Two hectic first days at La Vuelta Femenina saw multiple crashes reshape the race, with stage-win-contender Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and first race leader Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) both forced to abandon due to injury.

Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed Monday morning that Vos would not start Stage 2 after suffering a broken collarbone in a crash late in the opening stage. The incident occurred inside the final 10 kilometres on slick roads, where a split in the peloton caught out the former world champion.

Vos managed to rejoin the front group in the closing kilometres and still sprinted to an impressive seventh-place finish. Shortly after, the team announced the extent of her injury.

The injury marks at least the fourth time Vos has fractured her collarbone. Previous incidents include crashes at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2018, the OVO Energy Women’s Tour in 2017 and the Valkenburg Hills Classic in 2012.

Vos’ withdrawal is a significant blow to Visma-Lease a Bike as the team "had set its sights on stage wins with Vos this week, among other things," the team reported. It also leaves last year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, with her trusty road captain.

With Vos, the team continued to secure a fifth place on stage 2 with Canadian Sarah van Dam, who said the team "tried to give it our all today with Marianne in mind."

Visma - Lease a Bike wasn’t the only team affected. Stage 2 brought further upheaval as Rüegg, who had claimed victory and the overall lead in Stage 1, was forced to abandon following a crash with 12 kilometres remaining. The EF Education-Oatly rider appeared to touch wheels with a teammate before crashing hard. Both riders required immediate medical attention, but the extent of the injuries is unknown at this time.

Rüegg had taken the leader’s jersey after winning the opening stage in Salvaterra de Miño, outsprinting Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime). At the time, Rüegg described the victory as "just a dream" and credited her team’s belief, saying they had more confidence in the plan than she did herself.

Following her abandonment, the race lead passed to Paris-Roubaix winner, Franziska Koch, who moved into the overall lead after finishing second on Stage 2.

La Vuelta Femenina consists of seven stages this year, ending on Friday, May 8th, at the top of the feared L'Angliru climb.

Nothing is predictable at the end of Paris-Roubaix Femmes. The best rider of all time, the winner of more than 250 bike races, in a situation which seems perfectly suited to her, can be out-sprinted by a rider who has only ever won thrice before. Franziska Koch can win, and Marianne Vos can lose.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has almost won it all, and yet in Roubaix – a race which is almost tailored for this multi-discipline world champion, who has won endlessly for two decades – she can't seem to get it across the line. Vos has raced five times: second, 10th, fourth twice, and now second again.

This time, in particular, the race situation was in Vos's favour; with 50km to go, she was in the front of the race with her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the defending champion, and an isolated Koch. It was no fait accompli, but a betting person would have felt confident staking their money on Vos.

However, it didn't come to pass, with the pair unable to distance their German rival, but also with the FDJ United-SUEZ rider seemingly not tiring, despite trying to break them up.

"In hindsight, we probably could have done things differently, but she also made some great attacks herself," Vos said in her press conference. "I’m very thankful for Pauline, all the efforts she did, to make the gap bigger, to keep pushing. I would have wanted to finish it off, but it is what it is."

Ferrand-Prévot, for her part, conceded that Koch was "a bit stronger at the end".

"For me, I was doubting a bit when Blanka Vas was with us," the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner said. "When we dropped Blanka, I thought, 'OK, it’s quite a good situation for us.' I wanted Marianne to save as much as possible and try to win a sprint.

"After such a hard race, you can’t be 100% sure that Marianne will win the sprint. We tried, but it’s also part of cycling: you can’t always win."

Tactics were not the only thing that complicated Vos's fifth attempt at Roubaix; her father, Henk, passed away just before last weekend's Tour of Flanders, and grief consumed her race preparations.

After pausing to find the right words, when asked about her difficult run-up, she said: "I tried to focus as much as possible on the race itself. With the team doing such an amazing job, and Pauline, I tried to focus on the task you need to do.

"Cycling has always been a big part of my life. I just wanted to try and make the best of the preparation under the circumstances. I was also just very happy to be here because it’s one of the most beautiful races of the season. Even though I knew it might not be the perfect preparation, I just wanted to give everything I had today.

"It’s an in-between feeling, which is a weird feeling. Maybe one day it will be closer to one or another. I don’t know what to feel yet."

She added: "We miss him, just calling, having a small WhatsApp or whatever. In a way, you just try and focus on what you need, and have to do. It’s what I always do. There is enough to focus on to mostly think about that."

It was the sad situation which brought Ferrand-Prévot into this race, one that was not on her calendar originally: "When I knew her father passed away I called the team and said I would like to race Roubaix to try and support Marianne, to help her in this moment. I knew it was a dream for her to win, and I just wanted to win for her father.

"I had such good memories with them, and for me it was to say bye to him and say thank you to him. It’s why I wanted Marianne to win. We didn’t succeed, but at least we gave everything we had."

Vos will be back, to try and conquer the unpredictability, to give it everything she has once again at Paris-Roubaix Femmes. Second in these circumstances was still impressive, and a month shy of her 39th birthday, there is no sign of the Dutchwoman slowing yet.

The town of Maastricht was the epicentre for all things gravel this weekend, as riders of all age categories and nationalities descended on the southernmost city in the Netherlands for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships. With a route comprising a mix of tarmac, steep climbs, gravel bike path, and forest trails, the tech on offer was naturally going to be diverse and experimental, and we saw some intriguing setups across both the pro men's and women's fields.

As expected, aerodynamics played a massive role in this year's addition, and owing to the non-technical terrain on offer, riders played around with tyre width and tread patterns in an effort to save as much weight and watts as possible.

Let's take a look at the bikes and trends that dominated the weekend's racing.

Florian Vermeersch's Colnago G4-X PIGR

After finishing runner-up in the past two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships, Belgian Florian Vermeersch finally secured his rainbow bands in a hard-fought day in the breakaway.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had access to a Colnago G4-X gravel bike, adorned in a stunning off-the-shelf 'PIGR' metallic-green paint job. The components were all team issue and cannot be specified on the Colnago website. This includes the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, pictured here in 54/40T, 11-34T configuration with 170mm cranks - the gearing of which afforded the 81kg Vermeersch enough of a bailout for some of the steeper pitches.

The handlebars and rolling stock were handled by Enve, including the 4.5 SES wheels wrapped in 40mm Continental Terra Speed TR tan wall tyres. The build is finished off with a Fizik Argo Adaptive R1 saddle.

Tom Pidcock's Pinarello Dogma F GR

Florian Vermeersch might have secured the rainbow bands, but it was Tom Pidcock's Pinarello Dogma F GR that stole the show. While some of our readers will rightfully question why Tom was on a Pinarello instead of a team-issue Scott Addict gravel bike, it's due to an ongoing three-year deal he has with the Italian bike brand. (The primary financial backer and holding company owner behind Q36.5, Ivan Glasenberg, also happens to own a controlling interest in Pinarello, which could see the team switch bikes in the coming seasons). Anyway, back to Tom's Pinarello Dogma F GR...

While we didn't notice any hidden tech bits on his Dogma F GR, we were drawn to the bike's incredible use of colour and contrast. The striking red and gold paintwork stood out amid the muted and earthy colours dominating the peloton, as did the unique full tan tyres. These unreleased Vittoria Terreno T30 35mm tyres are made entirely from 92% recycled materials and feature a completely new construction, while retaining the Terreno's trademark fast-rolling centre tread and knobbed shoulder line. Why so narrow? Well, not only does Pidcock possess one of the best skillsets in the peloton, the route wasn't very technical and, as an aero-focussed bike, only has tyre clearance provision for 45mm front/42mm rear. The anodised-green Vittoria Multiway valves also suggest Pidcock was using AirLiner inserts.

The balance of his build comprised an SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset outfitted with the 10-46T cassette and a single 50T chainring. A Wolf Tooth chain guide was fitted to prevent chain drops. Like most of the field, he opted to use Shimano Dura-Ace road pedals as opposed to MTB/gravel-specific SPD-style options.

Marianne Vos' Cervelo Aspero-5

We love the modified Cervelo Aspero-5 Marianne Vos used on the weekend. It represents what got us all into racing in the first place and shows gravel racing is still in a state of experimentation - something we hope stays around for a while still.

Marianne's Aspero-5 caught our attention initially for what looked like a mismatched tyre sidewall. Closer inspection revealed something more intriguing: a gravel/road tyre mullet setup comprising a 45mm Vittoria Terrano T70 front tyre and 40mm Corsa Pro Control at the rear - another nod to the course's lack of technical terrain.

Another standout tech highlight, but something we've seen employed before by the Dutch rider, was the self-inflating/deflating Gravaa Kaps system hubs, laced to Reserve wheels. These special hubs allow the rider to adjust pressure on the fly, nullifying the effects of corrugated surfaces and reducing puncture risk entirely. Like Pidcock, Vos elected an SRAM Red XPLR AXS 1x setup, but paired a smaller 48T ring to the 10-46T cassette.

Lorena Wiebes' Specialized S-Works Crux

Lorena Wiebes held off a charging Marianne Vos to clinch elite women's race at the UCI Gravel World Championships, aboard a Specialized S-Works Crux. Perhaps the most straightforward setup in the field, Lorena's race bike was built for pure speed, and she admitted she's not the most tech-savvy rider in the gravel bunch, citing road racing tech as more of her forte.

Lorena's S-Works Crux is far from an off-the-shelf option, as it features a custom, silver camo-like pattern. The silver forms a reflective base, and then black is added on top, which is then moved around under cling film to achieve the desired effect. It looks superb and stands out among some of the more ordinary-looking bikes in the women's pro field.

One of the trends at this year's race was the propensity for narrower tyres, something which goes against the current grain of riders using rubber as wide as 2.1in. As a result, Weibes elected to wrap her Roval Terra CLX II in 40mm Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss Ready tyres complete with 'transparent' tan wall.

Other than that, her bike was fairly standard, utilising Tacx Deva bottle cages, a Specialized S-Works Power saddle, the newly released Roval Alpinist Cockpit II bar arrangement, and SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset.

Matej Mohorič's Merida Silex prototype

Matej Mohorič is no stranger to starting UCI Gravel World Championships aboard unreleased Merida gravel bikes. The Slovenian won the 2023 edition using the second-generation Merida Silex, a week before it was unveiled to the press in Scandiano, Italy. In a similar move, Mohorič entered this year's race in the hope of repeating his heroics of two years ago on a prototype Merida Silex gravel bike.

The new bike was painted in a custom, multi-coloured design with green accents referencing his national jersey. From what we can see, the new Silex features a beefier headtube, fork, and downtube, while the seat-tube junction ditches the previously kinked angling for a new, smoothed-off profile.

Mohorič elected to use a complete, road groupset - in this case, a sponsor-specific 2x Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 chainset, likely in a 54/40T, 11-34T gearing configuration. Component supplier Vision provided the Metron integrated cockpit and what appears to be unmarked prototype gravel wheels.

As if Marianne Vos ever had anything to prove, the 38-year-old showed again on Saturday why she is, in the words of her sports director, and any longtime fan of the sport, “the best female cyclist ever”.

The Dutchwoman – a former multiple world and Olympic champion – stormed to victory on stage one of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, fending off the puncheurs in Plumelec, and tagging her Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on the line. Before the day’s stage, Vos already counted 257 wins to her name. She now has 258, and a yellow jersey on her shoulders.

“It was something I didn’t really think about going into the stage,” she said in her press conference. “Taking the win is a fantastic feeling, and then, as a bonus, taking the yellow jersey – I couldn’t really think or dream about that.”

By the time Vos arrived in the media hall on the outskirts of the Breton town, the sky had begun to darken. The clock's small hand ticked beyond the nine. And yet, as she sat in her yellow jersey, zipped up to her chin, the Dutchwoman seemed in no rush to leave.

After two winless editions of the race, having worn yellow for five days in 2022, Vos was savouring the moment.

“It’s cycling,” she said of her string of Tour podium places. “Sometimes you’re close, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

“Of course, it’s [a matter of] keeping the faith, but it’s also the faith that’s put in from the team. If they believe, you feel a little bit of pressure, but you also want to finish it off, and I think that’s what happened today. Everything came together.”

Arriving back at her team bus to a mass of French fans and cries of "holy shit!" from her team-mates, Ferrand-Prévot echoed the same sentiment. “The plan played out like a dream,” she said.

What that plan entailed was the Frenchwoman launching a flyer on the final climb, a move to “make the others work so Marianne can do her sprint from behind,” she explained.

“I didn’t really think [about winning]. I thought, ‘Make it to the end, and then we’ll see.’ I didn’t turn around because that’s no use.”

When Vos thrashed around her shoulder, only meters from the line, Ferrand-Prévot looked across and smiled. “I was relieved it was her,” she said, grinning again as she recalled the moment. “I thought, ‘Uff, it’s Marianne, not someone else.’”

Afterwards, the pair fell into each other’s arms. It was an embrace that held the experience of almost 30 world titles, honours the two riders have collected between them across multiple disciplines. It was also proof that, no matter how many decades of racing you’ve done, the feeling of winning remains just as sweet.

“We become stronger because of those two, and they helped each other to get this result,” said Visma’s sports director Jos van Emden.

The day’s standings read: first for Vos, and third for Ferrand-Prévot, just behind Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), but with a few seconds’ time gap already to the rest of the GC contenders.

“It couldn’t have been better,” said Van Emden. “Well, one-two would have been better,” he added with a smile. “I didn’t see this coming, not this way, not this impressive.”

The win, for the Dutchman, only cemented Vos’s existing reputation. “She’s probably the best female cyclist ever. Of course, I’m not objective. But she keeps confirming that she’s the best,” he said. “You see, age doesn’t matter.”

At 38, and now in her 20th year as a pro, Marianne Vos is still at the very top.

Marianne Vos will stay at Visma-Lease a bike until the day she decides to end her career.

The 37-year-old announced on Saturday that she has signed a lifetime contract with the WorldTour team, meaning she will ride for them “forever”.

The news comes seven months after Wout van Aert signed a similar career-long contract extension with the men’s squad, a deal that was unique at the time.

“Visma-Lease a Bike feels like home,” Vos said in a video shared across the team’s social media pages, “a safe and solid place where I can be myself, and where I feel fully supported and trusted to chase our shared dreams and goals.

“The memories we’ve created feel like a ride that never ends. That’s why I’ve decided – just like Wout van Aert – to stay here forever. Not literally for eternity, but at least until the end of my active career. How long that is, only the stars know.”

Vos joined Visma-Lease a Bike in 2021, having previously ridden for just one other team throughout her 20-year professional career – Rabobank-Liv, and all its different title names.

In four full seasons as a Visma-Lease a Bike rider, the Dutchwoman has won 24 races, including the Amstel Gold Race, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and multiple stages at each of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Giro d’Italia Donne and Vuelta Femenina.

Vos is the most successful female cyclist of all time, with a career tally of 255 victories. She has won three road world titles, eight cyclo-cross world titles, and is the reigning gravel world champion.

“Marianne is not only an exceptional champion, but also a role model for the entire team,” Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said in a statement.

“Her drive to improve every day and her desire to continue developing herself perfectly align with who we are as a team. I am incredibly happy that she will remain part of the team until the end of her active career and continue building our story.”

Vos’s current season programme next sees her compete at the Amstel Gold Race this Sunday. She is then scheduled to line up at the Vuelta Femenina and Giro d’Italia Donne before July's Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

The Gravel World Championships will take place in the Netherlands this year, the UCI announced on Friday.

The showpiece gravel event was initially due to be held in and around Nice and the Cote d’Azur region in the south of France, but due to "various constraints" and "technical" reasons it was previously announced that the French riviera could no longer hold the UCI event on 18 and 19 October.

As well as a location change, the worlds will also be held one weekend earlier on 11 and 12 October in the Zuid-Limburg region of the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Maatricht, Beek and Beekdaelen municipalities.

"The UCI and the City of Nice acknowledged the difficulties of organising the event in the capital of the French Riviera on that date, and in view of various constraints, technical and regarding the calendar, it was mutually agreed not to organize the 4th edition of the UCI worlds for gravel in Nice," a statement from cycling's governing body read at the time of the withdrawal of Nice.

"I'm delighted that the South-Limburg region, in the province of Limburg, will be involved in the organisation of the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships and would like to thank them for submitting their bid after the city of Nice withdrew," UCI President David Lappartient said this week.

"By hosting the UCI Gravel World Championships, the province of Limburg has further enhanced its standing as a leading cycling region at international level, while contributing to the development of gravel, a discipline that is still quite new and has considerable potential for growth," he added.

Mathieu van der Poel and Marianne Vos are the current world champions after winning the men’s and women’s races in Belgium last autumn.

According to the UCI, the race organiser, Golazo, has worked closely with the various local stakeholders to ensure that the ecological impact of the championships is kept to a minimum.

This year's competition will be the fourth running of the championships after two editions were held in Italy before last year’s action was held in the Flanders region of Belgium.

First of all, I’d like to start this edition of Tweets of the Week with an apology.

Avid followers of the series, and fellow social media addicts, will have noticed that we failed to publish our usual round-up last week. This, of course, vastly undermines the ‘of the week’ part of the headline, and for that I am sorry.

In our defence though, the name of this series has had little integrity for a while now. Twitter hasn’t been called Twitter since last July, so ‘tweets’ have been old news for six months. We’ll update the name as soon as we can figure out something that rhymes with X.

Until then, and by way of apology, here is a bumper edition of the best posts from the last two weeks.

We’ve been blown away this week by the reaction to the news that Eurosport is closing down in the UK next month, and cycling is moving to the more expensive TNT Sports channel.

Like 100 Climbs author Simon Warren, who mourned Eurosport’s loss with a picture of a gravestone, I, too, will miss the channel – and not only because it’s going to make live cycling more than 300% dearer to watch.

No, believe it or not, I’m going to miss the snow sports. I used to complain to my friends that cycling – the best sport in the world – shared a TV channel with curling and ski jumping. But over time, I began to welcome the frost.

Often, I’d tune in 15 minutes early to the cycling coverage, just to catch a glimpse of the white glow. A competition in Planica? Don’t mind it I do. How about some slalom skiing? Absolutely. Biathlon, you say? Count me in.

I imagine these sports will also migrate to TNT, but it won’t be the same when the programming is diluted with rugby, football and boxing. Make cycling niche again, I say – if you'll excuse the Trumpian turn of phrase

Elsewhere on social media, Marianne Vos gets a post-race hose-down, Egan Bernal surprises some Colombian pubgoers, and Lachlan Morton sits on a throne of oat milk.

1. RIP Eurosport UK, you and your glorious snow sports will be missed

2. "You've got to believe me, I was just sat there enjoying my beer, and Egan Bernal clip clopped in. I swear it's true!"

3. At cyclo-cross races, bikes and humans are treated as equals, so it's jet washers all round

4. Lachlan Morton's new throne puts the OAT in GOAT

5. The cycling season doesn't begin until we've seen helicopter shots of kangaroos at the Tour Down Under

6. Have you ever seen anything more Australian than Luke Plapp's shoes?

7. On the topic of shoes, I believe the top left is called a 'shoey'

8. I can't tell if this looks more like a toddler drinking milk, or a uni student necking shots. Either way, it's not the most flattering angle of Tim Merlier

9. I present to you an 18-year-old Geraint Thomas

10. Who remembers the scooter guy from Opening Weekend last year? Well he's back, and now he's rightfully the poster star

11. Some say the most aero skinsuit you can wear is the one you were born in. Valtteri Bottas certainly agrees

12. And finally, I'll leave you with an existential conundrum that's been torturing me. Note here that Lucas Hamilton says his favourite food is "spag bog". It's definitely 'bol', right? Or have I been saying it wrong all these years?

The skills and backgrounds of professional gravel racers are just as diverse as the events themselves. This dynamic discipline now boasts a wide range of races, from the fast, mixed-terrain Belgian Waffle Ride California to gruelling 200-mile epics like Unbound Gravel in Kansas. These events attract athletes from every corner of cycling: mountain bikers, roadies, gravel specialists, and hybrids of all kinds.

Road cycling has well-established categories of riders. Sepp Kuss is a climber. Felippo Ganna is a time trialist. Jasper Philipsen is a sprinter. Gravel racing isn’t as neatly defined, but similar archetypes exist, albeit with more crossover.

Take Keegan Swenson as an example. Often lauded as the best off-road rider in the country, Swenson started his racing career as an XCO mountain biker before discovering a talent for the longer-distance disciplines of marathon racing and gravel. He has the technical prowess you’d expect from his mountain biking roots, combined with an engine that appears almost unbeatable. He can climb, excelling in courses like Crusher in the Tushar and the Leadville 100, which both feature long, steep climbs at high altitudes. He has also won the 200-mile Unbound, which he did in a bunch sprint. For these reasons, we'd label him an all-rounder. Meet the archetypes of the gravel peloton.

The all-rounders

Like Swenson, the all-rounders are lethal on nearly any course profile. It’s this diversity of skill and ability that makes them well-suited to gravel, be it fast-paced off-road races with pack dynamics to rough singletrack terrain where most would prefer a mountain bike.

Lachlan Morton can also be considered an all-rounder. When he was a roadie, the Aussie-turned-American was considered more of a climber, but the EF rider can do more than go up hills with his featherlight frame. His biggest victory thus far came at this year’s Unbound, where he outmatched Chad Haga in a tactical finale.

I’d also place a rider like Sarah Sturm in this category. Sturm’s background ranges from mountain biking to cyclocross, and the American has found success in races like the Gravel Earth Series’ Migration Stage race in Kenya and the Life Time Grand Prix circuit. With two overall victories in the Life Time Grand Prix, Sofia Gomez Villafaňe has also proven herself to be a formidable all-rounder and a podium threat no matter the course.

The climbers

Some riders use their power-to-weight ratio to their advantage. This doesn’t mean they can’t win in other scenarios, but they really shine when the dirt road points skyward. Pete Stetina made the most of his reported 63kg frame to net a second-place finish at the vertiginous Crusher in the Tushar, and his WorldTour background gives him the power and group racing experience to be lethal.

Cole Paton and Howard Grotts are also examples of lightweight men who can climb like mountain goats. Both are mountain bikers at heart, giving them superb technical skills in addition to their climbing skills.

In the women’s peloton, Haley Smith's another example of a mountain biker who can climb. She showcased her exceptional climbing ability in winning the 2023 edition of Crushar in the Tushar on her way to clinching the overall title of the Life Time Grand Prix that year. Leadville winner Melisa Rollins earns a spot in the climbers club as well after her race-winning move on the Columbine climb. Former soccer player Iz King burst onto the cycling scene after claiming Strava QOMS all over Southern California and is one to watch out for on the climbs as well.

The Gravel Specialists

From Lauren Stephens to Lauren De Crescenzo and Paige Onweller, some racers are most at home on rolling gravel roads. Stephens raced a mixed calendar of road and gravel this year, which led to a fantastic summer in the dirt winning the U.S. National Gravel Championships, the unofficial Gravel Worlds and SBT GRVL. De Crescenzo also has a road background but has found her niche on gravel roads, winning Unbound in 2021 and racking up marquee gravel wins every year since.

Onweller has found a niche in winning races like Big Sugar, where she won in 2022 as an unknown name to many.

Another rider who could fit into this category of specialists is Alexey Vermeulen, who came to gravel after a short U23 stint on the WorldTour. Vermeulen was among the first to succeed as a gravel privateer, finding more joy and a better income in this new avenue than he did in traditional cycling.

The Big Guys

Names like Matt Beers, Brennan Wertz and John Borstelmann might be considered the rouleurs of the gravel peloton. These larger riders can still go uphill at a rapid pace, but they find the most success on rolling or flat terrain where they can really lay down the power. Beers has been known to take some massive pulls, while Wertz won the U.S. National Championships in Nebraska this year. Borstelmann is a multi-time (unofficial) Gravel Worlds winner which also takes place in the rolling terrain of the American Midwest.

