Paternoster - Page 2

The Giro Donne is one of the longest running major stage races in the women's cycling calendar. You can trace it all the way back to 1988 when Maria Canins won...

This year's Dwars Door de Westhoek has been scaled back due to roadworks. The riders will tackle 12 laps of a 10km circuit that...

There isn't an extensive history at Scheldeprijs Women, it was first held coming out of the Covid pandemic with Lorena Wiebes winning in 2021. She doubled up in 2022, confirming that the women's Scheldeprijs is very much like the men's race. Over the years, the men's edition has been seen as a sprinter's world championships or a teaser before the Champs Elysees at least.

A women's Dwars Door Vlaanderen has been going for a solid decade at this point. First run back in 2012 at national level, it took 5 editions before it joined the UCI ranks. That didn't stop it from having big names race it in that period though. The early winners board is dominated by Amy Pieters with her 3 wins in a row from 2014-2016.

Gent Wevelgem Women has a decent shout as being one of the strongest Spring Classics races in the women's calendar. We've seen both the expected sprint finishes and also the odd attack and small break contest the win. The race has developed over the years and recently has become much more similar to the men's edition.

A women's Exterioo Classic Brugge-De Panne has only been in existence since 2018, the same year the men's race stopped being 3 stages long. Instead, the new women's Brugge-De Panne helped create a festival of cycling style approach lasting for 3 days. The flat parcours means it's a sprint heavy classic.

The Women's Nokere Koerse has a relatively short history compared to some of the other classics, just 3 editions have been held, with one postponed due to Covid as well. So far we've seen two big sprint finishes, both won by Lorena Wiebes and one slightly different finish with a break.

The Women's Ronde van Drenthe is a rare men/women double-header race where the women's race has the greater prestige to the men's race. It's also one of the longest running women's races in the calendar with a whole host of major name winners since its introduction in 2007.

The GP Oetingen is a relatively new one day race, with only 2 previous editions. It is an adapted version of the old Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik race, which covered some of the same roads in the area around the finish of Omloop het Nieuwsblad.

Omloop van het Hageland is the second part of the Opening Weekend for the women's peloton. With no Kuurne Brussels Kuurne, the long-running Omloop van het Hageland fills the gap nicely instead. More often than not the race comes down to a sprint, with the parcours just hard enough to drop any unsuspecting rider.