Liv Racing Xstra is heading to Sweden for the next UCI Women’s WorldTour race, with the team set to take on Sunday’s road race at the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden. Team manager Giorgia Bronzini has selected Marta Jaskulska, Katia Ragusa, Quinty Ton, Tereza Neumanova, Jeanne Korevaar and Valerie Demey for the 126-kilometre race.
The course opens with three unpaved sections before finishing on an 11-kilometre local circuit, which the peloton will complete eight times. The gravel sectors come early, but they could still help to thin out the field before the repeated laps around Hägrunga.
For Quinty Ton, this marks her return to racing after a month out following a crash at the Giro d’Italia Donne that left her with two broken ribs and a fractured shoulder blade. “I’m not 100 per cent the old one yet, but that doesn’t make me less happy. I’m race-ready and it’s nice to be able to return to racing with Liv Racing Xstra faster than expected.”
Remarkably, Ton was back on the bike within a week of the crash and recently travelled to the Vosges in France for a training block. “I will have to wait and see if I can handle the level right away, but the basis is good. I’ve been training well and now I want to show what I am capable of again,” she said.
The team’s approach will be to race aggressively. “The goal is to make it an offensive race. That’s possible with the three gravel sections that make the course selective, although they are quite early in the race. Then we enter the local circuit. Last week I did two criteriums, so hopefully they have contributed to my speed. If a breakaway doesn’t work out, with Tereza Neumanova we have someone who can do a strong sprint.”