The domestiques

Domestiques and team tactics in gravel are a grey area that will spur many opinions, but there’s no denying that alliances (both official and unofficial) exist in the gravel peloton.

At Unbound in 2023, Howard Grotts gave Russel Finsterwald his wheel after his then-Specialized teammate punctured. At this year's event, the Pas Normal team was out in full force, with riders fiercely attacking early in the race to allow Chad Haga to end up in the race-defining break and finish in second place.

And then there's Santa Cruz rider Tobin Ortenblad, who often works for his teammate Swenson. Their partnership was most notable at Leadville 2023 where Ortenbad set a blistering pace early on to help Swenson break the course record. We wouldn’t say that any one rider has made being a domestique their sole identity as a gravel racer yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

The Euros

As gravel racing develops, differences in terrain and race styles between the U.S. and European scenes become increasingly apparent. The U.S. thinks of itself as a rebel, with a variety of different races and little input from sanctioning bodies.

In Europe, races are more road-like, with WorldTour tactics and UCI-sanctioned races. The last two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships have seen winners in Matej Mohoric, Kasia Niewiadoma, Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel. These riders wear the gravel rainbow jersey, but are they really gravel riders? Many would consider them roadies who happened to win a gravel race, influenced by courses and race dynamics that suited their road backgrounds.

Of course, there are plenty of European gravel specialists, too. And there is a growing presence of them at American races like Laurens ten Dam and his so-called Dutch mafia.

Still, gravel is anyone's game

As the above examples illustrate, gravel attracts riders from all backgrounds, and the categories have considerable overlap. The point isn’t to put labels on riders for the sake of putting a label on, but rather to point out their skills and what types of races they typically succeed at. Gravel has blurred the lines of cycling disciplines. Likewise, this dynamic discipline is still defining its archetypes. Is Lauren de Crescenzo actually a climber? Should there be a mountain biker category? What about the ultra-endurance racers and bikepackers who ride gravel like Lael Wilcox and Lachlan Morton? Perhaps it’s this lack of hard definitions that makes gravel so fun to follow – anyone can win.

In the aftermath of her Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory, Lotte Kopecky praised her SD Worx teammates and said they had helped ensure she kept a calm and level head going into the cobbled Monument. 

The Belgian narrowly missed out on another Tour of Flanders victory last weekend which she explained only added extra determination to succeed this time out. 

Kopecky told the media post-race that the build up to Roubaix had been mixed with both nerves and excitement. She said that once the race started, that changed to confidence in her own ability as she could feel the faith that her teammates had in her and credited them for their part in the win. 

"I tried to stay as calm as possible today," she said. "After Sunday, the feeling was not what I wanted it to be but luckily I have really good friends, and a really good team behind me who really tried to keep me calm and gave me confidence. 

"They helped me try to spend these last few days with not too many worries…This morning of course, I was nervous but I was relaxed. I could really feel the confidence they had in me and I tried to take that good feeling with me into the race."

Kopecky was full of energy throughout the Monument and was regularly on the attack as each cobbled sector of the course arrived. In the end it came down to a dramatic sprint on the velodrome in which she got the better of Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Balsamo and Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm–firmenich PostNL). 

When asked whether her initial pre-race plan had worked, Kopecky said that everything had gone exactly as she expected, both on a personal level and for her team as a group. 

"It was exactly as we planned," she said. "We wanted to try to stay out of trouble in the first 60 kilometres and be right in front in the first three sectors… Before the first sector that I attacked on, I had Elena Cecchini who tried to position me and I knew I wanted to go there and see what happened."

The Dutch team, she explained, had the added bonus of having their star sprinter, Lorena Wiebes, in the chasing pack for if the race had come back together on the run in to the finish. 

"Of course going ahead with Marianne was not ideal for me," Kopecky said. "When I was with Marianne, I was just thinking that we still had the card to play with Lorena [Wiebes]. Today I really wanted to win myself but I was also really motivated that if there was a situation where we needed to go for it for Lorena, I was 110% committed to that."

As the lead group tore into the velodrome, the crowd erupted with delight at the sight of the world champion firmly in contention for the win. As well as her road world title, Kopecky holds multiple world titles on the track which led to some assuming she held the upper hand. 

Kopecky said that her track background hadn’t crossed her mind as she got ready to launch her sprint for the line. 

"Pfeiffer and Marianne also have track backgrounds," she said. "We all knew what we were doing. It's an advantage but I didn't think about it as they had this advantage too. It didn't really change anything for me, no."

"Before we came on the track it was already a big fight to try and get in position," she added. "Of course I knew that Marianne [Vos] and Elisa [Balsamo] would try to fight against each other and on the other side of the track there was a headwind. 

"They had to start the sprint pretty early so I tried to stay calm and start sprinting at the right moment. That was a long sprint but that's to my advantage and I did what I needed to do."

250 wins. Two hundred and fifty elite road wins. Let’s take a moment to marvel at the milestone reached by Marianne Vos at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday. 

It is, frankly, staggering. I’ll say it again for the people at the back. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY WINS. How can we begin to fathom such success? Well, let me try to put it into context. 

Vos’s first professional road victory came in 2006 at a minor stage race in the Czech Republic. She was 18 years old, Tony Blair was the UK prime minister, and the country was going wild for Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’, which was number one in the charts. Lidl-Trek’s Shirin van Anrooij, the rider Vos outsprinted for her 250th cap, had only recently turned four. 

From there, as Van Anrooij worked through the school years, Vos’s tally started to snowball. She went on to win the road world title later that year, and as more races were added to her calendar, she ticked off honour after honour. 

Her most successful campaign to date came in 2011. Her stats that year read 51 races, 31 wins. Now, I’m no mathematician, but that’s a win more than every other race. Do you think she ever got fed up of podium ceremonies? 

Speaking after her 250th top step on Wednesday, Vos kept cool about her achievement. "I am mostly reminded of it by others," she said. "It is not something I think about every day."

Speaking of her younger self, the now 36-year-old said she "didn’t really think about" how many races she might go on to win. "Not for a second did I dare think about milestones," she said. "For me, it was all about getting better and reaching the finals. Reaching my potential. That is still what I like to do best."

Well, Marianne, consider it reached. And then some. 

On social media this week, Flanders Classics paid tribute to Vos in the most fitting way possible - with a creepy AI graphic. Elsewhere, Lorena Wiebes celebrated Gent-Wevelgem with a rave, and riders in Spain battled the headwind to end all headwinds. 

1. Only one cyclist in history has more wins than Vos - Eddy Merckx has 276 - but the Dutchwoman still boasts the most wins of any rider who has not served a doping suspension

2. I bet Vos misses the days before AI

3. I don't speak Dutch, but I can tell that news headline isn't good

4. Nothing says spring in Flanders like over-produced dance tunes

5. For new mother Ellen van Dijk, racing the Classics is a "wellness weekend" 

6. Here's an eight-year-old who can ride the cobbled bergs better than any of us. A future world champion?

7. There are a few different types of riders. There are sprinters, puncheurs, grimpeurs. Ceratizit-WNT's Aslan is a different breed - he's a barkeur

8. As the proverb goes, when faced with a headwind too strong, turn around and go the other way

9. The same applies for crosswinds. Just ask Geraint Thomas

10. GB para-cyclist Blaine Hunt is no match for Quadzilla

11. It's a double helping of Blaine this week. Here he is cooking up another world title

12. And finally, we'd like to finish with a tribute to Richard Moore. A legend of cycling media, he was the host of The Cycling Podcast, and tragically died after reporting on Gent-Wevelgem two years ago. He was remembered last weekend by friends who painted his name on the road. Missed, never forgotten

Belgian police have identified and invited to interview a spectator who threw liquid over Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) during Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend. 

The three-time road world champion won the Belgian Classic on her race debut on Saturday, but appeared to have a cup thrown over her on an ascent of the Muur van Geraardsbergen. 

After the race, Vos confirmed the incident, saying: “I did indeed get something over me. That is not part of it and it is a shame, but yes… it happened.” 

Local police in Geraardsbergen have since found the spectator, according to reports in the Dutch-speaking press, and have invited him for questioning, with a view to potential action. 

“Unfortunately, this wonderful sporting event was overshadowed by an incident in which Marianne Vos had a cup of drink thrown in her face by a spectator. This incident sparked outrage within the cycling community,” the police force said. 

“Immediately after the incident, we took all necessary steps and acted decisively,” said police chief Patrice De Mets. “The perpetrator has now been identified. We have invited this person for questioning to take responsibility for his behaviour.”

Despite the incident, Vos went on to win the race, outsprinting the world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) from a four-rider move that went to the line. 

“This victory means a lot to me,” the Dutchwoman said afterwards. “I would never have dreamed of starting the new season like this. The fact it was also my debut in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad made it even better.

“It was a tough race, so then you have to wait and see what is left in the legs. Kopecky rode an incredibly strong final. That I could beat her is great.” 

Vos’s spectator experience is not an isolated case in Belgium. During a UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup event in Hulst on 30 December last year, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) spat at a group of spectators who he said had been booing him throughout the race; beer was also said to be thrown.

“These types of spectators do not belong on our cross [race],” the organisers said afterwards. “A few among those thousands of other – exemplary – supporters felt it necessary not only to taunt and pelt Mathieu van der Poel with beer. Two press photographers were also carelessly pushed into the water by a bunch of miscreants.”

Van der Poel was later fined 250 Swiss francs (£225/$285) for spitting.  

This article is part of Cycling Weekly's 'the ride that changed me' series. Our writers hear from a range of professional and ex-professional cyclists about that one day on the bike that changed the trajectory of their career for good.

Coming into the summer of 2012, Lizzie Deignan was a rising star and on a rapid upward trajectory within her sport. The then 23-year-old had already won the first edition of the women’s Gent-Wevelgem and was beginning to be talked up as a future one-day specialist of the highest level. 

It would be easy to assume that a young rider in that position would be full of self-confidence; however, Deignan tells Cycling Weekly that coming into the Olympic Games, she in fact questioned her right to be there. That would swiftly change in the rainy streets of London as she became the first British athlete to land a medal at the home Olympics, taking silver in the women’s road race. 

“It changed me because it meant that I no longer had the imposter syndrome of trying to be a professional athlete trying to attain a dream,” Deignan says as she recalls her memories of that important day. 

“I was amongst the best, I was an Olympic medallist and I think that sets you apart from other people and therefore gives you a huge sense of confidence that you can achieve something on the hardest of days.” 

The year before London 2012, Deignan - along with her coaches - had made the decision that her raw talent was best suited to the road. Pushing the likes of the Netherland’s Marianne Vos was proof that the decision was justified, and showed Deignan’s growing ability and talent. 

“I think the silver medal in the road race was a massive kind of justification, I suppose,” she explains. “What's the word I'm looking for? It meant I made the right decision, basically. And it also meant that the potential that I thought I had on the road was real. I had the potential to be there on the hardest day, on the most important day at a home Olympics, competing with the best in the world and the silver medal felt like gold to me. 

“It was just a massive turning point in my career because it made me more self confident and more ambitious.”

In the years that followed, Deignan would go on to triumph in the mud of Flanders and on the cobblestones of Roubaix in cycling’s biggest and most important one-day Classics in France and Belgium. 

But it was in the streets of London that she began to further define herself as a one-day racer and built the foundations for the success that would follow. 

The summer rain thundered down upon Deignan, Vos and Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya as the trio pushed on in a three-up breakaway and prepared themselves to contest for the medals. 

“Obviously it was a home Olympics and the pressure was on and the rain was coming down,” Deignan remembers. “It was epic weather conditions which suited me down to a tee and also suited the breakaway. 

"I think we stayed away, particularly because of the weather, you know, racing through a city on wet roads means that it's much easier to go through corners faster in a breakaway than a chasing bunch. 

“The crowds just roared us on. It was like an eternal tunnel of noise,” she adds. “It was just the most spectacular experience I've ever had in bike racing. Yeah, in front of the home crowd but specifically in Olympic games where you are in a breakaway of three and you know that you're racing towards a medal.”

Lizzie is an ambassador for Cycleplan, the cycling insurance specialist.

Join us for the next instalment of 'the ride that changed me' in a fortnight's time.

Three-time road world champion Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) continued her fine form at this year's Vuelta Femenina, sprinting to a second successive stage win on day four. 

The Dutchwoman, who is yet to finish off the podium at the seven-day Spanish race, said the stage to Guadalajara was “really nervous”, with GC hopefuls attacking from 40km out. 

“It was [about] trying to stay in front and trying to stay in control of the group,” Vos said post-race, “and I want to thank my team for doing that so well.” 

“I think it was really nervous today. Of course, because of yesterday’s echelons and there was also some wind, I think every team was prepared for if something happened.” 

The 133km-long stage through the central Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha brought the most challenging day of the race so far, clocking up over 1,500m of climbing. On the penultimate ascent, with 40km remaining, FDJ-Suez’s Marta Cavalli stirred up the peloton with a long-range effort, and the action never calmed down. 

Attacks from Demi Vollering (SD Worx), Liane Lippert (Movistar), and a last-gasp dig from Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) followed, but no-one could stop the day coming down to a bunch sprint, which Vos duly won. 

“There was a lot of wind, so that was probably not really in their favour," the Dutchwoman said of the attackers. "Then we [Jumbo-Visma] still had Amber Kraak and Riejanne Markus, so I still had a feeling we could do it. But, of course, when they go, you’re looking ahead and seeing if it will stay away. 

“In the final, the attack of Reusser was really strong, and [Chloé] Dygert reacted to it.” 

Vos, who earned two bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint earlier in the stage, extended her advantage in the overall standings by 12 seconds, and leads with 25 seconds over Canyon-Sram’s Dygert. 

After going four months winless at the start of this year, Jumbo-Visma have now won three of the four stages contested at this year’s Vuelta Femenina, opening their account with day one’s team time trial in Torrevieja.

Friday’s fifth stage will bring the race's first category-one mountain test, the Puerto de Navafría, as the peloton heads north into Castilla-Leon. Two more hilly days will follow, before the red jersey winner is decided on the slopes of Lagos de Covadonga on Sunday. 

To the casual observer, glancing at the final 100m of stage three of La Vuelta Femenina, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) outsprinting Charlotte Kool (DSM) and Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) to the line is not that unusual a scenario. The greatest female fast-woman of all time, the best pure sprinter at the race, and a resurgent Dygert battling it out is not quite 'you couldn't write it' territory.

However, the final sprint did not tell the full story of a hectic day of wind in the southeast of Spain on Wednesday, one so fast that it was half an hour before the fastest scheduled time from the race organisers. While the 29 riders or so in the front group took advantage of the weather, many others had their days, possibly their races, ruined by mother nature.

Stage three was not just a meandering journey across the plains of Castilla-La Mancha like that of Don Quixote or Sancho Panza, but instead a chaotic mess of echelons and separate groups on the road.

Unlike Don Quixote, La Vuelta's protagonists were not tilting at windmills, rather wind was possibly tilting the whole balance of the race.

Hours before the race came on television, the wind caused chaos in the peloton, with a massive split in the peloton coming with around 96km to go, as the race went through Albacete and turned southwest. 

Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo), second at this year's UAE Tour, third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, built for climbing not for crosswinds, was distanced as the wind blew, as was Kristen Faulkner (Jayco AlUla), another big contender for the general classification at the Vuelta.

Despite Trek sending essentially its entire squad to help bring Realini back, the gap simply grew, extending to 2-41 by the end of the day. The team succinctly tweeted: "Think it’s safe to say that it’s not our day".

The flat day, 157.8km long, ended up being the fastest ever at WorldTour level, with Vos averaging 45.6km/h across the day.

"It was really good," the Dutchwoman said. "Yesterday we were not far off, so we knew there would be another chance today. But with the crosswinds it was quite a hard day to stay in position and be there. I’m very thankful for my team, and grateful that they brought me to this position, and I’m very happy I could finish it off in the final.

"We were quite prepared for the crosswinds, but still of course you constantly need to focus, and in the beginning it was quite relaxed actually, because there was not much going on, and suddenly you need to switch on and be ready for the action. From then on, it was a constant high speed race, trying to stay in the first echelon."

After becoming the second woman to take the leader's jersey in the women's Spanish, French and Italian Grand Tours – the only other rider to have done that being her compatriot Annemiek Van Vleuten - Vos became the second woman to win at all three too.

Not everyone has as good a day in the wind as Vos and her Jumbo-Visma team, which took its second victory of the race and the season on Wednesday.

Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez), the leader in the Queen of the Mountains competition, sounded tired at the end of a fast, hard day in the saddle.

"We didn’t expect this, it was a really long day," she said. "100km it was full gas with the wind. It created a lot of echelons, we tried to maintain a small gap with the first group, we lost a bit of time, but it’s not finished."

Likewise, Nina Kessler (Jayco AlUla) suffered in the wind, after puncturing at an inopportune time, which meant she was spat out of the front group. She finished 74th, on the same time as her team's GC leader, Faulkner.

"That was a tough one," she said. "It started off pretty easy, and nothing really happened. We knew it was windy, and after a little town, the echelons started. Me, Teniel [Campbell] and Ane [Santesteban] someone were on the front, it split in three gorups, we were in the front, and then I had a puncture at the worst moment, the car was really far behind. I got a wheel, chased back, and from then on it was about saving as much as possible. We're going to make it up, for sure."

Three days into the newly expanded, moved, and renamed La Vuelta Femenina and the stage is set for a general classification battle, with those who have lost time forced to attack. 

On the other side, those GC riders who haven't lost too much time so far - Demi Vollering (SD Worx), Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Juliette Labous (DSM) - will be sleeping much more soundly tonight. Onto the mountains.

While her peers have started making retirement plans, Marianne Vos has no plans to retire anytime soon. 

Team Jumbo-Visma Women today announced that Vos will continue racing under the yellow and black Jumbo-Visma banner for two more years. 

With nearly 250 professional road wins on her palmares, the 35-year-old is widely considered the greatest or winningest cyclist of all time. And dominant in cyclocross and track racing also, Vos has amassed a trophy collection unlike any other. 

Two Olympic gold medals, three road world championship titles, eight cyclocross world champion titles, four national road race titles and two national time trial titles, numerous Spring Classics and stage races.  At the Tour de France Femmes last year, Vos also added a green sprinters jersey to the collection after spending five days in yellow.  

There are few races the Dutchwoman hasn’t won throughout her 16-year professional career, yet she continues to find new challenges, she said.

"I still really enjoy cycling," she states in a press release. "In recent years, women's cycling has advanced to such a professional level that I continue to discover new challenges. And my own development is still ongoing. I am motivated to train hard to get the best out of myself."

Vos has been the Jumbo-Visma front woman since the team's inception in late 2020, and has earned 15 victories for the Dutch squad.

"At Team Jumbo-Visma, I also find the ambition to get better every day and the drive to go all out for it," Vos says.

"That is one of the reasons why I feel at home in this team. I also like the professionalism and the personal approach. There is a lot of room for the individual within the team, which makes the team stronger. I really like that."

Besides racing to victory in the yellow and black jersey, Vos also serves a mentor for the team, which includes several young, up-and-coming riders. 

Leading by example, Vos "teaches the newcomers a lot about how to prepare, communicate, work together and deal with the setbacks that can come with being a top athlete. She is also of great value to us in this respect," says Rutger Tijssen, the team's sports technical director.

Esra Tromp, the team's manager, added: "Since the start of our women's team, we have gone through a lot of development, and Marianne has always been there. We will continue to develop in the coming years. We wish to inspire female cyclists and compete against the world's best riders. It is a privilege to do this with Marianne as our figurehead."

Good morning, Tom Thewlis here ready and waiting to bring you all the essential news you need from the world of cycling.

It's Thursday! That means this week's magazine is out now! Head down to your local newsagent to pick up a copy. It's packed full of great content as always.

If you want to reach out to me today then you can get me on Twitter via @thewlistt or email me at: tom.thewlis@futurenet.com

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

- 09:19 - Fernando Gaviria wins stage four of the Vuelta a San Juan
- 11:12- David Gaudu apologises for remarks about teammate Arnaud Demare
- 11:18- Happy birthday to Peter Sagan who turns 33 today!
- 11:59 - Popular Exeter-based cycling charity facing eviction from its current home
- 12:13- British Cycling shares details on 2023 National Four Cross calendar
- 12:36- Two races axed from women's WorldTour
- 12:55- British Cycling announces 2023 UCI Cycling E-Sports World Championships squad
- 13:14- James Knox included in Soudal Quick-Step line up for Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- 13:55 - Full list of teams for Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes confirmed
- 14:13- Cyclist says none of his trousers fit him after epic ride
- 14:23- Charlie Quarterman headlines new YouTube series launched by Team Corratec
- 15:00 - Marijn van den Berg wins Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia
- 15:39- Rayner Foundation continues Gateway Project in 2023
- 15:52- Liège–Bastogne–Liège route adjusted for 2023
- 16:44 - Marianne Vos to miss cyclocross Worlds

Fernando Gaviria grabs first Movistar win in Argentina

Fernando Gaviria took his first win in Movistar colours as he sprinted to victory in stage four of the Vuelta a San Juan.

His stage win was also the 50th victory of his professional career.

The stage was set for Gaviria's victory more than 90 km from the finish, on the Gruta Virgen de Andacollo climb, where a number of other sprinters were distanced including Soudal- Quick Step's Fabio Jakobsen and Sam Bennett of Bora-Hansgrohe.

Once the reduced main field were off the climb, Movistar were able to wrestle for control of the bunch with TotalEnergies, the team of Peter Sagan, and prepared to lead out their man man as they swept up the remnants of an early breakaway which included Egan Bernal.

Bernal's Ineos Grenadiers teammate Filippo Ganna along with World Champion Remco Evenepoel both launched last-gasp attacks hoping to upset the sprinters, but they were in vain as Gaviria simply had too much speed in the closing metres, beating Peter Sagan in the final sprint.

“This team is like a big family and the way they have welcomed me is incredible, from the first camp in Pamplona in October,” said Gaviria, who joined after four years of diminishing returns at UAE Team Emirates. “That makes me very happy and makes me give a little more of myself.”

Going into today's rest day, Gaviria inherits the white jersey of the race leader from Bennett and now has a lead of ten seconds over Sagan in second place in the overall standings. 

David Gaudu apologies for Demare criticism

David Gaudu has apologised for the unkind remarks he made about his Groupama-FDJ teammate, Arnaud Demare, which were leaked on Twitter.

Last week on the Discord app, Gaudu said he had a strained relationship with Demare, and the 26-year-old accused his older teammate of refusing to get into a lift with him and attempting to deliberately push him to the ground during some recent filming.

Gaudu also said that both him and Demare "hardly spoke" and that he did not want his teammate involved at this summers Tour de France and had told him that in person.

Gaudu said: “If he wants me to tell him to his face, I can very well. I’m not afraid of him. He knows that I don’t want him at the Tour, I already told him.”

Screenshots of Gaudu's comments were shared on Twitter on Wednesday evening and are likely to get the 26-year-old into hot water with Groupama-FDJ management.

Gaudu's subsequent apology after the comments were leaked read: “My remarks should never have been made in a public setting. I apologized to the team and to Arnaud,”

Happy Birthday Peter Sagan!

Happy birthday to Peter Sagan who turns 33 today.

The Slovakian currently rides for Team TotalEnergies and is currently in action at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina. Sagan finished second to Fernando Gaviria in yesterdays stage four.

What's your favourite moment from Sagan's illustrious career? Get in touch with us on Twitter and let us know! 

Toms Skujiņš attracts praise for his choice of bike bag

Toms Skujiņš of Trek-Segafredo has attracted praise on Twitter for his choice of bike bag for a recent training ride. 

Do you take a saddle bag or another form of bike bag if you're heading out on a long ride? If not, then you might want to check out one of the best bikepacking bags from our list and get yourself hooked up! 

