Women's Cycling Weekly Issue One
A weekly curation of women's cycling news and content straight to your inbox
Welcome to the first edition of Women’s Cycling Weekly, the newsletter that brings a weekly dose of news and content from the world of women’s cycling straight to your inbox.
WCW will cover the many and varied disciplines and aspects to the sport; so yes, there will be pro racing news, but you’ll also find a curation of reading, listening and viewing recommendations and even some content from outside the cycle-sphere that links - however tenuously- to the sport. Enjoy!
This week in women’s cycling
An in no way exhaustive summary of the latest news and content from the past week.
News
The topsy-turvy 2020 road season has at last come to an end and therefore any news coming from the pro women’s peloton has turned to transfers.
Women’s cycling fans have been keeping a particular eye out for the talented cast of the erstwhile Paule Ka team ever since news broke in October that it would fold. Whilst some may have thought it inevitable that other squads would scoop up the talented riders who took their team to 5th in the world rankings, the late announcement meant that rosters were already filling up as outlined by Lizzy Banks in this piece on La Course En Tête.
Thankfully, most of the former riders have now announced teams for 2021 and it is rumoured that none will be left in the lurch. Here’s a full list of what we know so far:
Two-time Giro Rosa stage winner Lizzy Banks will join Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling who are scaling up their roster yet again.
Promising young Brit Sophie Wright will join her Swiss teammate Marlen Reusser at Alé BTC Ljubljana.
One half of the team’s talented Kiwi duo, national champion Niamh Fischer Black, will join a stacked SD Worx (formerly Boels-Dolmans) on a two-year contract while her compatriot, Mikayla Harvey, has yet to reveal a team for 2021.
SD Worx also nabbed Czech TT champion Nikola Nosková.
Young Danish talent, Emma Cecilie Norsgaard, will join Movistar (the new home of the inimitable Annemiek van Vleuten) on a two-year deal, where she will be reunited with US rider Leah Thomas who placed third at this year’s Strade Bianche.
After coming into the season as team leader, German rider Clara Koppenburg was forced to withdraw from racing with a foot injury in September, she has yet to announce a team for 2021.
Newly-crowned Swiss national champ and qualified doctor Elisa Chabbey and 24-year-old Italian Maria Vittoria Sperotto are also yet to reveal their 2021 plans.
Swiss rider Kathrin Stirnemann will retire.
Elsewhere in Transfer Land, Canyon//SRAM began to announce their 2021 roster starting with American juggernaut Chloe Dygert - who is still recovering from her nasty crash at the world championships - to mixed reviews (more on that one later).
Mitchelton-SCOTT announced the extensions of their Dutch, Kiwi, and Australian riders’ contracts and, although not strictly this week’s news, they also announced the addition of rising star Teniel Campbell who - in a stark example of just how far the sport has to go with regards to diversity - will become the first black female WWT rider.
Drops Cycling announced that they would be retaining their entire roster of riders and staff for 2021 as well as adding two new signings of bright young things in the form of 18-year-old Brit Alice Towers and 19-year-old Dutchwoman Maike van der Duin.
Speaking of whippersnappers: 18-year-old American and reigning junior road world champion, Megan Jastrab, revealed this week that back in May (!!) she signed a two-year deal with Team Sunweb. One look at her insane palmares to-date will show you why. She told Cycling News: "Sunweb are supportive and have given me a lot of leeway in my goals toward the Olympics. They're supportive in making sure that I have everything I need to make sure I qualify for the Olympics next year." Watch this space.
If you think your lockdown was bad enough then spare a thought for Elynor Backstedt who has spent the last five months in a full leg cast as a result of an MTB crash in May. Luckily, the 18-year-old (yep, another one) revealed last week that she is ‘98% recovered’ and back to some ‘light’ training. Here’s hoping to see her back in action in 2021 with her Trek-Segafredo squad.
In Other News
Away from the road: Dominant Dutchwoman Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix) became European cyclocross champion last weekend after coming back from a crash in the first lap. The Dutchies dominated the race with Ceylin’s compatriots Annemarie Worst and Lucinda Brand in second and third.
On the boards, the UCI European Track Cycling Championships took place from the 11th-15th November in Plodiv, Bulgaria with the usual suspects - Great Britain - topping the medal tables. The Italian and Russian squads were also dominant in the women’s events.
The Russians took the team sprint (Anastasiia Voinova, Daria Shmeleva, and Natalia Antonova), 500m TT (Daria Shmeleva), and sprint (Anastasiia Voinova), while Italy won gold in the scratch (Martina Fidanza), omnium (Elisa Balsamo), and the madison (Elisa Balsamo and Vittoria Guazzini). GB took the team pursuit (Josie Knight, Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald, and Neah Evans), elimination race (Elinor Barker), individual pursuit (Neah Evans), and points race (Katie Archibald).
Elsewhere, Olena Starikova of Ukraine took the keirin title and, amidst the results, those who followed the Giro Rosa might notice the name Mariia Novolodskaia (RUS) - one of the most aggressive riders in the race who suffered a crash 1km from the finish while out front solo on stage six - she took bronze in the omnium.
If You Read Just One Thing
It would be remiss not to mention the furore around Canyon//SRAM’s aforementioned signing of Chloe Dygert and the controversy she brought with her. If you missed it, or you simply just don’t get why it might be controversial, then this piece by U.S-based pro Ayesha McGowan is required reading.
Watch
If you like adventure, or living vicariously through somebody else’s adventures, plus training tips and more then you’re in for a treat with former snowboarder-cum-model, turned Red Hook racer, turned social media personality Juliet Elliot’s YouTube channel.
Listen
Presented by retired pro cyclists Abby Mickey and Loren Rowney, the Freewheeling Podcast from Cycling Tips is awash with great discussions and interviews from the world of women’s cycling.
The latest edition includes a discussion with Iris Slappendel, co-founder of the women’s cycling union The Cyclist’s Alliance, on their annual rider survey which held some shocking revelations and detailed how Covid has impacted the women’s peloton. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Slow News
Scrolling (read: procrastinating) on Twitter the other day I came across this interview from last May with legendary former pro and current Trek-Segafredo DS Ina Yoko Teutenberg by Leah Flickinger on Bicycling. It’s a revealing, often funny and moving piece which charts the formidable German’s journey from unbeatable pro rider to a career-ending crash and the ensuing struggle, to top-drawer DS of Trek-Segafredo women’s team.
Book Club
Jools Walker, aka Lady Velo’s book Back in the Frame will be coming out in paperback next month. The subtitle reads: “Cycling, belonging and finding joy on a bike” and in it, Jools charts how cycling remained a constant in her life throughout the many struggles she has overcome. Pre-order it now from your tax-paying bookseller of choice.
Feel Good Friday
BBC Woman’s Hour might not seem like the most obvious place to get your cycling-related news, but the story of 8-year-old Betty Seabrook, who won a competition by hearing-aid makers MED-EL with a product designed for her dad (who uses a hearing aid) to wear whilst cycling is guaranteed to make you smile.
You can listen here from 35 minutes in or read about Betty here - whether it’s on two wheels or not, this kid is going places.
That’s All Folks
If you got this far then THANK YOU, I hope you enjoyed the first issue of WCW and that you don’t regret spending your precious time reading my waffle. If you enjoyed it then please share this with anyone you think might like it and if you hated it then reasonable feedback is welcome. Have a good weekend, folks!
Until next week,
Amy.