have given her one thing to combat for. Vollering is equally sturdy and I predict a two-up battle between the teammates with Kopecky simply clinching the title. Is that this wishful pondering? We’ll see.
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