Contracts, cancellations, and retirements 📝

➕ where's all the racing gone?

Hello lovely subscribers and welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly! 🚴‍♀️

After a hectic few weeks and months it feels weird that there’s no Women’s WorldTour race on this week. Of course, there was supposed to be one with the now-cancelled Women’s Tour 💔.

I never really wrote much about the cancellation of The Women’s Tour at the time but as much as it might not have met all the WorldTour requirements in recent years, it has always been a brilliant event on the ground. The Women’s Tour came right past my house when I was a 20-year-old just getting into the sport and being able to see an elite women’s race up close, on roads I cycled on with my dad, made it a tangible prospect and deepened my interest in racing. The whole ‘inspiring the next generation’ ‘rhetoric can be a bit overdone, but being able to see races really does have an impact, and seeing them pass right by your house hits different to just watching on TV. Sadly, The Women’s Tour being forced to cancel the 2023 edition seems like just one example of many on the UK racing scene lately.

Anyway, here’s hoping we see it make a comeback. Meanwhile there’s plenty of exciting racing coming up (although tbc on whether we can watch) with the second 2.1 CIC-Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées which has a pretty strong start list as riders prep for the Giro and Tour. Plus, for those interested, there’s also Unbound Gravel this weekend.

AND, seeing as there’s no WWT racing on next week can I interest you in a mountain bike world cup…?

Enjoy the newsletter,

Amy x

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News 📰

• After her awful crash at RideLondon last week where she suffered compound jaw fractures as well as a fractured scaphoid, Elisa Balsamo has undergone successful surgery in Milan and is now recovering at home.

• In other Trek-Segafredo news, the team have announced that their title co-sponsor will change from Segafredo to Lidl from the 30th June (aka from the Giro Donne).

• TIBCO and Sillcon Valley Bank will not renew their sponsorship of EF Education - TIBCO SVB after 2023 due to "recent economic challenges and events."

• Team Coop-Hitec Products have announced that Swedish mountain bike Jenny Rissveds, who is a former Olympic XCO champion, has joined the team. Her main focus, say the team, will still be MTB but Rissveds is looking to expand her road racing experience after winning the overall at Gracia last month.

• In other MTB news, Canadian XCO racer, Emily Batty, has announced her retirement.

• And in further cross/MTB/road news, Puck Pieterse has extended her contract with Fenix-Deceuninck until 2027.

• The UCI has published a list of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have been granted "individual neutral athlete" status as well as a list of those “who are not eligible to participate in any events of the UCI International Calendar as they do not meet the requirements of neutrality” which includes Maria Novolodskaia of LifePlus Wahoo.

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Read  🗞️

• Lifeplus-Wahoo boss: 'We were hours away from finishing the team.'

• How Unbound Gravel went viral.

• Opinion: Outgoing Giro d'Italia Donne organizer disrespecting riders, fans by doing bare minimum in 2023.

• The Tigrayan dream: From Tigray to Aigle: Selam Amha Gerefiel dreams of making it big and giving pride to her home region – like other Ethiopian cyclists. Achieving that is easier said than done in the face of a civil war.

• Charlotte Kool: 'I love playing the game of sprinting, you only have one shot.'

• Chloé Dygert says she will struggle with 2020 leg injury 'for the rest of my life'.

• 'I’m not at the top of my game yet' - Lizzie Deignan continues build at RideLondon.

• The dilemma of the UCI's transgender policy - David Lappartient interview.

• For Ella Bloor, the Life Time Grand Prix is a real-life adventure

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Listen 🎧

With Unbound this weekend, ICYMI here’s our interview with Michelle Duffy, director of events, brand, and content strategy at LifeTime.

And, of course, the ever-brilliant Wheel Talk

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Watch 📺

Not cycling, but an important conversation nonetheless featuring one or two familiar cycling faces.

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Results 🏆

Road

RideLondon Classique (2.WWT)

Stage 2: Chloe Dygert (CSR)

Stage 3: Charlotte Kool (DSM)

GC: Charlotte Kool (DSM)

Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour (2.Pro)

Stage 5: Lorena Wiebes (SDW)

Stage 6: Lotte Kopecky (SDW)

GC: Lotte Kopecky (SDW)

Gran Premio Ciudad de Eibar(1.1)

1. Olivia Baril (UAE)

2. Sheyla Gutiérrez (MOV)

3. Yuliia Biriukova (UAE)

GP Mazda Schelkens (1.2)

1. Dina Scavone (Carbonbike Giordana by Gen Z)

2. Marthe Truyen (FED)

3. Katrijn de Clercq (LTD)

Vuelta Ciclista Andalucia Ruta Del Sol (2.1)

Stage 1: Tamara Dronova (IPT)

Stage 2: Tamara Dronova (IPT)

Stage 3: Marta Romeu (LKF)

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Upcoming races 📆

Road

3rd - 4th June: Vuelta Ciclista Andalucia Ruta Del Sol(2.1)

9th - 11th June: CIC-Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées (2.1)

4th June: Alpes Gresivaudan Classic (1.1)

6th June: Dwars door de Westhoek(1.1)

MTB

XCO

Thursday 8th June: UCI MTB World Cup Round 2: Lenzerheide (XCC) U23 women

Friday 9th June: UCI MTB World Cup Round 2: Lenzerheide (XCC) elite women

How to watch:

• Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 16:00 CEST 

DH

Friday: UCI MTB World Cup Round 2: Lenzerheide (XCC) junior women’s final

How to watch:

• Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 12:10 CEST 

Gravel

2nd - 3rd June: Unbound Gravel

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Friday fun🕺

Honestly not a lot out there except some fun altitude training camp vids.

P.s if you ever see something that you think will fit here please send it over to mamilrepeller@gmail.com! :)

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That’s all 👋

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Amy x