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Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling
Swiss rider Marlen Reusser has extended her contract with Team SD Worx until the end of 2024. Her focus will now be on training for the Olympic time trial event in Paris next year.
British Olympic gold medallist and multiple-time world champion Elinor Barker has signed a contract extension with UNO-X Cycling Team, which sees her ride for the Norwegian outfit until the end of 2027.
Dutch rider Mareille Meijering, who was with Zaaf Cycling Team, has joined Movistar Team until the end of 2024. This year is only her first full-pro season. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Economics and so far combined cycling with teaching at a university. Former Zaaf Cycling rider Lucie Journier has joined Team Coop-Hitec Products with immediate effect. Journier has proven herself as a classics rider, with a fourth place at GP Oetingen last season and a top 20 in Paris Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift in 2021, as well as winning the Belgium Cup in the same year. Canadian rider Maggie Coles-Lyster has also left Zaaf Cycling but has not announced any signing yet.
EF Education-TIBCO-SVB has announced that former junior world champion speed skater Femke Beuling has signed with the team. The 23 year old will make her professional road racing debut at la Vuelta Femenina next month. When a persistent foot injury led her to reconsider her future as a speed skater, Beuling turned her sights to bike racing. She has raced domestically in the Netherlands this season and in four races, she claimed two wins and another two podiums.
At Flèche Wallonne, Maaike Boogaard of AG Insurance – Soudal Quickstep had to abandon the race, while Margaux Vigie of Life Plus Wahoo had to be taken to hospital after a fall, but results showed there were no fractures. In addition, Neve Bradbury of Canyon//SRAM suffered a broken radial head (elbow). Meanwhile,
Fem van Empel will take a break from racing due to medical reasons. AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step-Cycling Team’s Senne Knaven crashed into road furniture and suffered a broken rib and concussion in training, and is under medical observation. We wish all these riders a good recovery.
Cycling Time Trials, the National Governing Body for time trials in England, Scotland and Wales, has announced that for 2023 a road bike category will be recognised across all open time trials, making time trialling more accessible to everyone, no matter the type of bike they own. Start lists and results will show who is on a road bike, with the results being filterable to show the road bike standings and positions for every race. Past British champions include Katie Archibald, Dame Sarah Storey and Emma Pooley.
Results
Liège – Bastogne – Liège: Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx)
Pan American Championships – Road: Skylar Schneider (USA) ahead of Alison Jackson (CAN) and Catalina Soto (CHL)
Pan American Championships – Time Trial: Amber Neben (USA) ahead of Aranza Villalon (Chile) and Alison Jackson (Canada)
Flèche Wallonne: Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) ahead of Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) and Gaia Realini (Trek – Segafredo)
Tissot Nations Cup Canada (Track):
Team pursuit: Great Britain ahead of Germany and Canada
Team Sprint: Mexico ahead of Canada and Poland
Elimination Race: Anita Stenberg (NOR) ahead of Jennifer Valente (USA) and Maike van der Duin (NED)
Madison: Belgium ahead of Great Britain and Italy
Sprint: Kelsey Mitchell (CAN) ahead of Pineda Bayona (COL) and Luz Daniela Gaxiola González (MEX)
New Podcast: “Just 3 Questions”
Are you seeking to become a better version of yourself? Have you set yourself a sporting challenge and don’t know where to start with training, nutrition, tech or anything else? Then this brand new podcast is an essential tool for you!
In our very first episode, we provide a short and informative listen on helping you to achieve your sporting goals. Three questions asked by you are answered by experts Chris and David from Supersapiens and Precision Fuel and Hydration.
Listen on Spotify here!
Listen on Apple Podcasts here!
Listen on Amazon here!
Zwift Blog
Last year’s Paris Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift winner, Elisa Longo Borghini, reflects on her experience of last year’s Hell of the North in her exclusive blog. Check it out right here!
Vox Performance Project
Cycling in Calpe and Lanzarote, with a marathon thrown in for good measure! You won’t want to miss Vox Performance Project participant Claire’s latest blog.
This week in cycling history
Guiseppina Micheloni
Born on 23 April 1956, the Italian rider was the winner of the first Trofeo Alfredo Binda race in 1974. She started skating at the age of 13 and joined the team sponsored by Pirelli, the company where her father worked. Her skating palmares includes 32 provincial and regional victories, four Italian and two international competitions. However, she started losing motivation for skating and was spending more and more time on her bike for training. Eventually she gave up skating and switched over to cycling. After leaving the sport, she had a brief career as a journalist and taught at a skating school before retiring in 2014.
Performance Corner
How to start big rides well hydrated
When people talk about hydration, most of the time it’s about what and how much athletes should drink during exercise. These are clearly important questions, but your performance is also massively influenced by how hydrated you are when you start exercising in the first place.
Drinking a strong electrolyte drink to optimise your hydration status before long, hot or really hard rides can significantly improve your performance. For a protocol to test and the science behind a tactic many in the pro peloton use, read or listen this.
Questions? Email hello@pfandh.com. Click here to get 15% off fuel and electrolytes – proud partners of Lotto Dstny and Team DSM.
Zwift Rides of the week
The Voxwomen Club
Get ready for the next ride on 25th April! Celebrate women’s cycling through our new club on Zwift! Here, you can be part of the journey and complete rides that cater to the busy lives we live and find motivation and enjoyment through riding. The rides will be held every other Tuesday at 7am/11am/1pm PST (3pm/7pm/9pm GMT). Rides are approximately 40 minutes and feature special guests to lead the events.
It’s also open pace and no drop, thanks to the Zwift bubble feature, which keeps everyone together so you can ride at your own pace without being dropped from the group. The first ride is this Tuesday, so be sure to join us here!
