Barnes to lead Canyon-SRAM at Festival Elsy Jacobs, Wiggle High5 hire Kim Palmer as DS
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Chloe Hosking all smiles with the trophy(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
An elated Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Kim Palmer is the new assistant DS at Wiggle High5 2018(Image credit: Wiggle High5)
Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM) before the start of Fleche Wallonne(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Leah Kirchmann (Sunweb), Marta Bastianelli (Ale Cipollini) and Marianne Vos (WaowDeals)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ale Cipollini will be racing two events coming up at the Women's WorldTour Tour of Chongming Island in China from April 26-28 and the Gran Premio Liberazione Pink in Rome on April 25.
Chloe Hosking, a former winner of the Tour of Chongming Island, will compete in the three-day event with support from Anna Trevisi, Soraya Paladin, Karlijn Swinkels and Martina Stefani.
Marta Bastianelli, winner of Gent-Wevelgem and Brabantse Pijl, will lead the team racing in Rome with support from Daiva Tuslaite, Anisha Vekemans, Mayuko Hagiwara and Ane Santesteban Gonzalez.
Bastianelli won the last two editions that take place on the Terme di Caracalla Circuit. The women race 16 laps of the six-kilometre circuit for a total of 96km.
"We're going to be in two more races where we can fight for the highest result: Marta is the last winner of the GP Liberazione Pink and we all love this race, which has given us a lot of emotions, especially last year when she dedicated her win to Michele Scarponi," said team manager Fortunato Lacquaniti.
"There will be a big group of opponents in China, but our main force is in the group and the teamwork, that has given us really big results."
Tibco-SVB to Tour of Chongming Island for a third year
Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank will be lining up at the Tour of Chongming Island on Thursday for a third consecutive year. The three-day race is the 10th round of the the Women's WorldTour and the first stage race of the series.
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The team will include three current National Champions, Nicolle Bruderer (Guatemala), Ingrid Drexel (Mexico) and Shannon Malseed (Australia), along with two former National Criterium Champions, Kendall Ryan (United States) and Alison Jackson (Canada). Brodie Chapman (Australia) completes our roster.
In last year’s race, Kendall Ryan sprinted to 6th in the last stage and will be looking to improve on that result with the support of the team in 2018.
Barnes leads Canyon-SRAM at Festival Elsy Jacobs
Canyon-SRAM announced their team for Festival Elsy Jacobs to include sprinters Hannah Barnes and Alexis Ryan. The three-day stage race in Luxembourg starts on Friday, April 27.
Barnes and Ryan will be joined by Alena Amialiusik, Elena Cecchini, Tiffany Cromwell and Lisa Klein.
The tour kicks off with a Friday evening prologue, followed by 97km and 111km stages on Saturday and Sunday. Cecchini won stage 1 in 2015 and said she is please to return to the race this year.
"Elsy Jacobs takes a nice place in my heart because I have a lot of nice memories from the only year that I competed," Cecchini said in a team press release.
"The course is really cool, I love when the terrain is hard but not super hard. It's the kind of race where, thanks to the short prologue and the nature of the two stages, that general classification and stage wins are uncertain until the very end.
"In 2015 I was able to win there escaping in a strong breakaway in the last kilometres. It was a courageous attempt. I think we, as a team, can approach the tour with the same mentality - racing brave and having fun, we have nothing to lose."
Wiggle High5 hire Kim Palmer as assistant director
Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling announced that Kim Palmer has joined the team as Assistant Directeur Sportif and will guide the team for the first time at the Tour of Chongming Island held from April 26-28 in China.
The team fired previous director Donna Rae-Szalinski and announced via press release that they were looking to hire a new director and to fill a number of other positions in 2018.
Palmer is a former multi-sport athlete from Queensland who represented Australia in both road cycling and mountain biking, as well as completing IronMan Hawaii. As a Directeur Sportif she managed the High5 Dream Team through two seasons, and the Australian National Team on several occasions.
Most recently, Palmer directed the Australian team at the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, Queensland, which delivered victories for Katrin Garfoot and former Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling athlete Chloe Hosking. Palmer relishes the challenge presented by joining one of the biggest professional teams in the World.
"I am thoroughly excited to join the Wiggle High5 team in the capacity of Assistant DS and can't wait to meet the girls and get into the racing," Palmer said. "This role is something that I've personally been building towards for many years and I'd like to thank Rochelle Gilmore for giving me such a tremendous opportunity.
"Having a team with so many talented athletes lends itself to many opportunities and gives us lots of options on race day," she added. "Of course, all the riders are unique individuals, so part of my role will be to understand how everyone operates and the way they go about their business. I hope to be able to help bring out the best in each of them as they all play a crucial part to the team's results."
"The Wiggle High5 team is well known for being one of the most professional teams in the women's peloton and over the years has achieved numerous successes," she said. "My aim is to continue to achieve the best possible outcome for the team by promoting a supportive team culture, clear objectives and maintain positive, clear communication."
