# 2014 Boels–Dolmans season

The 2014 women's road cycling season was the fifth for the Boels–Dolmans Cycling Team, which began as the Dolmans Landscaping Team in 2010. The main new rider for the team was the Time Trial World Champion Ellen van Dijk, after have ridden 5 years for Specialized–lululemon. After winning the Omloop van het Hageland in early March, Lizzie Armitstead won also the first World Cup race, the Ronde van Drenthe. She would finish later three times in second place in the later World Cup races and keeping the lead in the overall World Cup classification. In begin April, after a solo of 30 km Ellen van Dijk won the Tour of Flanders World Cup race.

## Roster

The main new rider for the team was Ellen van Dijk. The Dutch world time trial champion who finished third in the UCI world Ranking and third in the overall World Cup signed a three years contract for Boels–Dolmans after have ridden 5 years for Specialized–lululemon.
| Rider | 2013 team |
| Ellen van Dijk (NED) | Specialized–lululemon |
| Janneke Ensing (NED) | Ronald McDonald Huis-Groningen |
| Megan Guarnier (USA) | Rabobank–Liv Giant |
| Demi de Jong (NED) | Former junior rider |
| Christine Majerus (LUX) | Sengers Ladies Cycling Team |
| Katarzyna Pawłowska (POL) | GSD Gestion-Kallisto |
| Nicky Zijlaard (NED) | Former junior rider |
| Rider | 2014 team |
| Kim de Baat (NED) | Parkhotel Valkenburg p/b Math Salden |
| Martine Bras (NED) | Retiring |
| Lucy Martin (GBR) | Faren Kuota |
| Adrie Visser (NED) | Retiring |

## Season
### February: Qatar

The team started the season with the Ladies Tour of Qatar in February. Lizzie Armitstead finished in fifth place in stage 1 and finished second in stage 3.

### March – April: Classic races

In the first classic race of the season, the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Armitstead was part of the front group of three riders, who made it to the finish together. She lost the sprint and finished third. A few days later, Ellen van Dijk finished fourth in the 2014 Le Samyn des Dames. The first victory for the team was at the Omloop van het Hageland. Armitstead had broken clear with Emma Johansson (Orica–AIS) and edged her out in a two-way sprint. It was her first victory since winning the British national title in June 2013 and her first win at an international race since a previous triumph at Omloop van het Hageland in March 2012. On 13 March Armitstead finished third at the Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo. Two days later was the first world cup race of the season, the Ronde van Drenthe. With 16 km to go, after riding the VAM mountain for the last time, Van der Breggen (Rabobank/liv) got an advantage of over 1' 30" on the chasing group. Ellen van Dijk closed about the whole gap and launched Armitstead who rode to Van der Breggen. Armitstead outsprinted Van der Breggen in the final and won the race. Armitstead said after the race that it was her best achievement after winning silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics and thanked Van Dijk for chasing down Van der Breggen. At the end of the month, on 30 March, was the second World Cup race, the Italian Trofedo Alfredo Binda. Both Ellen van Dijk and Lizzie Armitstead where part of the front group. Van Dijk was the lead out for Armistead in the sprint who finished second behind Johansson. Van Dijk finished eighth. On the same day was Gent–Wevelgem where Janneke Ensing finished second.
On 7 April Ellen van Dijk won the World Cup race Tour of Flanders after a solo of 30 kilometres. Van Dijk attacked on the Kruisberg and built up an advantage of over a minute on the chasers Armitstead, Johansson (Orica–AIS) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products). Behind Van Dijk, Armitstead won the sprint of the chasing group ahead of Johansson. According to Van Dijk it was after her time trial victory at the World Championships in 2013, her major victory of her career. At the Energiewacht Tour the team had several podium spots, without winning a stage. Armitstead finished second in stage 1 and third in stage 2 and 4. In stage3b, a team time trial over 15.1 km, the team finished second behind Specialized–lululemon. At the World Cup race La Flèche Wallonne Féminine Armitstead was one of the fastest riding up the final hill but was beaten just before the finish line on the top by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo Liv). It was her third consecutive second place in a World Cup race. Ellen van Dijk closed with a 10th place the top-10. At the end of April, Ellen van Dijk won for the third consecutive the time trial at the Omloop van Borsele. The day afterwards Van Dijk finished third in the road race that ended with a bunch sprint.

