Your news
Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling
Team DSM will have a new name in the near future. The Dutch WorldTeam will be renamed Team DSM-Firmenich. The squad’s naming sponsor DSM merged with the Swiss fragrance company Firmenich. The rebranding of the cycling team is expected to take place in mid-June. Main sponsor DSM-Firmenich is said to have already expressed its intention to extend that commitment to sponsoring the team past 2024.
It has been announced that the last two sessions of the UCI Track Champions League will be held at the Lee Valley Velopark on 10th and 11th November 2023.
Find out all you need to know about the Vuelta a Burgos which runs from 18 to 21 May in our preview right here.
Canyon/SRAM Racing’s Elise Chabbey suffered a scaphoid fracture on the final stage of La Vuelta Femenina. We wish Elise a speedy recovery!
According to the Department of Security, a police car collided with Eider Merino on the first stage of Itzulia Women. She was taken to hospital with trauma to her left arm and left leg. The other athletes involved were Petra Zsankó, who suffered a shoulder injury, Letizia Brufani, who sustained an injury to her pelvis, and Lana Eberle, who also had to abandon the race due to multiple abrasions in the fall. We hope all riders recover quickly and we wish them all the best.
The UCI has released race profiles and maps for the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow, which will take place between 3 -13 August. The women’s time trial will be held on Thursday 10 August and the road race on Sunday 13 August. More info can be found here.
Ride London, which dropped off the WorldTour calendar for its failure to produce live TV coverage of all three stages last year, has confirmed that it will be broadcasting all stages on BBC during this year’s edition.
Annemiek van Vleuten will be participating in the Crocodile Trophy race in Australia from 5 to 11 November this year. It is the oldest MTB stage race, and the Dutch rider is not new to the event, having competed in the race in 2016.
The Tour du Gatineau will return after a three-year hiatus and is set to take place from 15-17 September in the Gatineau area of Quebec, Canada. The aim is to rebuild this women’s race ahead of the Montreal World Championships 2026.
France-based U.S. pro cycling team Cynisca Cycling has parted ways with its board member Inga Thompson, a successful three-time Olympian, national road champion and three-time silver medalist at the UCI World Road Championships.
Results
Bretagne Ladies Tour
Stage 1: Marta Lach (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) ahead of Alessia Vigilia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) and Coralie Demay (St Michel – Mavic – Auber 93)
Stage 2: Valentine Fortin (Cofidis) ahead of Marta Lach (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) and Martina Alzini (Cofidis)
Stage 3: Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) ahead of Maaike Boogaard (AG Insurance – Soudal Quick-Step) and Coralie Demay
Stage 4: Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Heath) ahead of Ariana Fidanza (CERATIZIT – WNT Pro Cycling) and Martina Alzini
Navarra Women’s Elite Classic: Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma) ahead of
Tamara Dronova-Balabolina (Israel Premier Tech Roland) and Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus Wahoo)
Itzulia Women
Stage 1: Demi Vollering (SD Worx) ahead of Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) and
Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing)
Stage 2: Demi Vollering ahead of Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Marlen Reusser
New Podcast: “Just 3 Questions”
Want to submit your own question to be answered by our experts? Send a voice note to us at info@voxwomen.com!
In our second episode, three questions asked by you are answered by experts David from Supersapiens & Chris from Precision Fuel & Hydration. Topics include:
– Fuelling strategies for early morning training
– How to fuel for training vs. racing
– If there’s an upper limit for fuelling during exercise?
Listen on Spotify here!
Listen on Apple Podcasts here!
Listen on Amazon here!
Zwift Blog
Amanda Spratt of Trek-Segafredo reflects on this year’s crazy Classics season in her exclusive blog for Voxwomen. Read more here.
Vox Performance Project
Vox Performance Project participant Jade writes in her new blog “Me, myself and my cycle” about how her menstrual cycle affects her training and performance. She focuses now on looking after her body and feed it sufficiently to enable her to perform and recover which has also shown a positive effect on her cycle. Check out her blog here.
This week in cycling history
Beryl Burton
The legendary Yorkshirewoman was born on 12 May 1937 and dominated the women’s cycling scene of her time, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting a series of records. Most of her national records lasted 20 years and one even stood even for half a century. She rejected offers of sponsorship and remained an amateur, working on a rhubarb farm during most of her cycling years. In order to honour her amazing achievements, Burton was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire and Officer of the Order of the British Empire. She was also awarded the UK cycling’s top accolade three times, the Bidlake Memorial Prize. She passed away in 1996 from a heart attack while out on her bike delivering invitations to her 59th birthday party.
Catherine Swinnerton
Born into a cycling family on 12 May 1958, the British rider was twice national road race champion, and was awarded more than 30 medals in total for national road and track championships, participated in the Tour de France, placing second on the final stage in Paris, as well as riding the first ever women’s cycling event in the Olympics in 1984. With prize money virtually non-existent and rare to no sponsorship opportunities, she had to bring her own bike and spare wheels to races, sometimes tearing up bed sheets to sew musettes from it, so that she had something to put food in.
Evelyn Stevens
Born on 9 May 1983, Stevens graduated from university and worked in the financial sector, but quit her job to take up cycling full time. The American won the national time trial championships, several WWT races and broke the hour record in 2016. The California native is one of only three women to win four gold medals in the team time trial at a World Championships. After retiring from professional sport, she returned to working in finance.
Performance Corner
Are female athletes’ energy needs different to men’s?
When it comes to powering high intensity endurance exercise, carbohydrate is the main source of fuel used by your body.
But how much carb do you need to perform at your best? And do women have different fuelling needs to men? Find out here!
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 the 23rd of May! 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!
