🚫 Snow days all round ❄️

➕ LOADS of IWD content

Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly! 🚴‍♀️

Strade Bianche has been and gone as have 100 hot takes on *that* sprint situation between Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering, a horse on course, and some potential upset around a continuous glucose monitor. In conclusion ✨drama✨ which is what we love about the race.

Scream if you love Strade

Cycling out of context @OutOfCycling

Oh, and one thing we do need to get clear is:

IYKYK

Who’s ready to do it all again this weekend at Ronde van Drenthe? Well, hold your horses (hehe) for a sec because there’s been a huge dollop of snow around Northern Europe that’s spelled disaster for a few races already including GP Oetingen and, today, Drentse Acht ☃️👎. Hopefully, though, they’ve got this guy on hand for tomorrow

Anyway, enough of that. Enjoy this week’s newsletter!

Amy x

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News 📰

• The route for The Women’s Tour has been announced. This year’s race will be much shorter but that’s the least of its worries. Apparently the organisers are also lacking in £500,000 in funding and in danger of being cancelled according to the Telegraph.

• Retired cyclocross rider turned gravel racer Katerina Nash has been cleared of a doping charge from last October after it was ruled that she was accidentally exposed to a substance called capromorelin that she was giving to her sick dog. USADA determined that Nash had been exposed to the adverse substance at “no fault of her own” and she was subsequently cleared.

• The horse is okay

  José Been @JoseBeenTV

  The horse is okay. It’s called Zlatana. Its owner apologised on Facebook according to Siena News. “Zlatana is fine, a few days of antibiotics, a lot of fear, but in the end everything ended well".

  

  sienanews.it“Zlatana sta bene, scusate per la sua irruzione alle Strade Bianche” - Siena NewsUn cavallo si è ritrovato in mezzo al percorso e ha iniziato a correre davanti alla ciclista olandese Demi Vollering. Le immagini hanno già fatto il giro del mondo

• Both GP Oetingen and Drentse Acht van Westerveld have been cancelled due to snowy conditions, so cross your fingers for Drenthe tomorrow but it’s not looking good brev.

• Speaking of, Charlotte Kool is out of Drenthe due to illness. So sadly no Wiebes-Kool-Balsamo showdown just yet 😢.

Charlotte Kool @charlotte_kool

Disappointed to miss @RondevDrenthe & #Drentse8 due to sickness. I’ll be back soon! Recovery is going well. Good luck to the team 💪 https://t.co/zpKVul38iU

Team DSM @TeamDSM

We have a line-up change for tomorrow's #Drentse8 with @daniekh20 replacing @charlotte_kool on the start line for us. 🔁

•  Finally, congratulations to Ellen van Dijk who has announced that she is pregnant! The world time trial champion is due to give birth to her first child in September and will aim to return in time for the Olympic Games in Paris. Also congrats to Trek for this elite announcement:

  treksegafredo

  

  A post shared by Trek-Segafredo (@treksegafredo)

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Read  🗞️

• If you read one thing about Strade, make it this!

• We both LOVED this on female pressroom pioneer Darcy Kiefel.

• In praise of Kristen Faulkner’s Strade Bianche ride.

• On the woman behind AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step, Natascha den Ouden.

• Lizzie Deignan: You don’t start a family to break boundaries.

• Dreaming of Classics glory - Alison Jackson back in action at EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

• Breaking barriers: 16 women leading the way for Africans in pro cycling.

• 🚨Tech heads🚨 Annemiek van Vleuten's bike: What is the world champion riding in 2023?

• We need to talk about Red-S.

• Hannah Barnes on tailoring your training around your menstrual cycle.

• How hormones affect cycling performance - and what you can do to harness them.

• What exactly happened between Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering at Strade Bianche?

• Unsung Heroes: Loes Adegeest the accidental cyclist who took an unconventional path to the WorldTour.

• An unsung hero doing the most for the sport: Meet Polly Clark.

• Annemiek van Vleuten ‘proud’ to be a part of women’s cycling development.

• The story of 'Madame Gray', who transformed women's cycling.

• An interview with Vera Ngosi-Sambrook on how the sport can be more inclusive.

• Meet Anna Yamauchi, gravel’s rising star.

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Listen 🎧

This week we chatted to photographer Jojo Harper about what it was like to shoot Strade Bianche (and much more!)

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Results 🏆

Road

Strade Bianche

1. Demi Vollering (SDW)

2. Lotte Kopecky (SDW)

3. Kristen Faulkner (JAY)

Trofeo Oro in Euro

1. Gaia Realini (TFS)

2. Amanda Spratt (TFS)

3. Martina Alzini (COF)

GP Oetingen 🚫CANCELLED🚫

Drentse 8 🚫CANCELLED🚫

Trofeo Ponente in Rosa

Stage 1a: 🚫Cancelled🚫 due to ‘last minute no permission of the community’

Stage 1b (TTT): UAE Development Team

Stage 2: 🚫Cancelled🚫 by local authorities

Stage 3: Jolanda Neff

Stage 4: Jolanda Neff

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Upcoming races 📆

Road

11th March: Miron Ronde van Drenthe (1.WWT)

• Starts 13:07 CET, finishes ~ 17:00 CET

• Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 15:00 CET

11th March: stage 5 Trofeo Ponente in Rosa (2.2)

15th March: Danilith Nokere Koerse (1.Pro)

• Starts 10:18 CET, finishes ~ 14:00 CET

• Live on Eurosport/GCN+ from 12:15 CET

17th-19th March: Tour de Normandie Féminin (2.1)

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Friday fun🕺

This is very much the vibe

Diego Ayús @soydiegoayus

Riders having the italian 𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶 during #StradeBianche 🍢 🥓 ¿Unas brochetas durante la @StradeBianche ? Sí, dame tres.

The majestic Zlatana 🫶🐎 

nopeitw

A post shared by Davide Zomer (@nopeitw)

Can’t talk, crying.

Fenix-Deceuninck Cycling Team @FenixDeceuninck

How many likes and retweets for a legend and a legend to be? 😍 @AvVleuten 💙 #PuckPieterse #FenixDeceuninck #StradeBianche 📷 @facepeeters

Me explaining literally any directions.

Love this progress on the rollers!

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That’s all 👋

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Amy and Tilda x