Boels Dolmans return to try for a fourth consecutive title
Boels Dolmans en route to winning the Crescent Vargarda team time trial (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The late-summer one-day races on the Women's WorldTour continue at the 2019 Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden this weekend. The organisers offer two separate but back-to-back events, beginning with a team time trial on Saturday, August 17, and followed by a road race on Sunday, August 18. Boels Dolmans will be vying for a fourth consecutive victory in the team time trial, but they face tough competition.
The course is 36km – six kilometres shorter than last year – and it starts and finishes in Vårgårda with a turn-around point in Herrljunga. There will be two intermediate split checkpoints: the first in Herrljunga at 16km and the second in Vårgårda at 32km. The course is undulating, and the last kilometre is uphill to the finish line.
Boels Dolmans won last year's edition of the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden TTT. The team had continued their run of success in the team time trial discipline by winning the race for the third year in a row. Team Sunweb finished in second place, and Cervélo-Bigla finished third.
It could be one of the last opportunities for teams to compete for this one-day title in Vårgårda. The Scandinavian race organisers have unveiled a new ten-stage event, known as the Battle of the North, which will make its debut in 2021.
The new stage race is expected to be the combined efforts of the organisers of the PostNord Vårgårda WestSweden and the Ladies Tour of Norway, along with the Danish Cycling Federation. The new event is expected to replace the Swedish and Norwegian races.
Teams
Boels Dolmans return with a powerful team that includes road race world champion Anna van der Breggen, newly crowned European champion Amy Pieters, former world champion Chantal Blaak, Canadian road champion Karol-Ann Canuel and Luxembourg champion Christine Majerus.
The second-placed team last year, Team Sunweb, return with Lucinda Brand, Pfeiffer Georgi, Canadian time trial champion Leah Kirchmann, Floortje Mackaij, Pernille Mathiesen and Coryn Rivera.
Bigla, who finished third last year, will not be returning to the TTT but there are several other teams capable of standing on the podium in Vårgårda.
World champions in the discipline, Canyon-SRAM, will be on the start line. The team includes Alena Amialiusik, sisters Alice and Hannah Barnes, Elena Cecchini, Lisa Klein and Alexis Ryan.
They were the last team to ever win a world championship title in the trade team time trial in Innsbruck last year. The UCI announced they would replace the trade team discipline with a new mixed team relay for national teams in future World Championships.
Trek-Segafredo will be on the start line with the powerful Ellen van Dijk, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Elisa Longo Borghini, Tayler Wiles, Ruth Winder and Trixi Worrack. It's a team that could very well win the title this year.
CCC-Liv will field Valerie Demey, Jeanne Korevaar, Marta Lach, Riejanne Markus, Agnieszka Skalniak and Marianne Vos. Vos will likely want to save her energy for the next day's road race, which she won last year.
Mitchelton-Scott will be without their time trial world champion Annemiek van Vleuten. Instead, they have a strong combination with Jessica Allen, Grace Brown, Gracie Elvin, Sarah Roy, Moniek Tenniglo and Georgia WIlliams.
WNT-Rotor bring time trial specialist Lisa Brennauer along with Lea Lin Teutenberg, Sara Rijkes, Claudia Koster, Janneke Ensing and Franziska Brausse.
Other teams to watch are Virtu Cycling, Movistar, Tibco-SVB, Ale Cipollini, Parkhotel Valkenburg, Valcar-Cylance, FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope and BTC City Ljubljana.
Cyclingnews will bring you full results, report, gallery and related news for the 2019 Postnord Vågårda WestSweden TTT on Saturday, August 17.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
The return of a strong contingent from the nation with everything from general classification goals to mountain support roles, lead-out duties and stage wins to chase
