Women's Cycling Weekly issue 27
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly issue 27 🚴♀️
I’ve been on a real go-slow this week and so has women’s cycling news by the looks of it. What hasn’t been slow, though, is the racing: the sprinters have been having a field day at Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour and, although we haven’t been able to see much of the action, it’s great to see the race able to go ahead after facing some jeopardy earlier in the year.
Aside from a dry spell of news (and energy from me) there’s also a lot of great content to read/watch/listen to and race highlights to catch up on!
Enjoy x
News 📰
The UEC European Track Championships, scheduled for June 23-27 in Minsk will no longer be taking place in the Belarusian capital. UEC president Enrico Della Casa said: "We have recently been monitoring the situation with the Belarus Cycling Federation which has now developed into an international debate and today during the Management Board meeting, we have decided to cancel the event in Minsk,” adding that they are looking for an alternative venue. Further reading here.
The UCI and Zwift have announced the details of the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series that will run from 1-27th June and will include a number of mass participation rides as well as a podcast with special guests. There will also be races. For more information see the UCI press release here.
Lizzie Deignan of Trek-Segafredo has returned to racing after a stalled start to the season due to illness. Judging from the way she’s riding in Thuringen I reckon she’s feeling better! Her teammate, Ellen van Dijk, is also racing for the first time since testing positive for Covid-19.
This:
Results 🏆
It was a first WWT win for Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig on stage three of Vuelta a Burgos Féminas. We’re used to her being effervescent in post-race interviews but this time the Danish rider was lost for words and in tears of joy. Kasia Niewiadoma took second and Anna van der Breggen third.
It was the fourth and final stage (and the one that everyone had their eyes on from the start) that caused the biggest upset. On the final, HC climb up to Lagunas de Neila, SD Worx used their strength in numbers to whittle the group down.
Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten, and Demi Vollering were all that was left after Vollering put in a monster effort on the climb. Van Vleuten couldn’t match her compatriot and van der Breggen took the stage and the GC with van Vleuten second and Vollering third — the final GC podium reflected the same result.
The catchily-named Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour (2.Pro) began on Tuesday and — after taking a near clean sweep of stages and GC at Festival Elsy Jacobs last month — Emma Norsgaard picked up where she left off. The Danish rider won the sprint to take the stage and the race lead after day one with Lucinda Brand second and Lotte Kopecky third.
On stage two it was another of the peloton’s top sprinters who took the victory with Lorena Wiebes just beating Norsgaard and Christine Majerus. However Norsgaard retained her lead on the race by 10 seconds to Kopecky.
On stage three Brand got the better of both Norsgaard and Kopecky and while Norsgaard retained her lead. Brand managed to move herself into second on GC — just 6 seconds behind Norsgaard.
Kopecky won today’s fourth stage with Brand second and Liane Lippert in third meaning Brand is now in the race lead. Her margin is slim, though — at four seconds ahead of Kopecky with Norsgaard 8 seconds back in third — so the GC battle is still wide open for the final two stages!
Upcoming Races 📅
The final two stages of Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour (2.Pro) take place tomorrow and Sunday.
On Saturday, stage 5 kicks off at 2pm CET and traverses Weimar – Goetheplatz over 124km.
Sunday’s 6th and final stage starts and finishes in Gotha at 11am CET and covers 97,8 km. Both stages will have highlights on GCN and YouTube. To follow the action live follow @lottoladiestour on Twitter.
Read 🗞️
An investigation by Telegraph Women’s Sport into sexual abuse and #metoo in sports.
Remember that triumphant UCI press release from last week? Here’s me taking some of the shine off.
If you remember last week’s little fact about the Zoncolan then maybe you’d like to read more.
Why are there no openly gay male pros?
Watch 📺
The Bunnyhop is back! This month’s episode features Amy Roberts and Rachel Jary as studio guests as well as a ride with Joss Lowden of Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur and fan favourite Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Grab a snack and tune in:
Listen 🎧
ICYMI catch up on the four stages of Vuelta a Burgos Féminas — and much, much more — with the Freewheeling podcast.
Feel good Friday
Happy bank hol weekend if you’re in the UK!
Here’s a lovely Tweet from cycling campaigner Sarah Berry to round off with:
That’s all 👋
Thanks for reading Women’s Cycling Weekly.
If you like what you see you can support WCW on Ko-Fi. And a huge thanks to everyone who has done so already!
Have a great weekend!
Until next time,
Amy x