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Get your week started with the latest news in women’s cycling

• Upon the request of the Préfecture des Hauts de France, the organisers of Paris – Roubaix Femmes have postponed the race from the original date of 11 April to the new date of 2 October 2021. The inaugural women’s edition of the iconic race will now be held on the day before the men’s race. In 2022, the race for both men and women is intended to be run on the same day.
• The last 1.5 hours of the Volta a La Comunitat Valencia, which will take place between 14-18 April, will be broadcast live.
• The organisers of the Ladies Tour of Norway have applied for the creation of a six-day event which will take the riders across Denmark, Norway and Sweden in August 2022.
• In order to avoid a clash with La Course, the organisers of the Lotto Belgium Tour have brought the race forward, and it will now be run from 22 to 25 June.
• Three-time U.S. national time trial champion and former pro rider Taylor Phinney has set up a junior and women’s enduro club in Girona, Spain. The aim is to help the young riders with equipment costs, race entry fees, physiotherapy costs and other expenses.
• There were excellent TV ratings for the women’s Gent-Wevelgem which saw 578,000 viewers watch the race on Sporza, a 17 per cent increase from the previous year.
• Team Coop – Hitec products has announced that it will now provide riders of its women team with equal pay to the riders of the men’s team.
• A grassroots initiative organised by the Equality and Parity in Cycling (EPiC) working group in the U.K. aims to encourage race organisers to commit to equal prize money. The members have launched the EPiC Kitemark, a symbol which is based on the UN symbol for gender equality, and that can be displayed on event’s promotional materials, results sheets and websites. The organisers behind this hope that it will be used for any cycling competition that offers equal prize money anywhere in the world.
• Race organisers and members of Swiss Cycling have announced that they have not been reimbursed for the cancellation of the World championships last year, which leaves them short of funds to stage the inaugural women’s edition of the Tour de Suisse. Swiss Cycling has asked the public to support their efforts to secure funding for the project. More information can be found on their website.
• For the second time in a row, the Fort William downhill World Cup in Scotland, a regular event on the racing calendar, has been cancelled as organisers felt that staging the event would be too difficult considering the current health crisis.
• Jolien d’Hoore, who had planned to retire after the World Championships in September, is reconsidering her decision, now that Paris-Roubaix has been postponed until October.
• Flanders Classics requested that Doltcini-Van Eyck director Marc Bracke not attend the Tour of Flanders while the decision on his sanctioning has not been reached. The team instead sent Liesbet de Vocht to direct the riders on Sunday.

Results

Ronde van Vlaanderen: Annemiek van Vleuten ahead of Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling) and Grace Brown (Team Bike Exchange)

Zwift Blog

Shara Marche

Check out this recipe for Shakshuka from Team SD Worx’ Food Coach, Shara Marche!

Ella Harris

New Zealand rider Ella Harris has penned her first piece for us this year, in which she shares the events surrounding her crash, the excitement of working with a new coach, and how she’s looking forward to getting back to Europe after spending the off-season in New Zealand.

Megan Jastrab

In her exclusive blog, Megan Jastrab of Team DSM reflects on how the year got off to a disappointing start due to a COVID diagnosis. You can read about her experience here.

This week in cycling history

Mari Holden

Holden celebrated her 50th birthday on 30 March. She is a former pro racer who won the world time trial championships in France in 2000 after taking a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in the same year. The U.S. rider is also a six-time national champion, having also won the double by taking out the time trial and road championships in 1999. She was elected to the board of directors of USA Cycling and has 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 has remained in cycling and opened up a coaching clinic. Following from that, Holden became the team director of TWENTY20-Sho-Air UCI Women’s Pro Team for 6 years and was the National Team Road Coach for USA Cycling until very recently. She currently 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.

Monique Knol

Knol, who won gold and bronze medals in the Olympics, turned 57 on 31 March. She first won in 1988 in Seoul, where she took the road race title, and then four years later in Barcelona, where she took bronze in the same event. As a youngster she wanted to become a skater but despite all her training efforts, she did not succeed and was persuaded to try cycling, a sport in which she excelled, winning several one-day events and stage races during her career. After her retirement, she took on the role of trainer and team manager of a Dutch UCI mountain bike team and later turned to equestrian sports, riding dressage competitions.

Juliana Furtado

Furtado had her 54^th birthday on 4 March. The American was a successful slalom skier who after six knee injures switched to cycling, not willing to give up on a sporting career. Starting out as a road racer, she quickly discovered her passion for maintain biking, winning the inaugural championships in Colorado in 1991. This success was followed by five national titles, three world cups and another world championship title. After her retirement, she launched Juliana, the first ever women-specific mountain bike. From humble beginnings, the bike company has since evolved to become the manufacturer of the largest range of mountain bikes, and accessory lines for women.

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