### May

At the Festival Luxembourgeois du cyclisme féminin Elsy Jacobs begin May, Ellen van Dijk finished second in the prologue, two seconds behind Marianne Vos. Apart from that the stage race didn't bring really results for the team. On the same day of the prologue Nina Kessler finished third at the Ronde van Overijssel. In the inaugural British Women's Tour, Armitstead had between stage 2 and stage 4 the red jersey for the best British rider, but lost it in the last stage to Lucy Garner. After stage 4 Emma Trott announced that she would retire from professional cycling after the inaugural Women's Tour ends on 11 June. She didn't want to be a professional cyclist anymore and moved to New Zealand. At the same time The Women's Tour took place, Megan Guarnier was in Mexico for the Pan American Cycling Championships. She won the bronze medal in the time trial on 8 May and two days later the silver medal in the road race. Later the month she also won the silver medal in the road race at the United States National Road Race Championships.
The main riders of the team didn't go to China for the Tour of Chongming Island World Cup and the Tour of Chongming Island (stage race), including World Cup leader Armitstead and Ellen van Dijk. Kessler was the best rider of the team in the World Cup race and finished 17th. At the end of May, at the Boels Rental Hills Classic sponsored by the team sponsor, Ellen van Dijk and Katarzyna Pawłowska were part of front group that consisted of six riders. At the end of the race the front group consisted of three riders including Van Dijk. With an uphill finish, Van Dijk lost the sprint from Johansson (Orica–AIS) and finished second ahead of Amy Pieters (Giant-Shimano). Van Dijk won the mountain classification of the race.

### June: Spain and National Championships

After the recon of the World Championships courses in Ponferrada, the team started in the Spanish Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria. After the last climb of the race, Lizzie Armitstead was at the front with only a few rirders. At the finish Armitstead was beaten by Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv) and finished second. A few days later started the stage race Emakumeen Euskal Bira. Armitstead finished fourth and second in the first two stages and Megan Guarnier finished twice fifth in the later two stages, concluding with the sixth place overall. At the end of the month were the national championships in Europe. Christine Majerus won in Luxembourg both the time trial and the road race. In the Netherlands, the teams' home county, Ellen van Dijk finished second at the Dutch National Time Trial Championships, only 0.02 seconds behind Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabo Liv). Katarzyna Pawłowska also finished second at the national time trial championships in Poland. Armitstead won bronze at the British National Road Race Championships.

### July: Stage races

The team aimed with Megan Guarnier for a top-5 in the overall standings at the Giro d'Italia Femminile. After the prologue where Ellen van Dijk finished eight, Guarnier finished fifth in the first stage. She was in eighth position in the general classification and climbed up to the fifth place after stage 2. After losing time in stage 6, she was in tenth place in the overall standings. However, she rode strong in stage eight where she finished 5th and climbed up to the 7th place in the general classification where she also ended after the concluding ninth stage. Other riders of the team started the day afterwards in the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen, where the team was on the podium after almost every stage. Christine Majerus finished second in the prologue behind Lisa Brennauer. Demi de Jong was the best youngest rider. Lizzie Armitstead won the first stage beating Lisa Brennauer and Evelyn Stevens both from Specialized–lululemon on the line. She took the lead in the points and mountains classification. Romy Kasper won in her own neighborhood stage 2, including the combative award, after beating her breakaway companion Reta Trotman. It was for Kapser her first international victory. Armitstead finished third. De Jong lost after this stage the best young rider's jersey. In stage 4, Armitstead rode again clear with Stevens, but this time she lost from her on the line and finished second. In the fifth stage Armitstead won the bunch sprint behind the breakaway group of two riders. After the final stage 6 Armitstead finished second in the general classification. After keeping the points classification jersey after stage 2 and losing her mountains classification jersey a few times, Armitstead both won the overall points and mountains classification. The team also started in the BeNe Ladies Tour with as best results a fourth place in the final stage 2b for Megan Guarnier.
At the first edition of the La Course by Le Tour de France, on the same course and same day as the last stage of the men's Tour de France, Ellen van Dijk attacked multiple times and was the only women who was able to get clear for a few laps with a maximal advantage of over half a minute. Besides of her Armitstead and Kasper attempted to ride away from the peloton, but none were successful. The race ended with a bunch sprint. Armitstead felt in the last kilometre and the team did not finish in the top-10.

