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Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling

• Following a change of date for the second round of the French departmental and regional elections, the organisers of La Course by le Tour de France have moved the race to Saturday, 26 June. The riders will now battle it out between Brest and Landerneau on a 107.4 km long course.
• Uno-X will be launching a women’s team in 2022 with the aim of reaching the WWT level. The team’s goal is to give Scandinavian cycling more prominence in the pro peloton.
• In “The Run Up,” a production aimed at giving fans a closer look behind the scenes, Canyon//SRAM Racing, Trek-Segafredo and Team SD Worx provide an insight into their preparations in the lead-up to major upcoming WWT races. Check out the video released over the weekend.
• The 2021 Mercedez-Benz UCI MTB World Cup will be making its return with XCO racing in Albstadt, Germany, on May 8-9.
• The popularity of women’s cycling is continuously growing, according to Dutch broadcast figures from the Amstel Gold Race. Averaged out, Marianne Vos’ win was watched more than the men’s winner in terms of total viewers and percentage share in the Netherlands.
• Some encouraging news from Down Under on the development of young talents. Cycling New South Wales has scored an arrangement with two Dutch development teams, which will provide a chance for U19 riders – both men and women – to race with these squads in Europe. Australian road cycling talents have usually been put into track-focused preparations, while this new program focuses more on nurturing road athletes right from the start.
• The Union Européenne de Cyclisme has announced that the U23 Junior Track European Championships 2021 have been awarded to Apeldoorn (Netherlands) running from 17-22 August. The first edition of the BMX Flatland European Championships will be held on 3 and 4 June in Bochum (Germany). Additionally, the UEC has announced that a new Women’s Commission has been created. Congratulations Anthony McCrossan, Emma Johansson, Gema Pascual Torrecilla, Edoardo Salvoldi and Natalia Tsylinskaya, who have been appointed to this newly established commission and will bring a wealth of experience in women’s cycling to these new roles.
• UCI and Zwift will join forces with the International Olympic Committee to stage the Olympic Virtual Series which will be held on Zwift from 1 to 27 June. The event aims to bring the broader cycling and sporting communities together for mass participation focused on inclusion and sharing of the Olympic values and spirit.
• Cycling is looking increasingly to other disciplines to try and recruit new talents, such as the Australian Cycling Team, which is looking for candidates with high levels of leg power, speed and acceleration and is turning to sports like running, jumping or weightlifting to try and fill the void in its track team after the retirement of pivotal riders such as Anna Mears and Stephanie Morton.
• In more general women’s sports news, but still very much applicable to women’s cycling, is the study released by the Women’s Sport Trust that indicates that women’s sport in the UK has the potential to triple in annual revenue from the current £350m per year to £1bn by 2030, but needs visibility to succeed.

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Results

Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Demi Vollering (SD Worx), ahead of Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar Team) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo)

Zwift Blog

Neve Bradbury

In her newest blog the Australian rider shares her experiences of her first race with her new team Canyon//SRAM. She only got the call up to race shortly before Dwars Door Vlaanderen, so read what happened next.

Tanja Erath

The Team TIBCO-SVB rider Tanja Erath explains why Paris-Roubaix is such a special event and reflects on the race’s postponement. Read the German rider’s thoughts on the iconic race, which is now scheduled for 2 October this year.

Lauren Kitchen

Our latest exclusive blog from the FDJ Nouvelle-Acquitaine Futuroscope rider takes you on a journey through her favourite ride in Australia. Share Lauren’s excitement of being out and about on her bike in her home country by checking out her latest piece here.

Five minutes with…

This week in cycling history

Tillie Anderson

The Swedish rider Tillie Anderson was born on 23 April 1875. At the age of 18, after having emigrated to the U.S., she bought her first bike and later travelled the country, participating in gruelling six-day races. She held records in almost every distance from sprinting to endurance. Anderson remained the unofficial World Champion until her retirement in 1902, when women were barred from racing. Even in her later years, she was an advocate for cycling and became instrumental in the development of cycling paths in Chicago.

Giuseppina Micheloni

Micheloni turned 65 on 23 April. The versatile Italian rider became the first winner of the inaugural Trofeo Alfredo Binda in 1974, one of the oldest races on the UCI WWT calendar. She started out as a skater but after winning several races, she lost motivation and spent more time on her bike. After saying good-bye to skating, she became part of the national road and track cycling team. After her retirement from competition, she worked as a journalist and a skating coach until 2014.

Mien van Bree

The versatile Dutch rider’s birthday was on 24 April. She was a pioneer of women’s cycling, setting up the first Dutch women’s cycling club at the age of 16. In 1938 she became the first Dutch women ever to win the World Championships. However, van Bree could not race in The Netherlands and was forced to compete in Belgium because her home country did not allow women’s races. With the outbreak of World War II, her cycling career was cut short and she gave up the sport, working as a mental health nurse and later as a breeder of canaries. She tried to make the best of her sporting talents but pressure from family and societal expectations were too great and she began to suffer from depression. She passed away at the age of 68 in her hometown in 1983.

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