Race Preview - Page 8

The Itzulia Women took over as one of the major Spanish stage races once Emakumeen Bira closed its doors and was able to get off the ground in 2022 straight into the Women's WorldTour. That was largely in part due to the race being an expanded version of the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa which took place either side of Covid.

A very long-running race, the Bretagne Ladies Tour can trace its origins back to 1987 when Cecile Odin won. Since then, it's always kept a low level but has just started to move up in the last couple of years after a patchy record since 2016. It's no longer a 2.2 race but has reached 2.1 level.

New last year, Leiedal Koerse is effectively the E3 Classic for Women. For now, it remains not quite on the same level but there...

La Vuelta Femenina is very much the junior member of the women's grand tours and riding the coattails of the men's race whilst trying to catch up. It's had a slow, measured progression from a one-day race, similar to La Course on the Champs Elysees was, into something bigger. After 3 editions, a second stage was added which was somewhat strangely a team time trial to effectively decide the GC.

The Festival Elsy Jacobs is a long-running women's race that is the high point of the calendar in Luxembourg. First held in 2008, it began life as a one-day race won by Italian Monia Bacaille. It stayed that way for a few years before growing in 2012 to a three-day format that always started off with a prologue. That shifted the balance to riders who were strong against the clock

A women's Liège Bastogne Liège hasn't been raced for too long with a history going all the way back to 2017. Anna van der Breggen took a pair of Ardennes Classics in the first two editions - winning Flèche Wallonne on the Wednesday and then Liège Bastogne Liège on the Sunday.

Women’s Flèche Wallonne History The women's Flèche Wallonne, or La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, or finally in 2023 Flèche Wallonne Femmes, has a long uninterrupted history going back to...

The history of the Women's Amstel Gold Race is very much in two parts. An initial race was held between 2001-2003 (won by Nicole Cooke, Leontien van Moorsel and Debby Mansveld), reaching the highest-level Women's World Cup set of races in its final year of that run.

The last couple of years of the women's Brabantse Pijl have centred on Demi Vollering. The Dutch rider infamously celebrated just a moment too soon in 2021. With her arm already aloft in victory, Ruth Winder took the slenderest of victories on the finish line photo for one of the American's final big wins.

The Ronde de Mouscron has a short history of just two editions, like Scheldeprijs before it. The first edition was a big bunch sprint that was dominated by Valcar as they delivered Chiara Consonni to the win that year.