Race Preview - Page 7

The Tour des Suisse Women has quickly moved up the ranks since its re-introduction to the calendar. Opening up as a 2.1 in 2021, it was a 2.Pro in 2022 and now part of the Women's WorldTour in 2023. It had been a 20-year wait from the last original edition in 2001 and the return in 2021. The two races were linked by the presence of Olga Zabelinskaya, the Russian-born Uzbek taking part in both sides of the gap.

The women's Dwars Door het Hageland has had 2 editions so far, both this side of the covid pandemic. The first year, 2021, was won by classics queen Chantal van der Broek-Blaak in a solo victory of 36 seconds ahead of teammate Christine Majerus.

The CIC-Tour Féminin Pyrénées has a limited history with just the one edition in 2022. Krista Doebel-Hickok was the strongest rider over the 4 stages, taking the GC by 1'07" from Eri Yonamine and Ricarda Bauernfeind back at 1'38" behind the American.

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...

The Alpes Gresivaudan Classic kicked off last season with, forgive me, a classic. Evita Muzic was the pre-race favourite and whilst she took the...

Kicking off in 2022, the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta del Sol saw Arlenis Sierra take the inaugural victory in what was a fun trio...

RideLondon Classique History After a tumultuous off-season, RideLondon Classique returns in 2023 still just about as a Women's WorldTour level race. Last year, only the...

The Thüringen Ladies Tour is another race with a long storied history in the women's peloton but probably without the top-drawer race level that would normally bring. Hosted since 1986, it has never made it to the highest level of the women's cycling calendar, although moves are being made to change that now. The race can look back on a list of winners that includes greats like Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, Mirjam Melchers, Hanka Kupfernagel, Zulfia Zabirova, Judith Arndt, Emma Johansson, and Lisa Brennauer.

The men's Veenendaal Veenendaal has a long history but in contrast, there have only been 2 women's editions. The first took place in 2018...

Vuelta a Burgos Feminas sprung up from a national-level race in 2019 to 2.1 level. The first edition was won by Norwegian Stine Borgli with a bit of a different parcours to the race it has now become. There was no major summit finish...