Cycling charity facing eviction in Exeter

A popular cycling charity based in Exeter is facing possible eviction from it's current base by Exeter City Council.

Ride on Cycling for All are currently based in council-owned premises in Haven Road by Exeter Quayside. However, due to plans to build 37 new waterside homes they will now potentially be forced to re-locate.

Ride on Cycling for All, which has been established for more than 10 years, has been based at its current home since 2014. The charity recycles freely donated bikes to give affordable access to reconditioned bikes to local children and adults.

According to a report from Devon Live, the charity remains "positive" about its future even if the re-location is forced through.

Will Page, head of charity for Ride On Cycling for All, said: "We have just been told we might need to be out by the end of 2023. It's a 'might' if planning is approved and everything happens. We are working with ECC and Exeter City Living to come up with alternative arrangements.

"We are very positive. It's just something we have to get on with and I'm confident that with the help of ECC and Exeter City Living we will find a home."

British Cycling shares details on 2023 national four cross calendar

British Cycling has shared details on the dates and venues for the 2023 National Four Cross Series and the National Four Cross championships, as well as the first ever Dual Slalom National Championships.

The series will get started at Chicksands BikePark in Luton on 9 April before later rounds in Falmouth, Cornwall in late-May.

Eastnor Castle Deer Park will then play host to the first-ever Dual Slalom National Championships on 25 August, followed by the National Four Cross Championships on 27 August.

Josie McFall and Connor Hudson will both be looking to defend their national titles over the course of that weekend.

Series organiser, Chris Roberts, said:

“2023 will be a great year of Four Cross racing. We are celebrating our 20th anniversary and want to make this season the best yet. With nine rounds in 2023, there will also be more chances for riders to get involved in Four Cross and discover just how great this sport is. From the gateway to gravity for rippers, to the head-to-head racing fix for older riders, Four Cross always delivers.

“I would also like to say a huge thanks for the continued support from Schwalbe tires. Schwalbe have been a partner with our series for the majority of our 20 years and we can’t thank them enough for their belief and support of our sport.”

You can view full details of the Four Cross series on the British Cycling website.

Women's WorldTour shrinks as Swedish races axed

Two races have been axed from the women's WorldTour making the calendar two days shorter in 2023.

The organiser behind the Vårgårda West Sweden road race and team time trial has announced that they are ceasing organisation of the event with immediate effect. Both events have featured on the women's cycling calendar since 2006 and 2008 respectively.

According to a report from Cyclingnews, the race organisers explained that due to a variety of reasons, including the slow economy, meant that it was no longer possible to continue.

"After 25 years of organising elite races at the highest level, the club is now forced to turn down the opportunity to continue as Sweden's only World Tour organiser," they said. "The reason is financial and increasing demands for a different type of organisation."

"Despite considerable financial support from our long-standing partners, and in particular the Vårgårda Municipality, the Savings Bank Foundation and Sparbanken Alingsås, the club is unable to finance the event responsibly without risking the future of the association.

"The club also sees increased demands from the UCI, both organisationally and financially in the coming years and beyond. In 2023, the Swedish Transport Administration will apply regulations for road races that will have a significant impact on costs."

The races would have taken place after the UCI road World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Helen Henriksson, chairperson of the organisation club, said that carrying on was no longer possible on a "non-profit" basis.

"The economy is a big part of the decision, but also an increasing demand on our organisation. We have in many ways helped develop women's cycling in the world," she added, citing TV broadcasts and better conditions for the racers since the inception," she said.

"Women's cycling is certainly on the right track, but we don't see any possibility of shouldering the increased demands, and on a non-profit basis, to run races at the absolute highest level."

Audrey Cordon-Ragot was named the winner of last year's road race after Marianne Vos was disqualified for an illegal riding position.

British Cycling announces squad for 2023 UCI Cycling E-sports World Championships

British Cycling has announced its 17-strong squad that will represent Great Britain at the upcoming 2023 UCI Cycling E-Sports World Championships on Saturday 18 February.

Seven of the Great Britain squad will be heading to Glasgow to take part in the championships at the first ever ‘In Real Life’ (IRL) final too.

Heading up the Great Britain Cycling Team will be Zoe Langham, who returns to the world championships after her landmark third place finish at last year’s championships to battle for the coveted rainbow jersey.

Eight British riders qualified automatically for the championships via the Zwift European Continental Qualifier in November, including Langham, Mary Wilkinson, Hayley Simmonds, Lou Bates,  Alice Lethbridge and Charlotte Colclough who along with Natalie Stevenson and world championships debutants Lucy Harris and Lizi Brooke, will compete in the IRL Final in Glasgow. Completing the women’s team are Rachel Brown, Adele Battersby and Ruth Shier.

Representing Great Britain in the men’s race will be Andy Nichols, Ed Laverack and Joseph Rees, alongside debutants Ben Russell and Jimmy Kershaw, with Nichols, Rees and Kershaw all taking part in the IRL Final.

The event will see 200 of the best e-racers in the world face off against one-another in three courses- the punch, the climb and the podium on a specially designed, Scottish-themed map.

The full Great Britain Cycling Team squad is as follows:

Women

Mary Wilkinson

Hayley Simmonds

Lou Bates

Zoe Langham

Lucy Harris

Lizi Brooke

Charlotte Colclough

Alice Lethbridge

Rachel Brown

Natalie Stevenson

Adele Battersby

Ruth Shier

Men

Andy Nichols

Ben Russell

Jimmy Kershaw

Ed Laverack

Joseph Rees

James Knox included in Soudal Quick-Step squad for Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Soudal Quick-Step has shared details of its team selection for Australia's only one-day WorldTour race, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, which takes place on Sunday.

Defending champion Dries Devenyns heads up the squad after taking victory in its previous edition. Italian Mattia Cattaneo along with Mauro Schmid and James Knox are also included in the Soudal Quick-Step line up.

“We have the reigning champion in our ranks, part of a very motivated team. We had a good Tour Down Under and we are ready for Sunday. The peloton isn’t very big, so we need to pay attention to the breakaway, but also to the wind, which could play a part in the outcome. On the local laps everything will be decided.

"We have several cards to play and we’ll try to get the best possible result”, said team sports director Geert Van Bondt.

The full Soudal Quick-Step team for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race is:

Mattia Cattaneo (ITA)
Dries Devenyns (BEL)
James Knox (GBR)
Mauro Schmid (SUI)
Jannik Steimle (GER)
Martin Svrcek (SVK)
Stan Van Tricht (BEL)

Teams announced for Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift

Race organiser ASO has shared details of the full list of teams due to race both Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femme  in April.

Taking place over the weekend of 8-9 April, both races are set to provide plenty of action with a plethora of WorldTour talent confirmed to be on the start line.

Uno-X as well as Q36.5 are two of the ProTeam's invited to take part alongside the 18 WorldTour teams selected for the men's race. Last year's winner Dylan van Baarle is likely to be on the start line but in the colours of his new team, Jumbo-Visma, where he will likely line up alongside Wout van Aert.

In the women's race, AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step have received an invite to the race as well as Cofidis women's team and Parkhotel Valkenburg amongst others.

The full lists of teams for both races are as follows:
Paris-Roubaix

WorldTour teams:

AG2R Citroën Team (FRA)
Alpecin Deceuninck (BEL)
Astana QazaQstan Team (KAZ)
Bora-Hansgrohe (GER)
EF Education-Easypost (USA)
Groupama-FDJ (FRA)
Ineos Grenadiers (GBR)
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (BEL)
Jumbo-Visma (NED)
Movistar Team (ESP)
Soudal Quick-Step (BEl)
Team Arkea-Samsic (FRA)
Team Bahrain Victorious (BRN)
Team Cofidis (FRA)
Team DSM (NED)
Team Jayco AlUla (AUS)
Trek-Segafredo (USA)
UAE Team Emirates (UAE)

ProTeams

TotalEnergies (FRA)
Lotto Dstny (BEL)
Israel Premier Tech (ISR)

WildCard invites

Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB (BEL)
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (SUI)
Team Flanders-Baloise (BEL)
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (NOR)

Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift

WorldTour:

Canyon / / SRAM Racing (GER)
EF Education – Tibco - SVB (USA)
FDJ - Suez (FRA)
Fenix – Deceuninck (BEL)
Human Powered Health (USA)
Israel Premier Tech Roland (SUI)
Liv Racing TeqFind (NED)
Movistar Team Women (ESP)
Team DSM (NEd)
Team Jayco Alula (AUS)
Team Jumbo – Visma (NED)
Team SD Worx (NED)
Trek – Segafredo (USA)
UAE Team ADQ (UAE)
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (NOR)

Other:

Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team (GER)
Lifeplus Wahoo (GBR)

Invites from organisers:

AG Insurance – Soudal Quick-Step Team (BEL)
Arkéa Pro Cycling Team (FRA)
Cofidis Women Team (FRA)
Parkhotel Valkenburg (NED)
St Michel - Mavic - Auber 93 (FRA)
Stade Rochelais Charente Maritime (FRA)
ZAAF Cycling Team (ESP)

Cyclist says none of his trousers fit anymore after epic ride

Mark Wedgwood, a cyclist from Hathersage, Derbyshire, says that none of his trousers fit anymore after completing an epic ride which involved riding 7,000 miles (11,250km) across every Ordnance Survey map in Britain.

According to a report from The Guardian, Wedgwood's adventure took him across every one of the Landranger series' 204 maps in numerical order, from Shetland to Cornwall, which took more than six months to complete.

Wedgwood said that after completing his colossal ride, he had "never felt better". 

"It’s done me an enormous amount of good in every sense, and I have the happy problem that none of my trousers fit me any more," he said. "The next challenge is to keep it that way.”

"I've never felt better."

After cycling round the entirety of Britain, Wedgwood explained to The Guardian that some of the most memorable riding came in Shetland and the far north of Scotland.

“There were times in midsummer, where I was out on my bike, at maybe 10 or 11 at night and it was still sunny,” he said. “I was all alone in this phenomenal scenery with eagles and red deer and nothing else. They were such elemental experiences and I’d happily repeat them at the drop of a hat.”

Simon Parker, a critically acclaimed author and travel journalist, previously told Cycling Weekly that Shetland provided some of the best moments in his similar round the UK journey. 

TEAM CORRATEC LAUNCH ' A CYCLIST'S DIARY' SERIES

British rider Charlie Quarterman headlines a new YouTube series launched by Team Corratec.

Corratec are currently in action at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina, although Quarterman was forced to abandon the race due to issues with dehydration.

The Italian team plan on running the new series throughout the 2023 season. 

20km to go in Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia

There's about 20km to go in the second day of the Challenge Mallorca, the Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia.

It's a finalé that favours sprinters, but there are a few lumps in the way to the finish; at the moment Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) is currently pushing on in the front, while riders like Ethan Vernon (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) are behind in the group.

We'll update you on anything dramatic happening, and the winner when it happens!

Marijn van den Berg wins Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia

EF Education-EasyPost's Marijn van den Berg sprinted to his first ever professional win at the Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia on Thursday afternoon, beating Ethan Vernon (Soudal Quick-Step) and last year's winner Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) in the final 200m.

It was set up for a sprint finish from about 10km to go, once Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) had been caught by the bunch. The setup to the sprint finish included the rare sight of EF's Hugh Carthy on the front of the bunch.

The final corners proved decisive, with Van den Berg taking the right line in both of the last twists of the course to cross the line first. In fact, the finish line appeared to almost surprise the riders waiting for the bunch finish.

Biniam Girmay and Ethan Vernon unhappy at final corners in Challenge Mallorca

Both Ethan Vernon (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) criticised the finish of the Trofeo Ses Salines – Alcúdia, in which they finished second and third respectively.

The final corners to the finish meant neither could probably unleash the power, meaning the win went to the man who was in the right position in the lead, Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost).

"In the end we didn't sprint, for the future, we don't need to see this corner, especially with the wet road," Girmay said. "For myself, I didn't sprint"

"I think it's a bit dangerous having this kind of course in the wet, with 50m to go it's not a proper sprint," Vernon added. "2nd is good, but for sure if the line was further I had the legs to win the sprint. The race was won by the person who had the most grip round the last corner. It's not the best for sprinting."

Rayner Foundation continues with gateway project after successful 2022

The Rayner Foundation is continuing its successful Gateway Project after its successful inception in 2022. This is in addition to the regular scheme in which the foundation provides support to under 23 riders to go and live and race across Europe.

In 2022 alone, the Rayner Foundation was able to support almost 200 individual opportunities to race across Europe, this involved ten different teams in 33 separate races.

Keith Lambert, founder member and Trustee of the Rayner Foundation welcomed the opportunity to support more young British talent in 2023.

He said:  “ The experience of racing in Europe is seen as a necessity in the development of ever-younger riders. This project will assist more British riders who can hopefully progress to become future professionals”.

Liège–Bastogne–Liège route adjusted for 2023

Remco Evenepoel will have to come up with a new plan of attack if he is to win a second Liège–Bastogne–Liège title in 2023.

Evenepoel launched what would be the race winning move at the summit of the iconic Cote de La Redoute climb. Although in this year's route, La Redoute will not be climbed to its summit.

According to a report from Het Nieuwsblad, 300 metres before the summit of the La Redoute, the riders will instead face a sharp righthand turn before a short descent takes them to a new climb, the Côte de Cornémont.

Race director Christian Prudhomme said that the slight adjustment to the route will enable riders to let "their imaginations run wild".

“The Liège-Bastogne-Liège route is always evolving, year after year, with minor changes,” Prudhomme said. “If you watch Remco Evenepoel's breakaway in 2022 at La Redoute, you will remain amazed by its intensity, while at the same time it was perfectly masked.”

“Today's great champions are able to attack anywhere, even from very far. You have two types of favorites: Evenepoel and Pogacar, but a third dog can also walk with the leg. That's what this new finale is made for: for riders who let their imagination run wild. We are fortunately blessed with a generation of riders who have guts.”

SD Worx and Uno-X opt to not replace riders in roster who are out on maternity leave

Both Uno-X and SD Worx won't replace Joscelin Lowden and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak in their rosters despite new rules enabling them to have the opportunity to do so.

Lowden and Van den Broek-Blaak both announced their pregnancies in January and the UCI has also introduced a new maternity clause which would enable teams to recruit replacements as cover.

However both SD Worx and Uno-X have told Cyclingnews that they will not be making use of the new rule. Both teams will race with 15 riders in 2023.

After taking time out for the birth of her child, Van den Broek-Blaak is tentatively drawing up plans to return to racing in 2024.

She said: "Of course, everything needs to go well, and I think it's a realistic goal. I hope to race well next year (2024), but the way back will be long," 

SD Worx manager Danny Stam confirmed that Van den Broek-Blaak's team would not be making use of the new UCI rules.

"No, we are not going to utilize this clause," the team stated, while team manager Danny Stam said he was pleased that Van den Broek-Blaak would continue to work with the team in a coaching capacity. "We are going to miss her in the peloton and the team, but it is always good that we can count on her knowledge."

Marianne Vos to skip upcoming UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships

Marianne Vos will not defend her title at the fast-approaching cyclo-cross world championships due to recent "physical problems" including a "constriction of her pelvic artery".

Vos' team Jumbo-Visma confirmed her absence from the race in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands and explained that after consultation between Vos and her team, she's decided to skip the competition.

"It's very unfortunate that things have turned out this way", Vos said. "I would have really liked it to be different, but the treatment and recovery are a priority to hopefully start the road season without any complaints. Of course, I'm hoping the rainbow jersey will remain with the team and be worn by Fem van Empel the next season."

In the elite men's category reigning champion Tom Pidcock is also sitting out the event in order to prepare for the Spring Classics on the road.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig resisted numerous attacks on the final stage to secure her first ever WorldTour stage race victory at the Tour of Scandinavia on Sunday.

The FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope rider began the final day with a slender 17 second lead on DSM’s Liane Lippert who, in turn was determined to depose her rival.

On the final of three-and-a-half laps of the finish town Lippert attacked on a short, sharp cobbled climb, instantly getting a gap Uttrup Ludwig was forced to close herself. With Lippert caught Uttrup Ludwig secured the overall, with the German in second place and Alex Manly (BikeExchange-Jayco) third on GC.

The stage was won by Marianne Vos, her fourth of a week of gnarly, classics style stages which suited her perfectly. It was not easy though.

As well as the GC battle raging on the final lap, so was the fight for the stage victory. Vos’s Jumbo-Visma team mate Anouska Koster attacked the bunch on the final circuit, quickly catching a solo attacker, and forging on alone.

The former Dutch champion entered the final 500m with a diminishing lead, BikeExchange-Jayco and Trek-Segafredo desperately trying to bring her back. But Vos was on their wheel, and seeing Koster would be caught, launchd her own sprint, taking the win ahead of Canyon-SRAM’s Shari Bossuyt and Barbara Guarischi (Movistar).

While Vos might have won four of the six stages, and the two long open stages brought negative racing, the race was excellent, with jeopardy surrounding the overall winner into the final two kilometres.

Uttrup Ludwig’s overall victory was built on her stage five mountain top win at Norefjell, and this year has seen the Danish champion mature into a real contender. Though illness meant she started slowly, her stage win at the Tour de France was huge, and only her second WorldTour success.

Though she only finished seventh overall in France, she performed consistently well, proving her form with Saturday’s stage win and the overall victory, her first stage race win since 2017, and her first WorldTour multi day success.

Her FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope team did a consummate job controlling the final stage, allowing the stage six breakaway to build their advantage then controlling the deficit to defend the Danish rider’s 17 second overall lead.

How it happened

For the final stage of its first edition, the Tour of Scandinavia went back to its Ladies Tour of Norway routes, for a stage finish in Halden, the host of town of what was the organising club, and the current organisation.

The town, in the country’s far south-east, overlooks the Idefjord, close to the Swedish border, the race finishing on the water’s edge. But before the riders cold indulge in the post race barbecue overlooked by the town’s Fredriksten Fortress, there was the small matter of the 154.3km stage from Lillestrøm to deal with.

Starting just east of Norway’s capital, Oslo the parcours headed south, along the Øyeren lake, then skirting the Swedish border to the east before dropping down to sea level for three tight, technical and gnarly 5.4km laps of the finish town.

Lumpy all day, there were two third category climbs to deal with, but with the both coming a long way from the line the stage was likely to finish in a bunch sprint, with Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) once again the favourite.

The first climb came after only 7.5km and with that, and after a huge fight a breakaway of five women got away. 

By the time Katia Ragusa (Liv-Xstra), Sylvie Swinkels (Coop-Hitec Products), Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Maud Rijnbeek (AG Insurance-NXTG) and British rider April Tacey (Le Col-Wahoo) had covered the opening 50km their lead on the bunch was out to 3-35.

It even extended to five minutes, but when the leaders reached the final 80km the peloton had dragged them back to just over three minutes. With the FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope team of overall leader Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig controlling, the advantage was brought down to around two minutes, where it stayed for almost 40km.

As the info 45km approached Marianne Vos’s Jumbo-Visma team came to the front, gradually chipping the leaders’ advantage away, until, within 25km of the finish other teams came to help, bringing the break back just before entry to the final circuit. 

Half way round the first full lap Jeanne Korevaar from the ever-aggressive Liv-Xtra established a small gap, but with so many vested interests a number of teams were happy to chase. One squad that were happy with the Dutch rider up the road was FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope, Korevaar was no threat to the overall.

Koster’s late move on the final stage brought her compatriot back, but DSM had one last throw of the dice, but when the German champion was caught the GC was decided.

Just over two kilometres out BikeExchange-Jayco tried to bridge to Koster who still had the most slender lead, they were joined by Trek-Segafredo, but when Canyon-SRAM towed Vos to the front the stage was won.

ResultTour of Scandinavia, stage six: Lillestrøm - Halden (154.3km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 4-01-25
2. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM 
3. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar 
4. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) UAE-ADQ
5.  Lucinda Brand (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 
6. Nina Kessler (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
7. Tamara Dronova (N/A) Roland-Cogeas-Edelweiss
8. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
9. Anouska Koster (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 
10. Gladys Verhulst (Fra) Le Col-Wahoo all at same time 

Final general classification 

1. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope in 20-49-55
2. Liane Lippert (Ger) DSM at 17 sec
3. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco at 44 sec
4. Tamara Dronova (N/A) Roland-Cogeas-Edelweiss at 1-00
5. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon-SRAM at same time 
6. Julie Van de Velde (Bel) Platur-Pura at 1-03 
7. Anouska Koster (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 1-06
8. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 1-08
9. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Movistar all at same time
10. Erica Magnaldi (Ita) UAE-ADQ at 1-09

Marianne Vos took a third consecutive stage win at the Tour of Scandinavia, extending her GC lead half way through the six day race.

After winning the first two stages the Jumbo-Visma rider began the day as the outright favourite, the punchy parcours  and uphill finish suiting her perfectly. However, she found herself unusually out of position in the frantic final, boxed in and about 20 riders back with around 600m to go.

However, she sprinted up the right side of the peloton, slipped into the wheels and was still able to sprint to the win.

Danish champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEX-Futuroscope) opened the sprint early, but was passed 50m from the line, eventually finishing second, with Shari Bossuyt (Canyon-SRAM) taking her second third place.

It was a frantic, aggressive stage in southern Norway, three punchy laps around the finish town of Sarpsborg making for an exciting final. Former British champion Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) sas off the front for much of the final 15km, adding jeopardy to the final, but it was Vos again.

The race remains on familiar ground for the fourth day, the stage between Askim and Mysen a favourite of the Ladies Tour of Norway. And, at 119km it’s just a few hundred metres longer than Thursday’s stage, and with a similar, punchy finish we could see a similar result.

How it happened

For the race’s second stage the Tour of Scandinavia headed back to its roots. The race is run by the same organisation responsible for Ladies Tour of Norway, the new race taking the older one’s pace on the calendar. 

After one stage in each of Denmark and Sweden the race returned to Norway and to Moss, which last hosted a stage start in 2019. Finishing in Halden, where the Ladies Tour of Norway was based, that day was won by Marianne Vos, who went on to claim a third consecutive GC.

Thursday’s finish in Sarpsborg was used in the 2021 race, with Kristen Faulkner (then riding for Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank, now BikeExchange-Jayco) hanging on by the skin of her teeth for a solo win. 

However, the last time Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) raced into Sarpsborg, in the 2018 race on a slightly shorter uphill sprint to this year’s, she beat Emilia Fahlin (FDJ-SUEZ-Futurooscope), just as she did in Wednesday’s stage this year.

After two stages of over 140km where no breakaway got a gap, Thursday’s was the race’s shortest, at only 118.9km, and there was action from the start. Soon after the flag dropped 2018 Junior time trial and road world champion Elena Pirrone (Valcar Travel and Service) headed up the road, and was soon joined by British all-rounder Josie Nelson (Coop-Hitec Products).

With Blanka Vas (SDWorx) chasing behind, initially they struggled to get a meaningful advantage. But when the Hungarian champion was caught the leading duo were allowed their head, the gap extending to 3-30.

A moment’s drama occurred when BikeExchange-Jayco upped the pace just before a crash split the bunch, distancing overall leader Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) who had to work hard to get back in.

This significantly reduced the leaders’ advantage, knocking two minutes off, and reducing it to les than one minute by the time the peloton re-formed after a frantic chase. And with the breakaway so close the aggression continued, easing only when Movistar’s Lourdes Oyarbide headed off in pursuit.

The former Spanish champion soon made contact with the leaders, but the peloton were prowling behind, Jumbo-Visma leading the chase. Pirrone was first to let go, and when Nelson was dropped on the day’s final classified climb 33km from the line, more action kicked off behind, numerous attacks bringing Oyarbide back with 30km remaining.

Former British champion, Alice Barnes led the race onto the first of three-and-a-half laps around the finish town. The Canyon-SRAM rider led by 17 seconds as she crossed the line three full laps and 19.5km from the finish.

