Late season stage racing resumes at the Simac Ladies Tour, formerly called the Boels Ladies Tour, on August 30 where the most powerful riders in the peloton aim to secure the overall title upon its conclusion in on September 4 in Arnhem, Netherlands.
Not known for being a race for the pure climbers due to its primarily flatter terrain, technical courses and strong winds, needless to say, the race favours the most powerful riders, strongest time triallists and breakaway specialists.
The most recent overall winners of this week-long event include defending champion and two-time winner Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx) and her teammate Christine Majerus, twice winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit WNT), who recently announced her retirement, Evelyn Stevens, Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), and four times Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma).
The inaugural race was held in 1998 and its shifted between a 2.1 and a 2.2 level event on the women’s calendar for much of that time. It joined the Women’s WorldTour in 2017 where it has proven one of the best late-season stage races for all but the 2020 season when it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Cauberg and ITT set to shake up the GC
This year’s event is largely flat, especially in the opening three stages. The race begins in Lelystad for stage 1, and is held on 2.5 local laps of 60.4 kilometres, where van den Broek-Blaak noted the tricky aspects of the route.
“The first stage can be treacherous. That is typical for races in the Netherlands. Something can always happen here, there is often chaos. When there’s a bit of wind, it can be pulled to the side and then it’s important not to miss the right echelon.”
The race heads to Ede for stage 2, with a first-time visit to Linburg and Gelderland during on stage 3 that starts and finishes in Gennep.
There are some undulating routes in the second half of the event, starting with stage 4’s route through Landgraaf. The peloton will complete three 41km loops through the Heuvelland that tackle six climbs per lap including the Cauberg and Gulperberg, for a total of 18 ascents.
If the GC is not well and truly split apart at this point of the race, it will be with a potentially GC-deciding individual time trial on the penultimate stage 5. The 17.8km route includes two climbs between Windraak and the finish in Watersley.
The six-day race then concludes with a flat and fast stage 6 finale in Arnhem.
“It’s a cliché, but you really have to look at the Ladies…
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