Dowsett and Simmonds to defend British TT titles, Boonen and Gilbert race Belgian TT, Coppel and Cordon defend French TT titles
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Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The women's podium: Molly Weaver, Hayley Simmonds and Sarah Storey(Image credit: Simon Wilkinson / SWpix.com)
Yves Lampaert (Etixx-Quickstep), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Soudal) and Kristoff Vandewalle (Trek) on the Belgian ITT podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Audrey Cordon beat Aude Biannic and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot to win the women's time trial at the French Championships.(Image credit: Jean-François Quénet)
The men's podium: Edmund Bradbury, Alex Dowsett and Ryan Perry(Image credit: Simon Wilkinson / SWpix.com)
Anna van der Breggen (NED) of Rabo-Liv Cycling Team tackles the first descent of the 2.8km time trial prologue of Elsy Jacobs(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
Dumoulin, Kelderman and Van der Breggen highlight Dutch TT championships
Tom Dumoulin, Wilco Kelderman and Anna van der Breggen will lead the way at the Dutch national time trial championships in Middelharnis. The two events will take place this Wednesday with the women setting off in the morning and the men in the afternoon.
Van Der Breggen took a surprise win over Ellen Van Dijk last season, beating the former world champion by 32 seconds. The Rabo Liv rider’s preparation hasn’t been ideal after she crashed on the penultimate stage of the Women’s Tour. Van Der Breggen will want to be on song here as she targets the defence of her Giro Rosa title in July. After missing out in the past two years, Van Dijk will be keen to get back onto the top step. The 2014 champion Annemiek van Vleuten will also be in attendance.
In the men’s competition, Tom Dumoulin will be looking to get his season back on track ahead of the Tour de France. In his way will be last year’s champion Wilco Kelderman, who was in good form at the recent Tour de Suisse. Former champion Jos van Emden is also set to line up.
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Dowsett is the clear favourite in the men’s event and will be looking for his fifth title. According to British Cycling, a fifth would make him the outright record holder for number of victories. However, that is disputed by Stuart Dangerfield who has won the national champions jersey six times, although his first two don’t appear to be recognised by the governing body.
WIGGINS teammates Owain Doull and Andy Tennant are among those that have confirmed their participation, as has last year’s podium finishers Edmond Bradbury and Ryan Perry.
Simmonds enjoyed a breakthrough victory at last year’s championships, beating Molly Weaver by over a minute. She later went on to represent Britain at the World Championships and signed a contract with the UnitedHealthcare women’s team. However, she recently left the squad..
Simmonds will face some tough competition in the women’s event with Emma Pooley set to return. A victory would be Pooley’s fourth and would put her on par with Wendy Houvenaghel. Pooley retired from racing at the end of 2014 but has since made a comeback to target the Olympic Games. Weaver will also be in action, along with Sarah Storey.
Boonen, Gilbert and Vanmarcke at Belgian time trial champs
Last year’s champion Jurgen Van Den Broeck will not be back to defend his title but the men’s line-up at the Belgian national time trial championships features some big names.
Former winner Philippe Gilbert returns after a two-year absence with riders such as Tom Boonen and Sep Vanmarcke also set to ride. Yves Lampaert, who lost out to Van Den Broeck last year, is back to go one better after a tricky start to the season. As well as Boonen and Lampert, Etixx-QuickStep will also be represented by Guillaume van Keirsbulck and Julian Vermote.
Ann-Sophie Duyck will be targeting her third consecutive title in the women’s event and is by far and away the clear favourite for the victory. Duyck has won two time trials this season, most recently at the Ljubljana-Domzale-Ljubljana TT at the start of this month.
Coppel, Chavanel, Cordon Ragot and Ferrand Prevot lead the charge at French TT championships
Jerome Coppel caused a stir last season after ending Sylvain Chavanel’s run of national time trial victories. The IAM Cycling rider will be back for more this year but he will have to fend off Chavanel once again, as his former teammate looks for a record seventh title.
Last year’s second place Stéphane Rossetto could, however, be a fly in the ointment for the pair. Tour de France hopeful Thibaut Pinot has been working on his time trialling this season and could be an outside bet. Other notable names in the start list are Maxime Bouet, Tony Gallopin and Jeremy Roy.
On the women’s side, Audrey Cordon Ragot will lead the way after claiming victory 12 months ago. However, three-time champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot will stand in her way as will last year’s runner up Aude Biannic. Cycling stalwart Jeannie Longo might be 57 but she hasn’t given up hoping yet and is among the 30 starters.
