Holden - Page 2

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.

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.

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.

The GP Oetingen came into existence in 2021 but in reality is a revived race. It’s a new version of the old Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik race that was held between 2011 and 2018. The finishing circuit of that race has been largely reused for the GP Oetingen.

The 2022 women's cycling season has begun but the Women's WorldTour doesn't kick into action until Strade Bianche on 5th March. With the continuing...

The Women's WorldTour has gained a team for 2021 with SD Worx making the step up this year. There are also a number of...