A week on from Lizzie Armitstead’s impressive victory in the Strade Bianche in Italy, the UCI Women’s WorldTour returns to action for the second event of 2016, the Ronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands.

This Saturday (12 March) sees the popular Dutch race that was always a staple of the Women’s World Cup taking place on a 138.3-kilometre route starting and finishing in the town of Hoogeveen, close to Emmen in the North East of the Netherlands.

The race is famous, and popular for its unique hill, the VAM-berg, a man-made hill the product of landfill!  It’s no small matter, with a distance of 750-metres and a maximum gradient of over 20%, the VAM-berg features three times on the route, along with cobbles, flat sections and technical corners.

UCI Women’s WorldTour leader Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) is a former winner of the event (2011), while last year’s winner Jolien D’Hoore (Wiggle HIGH5) returns to road action in Drenthe, having been riding last weekend in London’s World Track Championships.

Emma Johansson (Wiggle HIGH) is another former winner (2009) on the start list, while in addition to Armitstead you can follow the progress of Brits Nikki Harris (Boels Dolmans), Molly Weaver (Team Liv Plantur) and Eileen Roe (Lares Waowdeals) who will both be racing.

For the full startlist, keep an eye on ProCyclingStats here.

To find out more about the Ronde van Drenthe, head to their website here, or click onto the excellent ProWomen’sCycling blog who have their usual event preview including links to where to find live streaming come the race and more information on the race.

The Aviva Women's Tour takes place in June 2016 as a part of the UCI Women's WorldTour.  The Aviva Women's Tour is one of just two stage races in Europe on the 17 event calendar that takes in nine countries around the world.