Mixing it up
➕ Annemiek's last race ever 😭
Hello lovely subscribers and welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly! 🚴♀️
I know this is a women’s racing newsletter but there’s a team over at the Vuelta who really seem to be taking a leaf out of the SD Worx playbook atm…
Speaking of SD Worx and their dominance, Simac Ladies Tour (and Scandinavia before it) has actually been a refreshing break from the constant march of SD Worx wins that this season had started to become. As usual, the caveat here is that this isn’t an anti-SD Worx stance: they deserve to be as dominant as they are if other teams allow them to be, it’s a celebration of variety, which makes the races exciting.
So far at Simac Ladies Tour we’ve had different sprint victories including the resurgence of Elisa Balsamo and Charlotte Kool coming out on top in both the prologue and today’s stage. Of course, there’s also been recently-crowned road race world champion Lotte Kopecky winning her first WorldTour time trial on home soil in Belgium in the national champs colours.
The current GC situation is also one of the tightest we’ve seen for a while, with two seconds separating Kopecky, who leads, from Riejanne Markus in second and 7 seconds between Kopecky and her teammate, Lorena Wiebes, in third.
On the subject of tight GC races at the ongoing Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche — which has seen bunch sprints on every stage apart from today — the current top-3 on GC are tied on time with fourth place just two seconds behind. It’s unlikely to last, though, as the race heads into the mountains from tomorrow and with the likes of Marta Cavalli and Olivia Baril in the peloton the GC is likely to shake up a lot.
Back to Simac, though, and the other thing that sets the race apart is that it will be Annemiek van Vleuten’s final race of her career. And what a career it has been. Women’s racing will be a strange place without her but, in a full circle moment as she outlined on her Instagram, Sunday’s final stage of Simac will be where she leaves the peloton behind.
It’s gonna be emosh.
Enoy the newsletter!
Amy x
News 📰
New Zealand’s Georgia Williams has announced her retirement at the end of the season.
2023 will also be Jessica Allen's last year of racing.
You can keep up with all transfer news here, which this week included Zoe Bäckstedt to CANYON//SRAM with immediate effect.
Read 🗞️
Rebecca's Private Idaho - Sarah Max and Griffin Easter win Queen's Stage Race
Annemiek Van Vleuten opens up about her weight loss challenges
Gallery: Snapshots from the inaugural Tour de l’Avenir Femmes
Kate Strong completes Climate Cycle: a 5,000km lap of Britain for the planet
Classic Lorient Agglomération-Trophée Ceratizit report: Mischa Bredewold sprints to victory
World champion Kopecky trades rainbow jersey for yellow at Simac Ladies Tour
Watch 📺
Annemiek van Vleuten looks back on a phenomenal career.
Rachel Atherton joins Rob Warner and Eliot Jackson to discuss the racing in Loudenvielle.
https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/episodes/beyond-the-line-s1-e3
Listen 🎧
Results 🏆
Road
Classic Lorient Agglomération (1.WWT)
Mischa Bredewold (SDW)
Marta Lach (WNT)
Sofia Bertizzolo (UAD)
Grote Prijs Beerens (1.1)
Chiara Consonni (UAD)
Martina Fidanza (WNT)
Sofie Van Rooijen (PHV)
Simac Ladies Tour (2.WWT)
Prologue: Charlotte Kool (DSM)
Stage 1: Elisa Balsamo (LTK)
Stage 2: Lotte Kopecky (SDW)
Stage 3: Charlotte Kool (DSM)
Tour Feminin l'Ardeche (2.1)
Stage 1: Daria Pikulik (HPW)
Stage 2: Michaela Drummond (FBW)
Stage 3: Daria Pikulik (HPW)
Stage 4: Silvia Zanardi (BPK)
MTB
🇫🇷 UCI MTB World Cup: Loudenvielle, France DH #5
DH Junior (cancelled due to weather - official results taken from qualifying): 🥇 Sacha Earnest 🇳🇿 🥈 Erice van Leuven 🇳🇿 🥉 Valentina Roa Sanchez 🇨🇴
DH Elite: 🥇 Vali Höll 🇦🇹 🥈 Nina Hoffmann 🇩🇪 🥉 Marine Cabirou 🇫🇷
🇫🇷 UCI MTB World Cup: Les Gets, France DH #6 & XCO+XCC #6
XCC U23: 🥇 Ronja Blöchlinger 🇨🇭 🥈 Samara Maxwell 🇳🇿 🥉 Noëlle Buri 🇨🇭
XCC Elite: 🥇Puck Pieterse 🇳🇱 🥈 Evie Richards 🇬🇧 🥉 Alessandra Keller🇨🇭
DH Junior: 🥇 Valentina Roa Sanchez 🇨🇴 🥈 Sacha Mills 🇦🇺 🥉 Lais Bonnaure 🇫🇷
Upcoming races 📆
Road
5th - 10th September: Simac Ladies Tour (2.WWT)
How to watch:
Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 14:30 CEST on Saturday and 14:25 CEST on Sunday.
5th - 11th September: Tour Feminin l'Ardeche (2.1)
Wednesday 13th September: Grisette Grand Prix de Wallonie (1.1)
Friday 15th September: Chrono de Gatineau (1.1)
15th - 17th September: Tour de Romandie (2.WWT)
How to watch:
Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 14:05 CEST on Friday.
Startlist here.
MTB
🇫🇷 UCI MTB World Cup: Les Gets, France DH #6 & XCO+XCC #6
Saturday 9th September: DH Elite Semi Final and Final
How to watch:
Semi Final: Live on Eurosport/GCN+ and YouTube from 10:30 CEST.
Final: Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 12:45 CEST.
Sunday 10th September: XCO U23 and Elite
How to watch:
U23: Live on Eurosport/GCN+ and YouTube from 8:30 CEST.
Elite: Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 12:30CEST.
That’s all 👋
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Amy x