- The A.S.O. is launching the “Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift” in 2022, consisting of 8 stages starting on 24 July and finishing in Paris. Zwift has signed a 4-year agreement with the organisers, with the aim of making it the biggest cycling event on the women’s cycling calendar. The route of the first edition will be revealed on 14 October during the men’s Tour de France presentation, with the race also being broadcast live on public channels in Europe.
- Liv Cycling, as part of its dedication to getting more women riding bikes, has joined A.S.O. as a major partner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift by supporting the best young rider classification.
- Unable to ride the actual route of the Tour De France again this year, U.K. based riders of InternationElles will attempt the Guinness World Record and World Ultra Cycling Record for the fastest four-rider relay from Lands End to John O’Groats on 28 June. By taking up this challenging ride, the group hopes to highlight gender inequality in cycling. This event is preceded by a Zwift ride by the 10 InternationElles riders from the U.K., Netherlands, USA and Australia on 26 June, which everyone is invited to join.
- Despite having broken her hand in a crash at the MTB World Cup in Leogang, Jolanda Neff managed to finish fourth. The Swiss rider has been selected to ride at the Olympics in the cross-country mountain bike discipline, and at the moment is unsure how the injury will affect her racing. We wish her a speedy recovery!
- Cycling Australia has announced the dates for its national championships. The road races will be held from 12 to 16 January 2022 in Victoria, the elite track championships are scheduled for 26-30 March in Brisbane, while the cyclo-cross event will be aligned with the World Championships in Wollongong, held between 18 -25 September 2022.
- Emma Norsgaard of Team Movistar has extended with the Spanish team until the end of 2024.
- Juliette Labous has re-signed with Team DSM until 2023.
- Katrine Aalerud and Stine Borgli have been selected to represent Norway in road cycling at the Tokyo Olympics, while Anita Yvonne Stenberg will ride on the track.
- Former rower and U23 world champion in the lightweight ladies double, Amber Kraak, has joined Team Jumbo-Visma Women until the end of the year. Her first race was the Dutch national championships.
- After having contracted COVID-19 in April, Trek-Segafredo rider Chloe Hosking’s plans to return to racing have been thwarted again, as she faces more time out due to pericarditis, an after-effect of the virus. She hopes to be back for the later part of the season.
- As part of the Olympic Virtual Series, a collaboration between Zwift and the UCI, an exhibition cycling race was held on 18 June with athletes from different sports competing in a bike race with a twist. On the women’s side, participants included three-time Olympic gold medallist and UCI TT champion Kirsten Armstrong, as well as 14-time gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey.
- Cofis has set aside a 1 Million Euro budget for its new women’s team. The squad will consist of 10 riders with the aim of having five French and five foreign riders. Gaël Le Bellec, the manager of the new team, is hoping to make rider announcements starting at the end of June. The new team will benefit from the organisational expertise of the existing men’s program, as well as the sharing of equipment, sponsorship and clothing manufacturers.
- Kirsten Faulkner of Team Tibco-SVB has filed a legal complaint with the U.S. Olympic Committee to challenge the selection of the road cycling team for Tokyo. Faulkner, who was on the long list of candidates but was ultimately not selected, felt the selection process lacked transparency.
- The WWT race Simac Ladies Tour (previously Holland Ladies Tour) scheduled from 24-29 August in the Netherlands may be in jeopardy due to a lack of police support. The area police indicated that it would not be able to staff the race, as well as the men’s BinckBank Tour on all days. There are only 30 trained motorised police personnel in the whole country and staffing both races would be an expensive undertaking. The Dutch House of Representatives will be debating the issue of police escorts this week, hoping to find a suitable solution.
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