Vollering - Page 12

SD Worx has pulled a surprise heading into the Tour of Scandinavia, which starts Tuesday 9th August 2022. Marlen Reusser was originally down as...

The Tour of Scandinavia has morphed from the Ladies Tour of Norway for 2022 after a successful run between 2014 and 2021. Originally hoped to incorporate the Vargarda races in Sweden, the organisers there eventually opted to remain separate.

Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten won the Tour de France Femmes for the first time, in the first opportunity for her career. She took...

The first proper GC day of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes. The peloton will have 3 major climbs to crest but not quite...

The Tour de France Femmes has a long and convoluted history. The first race that could be considered a Women's Tour de France was the La Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, held in 1955. That race was won by the Brit Millie Robinson, who would also go on to be a women's hour record holder. Held over 5 stages, the race ended up being a one-off event.

With this year's Itzulia Women, women's racing in the Basque County has come full circle after quite a lot of change in recent years. We used to have the long-term staple of the Emakumeen Bira stage race which ran from 1988 to 2019. One of the major stage races, surprisingly given the climbing it was a race that neither Anna van der Breggen nor Annemiek van Vleuten ever actually won.

The Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs is named after the 1958 World Champion from Luxembourg. One of the original stars of women's cycling, Elsy Jacobs was also the holder of the hour record from 1958 to 1972. The race was held for the first time in 2008, on the 10th anniversary of her death. Initially a one-day race, it expanded to a stage race in 2012.

Liege Bastogne Liege Femmes is another relatively new race on the women’s calendar. First held in 2017, it gives riders the chance to cover roads raced by the men’s peloton in one of their monuments. Although the race is called Liege Bastogne Liege still, the women’s race starts in Bastogne and before heading to Liege.

La Flèche Wallonne Féminine or the Women’s Flèche Wallonne has been running since 1998. A relatively long history for a modern women’s cycling race. In its 20+ year history, the race has only seen 10 different winners. Anna van der Breggen has won Flèche Wallonne Féminine 7 times, Marianne Vos 5 times, with Fabiana Luperini and Nicole Cooke both 3-time winners.

The women’s Brabantse Pijl sees the Spring Classics move eastwards. The Flandrian part of the calendar is over and we’re only a few days away from seeing more racing in the Ardennes region of Belgium. The race begins at Lennik in Flemish Brabant before heading south, skirting around the bottom of Brussels.