I had an obvious angle to start this preview with. Following the recent debate over what team and race sponsors get in return for their money, it seemed somehow quite fitting that the very next race on the calendar should be this year’s Trophee d’Or. Otherwise known as the invisiblest race on the calendar, given the massive difficulties we and others have had in finding any information in recent years. Take for example Vicki Whitelaw’s husband’s lament back in 2008:
Vicki is off at another stage race, this time in France. Not exactly sure where in France as the Trophée d’Or Féminin is flying under the radar. It is a UCI ranked race (2.2) but there is nothing about it that I can find on the web. NOTHING! It doesn’t seem to have its own web site, cyclingnews.com hasn’t put up results for the first stage (though they might do so yet) and all the references I can find when I google it are either results from previous years or someone’s calendar suggesting that it will be on again this year.
But then something very odd happened. Maybe it’s the littlest Whitelaw has superhero powers, or maybe it’s just the heat.
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As I was going up the stair, I met a race that wasn’t there - Podium Cafe
Monty’s fantastic preview of the Trophée d’Or, no longer the invisiblest race on the women’s calendar!
