WomensCycling.net - race coverage, Preview - Round 1, Trofeo Binda, ItalyUCI road World Cup, 2009

Trofeo Binda 2009 takes place on 29th March. This year, the event will host the first round of the UCI World Cup Series. With no Australasian rounds of the UCI's premier road series for women, the Italian race which is has close ties with the Giro Donne (July stage race) and also the 2008 World Road Race Championships has the honour of awarding the first rainbow jersey of the year to its winner.

2008 was the first year which the race had been run as a World Cup round. Emma Pooley won in great style, with a solo breakaway. The diminutive Briton who lives in Switzerland was a surprise winner and also surprised. Although relatively unknown in 2007, the bunch should have recognised her talent for solo efforts in the mountains and chased her down. She was left to her won devices and allowed to stay away, continuously increasing her time gap over the chasers, who she had escaped with and immediately counter-attacked as the move went away.

Trofeo Binda has a long history, there have been 33 editions since 1978 (no race in 1997,1998). A glance at the winner's list reads as a history of Italian women's cycling. More recent winners have been international stars. Current World and Olympic Champion, Nicole Cooke, won the event in 2005 and 2007.

The course is based upon Cittiglio, near Varese (location of the 2008 World Championships). The course takes in two laps of a circuit which includes the 6km climb of Brinzio. Then it switches onto a smaller circuit, which includes a different climb, Orino, which is shorter, only 3km. On a nice day, when the weather is good, the circuit is pleasant and will allow the stronger riders to attack their peers and create a competitive, aggressive race. If it is cold or wet, or both, the course is harsh and will separate the riders before anyone with victory aspirations makes their move.

The finish in Cittiglio is wide, smooth and slightly uphill. The winner will need to keep something in reserve if she wishes to outsprint her rivals on this tough finale.

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2008 Review

Click here for full 2008 Trofeo Binda coverage

Emma Pooley (Team Specialised Designs) was a very surprised winner of the 2^nd World Cup race in Cittiglio, Italy. Pooley attacked with 40km to go and was not chased down in time by the peloton. The talented British rider managed to stay away to win in style, with plenty of time to celebrate across the line.

The race stayed together until 76km to go when an attack at the foot of the third assent of the Orino climb from Cervelo’s Priska Doppmann, Miho Oki (Menikini-Selle Italia, Pooley split the peloton. Pooley counterattacked immediately and quickly gained valuable seconds. At the top of the climb she had 16 seconds on the chasers who had been swallowed up by the bunch. Nicole Brändli (Bigla) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo) tried to close the gap to Pooley but could not match the speed of the British rider. With 86 km of the race completed Pooley had a gap of 42 seconds and there was no noticeable response from the peloton.

On the 4^th assent of the Orino climb, Pooley had a gap of 2 minutes 20 seconds ahead of Doppmann who was the only other rider to try to bridge the gap. With 102km of the race completed Doppmann was at 2 minutes 7 seconds and the remaining peloton was at 2 minutes 30 seconds. Pooley maintained her tempo over the final time over the climb and powered her way down the decent. Leading the peloton over the climb at 2 minutes gap, were the current World Champion Marta Bastianelli (Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan), Nicole Cooke (Team Halfords Bikehut) and Armstrong, they did not manage to close the gap to Pooley.

With no conclusive chase from the peloton, Pooley secured an easy win, 1 minute 7 seconds ahead of the bunch sprint, which was won by Suzanne De Goede (Equipe Nürnberger and Diana Ziliute (Safi-Pasta Zara).

From her win, Pooley took the lead in the World Cup series as it headed North to the third round, at the Tour of Flanders on April 6th. Second was Geelong winner and Binda absentee, Kathryn Mattis, the American who had won the Geelong World Cup round had just undergone surgery on her broken collarbone, sustained in the Tour of New Zealand a couple of weeks previously. Third was De Goede and fourth, Emma Rickards who was second in Geelong.

Emma Pooley climbs to victory as she extends her solo lead towards victory in the Trofeo Binda 2008

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Previous Winners - Trofeo Binda

1974 Giuseppina Micheloni
1975 Nicole Van den Broek
1976 Morena Tartagni
1977 Nicoletta Castelli
1978 Cristina Menuzzo
1979 Anna Morlacchi
1980 Francesca Galli
1981 Cristina Menuzzo
1982 Lucia Pizzolotto
1983 Michela Tomasi
1984 Maria Canins
1985 Silvia Conti
1986 Stefania Carmine
1987 Rossella Galbiati
1988 Elisabetta Fanton
1989 Elisabetta Fanton
1990 Maria Canins
1991 Maria Paola Turcutto
1992 Maria Canins
1993 Roberta Ferrero
1994 Fabiana Luperini
1995 Valeria Cappellotto
1996 Valeria Cappellotto
1997 No race
1998 No race
1999 Fanny Lecortois
2000 Fabiana Luperini
2001 Nicole Brandli
2002 Svethlana Boubnenkova
2003 Diana Ziliute
2004 Oenone Wood
2005 Nicole Cooke
2006 Regina Schleicher
2007 Nicole Cooke
2008 Emma Pooley

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