2014 Santos Women’s Cup: a recap

Stage 1

The first stage of the 2014 Santos Women’s Cup was a criterium held in Adelaide as a curtain-raiser for the Tour Down Under People’s Choice Classic.

Held on a new 2km circuit along the Torrens River, the race attracted a massive crowd and delivered plenty of fast-paced action. Given their standing as the top-ranked women’s team in the world, much was expected of the Orica-AIS team ahead of the race … and they delivered.

Dutchwoman Loes Gunnewijk broke away mid-race and kept the field at bay to take a solo win ahead of her teammates Melissa Hoskins and Annette Edmondson. Sadly, a mid-race crash forced a few riders to hospital including Specialized Securitor’s Amy Bradley who broke her collarbone.

Loes Gunnewijk rides away solo to take out stage 1.

Follow the link for results from stage 1 of the 2014 Santos Women’s Cup.

Stage 2

The stage 2 road race featured two laps of the route used for stage 1 of the Tour Down Under, starting and finishing in Angaston in the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide. Following recent bushfires in the region, the race was in doubt until the day before but thankfully everything went to plan.

The race took in some great views of the famous wine-making region and finished with a climb up Menglers Hill before the fast decent down into the finish in Angaston.

An early break from Ruth Corset (Holden) and Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) lasted until the riders turned to begin the ascent of Menglers Hill on the final lap. Amanda Spratt (Orica-AIS), Taryn Heather (SASI) and Rebecca Heath (Bicycle Superstore) caught the two leaders at the base of the climb.

A diminished peloton climbs Menglers Hill on stage 2.

Spratt then attacked, broke clear and soloed to the win. She was followed home by her teammate Scandolara and Jo Hogan (Boss Racing). Gunnewijk finished second in the bunch sprint and seventh overall, securing her place as the series leader going into the final stage at Prospect.

Follow the link for results from stage 2 of the 2014 Santos Women’s Cup.

Stage 3

The third and final stage of the Santos Women’s Cup was based in Prospect, just outside the parklands of Adelaide. The race was held the night before stage 2 of the Tour Down Under started there and as such, a good crowd turned out to see the ladies race for 40 minutes around a ‘hot-dog’ style circuit.

Given the blustery cross/headwinds and high-speed nature of the course, many found it a struggle to compete with the more experienced riders.
Many of the stronger riders, including Sophie Williamson (Vanderkitten), Lizzie Williams (Specialized Securitor) and Peta Mullens (Wiggle Honda) tried to put pressure on the Orica-AIS team, but their efforts came to little.

Shara Gillow (Orica-AIS) made her race-winning move at the mid-point of the stage. To begin with, she had trouble extending her gap beyond ten seconds but by the time she crossed the finish she was more than half a lap ahead.

Shara Gillow (Orica-AIS) won stage 3 in Prospect after a solo break that started halfway through the race.

Loes Gunnewijk clinched the series overall victory with a second-place finish on the final day of racing. This gave Orica-AIS its second clean sweep of the three day race series with Valentina Scandolara and Amanda Spratt rounding out the overall podium.

Follow the link for results from stage 3 of the 2014 Santos Women’s Cup.

In summary

All the competitors I spoke to were impressed with the level of organisation from Cycling South Australia in putting on the series. The road race in particular was a big hit and turned the Santos Women’s Cup from a three criterium series into something more like a National Road Series event, giving riders of differing skills more chances.

Loes Gunnewijk (right) and Valentina Scandolara (left) celebrate first and second place overall.

While the race was run in conjunction with the Tour Down Under, much more needs to be done to promote the event to make it grow. Media attention was limited, with mainstream broadcasters giving little attention to the women’s efforts.

To promote and grow the sport, perhaps this event needs to be run under the Tour Down Under umbrella with the race making use of the WorldTour race’s media access and promotion facilities.

Overall winner: Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-AIS)
Team award: Orica-AIS
Best young rider: Sophie Williamson (Vanderkitten)
Best masters rider: Katherine Joyce (Hall Cycle Training)

: Loes Gunnewijk on her way to winning stage 1 and setting up the overall victory.

: Danielle McKinnirey (SASI) powers along on stage 1.

: The peloton rides through the Barossa Valley, past 19th century German settlements such as Marananga.

: Left to right: Stage 2 winner Amanda Spratt (Orica-AIS), Jo Hogan (Boss Racing) and Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS). in her new national champion’s jersey.

: Bridie O’Donnell rode a solid three stages for the Total Rush Hyster team.

: Loes Gunnewijk and Amanda Spratt (Orica-AIS) on their way to first and third overall.

: Jessica Munday (SASI) chases as the sun goes down.

: Sophie Williamson (Vanderkitten) was crowned the winner of the best young rider classification.

: As many expected, it was a clean sweep for the Orica-AIS team overall, with Loes Gunnewijk first, Valentina Scandolara second and Amanda Spratt third.

http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips

Kevin, first of all thank you for the excellent report. In response to your last point I might be able to offer some insight.

I agree that an event like this is deserving of more media attention. However, I’m not sure that because it was hosted alongside the TDU is a reason that it should get more coverage. In fact, the exact opposite will always happen.

From our perspective, we have very limited people to be able to cover the TDU. They are working 16hr days and the whole thing is very expensive. It would be impractical to get more people to cover any other events, and I assume the larger media outlets are just as stretched. It’s not as simple as just sending our people over to another race now that the TDU stage has finished for the day. That’s when our real work begins.

I’ve always maintained that I think the best way forward for more coverage in women’s cycling is to go to places where men’s racing won’t overshadow what the women are doing.

From a spectators point of view, a women’s event like the Santo’s Women’s Cup is awesome to have alongside the TDU, but for the media it’s nearly impossible to cover. If this event was going on during a time where there’s a hole in the men’s calendar, I’d most definitely want to cover it.
- Kevin
  
  I totally agree with all your points, I wasn’t having a go at any Media in particular and understand the practicalities and limited time and budget many media outlets have for coverage. I guess it is a catch-22 in many ways - the women’s racing needs the exposure and spectator interest of being associated with a large men’s event, but as you say the media, by that event’s very nature, would be busy covering the mens event. It is frustrating though when host broadcasters do live crosses to their reporters whilst the women’s event is taking place and still never mention it!
  - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
    
    Agreed, some acknowledgement at very least could be done. It doesn’t take any time or money to do that.
- Dan
  
  Pretty funny comment to put on a post covering the women’s race written by an apparent volunteer.
Neil_Robinson

got a final results list?
- Matt de Neef
  
  See the link for the stage 3 results.
- Matt de Neef
  
  http://www.sa.cycling.org.au/Road/Results/ArtMID/3942/ArticleID/5477/Santos-Womens-Cup-Stage-3-and-Overall-Results
  - Neil_Robinson
    
    Thanks, though mostly I wanted to point out that the article talks about what the media is doing to communicate these races… but doesn’t provide the fundamental details of who finished where.
    - Matt de Neef
      
      That’s not true. In the section about stage 3 we listed the top three overall (and showed a photo of them as well, further down). We also put a link to the stage results in each section of the write-up (see italicised text at the bottom). And that link to the final results list? It was already in the piece.

2014 Santos Women’s Cup: a recap

by Kevin Anderson

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

In summary