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I missed this news yesterday. Winder's attacking style will definitely be missed in the women's peloton. I guess she will have more time to eat mushrooms now or whatever she usually does with them.

View: https://twitter.com/TrekSegafredo/status/1413416795432697859
I imagine after 14 years of basically nothing but bike racing you'd be itching to get off the hamster wheel, especially with women's salaries... But she has had a great career.
 
I know it's stretching the forum rules but still:

Rukhsar Habibzai has burned all her cycling records & certificates and today also deactivated her personal Instagram account. So her career as captain of the Afghan women's cycling team sadly has ended.

Just on Sunday she was still heartily showing her sympathy with the Iranian population amid the Covid-19 crisis. Despite her own situation and fears. Yesterday she was contacted by German Television ZDF, but couldn't speak. Only cry. She stated her heart was aching on Sunday already.

Rukhsar not only loved to ride her bike and encouraged and accompanied other women who joined her. Additionally she was a woman rights activist. She was also a dentist and studying to become a surgeon.

A truly hearty, caring and intelligent young woman who used her strengths to support other people.

I sincerely hope she only deactivated her profile for safety reasons to hide and finds a way to escape. Although abandoning your country must feel horrible and creates further pain and tears. It's not her fault. She shouldn't feel guilty at all.

Wish her all the best and safety. Hopefully her broken heart can heal somehow and live goes on for her. May she find shelter & preserve her loving character.

There was a documentary about her cycling team on arte some years back. I'll link the German & French editions for those who understand.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rmbi3XTXZQ

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HXA7V3auGnY
 
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I know it's stretching the forum news but still:

Rukhsar Habibzai has burned all her cycling records & certificates and today also deactivated her personal Instagram account. So her career as captain of the Afghan women's cycling team sadly has ended.

Just on Sunday she was still heartily showing her sympathy with the Iranian population amid the Covid-19 crisis. Despite her own situation and fears. Yesterday she was contacted by German Television ZDF, but couldn't speak. Only cry. She stated her heart was aching on Sunday already.

Rukhsar not only loved to ride her bike and encouraged and accompanied other women who joined her. Additionally she was a woman rights activist. She was also a dentist and studying to become a surgeon.

A truly hearty, caring and intelligent young woman who used her strengths to support other people.

I sincerely hope she only deactivated her profile for safety reasons to hide and finds a way to escape. Although abandoning your country must feel horrible and creates further pain and tears. It's not her fault. She shouldn't feel guilty at all.

Wish her all the best and safety. Hopefully her broken heart can heal somehow and live goes on for her. May she find shelter & preserve her loving character.

There was a documentary about her cycling team on arte some years back. I'll link the German & French editions for those who understand.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rmbi3XTXZQ

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HXA7V3auGnY
Rukhsar has been successfully evacuated and is safe. Good news. Glad for her! Even though it's a painful goodbye of course.
 
Could have done more if she managed to stay on her bike .
Those two things are probably related. Pack skills are a crucial part of development, and although the péloton is smaller in women's cycling it does mean that issues with pack riding are more immediately obvious as well (hi, Pauliena!). Being a late starter you are at a disadvantage for this. I remember Evelyn Stevens having a disaster of a time descending in the Trofeo Binda when she first went pro because she was so naïve at handling that she'd only just learned to have her inside pedal elevated while descending.
 
Those two things are probably related. Pack skills are a crucial part of development, and although the péloton is smaller in women's cycling it does mean that issues with pack riding are more immediately obvious as well (hi, Pauliena!). Being a late starter you are at a disadvantage for this. I remember Evelyn Stevens having a disaster of a time descending in the Trofeo Binda when she first went pro because she was so naïve at handling that she'd only just learned to have her inside pedal elevated while descending.

Kennedy was awful at descending in her first two years - She improved this aspect of her racing but still had the knack of still finding trouble in races - Anyway, the impact of COVID has affected OZ and NZ riders - When you factor in the difficulty in finding flights, the strict quarantine rules on arrival, along with many having partners stuck in their country, has and will lead to early retirements.
 
Kennedy was awful at descending in her first two years - She improved this aspect of her racing but still had the knack of still finding trouble in races - Anyway, the impact of COVID has affected OZ and NZ riders - When you factor in the difficulty in finding flights, the strict quarantine rules on arrival, along with many having partners stuck in their country, has and will lead to early retirements.
Kennedy only started racing at 27yo, and riding not long before that as rehab from steeplechase injuries so of course she was always going to have handling issues at World Tour level.

The difficult thing for her was getting married at the start of the year, then heading back to Europe almost immediately, along with the pain of getting injured right after Olympic selection - this happened to Kennedy as a steeplechaser as well.
 

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