Voxnews

Get your week started with the latest news from the world of women’s cycling

• The Road World Championships in Yorkshire made history on Sunday as it hosted the first ever Team Time Trial Mixed Relay. The event consisted of three male and three female riders. The male riders set off first and were replaced by the women as soon as the second male rider had crossed the finish line. Once the second female rider crossed the finish line, the final time was then taken.
• German rider Romy Kasper will move from Alé Cipollini, where she rode for three seasons, to Team Parkhotel Valkenburg.
• Mieke Kröger will join Hitec Products-Birk Sport for this coming season. In 2015, Kröger won the German time trial championships, and placed second in the same discipline this year. In 2016, she became German road race champion.
• Anouska Koster will ride for Parkhotel Valkenburg in 2020. The former Dutch champion will bring significant experience and strength to the team.
• Sofie de Vuyst has signed with Mitchelton-SCOTT. De Vuyst is an experienced rider, particularly in the Belgian classics, and with her climbing abilities, will add greatly to the Australian squad.
• Biehler Pro Cycling has announced that it will soon have a U17, U19, U23 and UCI women’s team as part of their unique development structure.
• Alé Cipollini announced its partnership with the Slovenian company BTC Plc. The new team will be called Alé BTC Ljubljana and aims to enter the only Italian women’s cycling team in the UCI Women’s WorldTour circuit.
• Polish rider Kasia Niewiadoma has signed a two-year contract extension with Canyon//SRAM. Since joining the team in 2018, Niewiadoma has won at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and the Amstel Gold Ladies Race, and has taken stage wins at the OVO Energy Women’s Tour and the Giro Rosa.

Recent results

• In the Mixed Relay TTT at the Yorkshire 2019 UCI World Championships, the Netherlands (Amy Pieters, Lucinda Brand, Riejanne Markus, Jos van Emden, Koen Bouwman and Bauke Mollema) took the win. Germany (Mieke Kröger, Lisa Brennauer, Lisa Klein, Nils Politt, Jasha Sütterlin and Tony Martin) finished second, with Great Britain (Anna Henderson, Joscelin Lowden, Lauren Dolan, Daniel Bigham, Harry Tanfield and John Archibald) rounding out the podium.
• On the fourth stage of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche, Anouska Koster (Virtu Cycling) placed first ahead of Jarmilla Machacova (Czech Republic) and Hanna Tserakh (Minsk Cycling Club). Stage five was taken out by Marta Bastianelli (Virtu Cycling), ahead of Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) and Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO-SVB). Vos was  victorious on the following day ahead of Clara Koppenburg (WNT-Rotor Pro Cycling) and Arlenis Sierra (Astana Womens Team). The final stage was won by Vos ahead of Nikola Noskova (Bigla) and Arlenis Sierra. The overall winner of the 7-day stage race was Marianne Vos.
• Marta Cavalli (Valcar Cylance) won the first stage of the Giro delle Marche in Rosa, ahead of Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini) and Rasa Leleivyte (Aromitalia Vaiano). Stage two was taken out by Elisa Balsamo ahead of Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini) and Chiara Consonni (Valcar Cylance). Soraya Paladin won the final stage while Marta Cavalli took second and Elizabeth Banks (Bigla) was third. Soraya Paladin won the General Classification of the three-day race.

Zwift Blog

• In her latest blog, “Collarbones, altitude, gravel riding and finding form,” Ella Harris shares her experiences from the road to recovery and her altitude training and discusses how she found her form again after injury.
• Audrey Cordon-Ragot writes about her home region of Bretagne and why she loves it. She shares some mouth-watering recipes, and talks about cycling in the area as well as the importance of environmental protection. Read about it all here in her latest piece, “Three Things you should know about Bretagne.”
• Sophie Wright tells us in her latest article, “The best things in life are free,” about the difficulties she faced upon returning to training and racing after injury and how she came to appreciate the basic things in life.

The Voxwomen Show

• Check out the latest edition of The Voxwomen Show right here! We catch up with all the action from the European Championships in Alkmaar, Netherlands, we head to the UK and the inaugural Women’s Tour of Scotland and we meet WNT-ROTOR Pro Cycling’s Lisa Brennauer and talk about her bikes.

Voxwomen Announcements and Events

• Voxwomen invites you to a Women’s Evening on 25 September in Harrogate. Laura Winter and Hannah Walker will take you behind the scenes of one of the most important races in the professional cycling calendar to bring you insights direct from the riders. Joining them will be WorldTour pro riders and special guests, including former world road race champion Mandy Bishop (Jones) and Lisa Brambini, a trail blazer for British women’s cycling. The event is free, so come and join us for this fantastic evening. For more information and to RSVP, click here.
• Voting is now open for the second part of Voxwomen’s Sharon Laws Rider of the Year Award 2019. The winner of the spring poll was Annemiek van Vleuten, and now you can now vote for the rider of the summer! The widers who have been shortlisted in the summer period of 2019, covering races from May’s Tour de Yorkshire to last weekend’s Madrid Challenge, are: Lisa Brennauer, Lizzie Deignan, Christine Majerus, Annemiek van Vleuten, Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos. The award will be decided after the two public votes to find the riders of spring and summer. A final poll will determine the ultimate winner, who will be announced at the Rouleur Classic held from 31 October to 2 November in London. For more information and to vote click here!
• Join us for a great week of social cycling at The Voxwomen Big Week Off, which runs from 13th to 20th October 2019 in Can Campolier Banyoles near Girona. Can Campolier is the home of Rocacorba Cycling, which is run by professional rider Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and her family. To join, you can pay a non-refundable deposit of £150 and thereby secure your place, and then continue to pay in instalments. If you would like to find out more, or take advantage of this unique offer, you can do so by clicking here.

This week in cycling history…

• Christine Thorburn’s birthday was on 17 September. Thorburn is a retired U.S. road cyclist. Prior to her cycling career, she was a cross-country runner but an injury encouraged her to make the switch to cycling. At the 2006 World Championships, she went on to win a bronze medal. She was also the U.S. time trial champion and represented her country twice at the Olympic Games. After retiring from the sport, Thorburn concentrated on her career as a rheumatologist in California.
• 17 September was also Amanda Spratt’s birthday. The Australian is currently riding for Mitchelton-SCOTT and in addition to several stage wins and victories at one day races, she has also taken out the national championships twice and netted a silver medal at the 2018 Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

This week in cycling history…

• Why not check out our range of quality cycling clothing and accessories! Head over to our online shop where you can find mugs, socks, jerseys and much more. By making a purchase, you’ll also be supporting Voxwomen and enabling us to continue providing you with all the latest from the world of women’s cycling. Click here to go shopping!