And with the chase behind far from concerted, Barnes’s lead was more than 20 seconds at the start of the next lap. However, after taking th maximum remaining points at an intermediate sprint Alison Jackson (Liv-Xstra) set off in pursuit, causing the peloton to chase.

The Canadian rider’s move caused panic in the bunch which split under pressure of the pursuit, a small group led by Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) group catching Jackson and bringing Barnes to within touching distance.

But still she led, though by the time she began the final lap her advantage was just a slack handful of seconds and she was caught shortly afterwards. 

The final lap was beautiful blur of attacking chaos, Vos’s team mate and compatriot Anouska Koster up the road, with Trek-Segafredo’s Lucinda Brand also off the front. And a late move from Maaike Boogaard (UAE ADQ) threatened to take Vos to the line. 

But with 2-5km to go the peloton came together and seemed to settle for a bunch kick.

ResultTour of Scandinavia, stage three: Moss - Sarpsborg (118.9km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 3-04-40
2. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope
3. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM
4. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 
5. Gladys Verhulst (Fra) Le Col-Wahoo
6. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
7. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) UAE ADQ
8. Yara Kastlijn (Ned) Plantur-Pura
9.  Floortje Mackaij (Ned) DSM
10. Marthe Truyền (Bel) Plantur-Pura all at same time 

General classification after stage three 

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 10-28-08
2. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM at 22 sec
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ- Futuroscope at 24 sec
4. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco at 30 sec
5. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) DSM at 
6. Megan Jastrab (USA) DSM
7. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) UAE ADQ
8. Gladys Verhulst (Fra) Le Col-Wahoo
9. Margaux Vigie (Fra) Valcar Travel and Service
10. Marthe Truyền (Bel) Plantur-Pura all at same time 

Marianne Vos won the expected bunch sprint at the conclusion of stage two of the Tour of Scandinavia on Wednesday. 

The Dutch rider was perfectly positioned in the final, picking the wheel of Swede Emila Fahlin (FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) who opened her sprint early on. Vos only came over the top in the final 20 metres, beating Fahlin into second place by less than a wheel.

After crashing earlier in the day Barbara Guarischi (Movistar) was third.

Fresh from her points jersey win at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and her recent disqualification at Vårgårda, Vos (Jumbo-Visma) showed her class in the technical final.

Trek-Segafredo dominated the closing kilometre, leading through 90º right and left bends and splitting the race, but Vos saw what was happening, and latched onto their wheel. 

However, as other teams got back on with 350m to go Fahlin came sweeping over the top, and, sensing the threat Vos, fought for her wheel, pipping her to the line.

How it happened 

After stage one in Denmark, the Tour of Scandinavia peloton moved across the Øresund to Sweden for was almost certain to be a second bunch sprint.

After a road transfer north, the race began in the tiny fishing village of Mollösund, on the island of Orust, just above Gothenburg, before heading tackling a third category climb and crossing the Sunsandvik bridge to the mainland.

Still heading north, through two intermediate sprints, there was one more third category climb before the run into the finish in Strömstad, close to the Norwegian border.

The opening kilometres of the stage were aggressive, but with the bigger teams hoping to take advantage of crosswinds expected later in the day, nothing was able to get away, though that didn’t stop them trying.

However, the race soon settled, the peloton heading north as one, with only a few brief stabs off the front. 

With the bunch still together the intermediate sprint at Hamburgsund 55km from the line brought a change in animation, Liv-Xstra and AG Insurance-NXTG coming to the front. And, after the latter’s Eline van Rooijen took the points the pace in the entire bunch lifted, BikeExchange-Jayco taking responsibility, SDWorx, Canyon-SRAM, DSM and Jumbo-Visma all present.

The final climb at Långesjö intensified that, and the race entered its final 40km with a multitude of riders trying to get away. At one stage a group of women escaped, but cooperation was missing and it came back, though with crosswinds threatening the peloton remained active.  

But once again they came to nothing and the race remained stubbornly together. Only with 15k to go did one of the Norwegian national squad’s riders get any sort of gap, but that lasted little more than a kilometre. 

It did preface some action though, teams upping the pace every time an exposed stretch of road emerged. But while some were initially dropped, they got back on when the roadside trees returned, and the race entered its final five kilometres as one, a bunch sprint inevitable 

The race is an evolution of the Ladies Tour of Norway and for stage three heads to father north to familiar territory, both the start town of Moss and the finish in Sarpsborg featuring in that race before. 

Kristen Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco) took a surprise, narrow solo victory there last year, but Marianne Vos won on the same finish the last time she competed there in 2018, beating Fahlin in the pouring rain, and the Dutch rider will no doubt start on Thursday as stage favourite. 

ResultTour of Scandinavia, stage two: Orust - Strömstad (153.8km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 3-46-42
2. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope 
3. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar
4. Megan Jastrab (USA) DSM
5. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
6. Tamara Dronova (NA) Roland-Cogeas-Edelweiss
7. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) DSM
8. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM
9. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
10. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx all at same time 

General classification after stage two

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 7-23-38
2. Megan Jastrab (USA) DSM at 14 sec
3. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-SUEZ- Futuroscope at same time 
4. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM at 16 sec
5. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar at same time 
6. Tamara Dronova (NA) Roland-Cogeas) Edelweiss at 20 sec
7. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 
8. Floortje Mackaij (ned) DSM
9. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 
10. Margaux Vigie (Fra) Valcar Travel and Service all at same time

Have you ever done something, quickly realised you had broken the rules, tried to take it back but it was too late?

This is exactly what happened to Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) at the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden road race on Sunday, as the Dutchwoman briefly adopted the banned 'puppy paws' position on her way to apparent victory.

Despite only being in the position for about three seconds, Vos was disqualified after lengthy deliberation by the UCI commissaires, meaning the win went to Audrey Cordon-Ragot of Trek-Segafredo instead.

The illegal move came as the winning break at the Swedish WorldTour race had formed with about 13km to go. Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM), Valerie Demey (Liv Racing Xstra), Vos and Cordon-Ragot went clear of the peloton, and then Vos popped her hands over the handlebars.

The rule-breaking was immediately noticed on social media; the position has been banned since last year. In April 2021, the UCI introduced strict punishments for anyone riding in a number of unconventional riding positions on safety grounds, including 'puppy paws'.

Vos accepted the disqualification, even though she barely benefited from the banned position, and it spoiled her celebrations.

In fact, the Dutchwoman, who recently won the green jersey at the Tour de France Femmes, was already giving post-race interviews when the news came through.

“When I was in that ‘puppy paw position’, I quickly realised it was not allowed," Vos said. "I immediately switched to the correct position. Apparently, it was enough for the UCI to disqualify me," said Vos who did not argue the decision and accepted the disqualification.

"We'll have to accept their decision. It is a pity, but it is a rule, and it is strictly enforced. You usually don’t ride in that position. I feel bad about it because I did not benefit from it, but rules are rules."

In the aftermath of the rule changes last year, several high profile riders were disqualified, including Richard Carapaz at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, when he adopted the 'super-tuck'.

Cordon-Ragot, who finished second on Sunday, and was therefore awarded the victory following Vos' disqualification, admitted to having "mixed feeling" about the result. It took minutes after the finish, therefore the Trek rider barely had a chance to properly acknowledge her triumph.

“I’m super happy for the race I did, super proud of the performance of my teammates," the Frenchwoman said. "We showed our strength with an amazing teamwork and my role was to finalize the huge work they did. That, for me, was the most important thing happened today and what I’ll retain from the race.

“On the other side, it’s a strange situation. After the finish line I was happy for my second place, and I am still proud of it. I had no regrets because I was beat by the strongest rider in the peloton at the moment. I was definitely not embarrassed to be second. But then I was told I was the winner and my name will be on the palmares. Chapeau to Marianne, because she was the first who recognized that a rule is rule and accepted the sanction.”

It was an "unexpected" reward for her ride, as she had crossed the line thinking that she was second; considering Vos' career achievements, it is never a bad thing to finish behind her.

“I feel this day, with my good performance and the win, even if unexpected, it’s a good reward for the efforts and sacrifices I did since the beginning of the year. Winning or not, I feel today it’s a day to enjoy. I’m not proud and happy because I won, but because me and my team rode strong,” she said.

“The rest of the history, after the finish line, is already known.”

Rules might be rules, history decided, but it would have been a better look for all if the decision had been made quickly, or during the race itself.

France TV has revealed nearly 20 million French viewers tuned into the first ever Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift last week.

The eight-day race was given more than 22 hours of live coverage on France Télévisions. 

It garnered just under half the viewers that the men's race did, an impressive haul for a first edition.

The Tour de France Femmes on average, captured approximately a quarter of the French Television audience during the week, with 2.25 million viewers across TV channels France 2 & 3. There was a clear trend in the figures rising as the race went on.

The overall peak was when 5.1 million viewers tuned in to catch the finish atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles when Movistar rider Annemiek Van Vleuten sealed her overall victory. Stage eight made up 45.6% of the overall audience share. 

In comparison, France Télévisions confirmed that 41.5 million French viewers watched the men’s edition of the race won by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). The daily viewing figures peaked at 6.4 million for the Bastille Day stage to Alpe d’Huez which was won by Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

The race was shown in seven European countries, with a more than 14 million viewer reached via Eurosport. 

It captured a huge 45% of the TV audience in the Netherlands at points as viewers made sure they caught the key action involving their riders Van Vleuten, Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering. 

People were equally as engaged with the Tour de France Femmes via online. 

The official race website attracted 1.5 million unique visitors, and 2.8 million visits in total. More than 600,000 people visited the live race centre service on the platform.

Online videos from across official Tour de France Femmes accounts were viewed 22 million times, all showing that a high number of people were absorbing the race and the conversation around it. 

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) took victory on stage three which proved to be the most popular online, particularly with her comical post stage interview. 

The first female Tour de France yellow jersey winner in 33 years has been crowned, the fans and riders have gone home, and while the road paint on the Super Planche des Belles Filles will remain for some time, it’s time to look back and reflect on the momentous eight days of racing that was the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

Annemiek van Vleuten is simply next level

We all knew it was coming. Annemiek van Vleuten showed tremendous form in the Giro Donne leading up to the Tour de France Femmes and went into the Tour as the outright race favorite. Still, I don’t think her rivals expected to be quite so completely and utterly out of contention. She’s completely on a level of her own.  

Despite having been struggling with a stomach bug early in the race week, Van Vleuten appeared in top form by the start of the two mountain stages. On stage 7, the Dutch rider attacked on the ascent of the day’s first classified climb, the (not so) Petit Ballon, and only SD Worx’s Demi Vollering was able to hang in at first. While the rest of the peloton shattered behind her, Vollering held onto Van Vleuten's wheels for as long as she could but when Van Vleuten dug in again on the Col de Platzerwasel, Vollering had nothing left. Van Vleuten arrived at the finish line nearly 4 minutes ahead of her compatriot and over 24 minutes ahead of then yellow jersey wearer Marianne Vos. 

A similar performance followed on the equally mountainous final stage up the Super Planche des Belles Fille. Despite needing to switch bikes five times in the first 60 kilometres of the race, the 39-year-old climbing phenom was again unmatched. Van Vleuten arrived at the base of the iconic Planche climb with a select group of the peloton’s best climbers. On the steep slopes, the Movistar rider attacked and handily rode her rivals off her wheel and soloed to the finish. Vollering gave chase and came in 30 seconds later to claim the runner-up and polka dot jersey honors. 

“I gave my best and that’s it. We all knew that she was the strongest and I didn’t believe for one second that she was not good,” commented Elisa Longo Borghini, who was so wrecked after the Grand Ballon climb that she was in tears.  Same with Vollering who clutched a cramping leg as she came across the finish, stating “it’s not normal.” In congratulating Van Vleuten after the final stage on Sunday, Vos said she had to work hard simply to make the time cut, and Thalita de Jong perhaps said it best:

“Annemiek is in super form. She destroys the entire peloton. We knew she’d be good but when you then come across the line with a three and a half minute lead on your nearest rival, then you can only say a ‘Big Chapeau’. She is the strongest of all.”

Incidentally, Strava reports that Van Vleuten’s Super Planche ride also received the most kudos ever for a ride uploaded by a woman.

Vos in yellow: a destiny everyone wanted to see

Seeing Marianne Vos in the iconic Tour de France yellow jersey for five days in July stirred emotions in the entire women’s cycling world. 

The last time a woman stood atop an official Tour de France podium wearing the iconic yellow jersey, Vos was just two years old.  In the 33 years that have passed since, we’ve seen Vos enter the cycling world at the tender age of six and develop into the winningest cyclist the sport has ever seen. 

Two Olympic gold medals, three road world championship titles, eight cyclocross world champion titles, four national road race titles and two national time trial titles, Spring Classics and stage races. In her 16-year professional career, Vos has amassed more than 241 professional victories on the road alone, and well over 400 wins across disciplines. 

Vos said that wearing and winning in the yellow Tour de France jersey was the best memory yet, because it was this trophy that had not only eluded her but women’s cycling as a whole all this time. 

On the day Vos won the yellow jersey a first time, the press room gave her a standing ovation. On Dutch TV, journalist and former pro racer Marijn de Vries broke out in tears of joy, and even Vos' contemporaries had nothing but kind words. 

“When I saw Marianne in yellow, I had the feeling of ‘this is how it should be’,” said Ellen van Dijk, herself a multi-time world champion and both a long-time Dutch national selection teammate and competitor of Vos. “Marianne is an absolute icon of women’s cycling and I think everyone was of the opinion that the story, her story, is complete now, and everyone really thinks she deserves it.”

Jumbo-Visma sports director and former racer Carmen Small echoed Van Dijk’s sentiments, stating: “if anyone should have the jersey it’s Marianne Vos. She put a lot of time and effort to help bring this race back and she’s always pushed really hard for women in cycling. She’s a great role model so to see her on that top step and in yellow, I don’t think she has any single peer that would wish against her. I think every single competitor was more than happy to see her in yellow today.” 

The peloton is split on gravel in stage racing

Stage 5 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was arguably the most anticipated stage before the Tour headed into the mountains. After four days of racing, the undulating profile with plenty of sharp, steep climbs alone would put a sting in anyone’s legs. But, adding to the difficulty of the stage were technical, narrow roads on old and rough tarmac as well as four gravel sections. Nearly 13 kilometers were held on the white roads of France’s stunning champagne region — a treat for the fans but dreaded by GC contenders. 

The peloton had to contest gravel again on the final stage up the Super Planche des Belles Filles where the final kilometer of the steep climb is unpaved.  

Fans like gravel because it not only makes for a dramatic backdrop, it also adds excitement and more variables. To succeed, riders need to possess good bike handling skills and team mechanics need to make the right tire choice. And then there’s of course the element of luck and the potential for the GC to get shaken up. All the reasons why some riders aren’t a fan of having gravel part of stage racing at all. 

“I like [gravel] in the Strade Bianche, but I don't like it so much if you have GC ambitions. It's a bit unnecessary, that [the GC] can be decided by bad luck,” said Van Vleuten, who despite being a two-time Strade Bianche winner, was the most vocal about her distaste for the inclusion of gravel in stage races.

There were a host of racers in the peloton that also race cyclocross, including Sanne Cant, Shirin van Anrooi, Alice Arzuffi and, of course, current cyclocross world champion Marianne Vos. For them, it was a stage they looked forward to.

“It’s always hard to tell. If you go through it nicely you might say ‘ah, this was quite nice’,” said Vos. 

“So for me it was OK. We spent a lot of energy to stay in the front with the team and you have to really fight for position before the gravel sections and before the climbs as well. But [equipment] is also important and you need a little luck. 

"So I can imagine for the general classification, for the riders that go for the general it’s a pretty difficult day. And can be stressful as well, but that is part of racing as well."

People tuned in and showed up in droves

“It’s kind of wild how much attention we’ve been getting,” Vos told Cycling Weekly, adding that in her 16-year professional career she’s never seen anything like it. 

Many worried that the timing of the women's event would lessen the fan interest. After all, cycling fans had just finished watching three long weeks of the men's Tour de France. But this wasn't the case at all.

Fans travelled the world over to witness this women’s Tour de France revival. I met fans from nearby Germany, Italy, Spain and the low lands and as far as America and Australia. They crowded the finishes and remote stretches of countryside alike shouting “allez les femmes!”.

Entire schools of kids dressed up in green or yellow lined the streets of starting villages, waving little flags. And the iconic red polka dot LeClerc giveaway t-shirts and caps were ever present. At the finish lines, the cheering and banging on the billboards was simply deafening. I have reported on (women’s) pro cycling going on 11 years now and I’ve never seen anything like it. It was absolutely incredible. 

On social media, fans engaged from the world over, posting on Instagram or analyzing the day’s events on Twitter. Even before the racing started, the Tour de France organizers, the A.S.O, reported that their 12-episode YouTube series had already amassed 700,000 views.  

Two-and-a-half hours of live coverage was aired across five continents and 190 countries, and while complete TV viewership numbers have yet to be released, early reports are encouraging. France Télévisions reported some impressive early numbers, showing that nearly three million viewers tuned in daily to enjoy the 2.5 hours of live coverage. 

Previous attempts of a women's Tour de France failed due to a lack of financial support, public interest and/or recognition. But the Tour de France Femmes seems to be off to a good start, especially thanks to a four-year sponsorship deal with Zwift, which will give the women's Tour some time to grow and drum up continues commercial interest.  

Caravans, TV coverage, iconic climbs: it was the real deal

Eight years ago, cyclists Marianne Vos, Kathryn Bertine, Emma Pooley and former world triathlon champion Chrissie Wellington led a petition titled Le Tour Entier calling on the Tour de France organizers to create a women’s event. The petition gathered 97,307 signatures, media allies and industry support. Eventually, the call was too loud for the A.S.O to ignore and that following spring, the A.S.O introduced La Course, a one-day women's race held on the Champs-Élysées on the same day as the men’s final stage of the Tour de France.

There was a fair share of excitement and media attention around the event but it fell a bit flat. The women's race was treated like a bit of an opening act to the day’s main event, the arrival of the men’s peloton, as the crowds trickled in late and weren’t necessarily there in support of the women. 

From then on, La Course continued to be held annually in various and at times, experimental formats and locations. It felt almost gimmicky at times until the A.S.O finally announced its inaugural eight-day Tour de France Femmes, the closest thing to an actual women’s Tour de France in 33 years.

And to their credit, the A.S.O rolled out the works. The infrastructure, the challenging courses, the commercial fanfare, the live broadcasting, the fan festival and caravans. It matched that of the men’s event and was rewarded with droves of fans on site and online.

For their part, the 144-rider peloton put on an incredible show of athleticism, tactics, drama, tension and triumph. With the world watching and a rare yellow jersey on offer, the racing was fast and fierce from the start and never let up. It was top-calibre racing and a fantastic showcasing of what makes women's professional cycling so fun to watch: the non-stop action. 

I can’t hear a thing as I walk down the finishing straight with Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) pedaling beside me on the way to her team bus. I even cover my ears for a second as the banging of the billboards simply becomes too much. 

“Wow. Has it been like this for you all day?” I ask.

Vos laughs and shouts: “it’s been incredible!”

She recognizes the fans with a polite wave, something she's been doing for the past hour.

After compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten absolutely decimated the peloton up the (not so) Petit Ballon and Grand Ballon climbs, Vos found herself doing a bit of a victory lap, despite knowing she’d lost her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift yellow jersey.

Not a climbing specialist, Vos had known this moment would come. 

"Looking at the profile of Saturday and Sunday, it’s definitely another kind of race. And for us upfront, we were aiming for a stage victory, that worked out on Monday already. A second one, in the yellow jersey, is already more than we could have dreamt of,” Vos had said the previous evening.

Today, she gave it her best but she wasn’t feeling great and even if she had, no one was able to match the incredible performance from the 39-year-old Movistar rider. Vos was dropped on the first big climb and rode to the finish at the Markstein ski resort in the company of her teammates some 22 minutes after Van Vleuten. 

“Of course, you're not happy to give up [the yellow jersey], but it was clear that it just wasn’t going to happen for me. When they went for it at the start of the Petit Ballon, all I could do was ride my own pace and I was happy to be in a nice group with a few teammates,” Vos says.

The first climb was a bit of a struggle for Vos but once she found her rhythm and made peace with it all, she was able to relax and just take it all in — the incredible crowds all along the course, the stunning surroundings of the Vognes mountains and Alsace vineyards, and, well, riding in a women’s Tour de France to begin with.

“Once I found my rhythm, I was able to enjoy it, “ Vos says, who was seen waving to the crowds as she pedaled up to the Markstein summit. 

“You feel the tension, you also feel the emotion, you feel the excitement in bunch and you feel the excitement from all the people around it. It’s really special to be here and to be able to race here,” Vos says. 

Vos, of course, was instrumental in the creation of an official women’s Tour de France and to see her, the greatest of all time, in the iconic maillot jaunt felt destined.  

“Monday was a very magical moment for me and again to win in yellow. There’s not much else to wish for. It’s actually more than a dream come true,” she says. 

Her dad, Henk Vos, who along with her mother Conny and brother Anton have been following her around, weekend after weekend, race after race, for the past 29 years is curating a future museum of Vos’ career and this jersey will certainly be given a special place.

“This one is coming home with us first,” he said, waving at his daughter making the media rounds. “It is indeed a very special jersey. This was a dream, so much has been written about it and now this is coming true. A first women’s Tour de France [for Vos’ generation] and then also winning in yellow, it's so big.”

Luckily Vos has five of these yellow jerseys now because she too plans on giving one a special place in her home.

“Yes, that jersey will get a nice spot. It will be a special memento later on,” she says.

It may not be yellow, but Vos will line up for the final stage of the 2022 Tour de France avec Zwift in the green points jersey, which certainly isn’t a bad back-up jersey either. 

Through foothills of the Vosges Mountains and rolling vineyards of Alsace, stage six of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift ended in another victory for Marianne Vos.

The lumpy terrain was expected to be the first of three days for the general classification, but the race played out differently, a large breakaway getting up the road, those teams who missed out forced to chase or accept defeat.

Among that front group former British time trial champion Anna Henderson is one of Vos’s team mates, affording Jumbo-Visma the privilege of not chasing. The 23 year-old even put in a few attacks of her own but when they were caught she tried to help in the lead out.

“It was good, I’ve felt pretty bad all week, but I feel like everyone’s come down to my level now,” Henderson joked after exchanging embraces with team mates, including the yellow jersey clad Vos.

“I was dangling off the back of the group and I thought I could come through and maybe take one last pull but Karlijn [Swinkels] and Riejanne [Markus] did such a good job to position her, and once Marianne’s in the zone in the last kilometre you can’t really do much to help, so I bailed out.

“We wanted to keep yellow but we came here to win stages and that’s what she does.” 

A good sprinter after a long day, Henderson might have had an opportunity to sprint for the win herself, but ultimately the benefited when other squads chased the break down.

“It was just to make things hard because we knew that behind Marianne is super strong in the climbs, and if you’re up the road then you can take the stage win, but of course Marianne does Marianne things.”

So what is it like to work for Marianne Vos?

“It’s pretty easy to be honest because she wins.”

Despite being a hilly day the race ended in a bunch sprint, which was not expected in the Jumbo-Visma team.

“We were expecting a breakaway or a sprint form a small group for Marianne,” explained Dutch road champion Riejanne Markus. “But UAE was not in the break and Valcar was not there, and I think they wanted to go for Persico [second on GC] so they chased and it turned into a good situation for us.”

Markus is an accomplished rider in her own right, not only is she national champion but she is a talented time trialist and decent climber. However, despite the race moving into the Vosges Mountains proper for the final two stages, six women teams make it difficult to protect her and go for stages.

