WomensCycling.net - race coverage, Trust House Cycling Tour - T-Mobile confirmed for Nwe Zealand's biggest women's race

Cycling entrepreneur Jorge Sandoval has pulled off one of the biggest coups of his career with today’s announcement that the cream of European women’s cycling, led by one of the legends of the sport, will line up in the Trust House Women’s Tour of New Zealand in March.

Tour de France legend, Jean-Paul van Poppel, once recognised as the world's fastest man on two-wheels, is bringing his Flexpoint women’s professional team to the Wellington event. The Dutchman is team manager of the Flexpoint team. A specialist sprinter, Van Poppel won nine stages in both the Tour de France and Tour of Spain as well as four stages in the Giro d'Italia.

The four members of the Flexpoint team come from the powerhouse European cycling nations and all four riders are coming off outstanding 2006 seasons. The team, second on the UCI World ranking, includes three current national champions and two ex-world champions.

Leading the charge is Swedish road champion Susanne Ljungskog. The 29-year-old from Gotheburg is a two-time former world road racing champion and is currently ranked third by cycling's international body, the UCI. Ljungskog won 11 races this season including the Tour of Netherlands and finished 3rd in the Women’s Tour of Italy and 4th in the Women’s Tour of France.

Loës Gunnewijk, from the Netherlands, is the current Dutch Time Trial champion and won five races in 2006 including stages in the women’s Tour de France and other European tours. Gunnewijk is a Time Trial specialist.

Loës Markerink, also from the Netherlands, is a former World Junior champion and winner of this year’s Ronde Van Drenthe International Tour in the Netherlands and stage winner in last year’s Tour de Bretagne in France. The final member of this classy team is thirty year old Annette Beutler from Switzerland. She is the current Swiss road champion and a stage winner of tours in Italy, Canada and the Czech Republic. Top German rider Madeleine Sandig is the fifth member of the team.

Race Director Jorge Sandoval says the team list is impressive and packed full of quality riders, which Sandoval says is a credit to the knowledge and experience of van Poppel.

“To have the reigning champions from three of the biggest cycling nations in the world plus two former World Champions racing on New Zealand soil, is a privilege to any sport.”

“Our events are getting recognised all over the world. Wellington is being seen as the capital of events and the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa as perfect areas to stage international cycling tours and that’s why we are attracting this calibre of riders every year”. Sandoval said.

The Trust House Women’s Tour of New Zealand is the only international cycle race for women in this country. The sports governing body, the UCI, has granted international status to the new five-day women’s classic in March 2007.

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