Your news
Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling
The Tour de Gatineau in Canada has returned after a three-year break. The race has been revived by two retired professional riders, Karol-Ann Canuel and Alex Cataford, who have a long-term vision to build the race heading into the 2026 World Championships in Montreal.
Team dsm-firmenich has announced a series of contract extensions. Francesca Barale and Esmée Peperkamp are set to race in the team’s colours into 2025, Becky Storrie continues for another year in 2024, while Elise Uijen has penned a deal that will see her with the team through to 2027.
Dutch rider Eline Van Rooijen will join Team Coop-Hitec Producs for the next two years. She is a fast finisher and has recently shown great improvement in her time trial ability.
Margaux Vigie will join Jumbo-Visma Women next year. The 28-year-old Frenchwoman rode for Lifeplus Wahoo last season. She tried a lot of different sports as a child, from classical ballet and basketball to rugby, badminton and inline skating. She studied physiotherapy in Barcelona and started cycling there at the age of 19, and prefers the spring races. Mijntje Geurts has also signed a contract with Jumbo-Visma Women. From 2022, she has been riding for Lotto Dstny.
Gaia Masetti has extended her contract with AG Insurance-Soudal Quickstep for two more years.
Eri Yonamine will ride for LABORAL Kutxa-Euskadi in 2024. The Japanese champion has been with Human Powered Health for the past two years. She’ll bring a wealth of experience to her new team and help support leader Ane Santesteban.
After four years, French track champion and road cyclist Coralie Demay returns to FDJ-SUEZ. Her attacking style of riding and her time trial ability will be an asset to the French squad.
Polish road and cyclocross rider Dominika Wlodarczyk will join UAE Team ADQ in 2024. She was previously with MAT ATOM Deweloper Wroclaw. Besides her cycling career, she also studies at the University of Science and Technology in Wrocław.
Lucinda Brand of Lidl-Trek has sustained an injury at a crash during the Simac Ladies Tour and was taken to hospital for further observation, which revealed an injury to her collar bone ligaments. Hopefully she’ll make a swift recovery to be able to start the upcoming CX season. We wish her well!
Team Jayco AlUla will expand in size in 2024 as the Australian WorldTeam merges with Liv Racing TeqFind. Following the confirmation of Spanish Champion Mavi García as one of the team’s lead riders in 2024, her fellow Liv Racing TeqFind Dutch teammates Quinty Ton, Silke Smulders, Jeanne Korevaar and Swede Caroline Andersson, will be part of the merger.
Jumbo-Visma rider Fem van Empel has become the new Dutch gravel champion.
With the increase in riders – amateurs and pros – being injured or killed after being hit by cars, a parliamentary report, supported by British Cycling, has recommended, among other measures, the doubling of the maximum time spent in prison for drivers who hit riders.
Montreal has revealed the first details of the 2026 World Championships course. The route harks back to the 1974 Worlds where Geneviève Gambillon won the title.
Omloop van her Hageland has announced that the route for the new edition on 26 February 2024 will change from 128km to 131km, with the start in Aarschot and the finish in Tielt Winge. The event will feature a maximum of seven WorldTour squads with the rest made up of UCI Continental teams.
Marianne Vos’ former DS Jeroen Blijlevens will join Lidl-Trek as Sports Director for the women’s team. Blijlevens had a career as a professional, having won 55 professional races, including multiple stages at all three Grand Tours. After retiring from racing in 2004, Blijlevens made the switch to the team car, most recently working with CCC – Liv until 2020.
The U.S. The National Cycling League, the first league to have gender-equal teams competing on the scoreboard, has unexpectedly terminated the contracts of at least 20 riders. This affected the Denver Disruptors and the Miami Nights, two league-owned teams that competed in the criterium series this season. However, the League has also announced the addition of its first-ever expansion team to be based in Atlanta, Georgia. and begun re-signing athletes to its franchise teams, the Denver Disruptors and the Miami Nights.
The Dutch Cycling Federation has announced its squad for the European Championships in Drenthe from 20 to 24 September. Lorena Wiebes, Demi Vollering and Riejanne Markus are among the team members selected.
The German Cycling Federation has also announced their riders for the European Championships. The participants include Liane Lippert, Lisa Klein, Hannah Ludwig and Mieke Kröger.
The Women’s Tour, which had to be cancelled this year,might go ahead next year. Sweetspot has applied to the UCI to run the even, with some venues already having signed up.
Results
Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche:
Stage 7: Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ) ahead of Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team DQ) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ-SUEZ)
GC: Marta Cavalli ahead of Erica Magnaldi and Anastasiya Kolesava (Arkéa Pro Cycling)
Grisette GP de Wallonie: Marta Lach (CERATIZIT – WNT Pro Cycling) ahead of Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) and Victoire Berteau (Cofidis)
AG Tour de la Semois: Karlijn Swinkels (Jumbo – Visma Women) ahead of Noemi Rüegg (Jumbo – Visma Women) and Morgane Coston (Cofidis Team)
Tour de Romandie Féminin:
Stage 1: Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) ahead of Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Mischa Bredewold (Team SD Worx)
Zwift Blog
In her latest exclusive blog, Abi Smith of EF – TIBCO-SVB talks all about racing in the heat and provide some tips to ride in hot weather. Check it out here!
This week in cycling history
Monica Valvik
Valvik turned 53 on 15 September. She won the Norwegian road championships five times in the 1990s but her greatest achievement was wining Norway’s first world road title in Agrigento in 1994.
Zwift Rides of the week
Voxwomen Zwift Rides
Join, ride, share, and be inspired! Join others and celebrate women’s cycling through a women’s cycling fan club on Zwift. Be part of the journey and complete rides that cater to our busy lives, and find motivation and enjoyment through riding!
The rides are open to everyone and there are two rides every other Thursday. The next one is on 21 September. The times of the ride are 7am and 7pm GMT (8am and 8pm CET) and are 40min in duration with special guests leading the rides! The pace will be set to open, but “rubberbanding” will be turned on which keeps everyone together regardless of how hard they are pedaling – so it is a no-drop ride as long as you keep pedaling. On the ride days, one ride will be a standard group ride, while the second ride will be Zwift’s Aerobic Conditioning Workout. Find inspiration from each other and have fun challenging yourself! We hope you join us in the virtual world of cycling!
Take advantage of the club chat and be a part of the women’s cycling community also – there will be some giveaways from time to time, so be on the lookout!
From our Online Store
Women’s hoodie
This organic hoodie features the Voxwomen Club logo with the words “Join, ride, share and be inspired.” Show your support for women’s cycling and support Voxwomen, with this stylish cotton hoodie. Buy yours here!
Men’s hoodie
This certified organic cotton pullover hoodie features the Voxwomen Club logo! Show your support for women’s cycling and support Voxwomen at the same time, with this stylish hoodie. Get yours here!