“It’s really nice if you have someone like Marianne in the team, you know that every day you can go for the win and that’s a nice motivation. We need to go full gas every day for it but it’s also very nice and very motivating.”

Vos has held both the overall leader’s maillot jaune and the green points jersey since she won her first stage on day two, and some have speculated she can win the race overall. Markus thinks otherwise. 

“No, I think that the upcoming days are too tough for me for Marianne as well. Normally it would be nice [to try in the mountains] but after this hard work for six days it would be quite impossible to expect something for the upcoming days.

"I think the green jersey should be a nice goal for the next days so I think will stay with her."

Sacrifice is easy when you’re winning.

Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with a powerful turn of speed in a sprint finish. 

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) retained her lead in the overall classification for another day. 

Vos and Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) were determined to prevent the Dutch rider from snatching a second stage win, but Wiebes was the quickest from the bunch to power away and grab the stage victory. 

A feisty breakaway duo of Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) and Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health) had led the race for the final few kilometres after distancing their breakaway compatriots on the bonus climb. For a while, it looked like Berteau may spoil the party for the sprinters, but as the race was fast approaching the finish in Saint-Dié-Des-Vosges, a huge turn on the front of the peloton from Trek-Segafredo teammates Ellen Van Dijk and Audrey Cordon-Ragot ensured they were quickly swept up with plenty of time to spare. 

The peloton then looked to reorganise itself for the sprint finish, but once the main bunch flew under the final kilometre to go banner, there would be only one winner. Van Dijk led out Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) but there was to be no stopping Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM). 

Wiebes expertly jumped through a gap between Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Balsamo to spring clear at speed and secure a second stage victory of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in style.

Balsamo finished second for Trek-Segafredo with Vos in third place defending her lead in the yellow jersey. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Stage five of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was due to bring the riders closer to the Vosge Mountains. The 175 kilometre route featured two category four climbs before the intermediate sprint point at Charmes, and then a bonus climb at the Col du Haut du Bois towards the finishing town of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. 

Marlon Reusser won stage four with a solo attack to take the pressure off of SD Worx, the team of Demi Vollering, an overall favourite for the yellow jersey. 

Once the racing action got underway, four attackers got up the road, including Emily Newsome (EF Education-Tibco-SVB). Team DSM were straight onto the front of the peloton looking to control the gap to the breakaway as they sought to protect the interests of Lorena Wiebes. Newsome’s breakaway compatriot, Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) took the maximum two points at the top of the first climb of the day, the Côte de Pagny-la-Blanche-Côte. Once the race was over the climb, the breakaway had a stable gap of 3-30 over the chasing main field. 

At 65 kilometres left to race the break was still being kept at a good distance. Berteau led the breakaway over the next climb on the road, the Côte de Gripport, before Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) took maximum points at the intermediate sprint. 

Behind the breakaway, there was a real battle for the remaining points in the peloton. Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) opened up her sprint in the yellow jersey, with Wiebes straight onto her back wheel. In the end, Wiebes had enough power to round Vos and take the remaining points. A clear sign that the Team DSM sprinter had good legs ahead of the fight to come for the stage win.

With 42 kilometres to go, there was a huge crash in the peloton that brought down multiple riders including Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) and Emma Norsgaard (Movistar). Moments later, the Movistar rider was taken to hospital in an ambulance leaving Annemiek Van Vleuten, a key teammate down. 

As the peloton got back on the road, groups of riders were scattered along the course dealing with injuries sustained in the incident. The rider second on general classification, Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel and Service), was caught out in the crash along with Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx), and both were in a group gradually making its way back to the peloton. 

Once the main field had gathered itself, the breakaway group had their lead cut to under a minute for the first time. Multiple teams, including Le Col-Wahoo and Trek-Segafredo, moved to the front of the main field as they started to look towards a potential sprint finish. Jumbo-Visma joined the work on the front and the breakaway were soon living on borrowed time. 

With 20 kilometres to go, the breakaway was split in two and the riders had begun the bonus climb in search of extra seconds. Berteau led the charge over the top with Antri Christoforou (Human Powered Health) in second. The main field appeared to be more concerned with the fast-approaching finish, so there were no late-attacks from any general classification favourites looking to snatch any bonus seconds. 

As the race flew by 16 kilometres left to race, Berteau and Christoforou pushed on, determined to avoid being swept up by the fast encroaching peloton. European champion Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) was racking up the pace as the team looked at positioning Elisa Balsamo for a shot at a stage victory. However, the narrow country roads with sweeping bends, were making a potential chase difficult to orchestrate. With 6 kilometres to go, the breakaway still had a 40 second gap on the marauding peloton. 

A huge injection of pace at 4 kilometres to go from Jumbo-Visma saw the gap to the breakaway tumble and they were suddenly swept up. Trek-Segafredo duo Van Dijk and Audrey Cordon-Ragot shared the work superbly to bring back the breakaway and well position Balsamo. As the race then flew under the final kilometre, riders began to unleash their final sprint for the line. 

Vos herself came from nowhere and was alongside Balsamo, before Lorena Wiebes expertly slipped through a gap between them to unleash a huge turn of speed to distance her nearest challengers. 

In the end Wiebes won comfortably with Balsamo in second place and Marianne Vos securing third on the day. 

RESULTS TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES 2022, STAGE FIVE 

1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team DSM, in 4-32-16
2. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo,
3. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma,
4. Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Liv Racing Xstra,
5. Maike Van der Duin (Ned) Le Col-Wahoo,
6. Maria Confalonieri (Ita) WNT Pro Cycling,
7. Silvia Persico (Ita) Valcar-Travel & Service,
8. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ Suez Futuroscope,
9. Tamara Dronova (Sui) Roland Cogeas Edelweiss,
10. Alexandra Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco, all at same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE FIVE 

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, in 16-20-58
2. Silvia Persico (Ita) Valcar-Travel & Service, at 20s
3. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-Sram, at same time
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 34s
5. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SD-Worx, at 55s
6. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD-Worx, at 1-01
7. Juliette Labous (Fra) Team DSM, at 1-09
8. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar, at 1-18
9. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ Suez Futuroscope, at 1-52
10. Maria Canellas (Spa) UAE Team ADQ, at 2-30

Figures released by France TV Sport Press show that huge numbers of viewers in the host country have tuned in to the opening stages of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift. 

Some viewers have even called for coverage to be shown from kilometre zero like the men’s race instead of picking up the action later in the stage. 

France TV Sport Press confirmed on social media that France 3 was the leader on the scheduled time slot yesterday afternoon, with a peak of 2.8 million people watching Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) outsprint Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) to take victory on stage three. 

More than one of the replies to the news on social media said: “TV from kilometre 0 please!”

Figures for stage three were a slight increase from Monday’s dramatic racing action. Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) took the stage victory and yellow jersey after winning a sprint finish in Provins. Up to 2.5 million people tuned in to the French coverage to follow the stage. An exceptionally high figure considering the stage took place on a Monday afternoon. 

The viewing figures were at three million for the opening stage in Paris on Sunday, and the continuing rise in numbers for the mid-week stages is a promising sign. Even without figures released by the other licensed broadcaster, Eurosport, the numbers show that women’s cycling is continuing to grow in popularity at a rapid rate. 

Figures released by France Télévisions in relation to the men’s race show that a total of 41.5 million French viewers tuned into the racing action prior to the Tour de France Femmes getting underway. 6.4 million people also watched the Bastille Day stage to Alpe d’Huez which was won by Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). 

MORE EYES ON HER

Last week, British team Le-Col Wahoo took the unprecedented move of giving out 10,000 free GCN+ passes for fans in the UK to watch the race. The aim of the promotion by the team is to increase the awareness of and boost fan engagement with the sport in the UK.

Any one of the fans lucky enough to have got hold of a free pass won't have been disappointed. Each stage so far has been full of dramatic action, with twists and turns with every pedal stroke. Uttrup Ludwig's stage victory was as good as any we saw in the men's edition of the race, and the Danish rider proved that she has a powerful enough final sprint that would trouble the likes of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

Tom Varney, general manager of Le-Col Wahoo does admit that “there is still a long way to go in gaining parity with the men’s race”, however whilst the numbers may be small in comparison to the men’s race, they are a promising sign that women’s cycling is fast achieving the mainstream breakthrough that it has been threatening for years. 

Thousands watching on television in France and thousands more on the road side are an exciting and encouraging development. 

Once the race concludes next weekend and overall viewing figures are released, it appears highly likely that there'll be ample evidence to cement the Tour de France Femmes place on the racing calendar. Although, of course, it deserved it long before now. 

An emotional Marianne Vos stood atop the Tour de France podium, fighting back tears as she waited to receive her yellow jersey. 

She exhaled deeply as the crowd gave her the applause the GOAT, the greatest of all time, deserves. “Merci, merci” she mouthed humbly. 

We witnessed an historic moment today, one we’d been wanting for a long, long time: the greatest cyclist of all time in an official Tour de France Yellow Jersey.

Official is the key word here as several attempts at a Tour de France for women have taken place over the years but none managed to survive without the financial support or recognition that comes with being held in conjunction with the men’s Tour de France. 

The last time a woman stood where she stood today, on the top step of an official Tour de France podium, wearing an official Maillot Jaune, Vos was just two years old.

“I went to the Tour de France as a kid. At that time there was no Tour de France for women so for me the yellow jersey was never a dream. But since we know it's there, of course, then it becomes something big,” Vos said.  

In those 33 years that have since passed, we’ve seen Vos enter the cycling world at the tender age of six and develop into the winningest cyclist the cycling world has ever seen. Dominant in cyclocross, track and road cycling, Vos has amassed a trophy collection unlike any other. 

Two Olympic gold medals, three road world championship titles, eight cyclocross world champion titles, four national road race titles and two national time trial titles, Spring Classics and stage races. There are few races Marianne Vos hasn’t won throughout her 16-year professional career. More than 241 professional victories on the road alone. So today was extra special for the 35-year-old Dutchwoman as the yellow Tour de France jersey had eluded her — and women’s cycling as a whole — all this time. 

Every pinnacle of the sport, she’s conquered. Just imagine if this women’s Tour de France hadn’t happened when it did. What if it happened just a little late. Imagine the void there would have been in the museum of her career, which her father, Henk, is actively curating.

Henk, who together with his wife Conny, and son Anton have travelled the world over, race after race, year after year, supporting Marianne in her incredible career. Here in Provins, they awaited their superstar at the finish line, and tears ran freely as they embraced. 

“It's special to share a moment with people close to you. And I also know that even when my girlfriend is not here, she's also supporting from the side. Even if they're not at the race, they’re with their hearts at the race, but it's of course really cool that they were here at the finish line to enjoy and celebrate with me,” said Vos. 

Perhaps an indicator of just how meaningful this event is to the women’s peloton, Vos not only showed a rare display of emotion, she gave an even more rare insight into her private life, by referencing her girlfriend and fellow cyclist Moniek Tenninglo, for a first time. 

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is a big deal, Vos agreed. It’s a progress.

Eight years ago, Vos was one of four women who led a petition calling on the Tour de France organizers, the ASO, to create a women’s event. The petition gathered 97,307 signatures and ASO introduced La Course, a one-day women's race in conjunction with the men's Tour

"When nine years ago we were talking with the ASO about an opportunity to get to race, it went really fast to get La Course going and when we raced then the first time on the Champs-Élysées as a mild milestone. And now to be here back for a stage race, for a real Tour de France, that’s another milestone. It’s incredible to be here.”

She even went so far to say that of her 241 road victories, ‘for now [this win, this jersey]' is definitely the best” and without it, she would never have  been able to retire, she half-joked. 

Not that she had any plans to stop, mind you. 

“They say age is just a number. I think the most important thing is to enjoy and be able to ride your bike every day with pleasure. As long as I'm healthy and enjoying racing as much, with this team we are very motivated to work for each other and to aim for a victory so that motivates me also to keep working and to get the best out of myself."

"At the moment I don’t think age is something that really played a role, except the fact that some experience might help, especially if you're racing a final," she said.

For now, Vos said she's going to enjoy the Yellow Jersey and is prepared to "suffer tomorrow" in order to keep it. 

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) had conflicting emotions as she finished the momentous opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Sunday. 

She'd lost.

The story of the first women's Tour de France yellow jersey to be handed out in 33 years on the shoulders of the legendary Dutch rider, the G.O.A.T, just wasn't meant to be.

Vos had secured the first bonus sprint points on offer, and looked good coming into the final in the wheel of teammate Anna Henderson. She opened her sprint early, forcing race favorite Lorena Wiebes to counter. But Wiebes was prepared. The DSM rider came over the top of Vos with such speed that Vos simply couldn’t respond in time. She’d run out of power or out of time. 

“We did everything we could and so of course, it's a bit of a real bummer to come up short. But on the other hand I don't think much went wrong," Vos told Cycling Weekly. "The team did everything right and I don't think I did much wrong myself either. Lorena was simply the fastest.”

Wiebes deserved her win, and Vos was the first to congratulate her compatriot with a friendly pat on the back mere inches after crossing the line. 

Vos then welcomed an ice vest and some words of comfort from her staff and teammates. As the media descended upon the finishers however, Vos was eager to get out of the line of fire, but gracefully allowed Cycling Weekly to come walk alongside her as she rolled back to her team bus.

Eight years ago, the Tour de France organizers, the ASO, launched a one-day women's race in conjunction with the men's Tour called La Course. The race was ASO's response to a 97,307-signatures-strong petition calling for a women's Tour de France. Vos was one of four women who led the petition alongside Kathryn Bertine, Emma Pooley and Chrissie Wellington.

The one-day race was the start, and this year's tour is another step forward.

In 2014, after Vos had won that inaugural one-day race, she and I stood atop these same cobbles on the Champs-Élysées. Reflecting on that day and the sheer hype and fanfare at this year's event, Vos mentioned how amazed she and her teammates were watching the crowds as their team bus maneuvered the narrow Paris streets on their way to the start line. 

"It's great and also a bit crazy how much attention we've been getting.  On the one hand you are enjoying it, on the other you have to keep that focus and those things can go hand in hand, but in the final, it is only about one thing and that is focus," she said.

"But I am absolutely aware of the beauty of this sport and how special it is to be standing here right now." 

Even in second place. 

When asked if the green jersey might be of interest to her after netting full points at the first intermediate sprint on offer today, Vos said the green jersey hadn't been the goal. 

"One would think I was going for the points yeah, but [contesting the intermediate sprint] was really in preparation for the finish and to see how it would go and where we should position ourselves," she explained.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift continues tomorrow, Monday, July 25th, with a flat 136.5-kilometre stage between the cities of Meaux and Provins. The course gets a little bumpy toward the end but could very well end in another sprint, which for Vos could mean another chance at a stage victory

The most dramatic day of the Giro Donne so far saw Marianne Vos extended her record of stage wins to 32. The Dutch superstar won the sprint after a group of only 11 women survived the climb of Città Alta.

Lotte Kopecky (SDWorx) opened up the sprint first, but was unable to pass Vos, finishing second, with local rider Silvia Persico, from the local Valcar Travel and Service team, in third, the squad’s best result in this year’s Giro.

The final 10 kilometres of the race were hugely dramatic, the peloton catching late solo breakaway rider, Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) then fighting it out on the Città Alta climb. There, after a savage lead out form her Trek-Seagfredo team mate Lucinda Brand, Elisa Longo Borghini attacked. However, she was unable to drop Vos or Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ).

Overall leader Annemiek van Vleuten was caught out though, a crash causing her to unclip, and she was forced to chase, García being a GC threat only 25 seconds down at the start of the day. On the descent though, Van Vleuten brought the group back for the 11 woman sprint.

Tomorrow’s seventh day will expose any climbing weaknesses. The 112.9km stage starts in Prevalle, but finishes 1743m above sea level on the top of the Maniva.

How it happened 

The Giro Donne is heading north, but, for now at least there is not significant drop off in the heat, with 33º forecast in Sarnico on the far south western tip of lake Isea, about half way between Brecsia and the finish town of Bergamo.

There was one big star in town as the riders were presented in the Conad supermarket car park, local resident and world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) receiving the biggest cheers as she and her team were presented with a flourish greater than that afforded to the overall leader, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar).

Essentially a circuit race with a tail, the bunch headed out for five laps of an 18km loop around Sernico, each with one third category climb. At only 1.8km at an average gradient of 5.7% that was unlikely to make a difference to most in the peloton, but it was the final, unclassified climb where the stage would be decided. 

After the final lap the bunch headed west to Bergamo where, in a rerun of last year’s Il Lombardia they would tackle Città Alta, the 1.3km climb into Bergamo Alta, the highest part of the city. At 7.1% it is an uneven climb and local knowledge would be of benefit, even with the 3.3km run to the line. With the Valcar Travel and Service team based in Bergamo it would be down the riders like Silvia Persico to represent the home squad.

With pressure from Canyon-SRAM the race split slightly on the first ascent to San Pantaleone, only for it to reform on the descent. And that became the pattern of things. 

Canyon-SRAM ensuring Elisa Chabbey could take the mountains points then relaxing again. But in the end the repetitive nature of the race and the heat of the previous days began to take their toll, and fewer riders would make it back to the front group.

Finally, after the third climb, and with 63km gone Francesca Pisciali (Mendelspeck) made her way off the front, though not for long, and when she was caught Alessia Vigilia (Topgirls Fassa Bortolo) got away, though only just, as she was left to dangle before being chased by Markéta Hájková (BePink) and Eukene Larrate (Bizkaia Durango).

While Vigilia was being chased the peloton sat back and left them to it, allowing a gap of over a minute to develop, but the chasers never caught the leader, and they were all caught by the peloton before the top of the final climb, 27km from the line.

Though overall leader Annemiek van Vleuten crested the top first, she was distanced on the descent, a small of four quality riders going clear and causing panic in the peloton. More attacks came in the run to the day’s only intermediate sprint, but with 23km to go Victoire Berteau got away. While there was a relative lull in the peloton, she was never able to gain more than a minute’s advantage, and was finally caught on the Città Alta climb 

ResultRace, stage six: Sarnico - Bergamo (114.7km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 2-58-30
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SDWorx 
3. Silvia Persico (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service 
4. Kristen Faulkner (USA) BikeExchange-Jayco 
5. Amanda Spratt (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
6. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar 
7. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope 
8. Mavi García (Esp) UAE Tema ADQ
9. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 
10. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futurosccope all at same time 

General classification after stage six

1. Annemiek van Veuten (Ned) Movistar in 11-51-35
2. Mavi García (Esp) UAE Team ADQ Marta at 25 sec
3. Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 57 sec
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 5-00
5. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 5-13
6. Amanda Spratt (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco at 5-14
7. Silvia Persico (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service 5-25
8. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SDWorx at 5-28
9. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Canyon-SRAM at 5-45
10. Evita Muzic (ira) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope 5-55

Marianne Vos won yet another stage at the Giro Donne on Saturday, winning the stage three bunch kick in Olbia.

Though yesterday’s winner Elisa Balsamo is hugely versatile, she was unable to match the Jumbo-Visma rider on the slight uphill kick to the line. Balsamo retained her overall lead, finishing third on the day, while DSM’s newest sprint talent Charlotte Kool was second.

The run into the finish was incredibly fast, Valcar Travel and Service and Jumbo-Visma stretching the bunch, but when one rider from each of those teams slipped off the front the speed dropped and the lead in became chaotic.

Movistar eventually wrested control with three women on the front, including overall favourite Annemiek van Vleuten, but sprinter Emma Berg was too far back and they were forced knock the pace off. By the time the Dane was in position other teams were lurking

One of those was Jumbo-Visma, Vos on the wheel of a team mate and perfectly positioned. Movistar led into the final straight, but it was Vos who opened her sprint first, 200m from the line, with no one able to get past her, though compatriot Kool came close.

Vos has a remarkable record at the Giro, not only does she now have 31 stage victories but the 35 year-old has won the GC three times. While that may now be beyond her, she has other chances in the remaining seven stages in Italy.

The riders left Olbia as soon as they could, heading to the airport to fly to Forli on the Italian mainland for Monday’s fourth stage. Then they will ride a hilly 120.9km starting and finishing in Cesena. With three classified climbs and another less severe ( 2.8km at 7%) ascent coming only 10km from the line, a bunch kick is unlikely.

How it happened 

The Giro Donne’s journey up the east coast of Sardinia continued on Saturday with stage three, a flat 113.4km between Dorgali and Olbia, where, after the stage race vehicles would take a ferry to the mainland.

After forming up in the pretty seaside village of Cala Gonone, the opening 21km from Dorgali were  almost completely downhill allowing little opportunity for a breakaway to form. There were some keen to try though, but none of those early attacks made any ground until, with 15km ridden, Victoire Berteau (Cofidis) got a gap on one of the few uphill ramps.

The 21 year-old was never likely to make too impact, the heat and a slight headwind stifling her ambition, but after 15km alone off the front her lead began to drop. This attracted attention from pursuers, with three trying to bridge, a move which, in turn attracted the peloton, who closed them and Berteau down with 35km ridden.

The race was never likely to progress without a breakaway though, especially with he small Italian teams hungry for publicity, and sure enough three more women got away, Markets Hájkova (BePink), Asia Zotone (Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria) and Alice Palazzi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) escaped, only to be chased by three others. 

That chasing group were caught only for another eight women to get a few seconds up the road.

Gemma Sernissi Giulia Marchesini (Aromitalia-Basso-Vaiano), Giorgia Vettorello (BePink) Lucía Gonzalez (Bizkaia-Durango), Jennifer Ducaura (Colombia Tierra de Atletas GW-Shimano), Katia Ragusa (Liv-Xstra) Alessia Missiaggia (Mendelspeck) and Alessia Vigilia (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo) managed too get within one minute of the leaders, with the bunch’s deficit stretching to more than three minutes. However, as on stage two, as the race slipped inside the closing 40km the Trek-Segafredo team of race leader Elisa Balsamo came to the front to control and reduce the gap. 

Meanwhile, the chasers were closing in on the front of the race, and as they fell apart some of them caught the leaders before the 15km to go mark, forming a group of five at the front, but, by then the bunch were less than a minute behind.

In the peloton Trek-Segafredo had been joined by Valcar Travel and Service, BikeExchange-Jayco and the Jumbo-Visma team of Marianne Vos. 

With the break away constantly eroded, only two remained when the peloton swept them up with only 6.8km to go. It was then time for the sprint trains to take control, Jumbo-Visma and Valcar Travel and Service doing much of the work. 

ResultGiro Donne, stage 3: Dorgali - Olbia (113.4km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 2-48-22
2. Charlotte Kool (Ned) DSM
3. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 
4. Rachele Barbieri (Ita) Liv-Xstra
5. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
6. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SDWorx
7. Emma Bjerg (Den) Movistar
8. Silvia Zanardi (Ita) BePink
9. Georgia Baker (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
10. Chiara Consonni (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service all at same time

General classification after stage 3

1. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo in 5-33-12
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 06 sec
3. Georgia Baker (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco at 12 sec
4. Kristen Faulkner (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco at 14 sec
5. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SDWorx at same time 
6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 17 sec
7. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar at 18 sec
8. Charlotte Kool (Ned) DSM at 19 sec
9. Emma Bjerg (Den) Movistar at 20 sec
10. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 27 sec

The UCI has confirmed today that the UCI Cyclocross World Cup will visit London later this year. 

London has been given the last of the slots in their leading Cyclocross competition, which will potentially see star riders take on the course on 11 December. 

Prolific winners Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) and the UK’s own current World Champion Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) could take part, along with current female World Cyclocross champion, Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma). 

The United Kingdom joins Spain in being a new host nation to the World Cup calendar. Past editions have typically been dominated by racing in mainland Europe.

The 2022/23 UCI Cyclocross season starts with Waterloo, USA on 9 October before returning to Fayetteville, USA a host of a round of the 2021-22 competition, one week later. Racing will move over to Europe in November visiting Rucphen, The Netherlands before moving to Beekse Bergen in the country and a safari park for the first time.

