Down Under and upside down

+ the chicken suit has been passed along 🐥

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

Maybe it’s the time zones for Down Under confusing me, maybe it’s just January but I completely mixed up my days so apologies that this is coming in about 12h later than usual!

Have we all wrapped out heads around how on earth to watch racing without GCN+? I hope so because road is back 🕺 and it’s like it never went away. What a classy sprint from Ally Wollaston on stage one and a dream start to the season for Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig today (yesterday? What day is it?)

Thanks to the fact that racing is back there’s also loads of great content out there to get stuck into, so get reading for all your women’s racing news, reports, interviews, podcasts and more from this week.

Enjoy!

Amy x

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News 📰

• The new CANYON//SRAM kit is here and she’s perfect.

• As is the LifePlus-Wahoo one 😍

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  MAAP on Instagram: “Lifeplus-Wahoo and MAAP are teaming up to champion the radical spirit of the women’s pro-peloton. There are few things more electric than performing at the highest level of sport. The upsets. The naysayers. The proving grounds. There are no guarantees here; just inspiring belief in what’s possible when you give everything you’ve got – all day, everyday. Dedication made this. Challenges made this. Podiums made this.
  The 2024 season awaits. Join us. Hit the link in the bio to learn more and keep across more big Lifeplus-Wahoo news coming soon…”

  January 13, 2024

• Chloe Dygert did not travel to Australia to start Tour Down Under as planned after suffering a ‘minor injury’ her team, Canyon//SRAM, said. The team did not reveal details of the type of injury Dygert has sustained or when she will return to racing.

• Shari Bossuyt has announced that she will not continue to fight to overturn her two year suspension from the sport — the result of an adverse finding in a post-race sample taken after her win at the Tour de Normandie Féminin last year. Bossuyt maintained her innocence throughout, claiming that the traces of the cancer drug Letrozole (which can be used to counter unwanted side effects of anabolic steroid abuse) in her sample came from contaminated milk and fought the sanction but has now told the press: “I don’t have the strength or money” to appeal.

• Lucinda Brand suffered a broken nose after a crash at the Zonhoven World Cup but maintains that she still hopes to race the Dutch National Champs this weekend.

• Elsewhere on the cyclocross scene World Cup series leader, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, was forced to withdraw from Zonhoven due to back pain.

• And in further CX injury news, Shirin van Anrooij has been forced to end her season early due to sustaining one heavily bruised and one broken rib.

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Read  🗞️

• Women's Santos Tour Down Under 2024: 5 riders to watch - GCN

• Cyclocross gallery: Drama in the dunes - Escape Collective 

• ‘There’s going to be a lot of plot twists’ - Amanda Spratt and Grace Brown ready for unpredictable Tour Down Under - GCN 

• Amanda Spratt 'really pumped' to tackle Willunga as she chases fourth Tour Down Under title - CyclingNews

• ‘I contacted Elisa Longo Borghini and she replied in 10 minutes’ - how 18-year-old Izzy Sharp forged her WorldTour path - Cycling Weekly 

• ‘Blow up ten times and go again’ - Matilda Raynolds dares to dream in Women's Tour Down Under break - CyclingNews

• Silence in the storm: the special story of the deaf cyclo-cross rider Francesca Baroni - NOS

• Cordon-Ragot fully focused on Paris Olympics as she begins season at Tour Down Under - CyclingNews

• Curse broken, dream achieved: Ruby Roseman-Gannon is Aussie champ - Escape Collective 

• Ruth Edwards Returns with Ambitions: 'I Think I can be Even Better' - Velo

• Women's WorldTour – The definitive guide for 2024 - CyclingNews

• Ally Wollaston’s Tour Down Under victory is a win for AG Insurance-Soudal's Long Term Vision for Women's Cycling - Rouleur 

• Women's Tour Down Under reboot begins for Ruth Edwards - CyclingNews

• Matilda Raynolds completes Tour Down Under breakaway heroics on wrong size bike - GCN

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Listen 🎧

Wheel Talk is back with everything you need to know going into the Tour Down Under.

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Results 🏆

Road

Tour Down Under (2.WWT)

Stage 1: (sprint)

1. Ally Wollaston (AGS)

2. Georgia Baker (LAJ)

3. Sofia Bertizzolo (UAD)

Stage 2: (Willunga Hill finish)

1. Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (FST)

2. Soraya Paladin (CSR)

3. Sofia Bertizzolo (UAD)

🇦🇺 Australian National RR Championships

Junior:

1. Lauren Bates

2. Emily Dixon

3. Hannah Gianatti

U23:

1. Neve Bradbury (CSR)

2. Haylee Fuller (BLN)

3. Ella Simpson (ARA)

Elite:

1. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (LAJ)

2. Lauretta Hanson (LTK)

3. Alex Manly (LAJ)

CX

🇧🇪 UCI Cyclocross World Cup #12: Zonhoven, Belgium 

1. Puck Pieterse 🇳🇱

2. Inge van der Heijden 🇳🇱

3. Zoe Backstedt 🇬🇧

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Upcoming races 📆  

CX

Basically every European national championship!!

Road

14th January: Tour Down Under (2.WWT)

How to watch:

• Live on Eurosport from 01:30 CET on Sunday.

Startlist here.

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Friday fun 🕺

Baby van Dijk practising his cheerleading 

How cute are these graphics from Jayco??

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GreenEDGE Cycling on Instagram: “Something a little different 🎨 🇦🇺 These post-training beach sessions in Liv AlUla Jayco skinsuits are certainly over 🤪 it’s now time to race @tourdownunder! 🚴🏻‍♀️ *Bonus points for spotting a treasure map and a special fish 🗺️🐠🤪 Thanks to @vash._.tv #TDU #TourDownUnder #LivCycling”

January 13, 2024

The Tour of Scandinavia chicken suit baton has been passed on! 🐥

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That’s all 👋

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Amy x