Women's Cycling Weekly issue 33
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly issue 33 🚴♀️
It’s been 10 days since the last WCW and a LOT of racing has happened. After the dry spell that was June all of the stage races have come at once, like buses we were waiting for, while starving, and in the rain. One of those races was, of course, the Giro Donne.
Ah yes, the Giro Donne. Those who were holding their breath for a well-organised race with consistent live tv coverage, will be remembered as optimistic to a fault. Credit for the forthcoming paraphrased analogy goes to my colleague Abby Mickey (legend) but the Giro Donne really is like that toxic boyfriend you keep going back to - it’s not going to change! If that sounds harsh then consider me the random girl you just met in the club toilets who is comforting you about said ex.
But seriously, it’s actually just the product of a weariness borne out of the women’s peloton consistently getting far less than they deserve from this race, and fans consistently being let down by a lack of coverage or promotion. Because 6km one day, 34km the next, and nothing on the queen stage is not good enough, the end. Don’t @ me.
News 📰
Ruth Winder will retire from pro cycling at the end of 2021, the 28-year-old American said in a video released by the team: “I’ve reached so many of my dreams already but my heart misses home while I’m on the road so much of the year.” Best of luck to Ruth.
Spectators will be barred from events at the Olympic Games in Tokyo amidst rising concern for Covid-19 in the area with the city entering a state of emergency.
The Cyclists’ Alliance and CyclingTips have released a jersey in collaboration with Black Sheep, the concept is ‘EQUALS’ and the jersey is stunning imo. You can read more about the story behind it and have a look at the collection here.
Giro
Four riders won their first ever Giro Donne stages this year: Lorena Wiebes, Emma Norsgaard, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, and Coryn Rivera.
At the other end of the spectrum, the GOAT, Marianne Vos, now has 30 Giro Donne stage wins, and check out this stat:
Both Bizkaia Durango and Tibco-SVB were forced to pull out of the Giro Donne due to covid positives within their teams. Hopefully all those who were affected are healthy and we see them return to racing soon.
Tayler Wiles of Trek-Segafredo also abandoned the race due to a non-Covid-related illness.
Krista Doebel-Hicock of Rally Cycling left the race with a broken arm.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig crashed during the TTT prologue and pulled out of the race before stage 8.
Amanda Spratt also pulled out due to injuries from a crash on stage 8.
Marianne Vos pulled out of the race ahead of stage 10 in order to focus on the Olympic Games. Eddy Merckx is penning his reaction as we speak.
And finally, Heidi Franz (off of brilliant audio diaries for Freewheeling) spoke out about her awful experience of being bullied while in a grupeto on stage 9 — not cool and hopefully Heidi is okay!
Results 🏆
Giro Donne 2.Pro
GC - Anna van der Breggen, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Demi Vollering - all SD Worx.
Stage 1 TTT - Trek-Segafredo
Stage 2 - Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx)
Stage 3 - Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma)
Stage 4 - Anna van der Breggen
Stage 5 - Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM)
Stage 6 - Emma Norsgaard (Movistar)
Stage 7 - Marianne Vos
Stage 8 - Lorena Wiebes
Stage 9 - Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SD Worx)
Stage 10 - Coryn Rivera (Team DSM)
Baloise Ladies Tour 2.1
GC - Lisa Klein (Canyon//SRAM), Mieke Kröger (Coop - Hitec Products), Anna Henderson (Jumbo Visma).
Prologue - Lisa Klein
Stage 1 - Mischa Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg)
Stage 2 a - Charlotte Kool (NXTG Racing)
Stage 2 b - Lisa Klein
Stage 3 - Lonneke Uneken (SD Worx)
Tour de Feminin 2.2
GC - Joscelin Lowden (Drops-Le Col) , Morgan Coston (Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux), Corinna Lechner (Team Stuttgart).
Stage 1 ITT - Vittoria Bussi (Team CycloTrener)
Stage 2 - Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg)
Stage 3 - Corinna Lechner
Stage 4 - Joscelin Lowden
Upcoming Races 📅
Zero, zilch, nada. Everyone’s on holiday (me pls) or off to Tokyo.
Read 🗞️
Marianne Vos’s journey to her 30 stage wins.
Five things we’ve learnt from the Giro Donne.
Did the Giro really double the prize money from last year?
The young riders making an impression at the Giro Donne.
“Is the Giro Donne Done?” well it is now but you get the idea.
ICYMI from the Rouleur women’s issue earlier this year, you can now read the ‘V Word’ piece by Orla Chennaoui online. In it, Orla delves into the important and yet sadly still taboo issue of saddle pain.
Listen 🎧
Freewheeeeeeeeling: two Giro Donne episodes for you lucky people. This episode about the first few stages, this second episode about the middle of the race and I’m sorry I made that sound so boring. Plus, look out for the recap episode coming soon!
Dogge-y content 🐶
If you haven’t checked out the hashtag #girodogge yet (credit to Rally Cycling) then I urge you to do so immediately for gems such as this:
That’s all 👋
Thanks for reading Women’s Cycling Weekly, I hope you have had a lovely weekend. I heard there’s a Football Competition on but I wouldn’t know about that. Jokes, IT’S COMING HOME 🏴⚽.
Anyway, if you liked what you read you can buy WCW a ‘coffee’ on Ko-Fi. A huge thanks to everyone who has done so already!
Until next time,
Amy x