After London, competition will also return to Val di Sole, Italy which saw Wout Van Aert take victory in a snowy day’s action. 

UCI Cyclocross Calendar in full: 

16/10/22: United States, Fayetteville

23/10/22: Czech Republic, Tábor

30/10/22: Netherlands, Rucphen

13/11/22: Netherlands, Beekse Bergen

20/11/22: Belgium, Overijse

27/11/22: Netherlands, Hulst

04/12/22: Belgium, Antwerp

11/12/22: London, UK

7/12/22: Italy, Val di Sole

26/12/22: Belgium, Dendermonde

08/01/23: Belgium, Zonhoven

22/01/23: Spain, Benidorm

29/01/23: France, Besançon

Marianne Vos is to ride the Giro d'Italia Donne and then the Tour de France Femmes this July, at the first opportunity to race the double.

The Jumbo-Visma rider holds the record for stages at the Giro, with 30 victories from 2007 to last year, and will return to the Italian Grand Tour looking to add to that number. Weeks later, Vos will lineup at the Tour a fortnight later.

2022 will see the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, a new race, the first time a women's Tour has been held, in association with the men's race, since 1989.

Vos won a stage at the unofficial Tour de France for women, the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, in 2009, and also won two editions of La Course by Tour de France in 2014 and 2019, but will hope to put her name in history in Paris at the Tour proper.

The 35-year-old was already known to be riding the Tour this year, but the Giro is a new addition to the Dutchwoman's schedule. Jumbo-Visma confirmed the news to Cycling Weekly on Friday.

She is not alone in tackling both, with Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) the most high-profile rider to be riding both Grand Tours. She in fact is aiming for general classification at both races, which could result in a historic double. Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) are also thought to be doing both.

Vos has had a stop-start 2022. She claimed her eighth cyclocross world title in January, and then began her road season with seventh at Strade Bianche and second at Gent-Wevelgem. However, a positive Covid test after the Tour of Flanders denied her from riding a second Paris-Roubaix, which was her big target for the early part of the season.

She returned to racing at Veenendaal-Veenendaal in the Netherlands last month, finishing fifth. 

“I didn't get very sick so I thought I would get rid of it quickly, but [getting Covid] did have more impact than I had hoped,” the three-time road world champion told Cycling Weekly last month. 

“At the time when I had to withdraw from Roubaix, I had no symptoms yet. I then did develop some symptoms but I wasn’t that sick — throat soreness and a persistent cold mostly. But it lingered. The moment I picked up the bike again, I noticed that when it came to endurance especially, it really had an impact. So I’ve had to patiently start training everything back up again, which we as athletes aren’t always very good at.”

“Hey Marianne. Is now still a good time to chat?” I texted Marianne Vos early morning Pacific time on May 13th.

“Can it wait 5 minutes?” she promptly texted back. 

Of course I should have known she’d be glued to a TV somewhere. The seventh stage of the Giro d’Italia had just entered the finale, and her Jumbo Visma teammates, Tom Dumoulin and Koen Bouwman, were in a four-men breakaway with mere metres left to go. Bouwman would take the win and a few short minutes later, Vos and I were talking.

“To miss the last kilometre would have been a real shame,” she said.

It’s been a minute since Vos herself was part of a race. Her last appearance was the Ronde van Vlaanderen on April 3, one of just three races she has taken part in this year thus far. 

Her spring schedule was already selective, foregoing races like the Amstel Gold Race in an effort to be at her absolute best at the start of the second-ever Paris-Roubaix Femmes, but then she tested positive for Covid-19, nixing her entire spring season. 

“I didn't get very sick so I thought I would get rid of it quickly, but [getting Covid] did have more impact than I had hoped,” the three-time road world champion said. 

“At the time when I had to withdraw from Roubaix, I had no symptoms yet. I then did develop some symptoms but I wasn’t that sick — throat soreness and a persistent cold mostly. But it lingered. The moment I picked up the bike again, I noticed that when it came to endurance especially, it really had an impact. So I’ve had to patiently start training everything back up again, which we as athletes aren’t always very good at.”

Vos had pretty much singled out the Paris-Roubaix as her spring target ever since finishing second at the historic inaugural event in October last year. To then test positive the morning of the race was a massive blow. 

For a split second Vos even wondered if there was a way to get around it, but the health of herself and the peloton of course came first. 

“In the past two years Corona has been among us, and you know that at some point you might have to deal with it yourself, but yeah, the timing was unfortunate. I admit that I was really disappointed that day,” the 35-year-old said. 

“You tell yourself that it’s just a race, but at that moment it is, of course, also very frustrating when you’ve worked towards it. I was really looking forward to it. I would have loved to have been part of the fight for the win.”

But she was back to feeling good and happily training alongside her teammates at a camp in Limburg ahead of a reconnaissance trip to France to scout some of the Tour de France Femmes stages.

“I would have liked to have raced more this spring, but things don’t always go as planned. Luckily I have some time to rebuild my fitness and work toward the bigger goals,” Vos said.

These goals include the Dutch National Champions in June, and the Giro as well as the Tour de France Femmes in July.

Vos will test her racing fitness at Veenendaal-Veenendaal, a 140km-road race in the centre of the Netherlands on May 20th. A part of the Exterioo Cycling Cup, the UCI 1.1 race will be hotly contested with top teams like Jumbo-Visma, Lotto Soudal Ladies, UAE, Liv Racing Xtra, Plantur-Pura, Valcar and Parkhotel Valkenburg among the starters.

She’ll be headed to altitude training right afterward in preparation for the Dutch National Championships and the summer stage races.

Having been a crucial advocate behind La Course, the single-day race that would grow into the eight-day Tour de France Femmes that’s slated for July, Vos is pleased with the event ahead.

“I think this is a very nice development. La Course was a great milestone for the sport and I also enjoyed riding those races because you noticed right away that they added a certain cachet, a certain value to the calendar,” Vos said.

“It is wonderful that ASO was willing to take this step and recognized that the sport can handle it and that the outside world looked at them and said it was time for an actual, full women’s Tour. It will be very special to be part of the first Tour de France for women and to be in that peloton."

But is eight days enough?

Given the limited team resources, relatively small team rosters and the tight race calendar, Vos is of the opinion that it is.

“If I look at the way things are right now, I think the choice of an eight-day race is a good place to start,” she said.

Vos is convinced that the physical ability of the riders to race for two or more weeks is certainly there, but the team structures and resources aren’t available to support it. Teams aren’t large enough to send separate delegations for the Giro, the Tour de France, the Women’s Tour of Britain and the Scandinavian races, nor can you expect any one racer to ride them all.

“It would be a real shame if the whole calendar gets upset by the addition of a new stage race,” Vos pointed out. “Plus, I don’t know if going longer makes the racing any more interesting.”

As for her Jumbo-Visma team, Vos said they’re aiming for stage victory. The team doesn’t house any pure climbing specialists, and with the final two stages of the Tour suited for just that, Vos said they’re just being realistic.

The yellow-and-black squad made its debut in women's racing only last season, and added American Coryn Labecki to co-captain alongside Vos for 2022. The shared leadership is not something we’ve seen often with Vos, who previously tended to be the sole centerpoint of her team. But with the addition of Labecki, the team now sports two potential ‘race finishers.’ Additionally, British talent Anna Henderson has been an indispensable rider for the team, both in her ability to support the sprinters as well as her own, strong breakaway capabilities.

“The team has an absolute ambition to continue to grow in the coming years, and so it’s necessary to have different top women who push each other and who can take part in the race finals,” the team captain said.

“With the strength of the competing teams, it is very valuable if you enter a final with several riders so that you can play the game. And so, for the team, I think it's a really nice goal, and also just a part of the development needed to be at the top.”

But with Vos absent from most of the season thus far, the Jumbo-Visma squad had a challenging spring. Vos did earn a podium at Gent-Wevelgem and a Top-10 at Strade Bianche, but we’ve yet to see a Jumbo-Visma victory.

When asked if she feels pressured to perform and deliver a win, she responded with these wise words: “The pressure is only as high as you put it on yourself.”

Vos, of course, is the winningest cyclist of all time. Now in her 17th year as a professional, her palmares includes well over 500 wins, including 11 world championship titles, two Olympic gold medals, about a dozen Grand Tour wins, and victories at just about every race on the calendar.

Pressure? To her, it’s just a word, and the wrong one at that.

“Pressure may not be quite the right word, but there is always a certain tension, a certain will to perform,” she explained.

“I want it —the good result—for myself, but of course also for the people I work with. You know you’ve done a lot in the preparation, you’ve been working towards it, and then of course you want a beautiful outcome. And I think you need that healthy tension to perform well. If I don't have that tension, then I'm not ready. I need that little bit of nervousness.”

Le Tour de France Femmes

Having been a crucial advocate behind La Course, the single-day race that would grow into the eight-day Tour de France Femmes that’s slated for July, Vos is pleased with the event ahead.

“I think this is a very nice development. La Course was a great milestone for the sport and I also enjoyed riding those races because you noticed right away that they added a certain cachet, a certain value to the calendar,” Vos said.

“It is wonderful that ASO was willing to take this step and recognized that the sport can handle it and that the outside world looked at them and said it was time for an actual, full women’s Tour. It will be very special to be part of the first Tour de France for women and to be in that peloton

But is eight days enough?

Given the limited team resources, relatively small team rosters and the tight race calendar, Vos is of the opinion that it is.

“If I look at the way things are right now, I think the choice of an eight-day race is a good place to start,” she said.

Vos is convinced that the physical ability of the riders to race for two or more weeks is certainly there, but the team structures and resources aren’t there to support it. Teams aren’t large enough to send separate delegations for the Giro, the Tour de France, the Women’s Tour of Britain and the Scandinavian races, nor can you expect any one racer to ride them all.

“It would be a real shame if the whole calendar gets upset by the addition of a new stage race,” Vos pointed out. “Plus, I don’t know if going longer makes the racing any more interesting.”

As for her Jumbo-Visma team, Vos said they’re aiming for stage victory. The team doesn’t house any pure climbing specialists, and with the final two stages of the Tour suited for just that, Vos said they’re just being realistic.

The yellow-and-black squad made its debut in women's racing only last season, and added American Coryn Labecki to co-captain alongside Vos for 2022. The shared leadership is not something we’ve seen often with Vos, who previously tended to be the sole centerpoint of her team. But with the addition of Labecki, the team now sports two potential ‘race finishers.’ Additionally, British talent Anna Henderson has been an indispensable rider for the team, both in her ability to support the sprinters as well as her own, strong breakaway capabilities.

“The team has an absolute ambition to continue to grow in the coming years, and so it’s necessary to have different top women who push each other and who can take part in the race finals,” the team captain said.

“With the strength of the competing teams, it is very valuable if you enter a final with several riders so that you can play the game. And so, for the team, I think it's a really nice goal, and also just a part of the development needed to be at the top.”

But with Vos absent from most of the season thus far, the Jumbo-Visma squad had a challenging spring. Vos did earn a podium at Gent-Wevelgem and a Top-10 at Strade Bianche, but we’ve yet to see a Jumbo-Visma victory.

When asked if she feels pressured to perform and deliver a win, she responded with these wise words: “The pressure is only as high as you put it on yourself.”

Vos, of course, is the winningest cyclist of all time. Now in her 17th year as a professional, her palmares includes well over 500 wins, including 11 world championship titles, two Olympic gold medals, about a dozen Grand Tour wins, and victories at just about every race on the calendar.

Pressure? To her it’s just a word and the wrong one at that.

“Pressure may not be quite the right word, but there is always a certain tension, a certain will to perform,” she explained.

“I want it —the good result—for myself, but of course also for the people I work with. You know you’ve done a lot in the preparation, you’ve been working towards it, and then of course you want a beautiful outcome. And I think you need that healthy tension to perform well. If I don't have that tension, then I'm not ready. I need that little bit of nervousness.”

As the women’s peloton readies itself for an historic first ascent of the iconic Koppenberg climb in this weekend’s Tour of Flanders, we sat down with former winner, Coryn Labecki (née Rivera), to talk about finding her place in the Jumbo-Visma squad, her new outlook on life, racing with the GOAT — Marianne Vos — and the potential of a formidable Vos-Labecki double punch.

Labecki won the Tour of Flanders in 2017 and remains the only American, male or female, to have done so. Whether she’ll get a chance to repeat this accomplishment this Sunday or will be racing in support of her new teammate Marianne Vos, remains to be seen. 

“I approach each race with a mindset to win for the team, whether it's for me or Marianne or someone else. If the circumstances play in my favor, then that's my day. A win is a win, and that's what we work hard for every single day,” said the 29-year-old Californian.

“But I think it’s harder to win a race twice. Flanders is a beautiful race and to have won it once is already incredible, to win it again would be pretty unreal.”

The Vos - Labecki double threat

After leaving her mark on bike races all across North America, and netting some 70 junior and collegiate national titles in the process, the five-foot-nothing (1.55cm) “pocket rocket” joined her first European team in 2017.

Riding for team DSM (then Sunweb), Labecki saw a lot of success right off the bat. She achieved a career-best with a win at Trofeo Binda, and then followed it up just weeks later with her historic win at the Tour of Flanders.

Her palmarès has since grown to include winning women’s cycling’s biggest prize purse at the 2017 Prudential RideLondon Classique, the overall at the Women's Tour of Britain, and several stage wins at the Lotto Belgium Tour, Thuringer Ladies Tour and the Giro.

Labecki signed a two-year contract with Jumbo-Visma last fall in search of a new chapter and new challenges.

At the yellow-and-black squad, which made its debut in women's racing only last season, Labecki gets to co-captain alongside none other than Marianne Vos. The shared leadership is not something we’ve seen often with Vos. Previously, Vos has tended to be the sole centerpoint of her team, but this year, with two strong sprinters in the line-up, the Vos-Labecki combo could be an exciting double threat.

“To be frank, it doesn't really feel like it’s ‘Marianne's team’,” said Labecki. “I mean, I'm new here and so I'm still learning a lot and kind of figuring things out. But I think that they're really sticking to the core values of their team and everybody fits into that framework. Two sprinters just gives the team more cards to play with.”

With Labecki entering her 10th season as a pro, and Vos her 18th, both riders are veterans in their own right. They can also both deliver a wicked fast punch and have similar racing styles. Yet, Labecki said that she and Vos are actually opposites in many ways. For one, Labecki doesn’t feel like a WorldTour veteran and hopes to learn as much as she can from the ‘living legend.’

“I think Vos is really, really prepared and on top of things. Everything is dialled and planned out. That’s opposite for me, I'm a little bit more easygoing, and I just like going with the flow,” Labecki said with a laugh.

“She's been doing this for a long time and knows the races really well, and how to react in certain situations. If I could say it in a few words, she's just really prepared and detail-oriented.”

The two got to know each other a little better during altitude camp in Tenerife in February. Vos was fresh off her eighth win at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships, looking for road miles. Labecki was preparing for her Jumbo-Visma debut.

“It was nice. We weren't staying in the same place, but we had a few training rides together and got to talk about non-racing stuff,” said Labecki.

The main topics? Family and Netflix.

Both riders have a close bond with their families, and Vos, apparently, was in need of something new to watch. Labecki, a fan of television shows about crime, drugs and suspense, recommended the Flemish crime series, Undercover, as well as Ozark. For motivation, the documentary 14 Peaks.

“I gave her a wide range, I didn’t know what they watch,” she said laughing.

Coming out of the pandemic a new person

It’s good to hear Labecki laugh so freely, as the last two years were far from kind.

A concussion and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a very short and disappointing season for Labecki — perhaps the only season yet without a single win.

And things only got worse at the start of 2021. While attending her team’s annual training camp in February, Labecki learned that her whole family had contracted the COVID-19 virus, and her father, Wally Rivera, was hospitalized.

She flew home to be with her family as they waited for Wally to awake from sedation. But that moment never came, and Wally passed away in March 2021.

It was an unimaginable loss for Labecki, whose relationship with her father was close knit. He’s the one who got her into cycling, coached her through her early years and to dozens of junior national titles. Wally and Labecki’s mother cruised all over the state and country in their motorhome in support of their daughter. So much so that Wally himself became a bit of a fixture in the American cycling scene.

Labecki sat out the first three months of the 2021 season to be with her family. She then pulled herself together to fulfil her and Wally’s common dream: for Labecki to make it to the Olympics.

And Labecki did just that. Turning the tide in the second half of the season, she qualified for her first Olympics where she finished seventh. She also spinted to a Giro stage win and netted podiums at the US National Championships, and stages at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta and Ladies Tour of Norway. In the fall, she married her college boyfriend.

Labecki said that losing her dad was and continues to be the hardest thing she’s yet had to cope with, but that it gave her a new perspective, too.

“I think it's just given me a greater appreciation for what I do and how I’ve gotten here thanks to my dad. It still sucks that he's gone and I can't share things with him, but, if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be in cycling,” she said.

“My life feels more balanced and I’m seeing life from a lot of different ways. At the end of the day, if I can have another day, start another race, I'm really grateful for that. In that respect, I definitely have a different outlook on life.”

What’s ahead

Looking at the races ahead, Labecki said the team has been conservative in the number of races they’re attending and taking a more targeted approach. She speaks of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race and the Women’s Tour as being some of those team targets.

On a personal level, Labecki would very much like to end her silver streak at the US National Championships, and put the stars-and-stripes jersey back on.

She’s finished second every year since 2015, except for 2018 when she did win the title, and 2020 when the race was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

“My goal is to just have a good season, but yeah, Nats is a goal every year. I'm pretty good at getting second place there and I want to get those stars and stripes back,” she said.

The depth of the women’s peloton is growing, and the competition among sprinters is becoming increasingly more fierce with emerging star riders like Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) and Lorena Wiebes (DSM). Labecki finds this nothing but motivating.

“I think It's really exciting. It's good for the sport to see new faces and see these young girls step it up. I’m in it to win it and it only fires me up,” she said.

“It makes for really good racing and I hope that the experience of Marianne and I can outsmart the young guns and the whippersnappers in these upcoming races.”

With cancellations and rescheduled races, the 2021 Women’s WorldTour season was another truncated by COVID, but that didn’t stop the series bringing us some exciting racing. Here we’ve picked six of the most exciting and interesting days, spread between March and October, proof, if it were needed of another vintage year. 

Oxyclean Classic Brugge - De Panne, March 25

We all love a bit of crosswind action, right? With its pan flat coastal roads and mid-March place on the calendar, we can more or less guarantee that’s what we will get at Brugge - De Panne. And this year’s race didn’t disappoint.

One of the longest races on the calendar, no sooner had the peloton rolled out of Brugge than a couple of riders were up the road, but they, and other small moves were never allowed any space, and the whole bunch entered De Moeren - an especially windy section of flatlands - as one.

The second time through here SDWorx put the race in the gutter, and only 12 women emerged into a tail wind section. With a number of teams represented with more than one rider, the group worked well, and such was the chaos behind they were never likely to be caught.

On her own in the leading group Grace Brown (BikeExchange) knew she wouldn’t out sprint the likes of Kirsten Wild (Ceratizit-WNT), Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing) and Jolien D’hoore (SDWorx) so, with 10km to go she attacked hard.

While the group looked around to see who would chase, the Australian soon had a gap. But, in what was a hugely tense final, the Australian’s that lead was never more than 25 seconds, and it tumbled as sprinters’ team mates went to work. In the end though, Brown hung on, winning by just seven seconds.

Amstel Gold Race, April 17

The pandemic made sure this year’s Amstel Gold Race was like no other, with the entire race happening on the local circuit around Valkenburg, close to the Dutch city of Maastricht.

Though two riders escaped early on the first of seven laps, the race soon descended into chaos, as a group of 20 caught the leaders the second time up the Bemelerberg. This break didn’t last long though, Anna van der Breggen (SDWorx) bridging with Grace Brown.

After the race re-formed there was a brief period of calm, only for Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) to attack on the race’s signature climb, the Cauberg, with just over two laps to go. Wearing her European champion’s jersey Van Vleuten was unable to get a gap and it was Grace Brown and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Liv Racing) who emerged, the pair staying together onto the final circuit.

The Dutch rider was dropped on a descent, and with a lead of 30 seconds it seemed Brown might pull off a second solo win. However, desperate work from both Trek-Segafredo and SDWorx brought the Australian to within touching distance as the final ascent of the Cauberg loomed. 

In what was a dramatic final 2000m, Brown was caught by a rampant Van Vleuten, but Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) never her let her get away, and with Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini caught her and rode off into a winning position.

However, in an odd twist, when Niewiadoma brought back an attack by the Italian the latter refused to work, and despite the polish woman’s imploring the pair were caught with only 300m remaining, and a 10 woman sprint was on the cards.

Marianne Vos knew she was the fastest sprinter in the group, going clear and raising her hands early in celebration, only for her smile of joy to fade for an anxious moment after SDWorx’s Demi Vollering pushed her close, Vos eventually winning by a tiny margin.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, April 25

Since its inception in 2017 the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège has always provided entertaining racing, though many were unaware as the early editions were not televised. With good coverage this year we witnessed a masterful team victory and a changing of the guard at the top of the sport.

With an early break caught, SDWorx sparked a dynamic race, sending riders up the road and making their way into a number of breakaways. And it was the Dutch team’s then world champion Anna van der Breggen who made the race with a scintillating attack on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons.

Marianne Vos has never won Liège and missed the group of six created by the rainbow jersey, but worked hard to get back on, though just as she did Van der Breggen went again, creating a five woman group which would contest the win.

Van der Breggen led the group for every one of the closing 13km, selflessly leading out team mate Demi Vollering, who capped off a stunning team performance winning the first of four WorldTour victories in 2021, and placing a hand on SDWorx leader’s baton for the first time.

Stage four, Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, May 23

Head to head battles between Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen, come around once a year at best, and they are invariably enthralling. Adept in the mountains and against the clock, the Dutch pair have similar skillsets and have been the most dominant women of recent years.

This year’s clash of the titans came on the fourth and final day of the season’s first WorldTour stage race, the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, on the final ascent to Lagunas de Neila.  

Van der Breggen began the day sixth on GC, two seconds behind overall leader and team mate, Niamh Fisher-Black, indeed SDWorx had four women in the top eight, with Van Vleuten just behind, only five seconds off the lead.

SDWorx set the pace on the final climb, chasing a huge breakaway which began to fall apart, though two women remained ahead inside the final two kilometres. After Demi Vollering brought the final two escapees back, she was dropped leaving the two Dutch masters alone into the final 500m, with then world champion Van der Breggen resolutely stuck to the front.

Van Vleuten seemed to be struggling, and her task was made more difficult as the road curved round to the left and her rival, still looking strong, stuck to the nearside barrier, forcing her compatriot to take the long way round.

When the Movistar rider finally made her move Van der Breggen had time to respond and easily out sprinted the older woman, taking the stage and adding another GC title to her impressive palmarès.

Stage 4, Simac Ladies Tour, August 28

Over its 23 editions the Simac Ladies Tour has consistently defied the somewhat uninspiring Dutch terrain and served up a dish of gnarly, entertaining racing, and this year’s penultimate stage was one of gloriously entertaining chaos.

After a stunning time trial Marlen Reusser (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) led the GC by 10 seconds from Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, and it was the SDWorx rider who kicked off the chaos. The former world champion escaped with Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), the two Dutch women building a small gap.

Short of team mates Reusser was very much on the back foot, but chased them back only for Anousker Koster to get away alone. With their teams controlling, then reducing the advantage, Van den Broek-Blaak and Kasia Niewiadoma bridged across when the gap was small enough, taking Koster’s Jumbo-Visma team mate Marianne Vos with them.

Even with Marta Bastianelli now there to help, Reusser could not close the gap, but was given  hope when a counter attack brought the leaders within touching distance, making for a nail biting final.

