Lesser Known Road Racing for Women Thread

[RedheadDane]

Top-10 in the women's race:

1	Gery Célia	France	5	5		3:30:12
2	Ciabocco Eleonora	Italy	1	2		,,
3	Moors Fleur	Belgium		1		,,
4	Perkins Flora	Great Britain				,,
5	Ruiz Pérez Lucía	Spain				,,
6	Němcová Barbora	Czech Republic				,,
7	Riedmann Linda	Germany				,,
8	Volstad Alexandra	Canada				,,
9	Venturelli Federica	Italy				,,
10	Rayer Eglantine	France				,,

 

[RedheadDane]

Please continue the l'Avenir discussion in the so-designed U23 Racing thread.

This is - as you all know - the Women's Version of the "Lesser Known (Elite) Races" thread.

@Cookster15, if you could move the l'Avenir discussion to the right place.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Surely it helps with continuity being here. Moving it will mean it gets intermixed with the men's race.

 

[RedheadDane]

Moving it will mean it gets intermixed with the men's race.

So? Races gets intermixed in this thread - and in the corresponding men's thread - all the time.

Maybe - when UCI gets around to create a proper women's U23 scene - someone can create a Women's U23 Thread. Until then, let's keep it where it belongs; in the shared U23 thread.

I mean, come on! How long do I need to make this thread title, for you to understand the purpose of it?
At least the talk about transfers here has - mostly - stopped.

 

[Wyndbrook]

So be it.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So? Races gets intermixed in this thread - and in the corresponding men's thread - all the time.

Maybe - when UCI gets around to create a proper women's U23 scene - someone can create a Women's U23 Thread. Until then, let's keep it where it belongs; in the shared U23 thread.

I mean, come on! How long do I need to make this thread title, for you to understand the purpose of it?
At least the talk about transfers here has - mostly - stopped.

The U23 thread was also clearly created to discuss men's racing only so your logic doesn't hold up. To make things easier, we should only have one thread called The Thread to discuss everything in.

 

[RedheadDane]

The U23 thread was also clearly created to discuss men's racing only so your logic doesn't hold up. To make things easier, we should only have one thread called The Thread to discuss everything in.

When the U23 thread was created there wasn't any women's U23 scene.
Yes, the opening post is mostly about the men, because there wasn't a women's side to discuss at the time.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

When the U23 thread was created there wasn't any women's U23 scene.
Yes, the opening post is mostly about the men, because there wasn't a women's side to discuss at the time.

We discussed the 2023 race in this thread, but that apparently wasn't an issue back then.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Given that:

• There is only one women's race (Kreiz Breizh, not likely to garner a whole lot of comment) that overlaps;
• There are many women in this race that are serious competitors in elite racing
• This event is listed as Women's elite in PCS (and probably elsewhere)

I would suggest that it is fine where it is. Unless anyone wants to open a dedicated thread.

Disappointed that the Discovery + coverage of the men's equivalent doesn't at least include some brief highlights/review.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If we (and by we I mean RHD) want to keep race other than the elite ones separate, then it would make more sense to have a general development races thread rather than a specialised U23 one, simply because there just aren't enough specifically development races at that level; look at Federica Venturelli's calendar, where she's contracted to UAE Development Team, and yet she hasn't done a single race outside of the national championships for that team this season, appearing either as a guest for UAE Team ADQ in non-WWT races, or for the national team here. Most of the more successful riders in l'Avenir are already racing for WWT teams and a large number of the biggest teams are aleady represented here with U23 riders (Schreiber and (Julia) Kopecky at SD Worx, Reijnhout, Geurts, Wolff and Bunel at Visma, Gery and Rayer at FDJ, Couzens and Perkins at Fenix, Czapla at Canyon, the Holmgren twins, Wilson-Haffenden and Moors at Trek, Ciabocco and Londoño at Picnic, the Ruíz Pérez twins at Movistar, Cipressi at HPH and also Blasi now moved up to UAE from the development team mid-season), plus there are a fair few riders being signed straight from juniors who are bypassing this development stage entirely - Cat Ferguson, Antonia Niedermaier, Zoe Backstedt, Nienke Veenhoven, Nienke Vinke, Alena Ivanchenko and is about to happen with Paula Ostiz.

With the majority of the upper echelons of the race therefore already being WWT riders, and so few races specifically for the U23 age group, it seems unnecessary to have a separate thread for those races - it will likely be swiftly buried in the forum with the long gaps between races at the U23 level, and forgotten about resulting in people forgetting its existence and putting U23 women's race commentary in this thread rather than necrobumping the old one anyway.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Back to discussing the race itself, Souren proved to be the fastest on this stage. Holmgren is still in the lead, and since there aren't bonifications in this race her jersey probably isn't in danger the next couple of days, although tomorrow's finish is slightly uphill.

 

[RedheadDane]

With the majority of the upper echelons of the race therefore already being WWT riders, and so few races specifically for the U23 age group, it seems unnecessary to have a separate thread for those races - it will likely be swiftly buried in the forum with the long gaps between races at the U23 level, and forgotten about resulting in people forgetting its existence and putting U23 women's race commentary in this thread rather than necrobumping the old one anyway.

The only reason we're having this discussion is because @Samu Cuenca started the l'Avenir discussion here, and I wasn't quick enough to stop him.
So I guess I carry some of the blame...
Anyway; Truce? We continue discussing this year's edition of l'Avenir here, and next year we find a better solution for U23 races?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The only reason we're having this discussion is because @Samu Cuenca started the l'Avenir discussion here, and I wasn't quick enough to stop him.
So I guess I carry some of the blame...
Anyway; Truce? We continue discussing this year's edition of l'Avenir here, and next year we find a better solution for U23 races?

If they put the race on TV next year then I think it deserves its own thread, and I would also likely have created one this year if it had been the case. The fact that no one apart from me have talked much about the racing (at least not while it was going on) should be evidence enough that a thread for this year wasn't a necessity.

 

[RedheadDane]

If they put the race on TV next year then I think it deserves its own thread, and I would also likely have created one this year if it had been the case.

I'll admit, I thought I'd just missed it because they - very rudely - finished before I made it home.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's especially strange because it did have some TV time last year, but then it backed almost straight out of the TDFF last year and was in the same geographical area.

 

[RedheadDane]

So, Holmgren leads the GC - and the Youth GC - and Holmgren is also 2nd and 3rd in the QOM.

BTW, does anyone know if Couzens is wearing her UK National Champion colours?

 

[Wyndbrook]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already in another thread, Hess cycling is finally no more.

 

[Ulle97]

How are the male and female Avenir Tours running on the same parcours on the same day?

Are the men and women all bunched together in the peloton??

 

[RedheadDane]

How are the male and female Avenir Tours running on the same parcours on the same day?

Same way races like for example De Ronde, or LBL does it, I guess...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Today and tomorrow's stages are peculiar in the way that they start in the same spots as the men's, but finish earlier on the route. Usually you rather want to have the finishes in the same place, but it obviously have to also make sense logistically.

There were stages in the original TDFF where they both started further into the route than the men and also finished earlier than they did. One of example of that is the Luz-Ardiden stage from 1988, where the women started in Bagnères-de-Luchon and then climbed Peyresourde and Aspin before descending down to the finish in Sainte-Marie de Campan.

 

[RedheadDane]

That profile deserves a spot in the "Bad Profiles" thread.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Souren has allegedly been dropped, so it looks like she won't be winning again today.
Barbora Němcová has a 25 second gap with 5 km left.

 

[RedheadDane]

This appears to be one of those very long final Ks.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Gery wins again and even managed to gap everyone, but (most of) the GC favourites finished together.