Race Preview - Page 9

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.

It's a short history for the Paris Roubaix Femmes as the race has only been held since 2021. Originally earmarked for 2020, that edition to be held in the Autumn was postponed as the pandemic took hold again. Eventually moved into 2021, the first year saw a long-range move from Lizzie Deignan who attacked before the cobbles started to ensure a strong lead position on the very muddy cobbled sectors that year.

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 Tour of Flanders goes back to 2004, where the race immediately joined the top-level Road World Cup. From there, it's pretty much been a who's who of women's cycling on the winner's list. World champions, grand tour winners and more, every name is heavily linked to women's cycling with no surprises like say Jacky Durand on the men's list.

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 Trofeo Alfredo Binda has been around for what feels like forever, it's one of the crown jewels of the women's cycling calendar. With all the talk the other week of whether Strade Bianche is a monument (it isn't), the Trofeo Alfredo Binda is unarguably one in women's cycling.

A new race on the 2023 UCI calendar is the Tour de Normandie Féminin which jumps straight into the 2.1 race level and has...

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.