However, the leaders were three of the best and even had time to finesse. Niewiadoma attacked early on the dig to the line, however, no one was likely to match Vos and she took the stage by two seconds, while Van den Broek-Blaak put 21 seconds into Reusser, taking third on the day and the GC.

Paris Roubaix Femmes, October 2

After years of waiting, grasping at every tiny hint of progress, the women’s Paris-Roubaix was finally announced as part of the rejigged 2020 WorldTour calendar. Anticipation was further increased when the pandemic caused its cancellation. Twice. But in October it finally happened. 

And what a race.

At only 116km some it was too short, but it was hugely entertaining, despite not a lot happening for the opening 30 kilometres. On the first cobbled sector, more than 80km from the famous velodrome, Lizzie Deignan, staying safe at the front, found herself with a gap, and taking her opportunity, she forged on alone.

What followed was a masterclass on many levels. Each time someone chased, one of Deignan’s Trek-Segafredo team mates was there too. Despite crashes they infiltrated every group, causing it to falter. Meanwhile at the front the Brit ploughed on.

Only inside the final 20km was Marianne Vos able to break the Trek-Segafredo stranglehold, attacking and taking chunks out of Deignan’s lead. But it was not to be, as Roubaix grew closer, Vos began to falter and her deficit began to grow. Eventually, Deignan won by 1.17, one of the best rides you are ever likely to see earning her a place in history.

Chantal van den Broek-Blaak won her home stage race after a controlled performance from her SDWorx team in Arnhem on Sunday. The former world champion finished three seconds behind stage winner Marianne Vos after the final stage finished in a bunch kick.

The stage was Vos’s third success of the race after she won the opening prologue and Saturday’s queen stage. A consummate example of positioning, the Jumbo-Visma rider was in third wheel as Amalie Dideriksen (Trek-Segafredo) led round the final corner.

The Danish champion kicked hard but was unable to hang on, and Vos came over the top to take the stage, with British champion Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM), her white jersey muddied by the drenched roads, second. Van den Broek-Blaak’s SDWorx team-mate, Amy Pieters, was third.

The week was defined by crashes and poor weather making for an attritional race where only 53 women finished after 91 took the to the start at last Tuesday’s prologue.

With Barnes taking second on the stage, top Brit on GC was 20-year-old Pfeiffer Georgi. The DSM rider won the young rider classification, while finishing sixth overall, 1-20 down. 

It was an excellent performance from Georgi who put in an excellent time trial on stage two before surviving the carnage of stage three, after which she was both attentive and aggressive in the closing stages.

How it happened

The final stage of this year’s Simac Ladies Tour visited Arnhem, another regular race start or finish for the event and this year it hosted both, with 149.4km race taking on 19 lumpy circuits of eight kilometres.

Each of those laps included a small climb which, considering the repetitive nature of the route was certain to cause some issues to a peloton tired and reduced to only 58 riders after Saturday’s wet, windy and aggressive stage.

Former world champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak began the day with a general classification lead of 20 seconds on Marlen Reusser (Alé-BTC Ljubljana), and with the parcours perfectly suiting the SDWorx rider’s profile, she hoped to hang on and win her home race.

The early kilometres were enlivened by the battle for the climber’s jersey, with Saturday’s solo breakaway rider, Anouska Koster (Jumbo-Visma) overhauling Alison Jackson (Liv Racing) who won opening road stage from the breakaway.

While Koster continued to consolidate her lead, with 112km remaining Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacked the bunch and got away. Though the Polish rider was second on Saturday’s stage, beginning the day 3-46 behind the lead she was no great threat but was brought back 10km later. 

Koster’s work on the climb assured she would win the climber’s jersey, and as the rain fell again the race settled and a breakaway finally escaped with only 60km to go.

Trixi Worrack (Trek-Segafredo), Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Teuntje Beekhuis (Jumbo-Visma), Ella Harris (Canyon-SRAM) and Teniel Campbell (BikeExchange) quickly got a gap of two minutes on the bunch, though not before they were joined by Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing).

Of the leaders Korevaar was the biggest threat, having started the day in ninth overall, only 2-30 behind the leader, and it was Van den Broek-Blaak’s SDWorx team who came to the front to defend.

And defend they did, bringing the gap down to below one minute as they race entered the final 40km, though with the GC safe the team disappeared, leaving other teams to hold the gap within touching distance.

Looking for a sprint win after a series of second places DSM duly obliged, their Canadian rider Leah Kirchmann doing much of the work. Twenty kilometres from the line a series of accelerations in the leading group saw it fracture, and then, with 20km left Janneke Ensing attacked in an attempt to bridge to the four remaining escapees.

After catching the break, Ensing took a few seconds rest before attacking them and instantly getting a gap, with an aggressive bunch still 30 seconds behind with 14km to go. She was soon joined by Korevaar, but they were unable to stay away as the original break, bolstered by new arrivals consumed them.

Ensing and Korevaar were now in a leading group with Harris, Beekhuis and new arrivals Mischa Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Eugénie Duval (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) and Silke Smulders (Lotto-Soudal), with their lead at 30 seconds onto the final, 8km lap.

With five kilometres to go Smulders, Bredewold and Duval attacked the break, but the peloton was bearing down through the Dutch gloom and the race was set for a sprint from what was left of the bunch.

With the peloton together three kilometres out Ellen van Dijk led, working for Trek-Segafredo team-mate Amalie Dideriksen, dropping her off in the final corner.

The race was notable for the disqualification of breakaway rider Nina Buysman. In the closing stages the Parkhotel Valkenburg rider rode off the front of the breakaway and took a bike change. 

While taking a bike waiting for the rider at the side of the road is permitted in a criterium, it is not in a road race, and the young Dutch rider was approached by the commissaires, pulling over shortly after, the organisers confirming the disqualification shortly after. 

The Women’s WorldTour continues apace with GP Plouay tomorrow, while the four-day Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta starts on Thursday, finishing in Santiago de Compostela ahead of the men’s final stage on Sunday.

ResultSimac Ladies Tour , stage five: Arnhem - Arnhem (149.4km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 3-55-58
2. Alice Barnes (Gbr) Canyon-SRAM, at same time
3. Amy Pieters (Ned) SDWorx
4. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
5. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing 
6. Pfeiffer Georg (Gbr) DSM
7. Alicia González (Esp) Movistar
8. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Alé-BTC Ljubljana
9. Clara Copponi (Fra) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope all at same time 
10. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 3 seconds

Final general classification 

1. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Ned) SDWorx 14-46-39
2. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 17s
3. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 30s
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 51s
5. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDworx 1-06
6. Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr) DSM at 1-20
7. Amy Pieters (Ned) SDWorx at 1-35
8. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing at 2-05
9. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 2-39 
10. Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) Liv Racing) at 2-49

Marianne Vos won the uphill sprint to take the victory at a hugely entertaining fourth stage at the Simac Ladies Tour on Saturday.

Vos had been part of a three-woman breakaway, which had led for the final 35km, and outclassed her fellow escapees to put two seconds into them in the Limburg village of Sweikhuizen. After a characteristically aggressive performance, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was second, ahead of Chantal van den Broek-Blaak in third, the SDWorx rider assuming the overall lead.

The trio had a lead of around 40 seconds with three kilometres to go, but when Niewiadoma attacked on a slight incline 1600m out, briefly dropping Van den Broek-Blaak, they began finessing, the gap to the chasers coming down.

It was a cagey final climb, Niewiadoma leading as the gradient kicked up before launching her own move. Van den Broek-Blaak went next but was unable to get past Vos who kicked hard to take victory

In what had been an all-action, gnarly stage, SDWorx led the chasers home, with Amy Pieters and Demi Vollering rounding out the top five and moving themselves up on GC.

While they failed to defend the overall lead of Marlen Reusser, the day was excellent rearguard action from Alé-BTC Ljubljana who, despite losing riders to Friday’s crash battled gallantly throughout the day, despite sending most of it on the back foot.

The Swiss woman eventually finished 23 seconds down and retains second overall.

How it happened

For the penultimate stage, the race moved further south, into the main part of the Limburg province and the town of Geleen, just north Maastricht. From the start the race headed the small village of Sweikhuizen before taking on eight laps, making for a total of 148.9km racing.

Not only was each of those laps quite technical, they also tackled the Watersley climb, a regular for the race, which though only 400m at 5 per cent, was likely to have an effect.

Friday’s crash-marred stage had seen a significant rearrangement in the general classification, with Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SDWorx) surviving the carnage to move to 10 seconds off Marlen Reusser’s race lead. 

And shortly after Saturday’s stage began the Swiss Alé-BTC Ljubljana rider was under further pressure when Van den Broek-Blaak and third-placed Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) moved clear as part of a large group.

While Reusser was able to bring the leading group back it was not before her Dutch rival had taken three bonus seconds, narrowing her deficit.

Starting the day in ninth overall, 1-29 behind Reusser, former Dutch national champion Anouska Koster was one of two Jumbo-Visma riders in the top 10 overall, and shortly after the bunch re-formed she managed to escape, allowing team-mate Marianne Vos, who started two places above her, to sit happily in the group.

Behind her  the SDWorx squad, who also had Demi Vollering and Amy Pieters in the top 10 within 1-28 of the lead at the start of the day, led the chase. But even with other teams appeared on the front the narrow, wet and muddy roads on the circuit allowed Koster to extend her lead to nearly three minutes into the final 50km.

Among the chasers Canyon-SRAM was particularly aggressive, putting in repeated digs and breaking the chasing the group with around 40km to go, a move continued by SDWorx, distancing Reusser once again, and taking huge chunks out of Koster’s lead.

Once again Reusser got back on, but as soon as she did so the group split again and she was not part of a three woman group which went away, catching Koster with 35km remaining.

Here Van den Broek-Blaak claimed two further bonus seconds, and with a wonderfully aggressive Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Koster and her team mate Vos set about building a gap.

Behind, Reusser and her team mate Marta Bastianelli were forced to lead a chasing group, and even when they were joined by Laura Tomasi, they could not close the gap. 

With Koster dropped, Van den Broek-Blaak, Vos and Niewiadoma entered the final 18km lap with a lead of 50 seconds. However, with the Alé-BTC Ljubljana trio exhausted, DSM set about setting up Brit, Pfeiffer Georgi who began the day sixth, 1-07 behind Reusser.

With 10km go Georgi attacked the chasers, briefly splitting the group but also closing the gap to the leading trio. With Reusser seeing a glimmer of hope she headed to the front but the gap again began to expand until the leaders began to look to each other on the final climb.

At 150.3km, Sunday’s final stage is the longest of the week. Starting and finishing in Arnhem the route takes on 19 laps of a lumpy 7.9km loop, and while the Zijpensdaalseweg climb is only short the repetitive nature of the course is likely to cause splits, though whether they will be enough to effect the general classification remains to be seen. 

ResultSimac Ladies Tour, stage four: Geleen - Sweikhuizen (148.9km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 4-15-08
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM at 2 seconds
3. Chantal van der Broek-Blaak (Ned) SDWorx at same time
4. Amy Pieters (Ned) SDWorx at 17s
5. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDworx
6. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana 
7. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing all at same time  
8. Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr) DSM at 19s
9. Eugénie Duval (Fra) FDJ-Novelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at same time 
10. Ella Harris (NZ) Canyon-SRAM at 21s

General classification after stage four

1. Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Ned) SDWorx 10-58-38
2. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 20 sec
3. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 30 sec
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDworx at 1-03
5. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 1-04
6. Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr) DSM at 1-23
7. Amy Pieters (Ned) SDWorx at 1-42
8. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing at 2-08
9. Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) Liv Racing) at 2-30
10. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 2-39

Alison Jackson took the biggest victory of her career, winning stage one of the Simac Ladies Tour in the Netherlands. 

The Liv Racing rider had instigated a three-woman break after only 20km and drove  the trio to the line.

With the bunch closing in, the Canadian opened her sprint early, finishing just ahead of French rider Maëlle Grossetête (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), who also bagged her first WorldTour podium.

After her, Team DSM were one of the teams committing to the chase as Lorena Wiebes led the bunch home, though four seconds behind the winning pair. 

Bonus seconds taken on the line and at an intermediate sprint mean Jackson has moved into the overall race lead, taking it from Marianne Vos, the Jumbo-Visma rider slipping to second place.

After the sprint teams missed out twice at last week’s four day Ladies Tour of Norway, the feeling was there was no way they could make the same mistake again. They reckoned with Jackson though. The 32 year-old has shown excellent form this year and constantly animates races.

The leading trio seemed doomed though, their lead less than a minute before the 10km to go marker, by which time they were down to two, however, Jackson and Grossetête never gave up and reaped the reward. 

How it happened

Organisers would have been hoping world road and time trial champion Anna van der Breggen was riding the event this year as the SDWorx rider grew up in the start town of Zwolle. However, her absence was unlikely to diminish the spectacle the 134.8km race to Hardenberg unlikely to suit the 31 year-old, though she was present in the team car, previewing her new role as sports director. 

As one might expect for the race’s location in the centre of the Netherlands, the parcours was almost completely flat, a single climb to the highest point, 39m above sea level coming after 57km.

With around 20km behind them Canadian, Alison Jackson (Liv Racing) got away on her own. The points competition winner at the recent Ladies Tour of Norway was soon joined by Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg), queen of the mountains at that same race, and Maëlle Grossetête (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), the trio building a lead of of 2-30 after 50km.

However, as the race approached the finish town to cross the line at the start of a 43.6km circuit, that advantage had begun to reduce. Then, before the peloton reached the line, and with the gap below 1-30 Sanne Bouwmeester (GT Krush Tunap) headed off the front in pursuit of the leaders.

Oddly, as the kilometres ticked by the peloton allowed the gap to go out again, though they remained in control, Valcar Travel and Service and DSM sharing the work when Bouwmeester was brought back with 30km remaining.

With 20km to the task of bringing the leaders back was proving a tough one, the gap staying stubbornly high and it was only when Movistar and Canyon-SRAM added their strength did it begin to come down.

After the gap dropped below one minute for the first time, Buysman was dropped, and with one fewer rider the breakaway’s fate seemed sealed, especially with only 20 second lead at the flamme rouge with just one kilometre to go.

For stage two we have a second time trial, where we may see the general classification decided. Once again the 17km course from Gennep to Siebengewald, right on the German border, and back is completely flat and is one for the specialists.

ResultSimac Ladies Tour, stage one: Zwolle - Hardenberg (134.8km)

1. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing in 3-18-20
2. Maëlle Grossetête (Fra) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at same time 
3. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) DSM at 04 sec
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 
5. Charlotte Kool (Ned) NXTG Racing
6. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar
7. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar
8. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service
9. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana
10. Lonneke Uneken (Ned) SDWorx all at same time 

General classification after stage one

1. Alison Jackson (Can) Liv Racing in 3-21-25
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at same time 
3.  Lorena Wiebes (Ned) DSM at 03 sec
4. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 05 sec
5. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 06 sec
6. Lonneke Uneken (Ned) SDWorx at same time 
7. Christine Majerus (Lux) SDWorx at 07 sec
8. Maëlle Grossetête (Fra) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 08 sec
9. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service 
10. Lisa Klein (Ger) Canyon-SRAM all at same time 

Marianne Vos smashed the opposition to take victory at the Simac Ladies Tour prologue in Ede on Tuesday. 

The victory was the Dutch superstar’s first time trial win since 2017 and her first prologue success since the Ladies Tour of Norway three years before that.

Stopping the clock for the 2.4km course in 3-01, the Jumbo-Visma rider smashed the opposition, putting four seconds into her nearest challenger, compatriot and former world time trial champion Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo). Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) put in an excellent ride on the pan flat course to take third place, a further two seconds down.

Home riders dominated the day, with Lonneke Uneken (SDWorx) and Lorena Wiebes (DSM) rounding out the top five.

Wednesday’s first road stage sees the peloton tackle another flat day, covering 134.8km between Zwolle and Hardenberg, where Vos is certain to be up there in the sprint. However, the specialist sprinters, including Movistar’s Emma Norsgaard and Wiebes, with her excellent young lead out, will be hoping it’s their day.

How it happened 

Traditionally a warm up event for the World Championships, the Simac Ladies Tour has been run since 1998, when it began life as the Holland Ladies Tour. That means some big names have taken the title over the years, with Leontien van Moorsel, Kristin Armstrong, Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten on the race’s palmarès.  

However, there are some notable absentees this year, Movistar’s Van Vleuten joined by Anna van der Breggen (SDWorx) and Britain’s Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) perhaps choosing GP Plouay and the lumpy, four day Challenge by La Vuelta for their rainbow preparations.

Four time winner Marianne Vos was there though, leading a strong Jumbo-Visma squad into the six day event.

The race has regularly included time trials and this year’s opening, 2.4km prologue around the central Dutch town of Ede was the first of two races against the clock. Among the early starters on the pan flat and technical course were previous overall winner Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak (SDWorx) and her former team mate, Amalie Dideriksen (Trek-Segafredo).

However, while Van den Broek-Blaak clocked a time of 3-10, it was was her 22 year-old Dutch compatriot Charlotte Kool from under-2323 development team, NXTG Racing, who set the early benchmark of 3-09.

Eventually the young Dutchwoman was overhauled by compatriot Vos, who began 29th of the 91 starters, and smashed the course, clocking 3-01.

The best British riders was Pfeiffer Georgi, the DSM rider clocking 3.10, fractions of a second ahead of national champion Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM). And fresh from winning the Olympic team pursuit, Barnes’s team mate Lisa Klein won the prologue in the 2019 edition, but only managed 3-09, leaving Vos waiting anxiously on the hot seat.

When Ellen van Dijk (DSM) crossed the line four seconds down, and Festival Elsy Jacobs prologue winner Lorena Wiebes (DSM) clocked 3-08, victory was far more likely. However, it was only certain when Olympic silver medalist Marlen Reusser (Alé-BTC Ljubljana) finished 11 seconds down.

ResultSimac Ladies Tour Race, prologue: Ede - Ede (2.4km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, in 3-01
2. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 4 sec
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope,at 6s
4. Lonneke Uneken (Ned) SDWorx, at same time 
5. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) DSM, at 7s
6. Christine Majerus (Lux) DSM, at same time 
7. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service, at 8s
8. Lisa Klein (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, at same time 
9. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar 
10. Charlotte Kool (Ned) NXTG Racing, all at same time 

General classification after the prologue

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, in 3-01
2. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 4s
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, at 6s
4. Lonneke Uneken (Ned) SDWorx, at same time 
5. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) DSM, at 7s
6. Christine Majerus (Lux) DSM, at same time 
7. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service, at 8s
8. Lisa Klein (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, at same time 
9. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar 
10. Charlotte Kool (Ned) NXTG Racing, all at same time 

Mark Cavendish has said Marianne Vos “has been an inspiration on so many levels,” after she reached a historic milestone in the Giro Donne.

Dutch pro Vos has been dominant in cycling for 15 years and continues to set records, including taking her 30th stage victory in the Giro Donne. 

The Giro Donne, along with the Women’s Tour in Britain, is one of the most prestigious stage races on the calendar, with Vos winning stages in 10 different editions, starting with her debut back in 2007.

After Vos’s win on stage seven of the 2021 Giro Donne, her second of this year's race, Cavendish paid tribute to the 34-year-old.

Cavendish, winner of 33 stages of the Tour de France, said: “Until we finally have the privilege of the Tour de France Femmes next year, the Giro Donne is the greatest stage race for our female colleagues and Marianne Vos has just won her 30th stage of the race.

“This needs to be big news. 30 is such a milestone.”

Cavendish added: “She’s been my inspiration on so many levels, for so many years. The absolute GOAT.”

Vos has an absolutely remarkable palmarès, racking up a staggering 235 wins since the start of her career in 2006.

With three road World Championships, seven World Cyclocross Championships, five Flèche Wallone titles, Olympic gold, three overall wins at the Giro Donne (formerly the Giro Rosa) and now her 30th individual stage, Vos one of the most decorated cyclists in history. 

But what’s also remarkable about Vos’s career is her longevity and ability to overcome setbacks.

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In 2015, she raced just twice as she suffered from back problems, only to come back in 2016 to reach the top step of the podium again.

This season she has a collection of wins in the most prestigious races, including taking the Ghent-Wevelgem title, winning Amstel Gold Race, and winning two stages of the Giro Donne so far.   

Marianne Vos  won her 30th stage of the Giro Donne near the shores of Lake Garda on Thursday, beating Elisa Longo Borghini to the line after an uphill finish.

The Jumbo-Visma leader was imperious on stage seven, opening up her sprint with 300m to go and easing past Borghini who had attacked on the steepest ramp with a kilometre remaining in Puegnago del Garda.

It ensured Vos' second success of the week, 14 years after first winning in the event. She has also won the race outright three times.

Anna van der Breggen (SDWorx) was third, further cementing her place at the top of the overall standings with three stages remaining.

How it happened

As the Giro makes its way from west to east, the seventh stage opened with a short leg before joining a 16.8km circuit for five full laps.

The first breakaway of note came when world cyclocross champion Lucinda Brand built a solo lead of 75 seconds, her Trek-Segafredo team favouring an attacking strategy once again.

However, with DSM working hard on the front of the bunch, Brand was brought back before the start of the final lap only, for Liv Racing’s Marta Jasulska to attack and get a gap. The 21 year-old Polish rider, however, was reeled in six kilometres down the road.

SDWorx headed a relentless peloton, and they launched a series of attacks on the penultimate time up the climb, stretching and then breaking the bunch into several groups, leaving around 40 at the front.

As the race neared the final ascent, teams’ trains began to form on the front with DSM, Canyon-SRAM, Ceratizit-WNT and the ubiquitous Trek-Segafredo leading the way. 

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It was the American squad into the closing 1300m, but as soon as Brand peeled off the race exploded.

Borghini's attack wasn't necessarily surprising, and Vos was quick to react to it, instantly jumping on her wheel before eventually coming around her to add to her winning tally.

Stage eight of the 10 day race is the final appointment for the pure sprinters, with a pan flat, 129.4km race between San Vendemiano and Mortegliano.

Result: Giro d’Italia Donne, stage 7: Soprazocco > Puegnago del Garda, 1109.6km

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo Visma in 2-48-31
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx
5. Soraya Paladin (Ita) Liv Racing
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) DSM
7. Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
8. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SDWorx
9. Ilaria Sanguinetti (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service
10. Mavi Garcia (Esp) Alé-BTC Ljubljana all at same time

General classification after stage seven

1. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx in 17-00-14
2. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) SDWorx at 2-55
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx at 3-07
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) Trek-Segafredo at 5-56
5. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Canyon-SRAM at 6-27
6. Erica Magnaldi (Ita) Ceratizit-WNT at 6-39
7. Mavi Garcia (Esp) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 7-01
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) DSM at 7-05
9. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 7-28
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SDWorx at 7-50

Marianne Vos once again proved herself as the Giro Donne’s greatest by taking her 29th stage victory on Sunday.

The former world champion, who also has three Giro general classification wins to her name, was part of a four women break two built a lead of four minutes after escaping with 45 of the 135km stage to go.

With such an advantage they were able to finesse as the end approached. The games began with 1200m to go, Brand missing turns, the cooperation stalling 700m remaining, briefly stranding Vos on the front. After then sitting on Vos’s wheel, Brand launched her sprint at 300m, but Vos had the raw power and timing to come over the top.

Brand hung on for second place, with Liane Lippert come third, and Elise Chabbey in fourth place.

While overall leader Anna van der Breggen lost some of her advantage to the victorious breakaway, Anna van der Breggen still leads the general classification by a good margin.

However, her SDWorx team mates, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Demi Vollering, who are currently in second and third place respectively could come under threat, though both are as equally impressive against the clock as they are in the hills

The fourth stage is the race’s second time trial, this time an individual test when the peloton ride from Fondovalle to Riale in the mountains close to the Swiss border. 