### August–September

At the Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT, the team finished third in the team time trial, with a good prospect of the team's goal to win a medal at the World Championships. In begin September Ellen van Dijk won the time trial of the Boels Rental Ladies Tour, with a 12 seconds gap over her main rival Lisa Brennauer. Her first international time trial victory of the season. With the other stages ending in a bunch sprint and sprinters winning the bonification seconds, Van Dijk finished third in the general classification. A final time trial test for Ellen van Dijk before the World Championships was the Chrono Champenois ITT. Halfway the 33.40 kilometres (20.8 miles) time trial she had a 39 seconds advantage over Hanna Solovey, but she finished second 8 seconds behind her because she lost about a minute after riding the wrong direction.

## Season victories

Single day and stage races 2014 :
| Date | Country | Race | Cat. | Winner |
| 9 March | Belgium | Omloop van het Hageland | 1.2 | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 15 March | Netherlands | Ronde van Drenthe | CDM | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 25 April | Netherlands | Omloop van Borsele (time trial) | Nat. | Ellen van Dijk |
| 6 April | Belgium | Tour of Flanders for Women | CDM | Ellen van Dijk |
| 30 May | Netherlands | Mountains classification Boels Rental Hills Classic | 1.1 | Ellen van Dijk |
| 15 July | Germany | Stage 1 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen | 2.1 | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 16 July | Germany | Stage 2 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen | 2.1 | Romy Kasper |
| 16 July | Germany | Stage 2 Combativity award Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen | 2.1 | Romy Kasper |
| 20 July | Germany | Points classification Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen | 2.1 | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 20 July | Germany | Mountains classification Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen | 2.1 | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 3 August | United Kingdom | Commonwealth Games – Women's road race | | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 30 August | Worldwide | 2014 UCI Women's Road World Cup | CDM | Lizzie Armitstead |
| 2 September | Netherlands | Stage 1 Boels Rental Ladies Tour (time trial) | 2.1 | Ellen van Dijk |
National, Continental and World champions 2014 :
| Date | Discipline | Jersey | Winner |
| 26 June | Luxembourgish National Time Trial Champion | | Christine Majerus |
| 29 June | Luxembourgish National Road Race Champion | | Christine Majerus |

## Results in major races
### Single day races

Results at the 2014 World Cup races :
| Date | # | Race | Best rider | Place |
| 15 March | 1 | Ronde van Drenthe | Lizzie Armitstead | 1st |
| 30 March | 2 | Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio | Lizzie Armitstead | 2nd |
| 6 April | 3 | Tour of Flanders | Ellen van Dijk | 1st |
| 23 April | 4 | La Flèche Wallonne Féminine | Lizzie Armitstead | 2nd |
| 18 May | 5 | Tour of Chongming Island | Nina Kessler | 17th |
| 3 August | 6 | Sparkassen Giro | Christine Majerus | 6th |
| 22 August | 7 | Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT | Boels–Dolmans Cycling Team | 3rd |
| 24 August | 8 | Open de Suède Vårgårda | Lizzie Armitstead | 8th |
| 30 August | 9 | GP de Plouay | Lizzie Armitstead | 8th |
| Final individual classification | Final individual classification | Final individual classification | Lizzie Armitstead | 1st |
| Final team classification | Final team classification | Final team classification | Boels–Dolmans Cycling team | 2nd |
Other major single day races :
| Date | Race | Best rider | Place |
| 27 July | La Course by Le Tour de France | Christine Majerus | 16th |
| 21 September | UCI Road World Championships – Women's team time trial | Boels–Dolmans Cycling Team | 5th |
| 23 September | UCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial | Ellen van Dijk | 7th |
| 27 September | UCI Road World Championships – Women's road race | Lizzie Armitstead | 7th |
* ↑ Riders are part of the national team
* ↑ Riders are part of the national team

### Grand Tours

Results of the team in the grand tours :
| Grand tour | Giro d'Italia Femminile |
| Rider (classification) | Megan Guarnier (7th) |
| Victories | 0 stage win |

## UCI World Ranking

The 2014 UCI Women's Road Rankings are rankings based upon the results in all UCI-sanctioned races of the 2014 women's road cycling season.
Boels–Dolmans Cycling Team finished third in the 2014 ranking for UCI teams.
Individual world ranking :
| Rank | Rider | Points |
| 3 | Lizzie Armitstead | 923.25 |
| 12 | Ellen van Dijk | 576.25 |
| 26 | Megan Guarnier | 297.25 |
| 37 | Christine Majerus | 185.25 |
| 72 | Nina Kessler | 98 |
| 86 | Jessie Daams | 86 |
| 103 | Romy Kasper | 52 |
| 112 | Katarzyna Pawłowska | 47 |
| 136 | Janneke Ensing | 38 |
| 425 | Demi de Jong | 4.25 |