Boels Dolmans voted best women's team in Cyclingnews Reader Poll

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Like they have throughout much of this season, Boels Dolmans have dominated the women's team of the year category in the 2016 Cyclingnews Reader Poll. The Dutch team won the category with 30 per cent, beating runners up Canyon-SRAM by over 2,000 votes. Wiggle-High5 rounded of the podium positions with 14 per cent of the votes.

Boels Dolmans have been the undoubted top team of the 2016 season, taking 40 victories in total. The effort is the culmination of six years of work following the team's inception in 2010, which saw many of the world's best riders sign up. Their success in 2016 has undoubtedly been a team effort with all but four of their riders winning on the road over the course of the year.

Ellen van Dijk's stage win at the Tour of Qatar was the first victory of the year and it was followed by a string of five victories in the inaugural women’s WorldTour.

World champion Lizzie Deignan brought much of the success in the early part of the season, along with sprinter Chantal Blaak. Between them, they notched up wins at the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, Strade Bianche and Ronde van Drenthe. Strong performances from van Dijk played a big role too, sometimes winning and other times bringing her teammates to the right place for the finale.

Megan Guarnier picked up the baton in the sprint with two victories in the Basque Country before heading to the United States for the overall win at the Tour of California, the national road race title and the Philadelphia Classic. On her home roads, Deignan continued the run of success at the Aviva Women’s Tour before the squad enjoyed a hugely successful Giro Rosa, which saw them take three stage wins with Evelyn Stevens and the overall title through Guarnier.

Amalie Dideriksen, Katarzyna Pawlowska and Christine Majerus all tasted success during 2016 before the team capped off their year with a landslide victory in the team time trial World Championship. Dideriksen's surprise win in the road race at the Worlds in Qatar ensured that the rainbow stripes remained with the team for 2017.

There have been a number of changes in the line-up for next season as Stevens retires, and van Dijk and Romy Kasper move to other teams. The signing of Anna van der Breggen is a big coup, but she and Guarnier will have to figure out how to work together as they target many of the same races.

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