The 11.2km stage sees the riders climb 518m at an average gradient of 5.3 per cent, with a maximum of 10 per cent, and with the world time trial champion, Van der Breggen in stunning form she could effectively seal her fourth title.

How it happened 

After the stage two mountain top finish created huge, possibly race winning gaps on the general classification, Sunday’s third day lent itself to a breakaway. However, in the women’s sport breakaways of lesser known riders rarely take the win, and with the day’s lumpy route was such that anything could happen.

Starting in Casale Monferrato and heading south to finish in Ovada the first half of the course was relatively flat, crossing the Po Valley, but as it reached the very edge of the Apennine mountains there were four third category climbs.

The action was always likely to come here, even if none of those ascents were long or particularly steep, so the peloton could also settle for a bunch kick, as they did when Kirsten Wild won in Ovada in 2018.

As it was the day began with the bunch all together, rolling through the Monferrato vineyards in the rain, making for slippery, hazardous roads. And this is how the race rolled for the opening 70km.

Only on the first of the classified climbs did the pace lift, Brodie Chapman (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) attacking. However, the Australian was unable to build an advantage, cresting the climb with a lead of only 15 seconds.

But she was caught on the descent, the bunch having split, before world cyclocross champion Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo), one of the peloton’s best descenders, chipped off the front, taking Liane Lippert (DSM) with her.

They were soon joined by Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) and the four riders took a lead of around one minute over the next climb and into the closing 45km. 

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Chabbey was the best placed of the breakaway on GC, starting the day 5-59 behind the overall leader Van der Breggen, and while her SDWorx team led the bunch they were in no hurry to catch the leaders, whose advantage stretched out to 1-40 when they crossed the line for the first time, with 31km remaining.

This lead continued to build, and the quartet led the Maglia Rosa group by four minutes with when they began the final 10km.

Giro d’Italia Donne, stage 3: Casale Monferrato - Ovada (135km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 3-31-24
2. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 
3. Liane Lippert (Ger) DSM
4. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Canyon-SRAM all at same time
5. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit-WNT at 3-18
6. Coryn Rivera (USA) DSM
7. Emma Norsgaard (Den) Movistar
8. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé-BTC Ljubljana
9. Ilaria Sanguinetti (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service
10. Marta Lach (Pol) Ceratizit-WNT all at same time

1. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx
2. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (RSA) SDWorx
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx

Another breathless edition of La Course was won by new Dutch superstar Demi Vollering after excellent work from her SD Worx squad.

The 24-year-old was barely visible throughout the race, hiding in the wheels, coming to the fore only in the final where world champion and team-mate Anna van der Breggen led her out. Patient, Vollering sat on the wheel of Jumbo-Visma’s Marianne Vos who finished third, with Cecile Uttrup Ludwig in between in second place.

The race never settled, with action throughout the nearly three hours, and a 12 woman breakaway was only caught in the final four kilometres. Canyon-SRAM set up the final climb with an attack from Tiffany Cromwell with Kasia Niewiadoma leading a group of seven up the climb, but the pace eased and another group seemed to be coming back.

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With 500m to go Van der Breggen kicked hard, forcing Vos to follow and use her kick too early.

Vollering has improved immensely since joining SDWorx at the start of the year. On Saturday she clearly learnt from earlier mistakes, turning the tables on Vos after losing out to her compatriot at Amstel Gold Race.

She now also leads the individual standings of the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

How it happened 

Created in 2014 as a precursor to a full women’s stage race, La Course began life running alongside the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysées, Marianne Vos winning the opening edition.

Despite the clamour, a stage race failed to materialise until the recent announcement that the Tour de France Femmes would finally happen in 2022, so this year’s La Course has special significance as possibly the last.

Starting at 8.20 am riders were forced from their beds in the middle of the night to ensure they were properly prepared for what is one of the highest-profile races in the women’s sport. And they were to take on a 107.7km race in the rolling Brittany countryside.

Rolling out of Brest for an opening 54km leg, they joined a circuit of 14km which they would ride in full three times, including the ascent of Côte de la Fosse aux Loups, a 3.1km climb with ramps of 14%, the finish coming after 1000m of false flat.

The opening kilometres were punctuated by attacks from Stade Rochelais-Charente Maritime and Arkéa teams, the French squads showing themselves in their home race. Of the WorldTour teams SD Worx were most aggressive, 2018 world champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak constantly attacking.

It was one of the French teams who were successful in getting away though, Arkéa’s Cedrine Kerbaol building a lead of one minute. Not for long though, as teams tried to get across before arriving at the closing circuit.

Eventually, the young French woman was joined by Elena Pirrone (Valcar Travel and Service), and while that brought the gap down it extended back out to 50 seconds, with Lara Vieceli (Ceratizit-WNT) chasing in between.

On the climb for the first of four ascents, Kerbaol was dropped and Pirrone crossed the line with a lead approaching 30 seconds as the thinned peloton became increasingly nervous behind.

On the descent that nervousnesses became action as Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) led an attack, catching Pirrone and forming a group of 12 at the front.

But as they reached the bottom of the climb for the second time Van der Breggen attacked the bunch, dragging it across to the leaders, only for another group of 12, including some of the same riders to head up the road.

With all the biggest teams represented in that leading dozen, the peloton relaxed and the gap went out to 1.10 as they headed onto the climb for the penultimate time. However, once again that brought action, French champion Evita Muzic attacking the bunch when her FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope team-mate, Brodie Chapman was temporarily distanced from the leading group.

Muzic was left stranded in no-woman’s-land though and she was caught with eight kilometres remaining, with the gap to the front them at 40 seconds, making for a tense final. However, when Jumbo-Visma came to the front on the final approach to Landerneau and the climb the gap tumbled, the leaders caught just before they hit the final ascent of the climb.

ResultLa Course by Le Tour de France: Brest to Landernau (107.7km)

1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx in 2-50-29
2. Cecilie Uttrup (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
3.  Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo Visma
4. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SDWorx
5. Grace Brown (Aus) BikeExchange
6. Kasia Niewiadoma  (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
7. Soraya Paladin (Ita) Liv Racing
8. Liane Lippert (Ger) DSM all at same time
9. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) Trek-Segafredo at 04 seconds
10. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita) Liv Racing

The organiser of the Ladies Tour of Norway has announced firm plans for a six day stage race called the Battle of the North to happen in 2022.

It has applied to the UCI to have the Scandinavian stage race between August 16 and 21, with stages in Denmark before the race heads north for three days in Norway and a fourth crossing into Sweden.

As the race will replace the Ladies Tour of Norway it is expected the new event will also be part of the top tier, the Women’s WorldTour, consequently attracting the biggest teams and best riders.

The race was originally announced in 2019, the organiser hoping to amalgamate the two Swedish one-day events at Vårgårda and the Norwegian race into a 10-day event. This has not proved possible, with Vårgårda, which runs two WorldTour races - a team time trial and road race - on the same weekend, choosing to remain independent.

“There are no bad feelings on our part, Vårgårda is a unique concept with strong local roots,” said Ladies Tour of Norway organiser Roy Moberg in a press release.

“A the same time it places some restrictions in us in relation to realising the Battle of the North as we had originally planned. There is simply no place in the UCI’s calendar for a 10-day stage race with the continuation of Vårgårda in the same time period in August.

However, though the Ladies Tour of Norway organiser is formally behind the application to the UCI, they are supported by both the Danish and Swedish cycling federations.

Performances from riders such as 2016 world champion Amalie Dideriksen (Trek-Segafredo), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) and more recently Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) have highlighted the quality of the women’s sport in Denmark, and the race will be good news for the sport there.

Though stages move around the south of the country, crossing the Oslo Fjord, the Ladies Tour of Norway is based in the town of Halden, south of Oslo and right on the border with Sweden. Traditionally the final stage heads into Sweden and the press release suggests this will continue in the Battle of the North.

“We will have six varied and spectacular stages that offer tough cross country riding in Jutland [Denmark], climbing in the Norwegian mountains and fast-paced technical roads in Eastern Norway, spiced with a Swedish Norwegian ending,” read the release.

The race will make for a busy summer of top-level stage racing for the women’s peloton, with the addition of a women’s equivalent of the Tour de France expected over eight days in July. Cycling Weekly understands the 10-day Giro Rosa is hoping to return to the WorldTour in 2022 after being relegated for this year.

Add a six-day Women’s Tour in the UK, and two Spanish four-day races in May which are set to return in 2022 after one was cancelled this year due to the pandemic, and the timing of the Scandinavian race was complicated.

“It is no secret that we have tried to find a spot in the UCI’s WorldTour calendar in May/June… We have so far not succeeded with that, but if we get an opening from the UCI it is still desirable,” said technical implementation project manager, Anders Eia Linnestad.

The Norwegian race has been running since 2014 and has been won by some of the sport’s biggest names, including Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx), Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) and Megan Guarnier.

Winner of Sunday’s Ghent-Wevelgem, Marianne Vos has dominated, the Dutch rider winning eight stages and GC in the three most recent editions, the gnarly Classics style courses suiting her perfectly.

Jumbo-Visma is the latest men’s WorldTour squad to set up a women’s team. 

The Dutch team have announced their new women’s cycling outfit will launch in 2021, with Marianne Vos headlining the roster. 

Team Jumbo-Visma Women will start out as a UCI-level squad next year, as new teams aren’t allowed to join the Women’s WorldTour in their first season, but they have already made a number of world-class signings. 

British rider Anna Henderson is among those signings, joining from Sunweb. 

Jumbo-Visma team manager Richard Plugge said: “The time is ripe to get started. It is fantastic to be able to make a major contribution to national and international women’s cycling through your own women’s team. 

“With the arrival of this women’s team, we complete Team Jumbo-Visma, embracing talent recognition, development and top sport at the highest level. In addition, it is fantastic that we can also offer young girls perspective for the long term within our Academy model.”

Vos will be joining Jumbo-Visma from her current CCC-Liv team along with Riejanne Markus, while Jip van den Bos will sign from Boels-Dolmans. 

The new team will be run by Esra Tromp, the former team manager at Parkhotel Valkenburg. 

Tromp said: “The goal of the team is to build the best women’s team in the world so I happily jumped at the opportunity. The team consists of talent and experience and has a very nice balance. We will make a major contribution to women’s cycling with the knowledge and experience available within this organisation.” 

Jumbo-Visma will now cover the spectrum of elite cycling with the men’s WorldTour team, the new women’s team, and their existing development outfit, while they also sponsor speed skating teams. 

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Multiple world champion Vos said: “I am proud to be part of Team Jumbo-Visma. The vision and ambition of the team appeals to me and I look forward to starting together.”

Team Jumbo-Visma Women’s squad

Marianne Vos (Ned) 

Anna Henderson (GBr)

Riejanne Markus (Ned) 

Jip van den Bos (Ned)

Anouska Koster (Ned)

Nancy van der Burg (Ned) 

Romy Kasper (Ger) 

Aafke Soet (Ned) 

Teuntje Beekhuis (Ned) 

Julie van de Velde (Bel) 

Pernille Mathiesen (Den) 

Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) 

Marianne Vos took her third Giro Rosa stage win of this year’s race and her second in successive days on Wednesday. Once again the former world champion benefitted from outstanding teamwork, and duly finished it off in a shopping centre car park in Nola.

With a winding finish to the line she was perfectly positioned and crossed the line just ahead of former British champion Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM), with Lotte Koppecky (Lotto-Soudal) extending her run of outstanding performances in third.

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Like yesterday, Vos’s win was once again due in no small part to her CCC-Liv team-mates, who worked to drop the specialist sprinters on the day’s classified climbs.

Tomorrow there is a chance she could replicate last season’s haul of stage wins, though much will depend on how the last climb inside the closing 10km is ridden.

Annemiek van Vleuten retained her overall lead with just three days to go.

How it happened

After the intended 11km of neutral was inexplicably reduced to about four kilometres, the race got underway through the once affluent streets of Torre del Greco, just south of Naples.

Such a short stage was always likely to attract aggressive racing and so it was, with two riders heading off the front and being caught immediately. This pattern that was repeated many times over, with Ceratizit-WNT being especially aggressive in these early stages, second three riders in different breaks.

It was only on the opening climb after 30km that the race settled at all, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig taking maximum points to strengthen her lead in the competition.

The race entered a period of consolidation in the valley, teams taking time to collect drinks before the next climb. There, it was CCC-Liv who came to the front as they did in stage five, when they kept the pace high enough tom drop the pure sprinters, allowing Marianne Vos a clearer route to victory.

Though other squads were aware this tactic was coming, those looking to their sprinters for a result were unable to keep them in the front group and in contention, the group over one minute back as the race topped the final climb with around 23km to go.

In the final 10km Mariia Novolodskaia (Cogeas-Mettler-Look) launched an audacious solo effort leading by 25 seconds onto the closing two kilometres. However, the Russian rider crashed leaving Vos to take the bunch sprint.

Result

Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile, stage four: Torre del Greco - Vulcano Buono Nola (89km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv, in 2-14-24

2. Hannah Barnes (GBr) Canyon SRAM

3. Lotte Koppecky (Bel) Lotto Soudal

4. Coryn Rivera (USA) Sunweb

5. Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels-Dolmans

6. Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Astana

7. Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

8. Giorgia Bariani (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo

9. Stine Borgli (Nor) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

10. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM, all at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott, in 17-37-28

2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon SRAM, at 1-52

3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, at 2-03

4. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, at 3-03

5. Mikayla Harvey (NZ) Equipe Paule Ka, at 4-21

6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 4.32

7. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA)  CCC-Liv, at 4-34

8. Mavi García (Esp) Ale-BTC Ljubljana, at 4-38

9. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv, at 5-02

10. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Equipe Paule Ka, at 5-32

Marianne Vos took stage the stage win in Terracina on stage five of the Giro Rosa.

The stage could have been one for the stranger sprinters but the former world champion used her team to perfection, ensuring she was the strongest in what was a technical final.

The finish line came around 300m from a tight, 90º corner and the Dutchwoman was perfectly positioned by her team near the front. As it opened up Vos was able to hold off Belgian Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal) who finished a close second, with Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) in third, her best ever Giro Rosa stage finish.

Finishing on the same time in 28th place, Annemiek van Vleuten defended her overall lead.

How it happened

Starting and finishing on the coast in Terracina, some 50km south of Rome, stage five might have been the first opportunity for the sprinters in this year’s Giro Rosa.

Though there was more that 1200 metres of climbing in 110.3km stage, neither of the two classified climbs were too tough and the second topped out more than 22km for the line. Plenty of time for those sprinters who had slipped backwards to get back on.

The moment the flag was dropped Ainara Elbusto (Casa Dorada) attacked and soon had a gap of 30 seconds. Others tried their luck chasing the Spanish rider, but brought the pack with them and the attack was neutralised with 15km gone, the pack flying along the coast road.

With that attack neutralised it was Top Girls Fassa Borltolo’s turn, as they sent Giorgia Bariani away, a move whig instigated a series of attacks for some of the smaller teams who had neither will or ability to show themselves on the race’s earlier stages.

The race remained incredibly hectic until, after 30km, finally Markéta Hájková (BePink) and Małgorzata Jasinska (Casa Dorada) managed to get away, though their lead never topped 50 seconds.

As the race moved onto the the first of those classified climbs, a 16km slog to Madonna della Civita, Vos’s CCC-Liv team came to the front pushing the pace and Hájková and Jasinska were soon caught and passed.

The climb formed a south facing bowl, baking the riders and combining with the pace to split the bunch, Vos’s team attempting to distance the pure sprinters.

With the race in two parts, CCC-Liv continued to push hard ensuring the two groups that had formed on the ascent would not come back together. On the descent, and on the flat before the final climb they continued to push, beginning the second climb with a lead just over a minute.

Short and punchy this climb would never have too much impact, but over the top Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) attacked reaching the top alone. Her move played directly into Vos’s hands, with other teams coming to the front to assist the chase to ensure the Italian made no gains on her sixth place overall.

Longo Borghini was finally caught with around three kilometres to go as the team jockeyed for position in the sprint.

Wednesday's sixth stage between Torre del Greco and Vulcano Buono has been altered after a bridge collapse. Shortened to 89km, it still contains 1200m of ascending, most of that coming in a long climb and we may well see a similar scenario to Tuesday's race.

 Results

Giro Rosa 2020, stage five: Terracina to Terracina (110km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Live in 2-47-27

2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

3. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) Trek-Segafredo

4. Coryn Rivera (USA) Sunweb

5. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Ceratizit-WNT

6. Alison Jackson (Can) Sunweb

7. Sandra Alonso (Esp) Casa Dorada

8. Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels-Dolmans

9. Jelena Erić (Ser) Movistar

10. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service all at same time

General classification after stage five

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott in 15-23-00

2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon SRAM at 1-56

3. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels-Dolmans at 2-03

4. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 3-03

5. Mikayla Harvey (NZ) Equipe Paule Ka at 4-21

6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 4.32

7. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) at 4-34

8. Mavi García (Esp) Ale-BTC Ljubljana at 4-38

9. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv at 5-19

10. Elise Chabbey (Sui) Equipe Paule Ka at 5-36

Marianne Vos took her first stage win of the 2020 Giro Rosa in Assisi on Sunday after what was a turgid day in Italy.

The former world champion overhauled an early move on the final climb to Assisi to add to her incredible array of victories at what is the longest stage race on the women’s calendar.

Stung after losing the race lead on yesterdays’s stage, Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini launched an early move as the front of the race passed under the flame rouge. It was only there that the steepness of the climb to the UNESCO World Heritage site because clear.

With the ascent averaging 15% over one kilometre, Vos bade her time, and as the climb wore on she and Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) drew level with the Italian, the three riding abreast as they passed 300m to go.

Only in the final metres was Vos able to weave her way clear to take the win, with Uttrup Ludwig bagging up fourth place stage two with second today. Longo Borghini held on to take third place.

Finishing a few second back, Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) retains the overall lead with six stages remaining.

Finishing fifth, only 12 seconds back Annemiek van Vleuten retains the overall lead with six stages remaining.

How it happened

The final ascent up Piaggia di San Franceso was only added after the original route to Assisi was changed because of a landslide, changing the complexion of the rac, the peloton not knowing what to expect. 

Other parts of the route were changed as well with an intermediate sprint removed and the classified climb at 50km removed. 

With riders warming up on turbo trainers and expecting a tough opening climb, but what they found though was an opening 10km which was largely downhill, with the first climb on the 142.2km course between Santa Fiora and Assisi coming only after 20km. 

Onto repeated climbs of about five kilometres, and similar fast descents, the bunch stayed together throughout, the Tuscan hills giving little shelter from another day of searing sun.

Only when the race crossed the regional border into Umbria, reaching flatter terrain 63km in, was there a breakaway, when former Polish champion Małgorzata Jasinska (Crono Casa Dorada) made a move off the front.

Jasinska is an expert breakaway rider but despite starting the day some 28 minutes behind overall leader Van Vleuten, she was unable to gain any meaningful advantage and she was caught after only five kilometres, having only managed a 30 second lead.

Even on the flatter land around Perugia where control might have proved easier, no escape was allowed to go.

Inside the final 30km Australian Rachel Neylan (Cronos Casa Dorada) attacked the bunch, but once again the leader gained little more than 20 seconds before the bunch, with Van Vleuten coming to the front bringing her back.

Assisi sits on the hillside and its monasteries are visible for miles around and as it grew ever closer the race quickened. With such a large peloton the final kilometres were truly chaotic, teams fighting for position, though it was Vos’s CCC-Liv squad who positioned her for the final climb.

At 170km, tomorrow’s fourth stage between Assisi and Tivoli is the longest race day since the creation of the Women’s WorldTour in 2016. Another lumpy day the riders will tackle another short, steep climb to the line.

Result

Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile, stage three: Santa Fiora - Assisi (142.2km)

1. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv in 3-53-34

2. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 2 sec

3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 5 sec

4. Liane Lippert (Ger) Sunweb at 8 sec

5. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott at 12 sec

6. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto-Soudal at 13 sec

7. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels-Dolmans at 16 sec

8. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasion (RSA) CCC-Liv

9. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM all at same time

10. Mavi García (Esp) Alé-BTC Ljubljana at 19 sec

General classification after stage three

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott in 8-07-06

2. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels-Dolmans at 1-22

3. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon SRAM at 1-37

4. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope at 2-38

5. Mikayla Harvey (NZ) Equipe Paule Ka at 3-40

6. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) CCC-Liv at 3-58

7. Mavi García (Esp) Ale-BTC Ljubljana at 4-01

8. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott at 4-08

9. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 4-16

10 Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv at 4-53

Lizzie Deignan won a thrilling edition of La Course in Nice on Saturday, beating Marianne Vos into second place after a tight tactical sprint.

The win comes hot on the heels of her win GP Plouay, the most recent Women’s WorldTour race, last Tuesday, and puts her at the top of the rankings.

The British rider had been part of a six woman group which had formed early on second of two laps, and had Trek-Segafredo team mate Elisa Longo Borghini in the group to help.

With the peloton well out of contention, the six leaders rode onto the final straight of the Promenade des Anglais with time to finesse. With Deignan glued to Vos’s wheel Longo Borghini launched repeated attacks taking the pressure off her team mate.

World champion Annemiek van Vleuten also had a go, but was unable to get away. Entering the final kilometre Deignan appeared stranded on the front, but when Longo Borghini, who had been dropped after a previous dig, attacked past them Vos was forced to open her sprint early.

It looked as if the Dutch woman had done enough to win, but Deignan resolutely stuck with her, a desperate bike throw enough to give her the win.

After earlier appearing exhausted, Parkhotel-Valkenburg’s Demi Vollering crossed the line in third place.

How it happened

The 96km race took in two circuits which started with the ascent of the lap's only climb, Côte de Rimiez. After a couple of short-lived and speculative attacks, the race tackled the first ascent as one, though the lack of depth in the peloton was illustrated as riders were dropping out of the back throughout the ascent.

The climbing carried on after the summit, but it was the descent which drew out the first breakaway, with Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope), Lotte Koppecky (Lotto-Soudal), Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Sunweb’s British rider Anna Henderson getting away.

As the six riders hit the flat road back to the coast they had a lead of 25 seconds on a group of about 30 riders, where many of the pre-race favourites were hiding. Of them it was Chloe Hosking’s Rally Cycling team who came to the front to lead the chase.

However, as the leaders headed back into Nice to complete the first lap the peloton swelled and the gap came down dramatically, catching the leaders with 52km remaining, before the first passage of the finish line.

Over the line and as the bunch began the second ascent of the climb world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) launched one of her trademark blistering attacks, drawing out the group of six riders who would contest the final.

Though she led for the entire climb Van Vleuten was unable to drop the other five riders, Niewiadoma, Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv), Demi Vollering (Parkhotel-Valkenburg) and the Trek-Segafredo duo of Longo Borghini and Brit Lizzie Deignan sticking close to her wheel, and when they crested the climb they led by one minute, and even though more riders were by now in the peloton, the gap increased steadily.

Defending Liane Lippert’s overall lead in the WorldTour standings, Sunweb led the chase of a peloton which was steadily increasing in size, but even on the flat they were unable to reduce the leader’s advantage, despite help form Valcar Travel and Service.

By the time the leading six women passed Nice airport, riding onto the Promenade des Anglais they led the bunch by 1.45, allowing space for the tactical final.

Result 

La Course by Le Tour De France: Nice - Nice (96km)

1. Lizzie Deignan (GBr) Trek-Segafredo, in 2-22-51

2. Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv

3. Demi Vollering (Ned) Parkhotel-Valkenburg

4. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM

5. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time

6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 7 sec

7. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope at 1.50

8. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Valcar Travel and Service

9. Soraya Paladin (Ita) CCC-Liv

10. Liane Lippert (Ger) Sunweb, all at same time