Climbing the Vam in 2006 (Image credit: Kristy Scrymgeour/CN)
The women's UCI World Cup heads to the Netherlands for its third round on Saturday, offering up a challenging 139.8 kilometre parcours around the Dutch town of Hoogeveen. The circuit includes the typical flat, narrow, wind-swept roads of the area, but also hits the riders with one main difficulty three times - the 'Vamberg'.
This man-made hill is a former landfill, and though the climb is less than one kilometre in length, it kicks up to nearly a 20% grade in parts. With sprint bonuses on the line at the top, and more thrown in for good measure, the course will be worthy of the World Cup moniker.
World Cup leader Nicole Cooke (Raleigh Lifeforce Creation) will battle German sprinters Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile), Regina Schleicher (Equipe Nürnberger) and Australian Rochelle Gilmore (Menikini - Gysko) to try and gain her third consecutive World Cup victory of the season.
