Women's Cycling Weekly issue 36
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly issue 36 🚴♀️
I don’t think anyone anticipated the result of the Olympic road race last weekend, which in my view is an entirely good thing. Anna Kiesenhofer’s win was a phenomenal display of tenacity and dedication and no botched race communication can take that away. Whatever you think about the fact that Annemiek van Vleuten was under the impression she had won gold on the line, that’s an excruciating moment and it absolutely sucks for her that she felt it. Of course, she was then galvanised into winning the time trial off the back of it so you — literally — win some, you lose some.
But, Anna Kiesenhofer’s story is incredible, and if you’re not yet familiar with it (where have you been?) then you can read all about her here.
Right, before this intro just becomes the ‘results’ section, let’s go.
News 📰
The new Uno-X Women’s Team have already signed four riders including German rider Hannah Ludwig who currently rides for Canyon//SRAM. Anne Dorthe Ysland, Anniina Ahtosalo, and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad will also be joining the team. It’s not yet clear whether the squad will be WWT or Continental level. More details via the team’s website here.
After securing “increased partnership commitments” Team Tibco-SVB announced that they will be applying for a WWT License from 2022.
The Tour d’Occitanie, due to take place next week, has been postponed according to French site DirectVelo.
Christina Mackenzie has broken the Land’s End to John O’Groats record. Mackenzie completed the 839 mile distance in 51 hours, five minutes and five seconds.
Results 🏆
Olympic Games road race:
🥇 Anna Kiesenhofer 🇦🇹
🥈Annemiek van Vleuten 🇳🇱
🥉Elisa Longo Borghini 🇮🇹
Highlights here.
Olympic Games ITT
🥇 Annemiek van Vleuten 🇳🇱
🥈Marlen Reusser 🇨🇭
🥉Anna van der Breggen 🇳🇱
Olympic Games MTB XCO
🥇Jolanda Neff 🇨🇭
🥈Sina Frei 🇨🇭
🥉Linda Indergand 🇨🇭
Highlights here
Elsewhere
Outside of regular programming but I’m going to cover the fact that Bethany Shriever won the BMX race because it was a great win with a great story behind it and a great celebration:
A race I forgot to mention was happening last week but: Isla Short won the British XCO MTB title.
Anna Henderson of Jumbo Visma took her first pro win on stage one of the 2.2 Tour de Belle Isle en Terre - Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames and then quickly followed it up with her second on stage two. Taking the overall with Floortje Mackaij of Team DSM in second and Henderson’s teammate Anouska Koster in third.
Upcoming Races 📅
Amidst all of the Olympic excitement don’t forget that tomorrow is the next round of the WWT: the one-day Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa Women. The race is wide open with most of the big-name favourites OOO post-Tokyo and no SD Worx. You can catch it on GCN/Eurosport (and other places probs) from 12:00 CEST. Startlist here. Preview here.
Tokyo track events schedule:
Women’s team sprint final Monday 11am CEST
Women’s team pursuit final Tuesday 10:19
Women’s Keirin finals Thursday 10:45
Women’s Madison finals Friday 10:15
Women’s sprint finals Sunday at 4:05am
Women’s omnium final Sunday at 5:25
Here’s a handy guide to the track events if you aren’t familiar!
You can catch the action on GCN+/Eurosport daily.
Read 🗞️
The Olympics/sport is about human stories as much as anything and this is Masomah Ali Zada’s.
(Paywall) Veronica Ivy: why it’s right for trans Olympians to compete.
From VoxWomen on The Cyclists’ Alliance mentorship programme.
‘Meet Noreen Landis-Tyson, the first woman to oversee Olympic track racing.’
Sadhbh O’Shea: “Sport cannot be apolytical and it must stand up to injustices”
Meet Leah Goldstein: the first woman to win Race Across America.
Watch 📺
The Bunnyhop is back! And the great news this time is that you don’t have to see my face. Even better, is the lovely faces of Jo Rowsell and Robyn Davidson instead talking about the Giro Donne the Ladies’ Tour of Norway and the Olympics. The episode also includes: a dispatch from Orla Chennaoui from the Olympic Games, a ride with Elynor Backstedt of Trek-Segafredo, and ‘something about me’ with Coryn Rivera.
Listen 🎧
Freewheeling isn’t out yet (keep checking wherever you get your podcasts or even better: SUBSCRIBE) but, while you wait, listen to Kristin Armstrong on the Matt Stephens Unplugged podcast talking about preparing athletes for the Olympics and her own Olympic experiences.
Women’s Festival of Cycling 🚴♀️
I had somehow managed to miss this brilliant event until this week but there’s still time to catch loads of content from the Cycling UK Women’s Festival of Cycling. Check it all out here.
That’s all 👋
Thanks for reading Women’s Cycling Weekly.
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!
Have a great weekend!
Until next time,
Amy x