Guarnier sets seal on UCI Women's WorldTour outright triumph in Madrid
American makes history with first title
Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) has become the first ever winner of the women's WorldTour after coming safely through the final round of the series, the Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta on Sunday.
The US rider completed the series with 946 points, a massive advantage over second-placed Leah Kirchman (Team Liv-Plantur) who had 604 points, whilst teammate Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) finished third with 545 points. Boels Dolmans also won the teams series.
After taking over in the lead in the Tour of California from Armitstead, winning the overall Giro Rosa, and coming fifth in the penultimate round, the GP de Plouay-Bretagne, Guarnier, was already the mathematical winner. But she completed the final leg of the series in Madrid in 46th place after making a searing attack 35 kilometres from the line.
Even though the overall win was in her grasp, Guarnier said "every race we come to try to win, so even though we knew I would win the overall, it was still a race that we came into that we wanted to race aggressively and go for the podium. But it wasn't our best finish."
As for whether the WorldTour had been an objective from the start, Guarnier said, "we have a very strong team, you can see that from our win in the teams classification, and it just so happens that the jersey ended on my back. But it was really a team effort."
As for the race itself, Guarnier said she had gone up the road early on because "my strength on a course like this is a long attack or breakaway and I wanted to make it hard for the other teams and that's why I went away. I got caught by a small group, but it didn't really work out, and we were then caught by the peloton." S
he was unaffected, she said, by the big crash some four kilometres from the line, "I heard it happen, but didn't see it, I was getting together with my teammates then and we could continue to do our job."
Although the World Championships course in Doha is not favourable to her, it is the next - and final - stop for Guarnier this year.
She said she would try "to build back up for that, after a bit of recovery time. I'll go there and race aggressively. it's not really the best course for me, [but] I hope to go there and represent my country and do the best I can."
UCI Women's WorldTour Final Standings
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Megan Guarnier (USA) Boels–Dolmans | 946 | pts |
2 | Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Liv–Plantur | 624 | |
3 | Lizzie Armitstead (GBr) Boels–Dolmans | 545 | |
4 | Chantal Blaak (Ned) Boels–Dolmans | 541 | |
5 | Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5 | 523 | |
6 | Evelyn Stevens (USA) Boels–Dolmans | 519 | |
7 | Anna Van Der Breggen (Ned) Rabo–Liv | 492 | |
8 | Emma Johansson (Swe) Wiggle High5 | 463 | |
9 | Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle High5 | 450 | |
10 | Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabo–Liv | 442 | |
11 | Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Rabo–Liv | 421 | |
12 | Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Canyon–SRAM | 288 | |
13 | Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Lensworld–Zannata | 286 | |
14 | Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling | 279 | |
15 | Amy Pieters (Ned) Wiggle High5 | 265 | |
16 | Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé–Cipollini | 249 | |
17 | Eugenia Bujak (Pol) BTC City Ljubljana | 245 | |
18 | Joëlle Numainville (Can) Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling | 241 | |
19 | Carmen Small (USA) Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling/Cylance Pro Cycling | 240 | |
20 | Roxane Fournier (Fra) Poitou–Charentes.Futuroscope.86 | 234 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Rabo–Liv | 36 | pts |
2 | Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Team Liv–Plantur | 18 | |
3 | Sheyla Gutiérrez (Esp) Cylance Pro Cycling | 18 | |
4 | Jip Van Den Bos (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team | 14 | |
5 | Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto–Soudal Ladies | 12 | |
6 | Alice Barnes (GBr) Drops | 10 | |
7 | Alexis Ryan (USA) Canyon–SRAM | 10 | |
8 | Chanella Stougje (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team | 6 | |
9 | Chloe Dygert (USA) TWENTY16–Ridebiker | 6 | |
10 | Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) Bepink | 6 | |
11 | Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ita) Lensworld–Zannata | 6 | |
12 | Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Astana | 6 | |
13 | Ksenyia Tuhai (Blr) Bepink | 4 | |
14 | Molly Weaver (GBr) Team Liv–Plantur | 4 | |
15 | Janelle Cole (USA) TWENTY16–Ridebiker | 4 | |
16 | Emma White (USA) Rally Cycling | 4 | |
17 | Maria Vittoria Sperotto (Ita) Servetto Footon | 4 | |
18 | Sofia Beggin (Ita) Astana | 4 | |
19 | Kelly Van Den Steen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen–Pro-Duo | 4 | |
20 | Jessenia Meneses (Col) Weber Shimano Ladies Power | 4 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | Boels–Dolmans | 2894 | pts |
2 | Wiggle High5 | 2245 | |
3 | Rabo–Liv | 1853 | |
4 | Canyon–SRAM | 1031 | |
5 | Team Liv–Plantur | 840 | |
6 | Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling | 794 | |
7 | Orica–AIS | 691 | |
8 | Alé–Cipollini | 645 | |
9 | Team Hitec Products | 461 | |
10 | Lensworld–Zannata | 433 | |
11 | Cylance Pro Cycling | 425 | |
12 | BTC City Ljubljana | 382 | |
13 | Poitou–Charentes.Futuroscope.86 | 360 | |
14 | Lotto–Soudal Ladies | 269 | |
15 | TWENTY16–Ridebiker | 265 | |
16 | Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team | 254 | |
17 | UnitedHealthcare | 210 | |
18 | Bepink | 181 | |
19 | Servetto Footon | 180 | |
20 | Tibco–Silicon Valley Bank | 168 |
Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy
Thank you for signing up to Cycling News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.