Hello to Wiggle Honda!

My first gig of the year was a trip across to Ghent for the launch of the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team. Around 15 journos were taken by Eurostar care of Wiggle/Brand Nation to meet the likes of Dani King, Giorgia Bronzini, and newly crowned World Omnium Champion Annette Edmondson.

Photo by Wiggle Honda

I have been to team launches of women's teams before but not one like this. The hotel, the Standton in Ghent was pretty neat and reminded me of hotels from another world - that's to say hotels where you have a sojourn rather than a functional hotel to crash. It's a shame we were only there for one day!

Back to the launch, the girls were presented at a nearby PoortAckere monastery, where each one in turn rode up the aisle to the reach the stage on their Colnago V1-r bikes. I can't think when I've even seen someone cycle on the interior of a religious establishment - I guess there's a first for everything.

It was good to catch up with a few folks I'd met previously - like Dani King, Giorgia Bronzini and their photographer Bart Hazen. At these things it's also a chance to make a few more contacts. I finally got to meet team manager, Rochelle Gilmore, who certainly sounds very savvy.

He mother was also in attendance, which was jolly supportive her. I must admit, I'd seen her around and had assumed she was a friend of Rochelle's or her sister - rather than her mother. She looked very young and glamorous!

As the team is supported by The Bradley Wiggins Foundation, and Brad was in Belgium on that day in advance of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, I wondered if he might make an appearance. But there was no sign of him.

One person who did show up and seemed very welcomed was Marc Coucke, CEO of Omega Pharma. There is speculation that Omega may in future sponsor the team.

Anyway, it was a good day out. I interviewed a number of the women, including young British riders Amy Robinson, Anna Christian.



My write-up on the launch is currently on the Sportsister website, and there's a Dani King interview due to go into Cycling Weekly in the future - other bits and pieces will go on this site too.

Let's hear it for the girls!

As cycling fans around the world focus on the big race around the France, don't forget that this week also sees the staging of the only grand tour in the women's cycle racing calendar - the Giro Rosa (formerly known as the Giro Donne), which started today.

It will see the top professional female cyclists from around the world contesting a one-week tour of Italy. Today's 118km stage ran from Giovinazzo (near Bari, Puglia) to Margherita di Savoia and was won by Kirsten Wild (Dutch National Team) ahead of her compatriot, Olympic Champion Marianne Vos.

The women will wend their way through Italy to contest the final stage, a time trial in Cremona, (Lombardy).
Nineteen teams (including 6 from Italy, 3 from the Netherlands, 2 from the USA and 1 from Great Britain) are contesting the race, with racers competing to bag one of the different leader's jerseys - exactly like what you find in the men's event. Naturally the maglia rosa for the overall winner is the top prize. The current title holder is Marianne Vos (Rabo Women Cycling Team), will naturally be looking to retain her jersey. It won't be plain sailing though, since the likes of Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products UCK), Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) or Shelly Olds (Tibco-To the Top) amongst others will be out to stop Vos in her tracks.

While the racing is likely to be every bit as exciting as the men's Giro d'Italia, this event, sadly will not have the same media coverage or funding. Indeed, the original version of this race, the Giro Donne was cancelled earlier this year due to a lack of a sponsor. A backer stepped in at the last minute and managed to rescue the race, re-christening it the Giro Rosa. It is a good job that this event is being held as it will be the only women's grand tour taking place this year. The women's tour de France (Le Boucle Feminin) was removed from the calendar a few years ago, so eliminating the Italian version of the event would have been a truly negative step for women's racing.

I hope that more coverage is given to the Giro Rosa, and in future more investment can be made into women's cycle racing in the same way that we have seen with the men's game.

Anyway, for more information on the Giro Rosa, visit the event website on
www.girorosa.it