Women's Cycling Weekly Issue Nine
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Hello! Welcome to Women’s Cycling Weekly issue nine 🚴♀️
First of all I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who gave WCW their support on Ko-Fi last week, I was really overwhelmed by how many people responded and I’m very grateful and above all glad that you are enjoying this newsletter.
Now, on to this week. It’s been quite an eventful one with quite a lot of news and (hopefully) some good recommendations too, enjoy! x
News 📰
Yet more rumours around the viability of the Tokyo Olympic Games have surfaced today however the organisers maintain that the Games are still set to go ahead.
After 14 years of professional racing, Belgian rider Jolien D’Hoore - who currently rides for SD Worx - has said she will retire at the end of 2021.
The French federation joined the year 2021 by finally issuing professional racing licenses to female pros racing in WorldTeams.
In another step forward for the professionalisation of the women’s peloton, Shara Marche - the former FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope rider - has revealed that she will be starting a new role as nutritionist for the for team SD Worx.
After publicly promising to do so amidst the controversy caused by their new recruit, Chloe Dygert, Canyon//SRAM announced that they have developed “a comprehensive Diversity & Inclusion program”. Due to be implemented over the next three years, the program will begin at their training camps at the beginning of this year. Lawyer, athlete and health and nutrition coach Christine Kalkschmid has been hired to oversee the programme. Canyon were also the second team this week to announce the hire of a chef/nutritionist in the form of the Michelin-starred Alan Murchison.
British team Drops-Le Col have announced that they will be riding Ribble bikes for at least two years.
After suffering a deep laceration to her arm in Tabor in November, junior cyclocross World Champion Shirin van Anrooij - who is on a training camp with her road team, Trek-Segafredo - told CyclingNews that she was recovered and would be racing the U23 cyclocross world championships in Belgium next weekend.
After seven years of covering women’s cycling Sean Robinson aka Velofocus announced via Twitter on Monday that he would no longer be covering the races.
Women’s-specific bike brand Liv - an arm of Giant bikes - have released a full list of their sponsored athletes which numbers 25 including, of course, the Liv WorldTeam but also their multi-discipline Liv Racing Collective and Liv Factory Racing off-road team.
Canyon//SRAM revealed the team’s new kit for 2021 at their training camp in Girona:
Results 🏆
Lucinda Brand won Zilvermeercross on Saturday ahead of Denise Betsema and Marianne Vos.
The event which has replaced the Tour Down Under, the Santos Festival of Cycling, (which I forgot to talk about last week) is half-way through with two stages left to race. The local teams have been dominating with the few BikeExchange riders at the race unable to fend off first Peta Mullens on stage one and then Sarah Gigante on stage two. Australian TT champion Gigante now leads the GC by almost two minutes - after spending 40km solo to win stage two - ahead of the infamous Willunga Hill stage. Those in Australia can watch the remaining two stages here.
Upcoming Races 📅
A full weekend of cyclocross coming up with the X2O Trofee Hamme C1 race tomorrow (23rd) from 13:42 CET, and the final World Cup event of the 2020-21 season on Sunday (24th) in Overijse from 13:25 - both in Belgium.
The 6-Day track cycling series have been staging virtual races in lieu of the real event which culminates at 19:00 GMT tonight and you can watch live on their Facebook page.
The Gravel and Tar La Femme UCI 1.2 race will take place in Manawatu, New Zealand, tomorrow with equal prize money across the men’s and women’s races.
Read 🗞️
Annemiek van Vleuten has been sharing her ideas about how the women’s calendar might be improved, in particular with regards to stage racing.
More CyclingNews team previews this time for Movistar and Liv Racing, and Canyon//SRAM.
This first-person piece from Femme Cyclist entitled “Loving Yourself and Your Body as an Overweight Cyclist”.
In which I give an overview of the nine WWT teams (and two of the Continental teams) for 2021.
Amanda Spratt on stepping into her role as leader at BikeExchange.
Listen 🎧
The Wheel Women Podcast is a new podcast by Gemma Wilks and I’ve really enjoyed listening to both of the available episodes so far. The podcast “explores women in cycling by talking to women (and sometimes men) throughout the world of cycling - from grass roots and beginners up to the pros.” Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Watch 📺
Slightly different for this section this week: British Cycling are running a monthly webinar series for women and girls in cycling, female coaches, and those who coach women and girls. The webinars are run via Zoom and you can view the schedule and sign up here.
When Bikes Meet Art 🖍️
If you have bored kids at home or you like a bit of colouring yourself then grab the Crayolas and have a crack at these by artist Jen Lewis.
Feel Good Friday 💕
Feel good Friday is back after a brief hiatus (read: this is the first time in weeks I’ve managed to find a suitably cheery local news story) because we all need cheering up in these bleak times - and this is a good one.
This week is the turn of ‘Local Woman’ - who also goes by the name Dianne David - from Rochdale in the UK who has launched a cycling initiative aimed at combating loneliness in older people. The scheme is raising money for a “uniquely designed trishaw – a three-wheel cycle with a passenger cab in front”, in order to take older people with limited mobility on bike rides
You can support the scheme on GoFundMe here.
Photo: Cycling Without Age
That’s All 👋
Thanks for reading! Have a lovely weekend and see you next week x
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You can also watch the TDU Festival of Cycling if you're outside of Australia -
https://players.brightcove.net/5650355166001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6110993967001
Stage 3 (22nd Jan) 11:30pm to 1am GMT
Stage 4 (24th Jan) 6:15am to 7:15am GMT
There's another women cycling racing podcast called "freewheeling" with Abby Mickey and Lauren Rowney. Sorry if you already had this information, I wasn't sure you did?
THANK YOU FOR THIS round up. I'm spreading the word about this to my network and community!