Rowe flies the home flag on day of crashes
Briton sets sights on Women’s Tour victory Mass sprint on narrow lanes leads to carnage
Dani Rowe said she was delighted to have taken the Best British Rider blue jersey yesterday as she ended the first day of the Ovo Energy Women’s Tour in fifth place overall.
Rowe, who rides for the Waowdeals professional cycling team based in Holland, also picked up two bonus seconds by finishing second in an intermediate sprint on the first stage from Framlingham to Southwold. She added that she had aspirations for the overall victory and was hoping the race would break up more as it went on.
Yesterday’s stage ended, as expected, in a bunch sprint. Belgian champion Jolien D’hoore (Mitchelton-scott), who fractured her right collarbone in a track event in Germany just three weeks ago, was fastest in the slightly uphill finale on the Suffolk coast, which was ridden into a slight headwind. D’hoore beat Marta Bastianelli (Ale-cipollini) and Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) to the line.
But it was a chaotic finish featur- ing a number of crashes. Young British rider Abi van Twisk (Trekdrops) had to be taken to hospital for a check-up following one and was forced to abandon the race.
The chaotic nature of the finale may have been caused by the fact that most of the big teams were anticipating a bunch sprint and had saved their legs for exactly that purpose, so their riders were fresh when they got to the final kilometres, which took place on narrow, technical coastal lanes.
Rowe managed to avoid the carnage, although she had her own scare 20km (12 miles) from the finish. “I had a small crash – luckily I landed in a bush,” she said. “It was a soft landing. And I was able to catch back up. Hopefully that will be my one and only for the week.”
Rowe, who finished fourth in the first intermediate sprint and narrowly failed to win the second, just edged out by Amy Pieters (Boelsdolmans), eventually crossed the finish line in 13th place, four behind fellow Briton Hannah Barnes (Canyon-sram). However, with bonus seconds factored in, she lies fifth overall, eight seconds back on D’hoore.
The 27-year-old from Hampshire, who now rides for Wales, said she would be trying to pick up more bonus seconds in the coming days – a tactic she employed to good effect when finishing second overall at the recent Tour de Yorkshire – and was hoping the stages became more selective from now on.
“I think, on paper, everyone was expecting a bunch sprint today,” she said. “Any attacks were shut down pretty quickly. But the other stages look like they could come down to smaller groups. I think my best chances are from small groups.
“We’ll take it one day at a time but I think we’re definitely looking for an aggressive race.”
Rowe added: “I’m happy to be Best British Rider going into tomorrow. I picked up some bonus-sprint seconds. That was the plan today, for me to go for those. And then for Marianne [Vos, her Waowdeals team-mate] to go for the stage. It was hectic in the final stages so, unfortunately, that didn’t go for us. And I was having to chase back on after my crash. But yeah, overall, I think we can be happy.
“This race is one of my aims for the year. As a British rider I’m always going to target this race. We’ve got more than one card to play [for the general classification], though.”
Today’s 145km second stage, from Rushden to Daventry in Northamptonshire, features a double ascent of Newnham Hill – a 1.6km climb averaging 5.2 per cent – which could well break the race up ahead of the finish.
The 17-team event, now in its fifth year, forms part of the Women’s World Tour. The Tour has more than doubled its prize fund this year, with prize money for the fiveday event now standing at €90,000 (£80,000).