Women's Cycling Weekly Issue Eight

A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox

Jan 15, 2021

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

In this week’s issue I’ve dedicated a fair bit of space to the book recommendation that I teased last week and that’s because - aside from being a great read - the subject matter is absolutely worth it.

As someone who hasn’t followed cycling from a young age and whose introduction to pro racing was very much a contemporary one I have never felt particularly moved by the legendary historical figures within the sport. A large part of the reason for this, though, is because I was left thinking “where are the women?” The women who should be household names but have been overshadowed by male contemporaries who had access to more racing, money, and recognition. That was until I heard about one Beryl Burton - and if you don’t know who that is then read on to find out.

News 📰

It feels like this week has been quite a slow one news-wise as we remain in the liminal space between a flurry of transfers and the start of the new season.

Former road and current MTB XCO world champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot announced that in her bid to focus on mountain biking for the Olympic Games she will leave behind both road and cyclocross to join the Absolute Absalon-BMC MTB team.
In some disappointing news for young riders, the UCI revealed in a press release today that the junior men’s and women’s cyclocross world championships have been cancelled due to Covid-19.
And in more Covid-related cancellation news, the 2021 four-day Colorado Classic - which since 2019 has been held as a women’s event only - has been cancelled for a second year due to the pandemic. Although the organisers maintain that they are committed to returning in 2022.
Movistar’s team training camps for both men and women are being held in tandem in Almería - with Annemiek van Vleuten pictured honing her TT skills alongside the men - which is great to see. They have also put together their usual rider profiles on their website along with the a useful pronunciation guide.
van Vleuten has also revealed her provisional 2021 calendar, she will kick off her season at the 2.1 Setmana Ciclista Valenciana in Spain from the 18th-21st February before racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche before an altitude camp ahead of the rest of the classics, and of course, the Olympics.
Some early-season races have started to reveal which teams will be attending including SCV, Le Samyn Des Dames, and the Healthy Ageing Tour.

Results 🏆

Just a heap of cyclocross national championships results:

Amandine Fouquenet took the French title with Perrine Clauzel in second and Marion Norbert Riberolle in third.
Absolutely no prizes for guessing that for an impressive 12th year in a row Sanne Cant won the Belgian title. Lotte Kopecky came second and Alicia Franck third.
Over in the Czech Republic defending champion Pavla Havlikova took her eighth title with Nikola Noskova in second and Karla Štěpánová third.
Alice Maria Arzuffi claimed her first Italian national cyclocross title after being beaten by Eva Lechner for the past four years. Lechner came third while Chiara Teocchi came second.

Elsewhere:

Switzerland: Nicole Koller
Spain: Lucia Blanco Gonzalez
Hungary: Blanka Kata vas
Austria: Ndaja Heigl
Denmark: Caroline Bohe

Head to https://cyclocross24.com/ for full results.

Upcoming Races 📅

Lampiris Zilvermeercross C1 cyclocross race tomorrow (16th January) where Marianne Vos will be on the start line.
The Norweigan cyclocross championships will take place on Sunday (17th).

Book Club 📚

Image source

The Greatest: The Times and Life of Beryl Burton by William Fotheringham.

If you are not familiar with the name Beryl Burton then it’s probably because - like many female figures throughout history - this incredible woman’s story has been largely buried among the frothing adoration afforded to some of her male contemporaries.

Beryl Burton dominated the cycling scene for decades between the 1950s and 1980s, breaking myriad records and winning multiple world championships on both road and track- all while remaining an amateur throughout her career and picking rhubarb for a living.

But even if you already know a thing or two about Beryl Burton - perhaps (as I did) you’ve heard of the Liquorice Allsort legend or you saw or heard Maxine Peake’s 2014 play about her - this book will still uncover some fascinating insights into Burton’s life and racing career.

The Greatest also sheds light on some scarily familiar structural inequalities, attitudes and practises within cycling at the time that kept women out of the top level (for example: who would have thought that it was the Dutch who were among the most reticent to introduce a women’s cycling programme in the mid 20th Century?).

I also very much enjoyed learning more about Burton’s female rivals and contemporaries who have received even less exposure than Burton herself. I found myself pausing on so many occasions to Google the likes of Eileen Sheridan and Yvonne Reynders who all deserve biographies of their own.

The author has also kindly offered all WCW subscribers a 15% discount on copies of The Greatest with the code 'Beryl15’- click here to get yours.

P.s check this film out.

Listen 🎧

I find interviews with athletes that engage them on a personal level rather than just a sporting one to be among the most interesting and Abby Mickey over at the Freewheeling podcast from CyclingTips has just launched a series that does just that. Entitled ‘Growing Up In’ she asks pro cycling guests about how their formative experiences shaped their lives and cycling careers. The first guest is former Swedish national champion Emilia Fahlin of FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope who is in the process of coming back to racing after a concussion.

Read 🗞️

Former world champion and winner of the 2020 WorldTour overall Lizzie Deignan praised the level of women’s racing in a recent interview saying that the depth is such that she feels like she is competing in a “new sport”. You can read the full interview here.

This Bicycling article on how the ‘People’s Bike Mayor of New York City’, Courtney Williams, is working to bring cycling to underfunded communities in Brooklyn and how white cyclists can become better allies for their BIPOC counterparts.

“The inequities and racism within biking can’t be dismantled on their own, says Williams. They require white cyclists to be active allies with their Black and brown neighbors to ensure that all cyclists, no matter what they’re riding or where they live, have access to safe bike infrastructure.”

While it’s clear that pro racing is sorely lacking in diversity, when we say that cycling in general does we are overlooking swathes of Black and Brown people who ride bikes in a way that differs from the industry’s narrow definition of a ‘cyclist’. In this piece for VeloNews Aliya Barnwell examines how that definition could be playing a part in preventing those riders from reaching their potential.

“Supporting riders of all styles and backgrounds should be a no-brainer. If bike brands want people to ride their bikes, they should recognize and encourage everyone who knows how to pedal. Variety is the spice of life, and often a range of perspectives is what fosters innovation.”

In which yours truly pontificates on the state of women’s stage racing in 2021 and into the future.

Last week featured team previews of team DSM and FDJ from CyclingNews and this week SD Worx, BikeExchange, and Trek Segafredo get the same treatment.

Final Word

It’s difficult to broach this subject without feeling like I’m being cheeky but collecting information for and writing up WCW does take me around a full day every week. After looking into the various built-in subscription offers on Substack I decided I don’t want to put any WCW content behind a paid subscription as the very reason for it is to create a wider platform for women’s cycling.

With that in mind, however, what I have done is set up a Ko-Fi page where - if you are so inclined or in a position to do so - you can donate the price of a cuppa. It’s completely optional, though, and I’m truly grateful for any and all support that WCW has received over the last few months since I started it, so thank you.

Click the button below if you would like to:

Ko-Fi