An A-Z of the Women's WorldTour season 🔤
This actually took forever 🥲
Hello lovely subscribers! ✨
Sorry that this one is a little bit later than usual! As you will see once you get reading, it became a bit of a mammoth undertaking which I probably should have foreseen…
Given that the season is all but over (my Insta feed has comprised a string of ‘woo, off season!’ posts from riders this week) I thought I would reflect on what’s gone on. In an effort to do so in a somewhat original way I decided that I’d go for an ‘A-Z of the season’ format and it was too late before I realised that 26 individual points is actually quite a lot. Anyway — thanks in part to suggestions from Rachel — we got there in the end (it’s actually really hard to think of one for every letter, who knew!). I hope you enjoy and please let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you can think of any others 🫶.
Enjoy!
Amy x
A
Annemiek van Vleuten
There could only be one thing for ‘A’: Annemiek. Now retired, she is a rider who’s career will go down in history. At times we might have lamented her dominance in the past, but it forced the level of the rest of the peloton up to meet her. Her final season wasn’t her best, she won the Vuelta, the Giro, and Scandinavia, but placed fourth at the Tour de France Femmes, which tells you everything you need to know about how successful she was. Next season will be very strange without her!
Bonus A: Arnaud 💘
B
Burnout
This season has been A LOT 😵💫. I’ve written and talked about this ad nauseam now but the front loaded calendar and never-ending procession of stage races meant that there was little break between February and mid-August. Naturally, this took its toll for everyone involved, not least the riders themselves. Marlen Reusser demonstrated the prevailing feeling of burnout as she stopped at the side of the road during her ride at the time trial world championships in August. Unfortunately, next year’s calendar doesn’t look much better on this front.
C
Crashes
Crashes are, unfortunately, part of the sport and the 2023 season saw plenty. Some defined the outcome of races, such as Elisa Longo Borghini and Antonia Niedermaier both crashing out of the Giro whilst sitting in second on GC, meaning Van Vleuten’s eventual winning margin was a whopping 3’56”. Then, there was Elisa Balsamo’s crash at RideLondon which saw the Italian suffer some serious injuries that meant she had to sit out two months of racing, only returning to form in August at Scandinavia and then winning a stage of Simac Ladies Tour.
Elsewhere, American climber Veronica Ewers suffered a broken collarbone on stage six of the Tour (and finished the stage! 🤯) but was unable to contest the Tourmalet the following day after being forced to abandon the race.
D
Demi Vollering
This was the year that Demi Vollering truly stamped her mark. After losing out to Annemiek van Vleuten on multiple occasions in 2022, including the Tour de France Femmes, it seemed like the 26-year-old had fuelled her winter training with those disappointments as she came out swinging into 2023. From the Ardennes triple to winning the the Tour de France Femmes in dominant style and everything in between, the era of Demi Vollering has truly arrived.