Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling
The course details for the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia have been revealed. The elite women will ride 164.3km with an elevation gain of 2,423m.
Strava and Le Tour de France avec Zwift have announced a three-year partnership whereby Strava will develop a unique experience for its millions of users for the Tour. Strava is planning to tell the story of the riders through their daily activity uploads and photos.
Flanders Classics, the race organiser of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, has announced an agreement with the city of Oudenaarde. The city will be the finish town until 2028. Visitors from all over the world come to the city every year for the race and the event constitutes a boost for the local tourism industry.
Belgian cyclocross vice champion Marion Norbert-Riberolle has joined Plantur-Pura Cycling Team for the road season. She will be riding alongside Belgian cylocross champion Sanne Cant in the Belgian squad.
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has announced the teams that will participate in the inaugural edition in July. 14 WorldTour teams, the top three Continental teams in 2021 and 7 invitations will be at the start line.
After a pause of two years due to border closures, The Santos Tour Down Under will be held again in Adelaide and regional South Australia from 13-22 January 2023. The Australian stage race is set to open the international cycling calendar as it did during pre-COVID times.
Results
Ronde van Vlaanderen: Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) ahead of Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Team SD Worx)
Vox Performance Project Blog
With an ironman competition soon approaching Amy Cuthbertson reflects on her progress thanks to the Vox Performance Project. Combing training for the event and holding a full-time job at the same time isn’t easy but she is feeling more in control and full of confidence. Read about her progress here.
In her latest blog, Coreen Mazzocchi discusses the learning process that comes when training doesn’t necessarily go according to plan and reflects on the insights she has gained from the project so far. Read about her experiences here.
Zwift Blog
Women’s History Month is coming to a close, a month which highlighted and celebrated the contributions of women to society. Against this context Tanja Erath of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB takes a “status check” of professional cycling in her latest blog.
This week in cycling history
Evelyn Hamilton
Hamilton is often overlooked as one of Britain’s most decorated female cyclists. Born on 3 April 1906, she is best known as a pre-war, long distance cyclist and cycle shop proprietor from London. She had hundreds of wins, achieved the half-mile sprint record, 1,000 miles in 84 hours, 10,000 miles in 92 days, and received the Sporting Life Award. Living in France at the time of WWII, she became a member of the French Resistance and took on the role of a bicycle courier, ferrying sensitive documents and messages around Paris during the war. In recognition of this, she was awarded the Cross of Lorraine medal of honour for valour in WWII. She passed away at the age of 99 in 2005.
Mari Holden
Holden celebrated her 51st birthday on 30 March. She is a former pro racer who won the Time Trial World Championships in France in 2000 after winning a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in the same year. The U.S. rider was also six-time national champion winning a double by taking out the time trial and road championships in 1999. She was elected to the Board of Directors of USA Cycling and served on the advisory committee to the U.S. Olympic Committee. Her initial interest in cycling was sparked when she borrowed a bike and went with her school cycling club on a 50-mile ride. She loved the feeling of riding and became hooked on racing. After her retirement from competition, she remained in cycling by opening up a coaching clinic. Following on from that, Holden became the team director of TWENTY20-Sho-Air UCI Women’s Pro Team for six years and was the National Team Road Coach for USA Cycling until very recently. Currently she holds the role of Community Director for USA Cycling where she spearheads the “Let’s Ride“ initiative, which is a nationwide effort to make bikes available to underserved communities and engage cycling coaches to mentor young riders.
Rides of the week
Canyon Ranch
The Canyon Ranch Wellness ride is led by Olympic medalist and World Champion Mari Holden and her co-leaders Charlotte Backus and Sara Lance, along with the sweetest sweep team in Watopia. The goal of the ride is to build community and encourage personal growth and health optimization while still having a fun and interactive vibe and banter. Click here for more!
Katie Kookaburra
Katie has gone from struggling 20km to riding mountains and endurance rides around the world. She has shared her whole journey, including 35kg weight loss on her YouTube channel, Katie Kookaburra. She aims to encourage and inspire others to push their limits and enjoy life on two wheels. On the first Tuesday of every month, Katie hosts a 1 hour fun social ride for women new to Zwift followed by a sub hour Alpe Du Zwift effort. Click here!
Partner Focus
Voxwomen aims to inspire more women’s cycling fans and more women to ride bikes. Without our partners and advertisers we couldn’t bring you the amount of content we now do. Now and then we will focus on one of our partners and bring you a special offer as a thank you for supporting women’s cycling. Thanks Laka for your support.
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