Lesser Known Road Racing for Women Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

33 km left in Durango, and the hardest climbs are yet to come. Lotta Henttala and Nina Berton have a minute on the peloton. It doesn't seem to be raining much at the moment, but the roads are still wet from earlier.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ3F_MKYkIM

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Berton went solo, but has been caught now. 24 km to go.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Muzic has tried to break them from the front, but Kerbaol and De Jong were able to hold on, and now the latter looks the strongest and will probably also win a sprint between them.

 

[RedheadDane]

Kerbaol making it back to the front.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I think it was Koster and Meijering who were the closest to following the trio, but I don't know how far behind they are now.

Actually it's Brand who's closest to them now, but even though she is a fine descender, it doesn't look like she'll be coming back.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And now Kerbaol got a gap to Muzic through a corner and is on her own.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

She almost crashed with a km left, but Kerbaol once again took a surprise victory in Spain.

 

[jmdirt]

Good to hear:

‘Guess who’s back?’ - Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig returns to racing three months after fracturing sacrum

Dane rejoins FDJ-Suez at Basque one-day race before taking on Vuelta a Burgos

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[RedheadDane]

Not a bad result for your first race back after breaking your butt!

19	LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup

 

[awavey]

Start list for the Ride London Classique has been published

British champion Pfeiffer Georgi joins star-studded entry list for 2024 Ford RideLondon Classique

Sprinters Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni, and Clara Copponi added to rapid line-up

www.ridelondon.co.uk

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I only realised yesterday that there's no Lagunas de Neila finish in Burgos this year. They will be climbing it from the north-west side, but they will stop about 3 km before the top and then descend down for a finish in Canicosa de la Sierra.

I don't mind them changing it up (I don't know whether it was something they were forced to do), but it's also a bit of a shame not to have a proper MTF in this race. If it had been a descent finish after Picón Blanco, I would have liked it more.

 

[yaco]

I find it diappointing that another mayfly in Taylor Knibbs wins the women's ITT to book a ticket to the Olympics.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I find it diappointing that another mayfly in Taylor Knibbs wins the women's ITT to book a ticket to the Olympics.

I was quite surprised she was able to beat Faulkner who seemed to be in good form and had it as a big goal. Knibb was announced as a Trek rider year, but never raced for them outside of the NC. She is still sponsored by them though, so perhaps we will get to see more of her in road racing in the future.

 

[yaco]

Gee, Aalerud is doing a training ride in stage one of Burgos.

 

[JR1012]

What is the peloton doing in Burgos? Over 3 min gap and only 18 km to go.

 

[yaco]

I was quite surprised she was able to beat Faulkner who seemed to be in good form and had it as a big goal. Knibb was announced as a Trek rider year, but never raced for them outside of the NC. She is still sponsored by them though, so perhaps we will get to see more of her in road racing in the future.

Ultimately the ITT is a RR and it is unfair that someone who does not ride the road can compete in this discipline at the Olympics.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Ultimately the ITT is a RR and it is unfair that someone who does not ride the road can compete in this discipline at the Olympics.

Sure, but she's earned the right due to the US selection process. And at least it's not a 49 year old Neben.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

That was one nasty crash for Balsamo, but overtaking on the inside is always a risk.

I hoped Schrempf would finally get a win out of her trademark attacks, but it wasn't to be today either. However it's also nice to see Henttala get a victory.

 

[JR1012]

That crash reminded me of the Jacobson crash at the Tour de Pologne.

Hopefully both riders involed in the crash are "ok".

 

[yaco]

Sure, but she's earned the right due to the US selection process. And at least it's not a 49 year old Neben.

It's a poor and flawed process.

 

[awavey]

The downside for nations with limited numbers allowed to ride in the road race is if the ITTer has to road race, you could be stuck with an unbalanced group of riders for the road race.

 

[RedheadDane]

LOTTA, whop-hoo.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's a poor and flawed process.

We'll see how it goes. Anna Kiesenhofer beat MTBer Mona Mitterwallner in a qualification race to get her spot in Tokyo, and that went pretty well despite her not riding many pro road races at the time.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The downside for nations with limited numbers allowed to ride in the road race is if the ITTer has to road race, you could be stuck with an unbalanced group of riders for the road race.

For Tokyo, the Swiss federation had to choose between Chabbey, who was only interested in doing the road race, and Reusser, who wanted to focus on the time trial. Since Reusser ended up with a silver medal in the ITT, they obviously made the right choice. This time they have 4 spots for the road race, so they will both get to be there.

 

[yaco]

The downside for nations with limited numbers allowed to ride in the road race is if the ITTer has to road race, you could be stuck with an unbalanced group of riders for the road race.

For both men and women's races at the Olympics the ITT rider is part of the road team. The only way around this if you use a track rider.