Women's Cycling Weekly Issue 72
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly issue 72 🚴♀️
The past few weeks have felt like a bit of a calm before the storm. With July looking like it’s going to be non-stop between the Giro Donne and the Tour de France Femmes it’s not been the worst thing to not have heaps of racing to follow lately (honestly, how do people who follow all of men’s racing cope?)
Obviously that serene bubble has now been well and truly popped by the onslaught of national championships week aka Sifting Through Pages of Results Week. I know loads of people recommend FirstCycling.com and I do use that site a lot !! but I am also very lazy and a creature of habit so when I went to our old friend PCS I did an eye roll after seeing that the women’s ITT results had been relegated to the bottom of the home page below every single one of the men’s. “Classic” I thought, and then I Tweeted that thought thinking nowt of it until…
Absolute scenes:
Making change by being a passive cow since ‘94 xox
Anyway next week is Giro Donne week, are you ready???????? I will be at the first few stages so if this newsletter comes at you at some rogue hour of the day next week that’s why but also hopefully I’ll have some sort of on the ground insight as well so swings and roundabouts, eh!!
Amy x
News 📰
Amy Pieters is making progress after waking up from a coma after her crash in December. Dutch broadcasters NOS visited her at home, where she spends weekends with her dad while spending the week at a recovery centre in the Netherlands.
WorldTour season closers the Tour of Chongming Island and the Tour of Guangxi have been cancelled again for 2022 as China’s Covid restrictions continue. The Tour of Romandie will now be the last WWT race of the season.
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope have a new sponsor, and will become FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope from July 15 on a three year deal.
After undergoing iliac artery surgery at the start of June, Tayler Wiles has confirmed she won’t be back racing in 2022, instead refocusing towards next season.
Read 🗞️
‘Not all change is bad’ says former cross pro-turned gravel pro Sophie de Boer.
New mother Elinor Barker: “I’m not even expecting to finish Nationals. I’m looking forward to it.'“
Elisa Longo Borghini would like to see Giro d’Italia Donne moved closer to men’s Giro.
“Working mums - the impressive balancing act of pro cycling and motherhood.”
Vos balances 'training and relaxation' ahead of Giro Donne, Tour de France Femmes.
Watch 📺
Listen 🎧
Freewheeling, in which the use of the word ‘epic’ is justified.
Results 🏆
Road
Tour de Suisse
Stage 1: Lucinda Brand (TFS)
Stage 2 (ITT): Kristen Faulkner (BEX)
Stage 3: Elisa Balsamo (TFS)
Stage 4: Lucinda Brand (TFS)
Overall:
Lucinda Brand (TFS)
Kristen Faulkner (BEX)
Pauliena Rooijakkers (CSR)
National Time Trial championships
🇦🇹 Christina Schweinberger (PLP)
🇧🇪 Lotte Kopecky (SDW)
🇧🇷 Ana Paula Polegatch
🇨🇦 Paula Findlay
🇨🇿 Denisa Slámová
🇩🇰 Emma Norsgaard (MOV)
🇪🇪 Hanna Taaramäe
🇫🇮 Anniina Ahtosalo (UXT)
🇫🇷 Audrey Cordon-Ragot (TFS)
🇬🇧 Joss Lowden (UXT) / U23 Pfeiffer Georgi (DSM)
🇭🇺 Blanka Vas (SDW)
🇮🇪 Kelly Murphy
🇮🇹 Elisa Longo Borghini (TFS)
🇮🇱 Omer Shapira (TIB)
🇯🇵 Shoko Kashiki (ILU)
🇰🇿 Makhabbar Umutzhanova
🇱🇻 Dana Rožlapa
🇱🇹 Inga Češulienė
🇳🇱 Ellen van Dijk (TFS) / U23 Shirin van Anrooij (TFS)
🇳🇴 Ane Iversen (HPU)
🇵🇱 Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (APW)
🇸🇰 Nora Jenčušová (BPK)
🇸🇮 Urška Žigart (BEX)
🇪🇸 Mavi García (UAD)
🇸🇪 Nathalie Eklund (MAT)
🇨🇭 Elena Hartmann / U23 Noemi Rüegg (JVW)
🇺🇸 Leah Thomas (TFS)
Upcoming Races 📆
Road
24th-26th June: National championships in most European countries, plus Japan, Canada and the United States
28th-30th June: Lotto Belgium Tour (2.1)
Start list here
30th June-10th July: Giro d’Italia Donne (2.WWT)
Tour of yore 🇫🇷🥐
I guess we’re dong these things chronologically now because the next instalment is all about Maria Canins — the Italian who won the next two editions of the race after Marianne Martin’s 1984 win.
Canins grew up in the Dolomites and started her sporting career as a cross-country skier in which she was Italian national champion no fewer than 15 times between 1969-1988. She then took up mountain biking wherein she won the world championships and Italian national titles twice before turning her attention to road in 1982 at the age of 32. In that first season she took the Italian national title and came second at the world championships.
It’s almost impossible to talk about Canins without mentioning her arch-rival, Jeannie Longo. Nine years Canins’ junior, Longo also started out as a skier before switching to cycling with immediate success.
At the first women’s Olympic road race in 1984 the pair both found themselves in a select group coming into the finish. Canins, a climber, was aware that she was no match for Longo and the others in a sprint and went early. Afterwards, however, the two collided and Canins’s pedal broke Longo’s chain, putting them both out of contention with the French rider having to walk her bike over the line.
The following year, at her first Tour de France – at the age of 36 – Canins beat race favourite Longo in the mountains to take the win overall. Longo had her revenge later that season when she beat Canins in the Dolomites, her own backyard, to take the world road race title.
The following year Canins repeated her Tour de France victory, fending off both Longo and the American Inga Thompson. In 1987, however, after three years of trying, Longo finally took the yellow jersey.
Canins and Longo battled it out for the yellow jersey at the Grand Boucle for five years between 1985 and 1989, with Canins unable to better her French rival after her first two wins — coming second for three years running after.
During her career she also won the Giro d’Italia Donne overall and myriad national titles. She retired in 1990.
Nowadays, you can find her posting wholesome pictures from The Dolomites on Insta:
Geography 101 🗺️
An easy mistake to make? 🥴
My boyfriend loves it when people ask him when he’s going ‘back’ to Australia x
That’s all 👋
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Until next time!