The Lesser Known Women's Road Racing Thread 2023

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Aug 29, 2009
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awavey said:
just as Iurani Blanco broke away from her 2up breakaway and there are cars just driving past like its a normal day on the road, there was even a bit where they had a traffic jam and the peloton had to almost stop to get by the queue of cars, ridiculous situation to have let develop its a professional cycling race isnt it ?
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cars shouldn't drive past of course, but there's not really much you can do about a traffic jam like that, is there? It can always happen in races with a rolling road closure, and the peloton is usually aware of that.
 
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Dk one

Jul 9, 2019
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CUL’s fluid style means it is often not easy to see that she is about to crack. I feel she will never be top three in the world on the very long climbs when everyone is there. Great and deserved, after her last 11 months, for Cavalli:)
 
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awavey

Oct 3, 2021
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search said:
cars shouldn't drive past of course, but there's not really much you can do about a traffic jam like that, is there? It can always happen in races with a rolling road closure, and the peloton is usually aware of that.
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there wasnt a moto marshall stopping the traffic though, or warning the riders of those obstructions, it was sat at the end of the queue for some reason in one of the clips I saw.

which creates a dangerous situation for the riders because you dont know whether the cars have stopped because they recognise theyre driving through a race and need to stop or not, and there will be riders in the peloton who are unsighted and when space compresses quickly thats how you get crashes, and riders then get more nervous and it kind of spirals out of feeling a safe racing environment

obviously the cars actually driving on the course alongside riders were more of an issue than the ones stopped, but certainly I think todays protest stoppage was because whilst the moto marshalls were doing better than yesterday they still werent stopping all vehicles, or warning the riders of them.

and in fact it carried on after the protest, theres a moment about 21ish km to go, there were two cars on the road coming towards the main group who were full width of the road, the 1st gets out of the way by about 20 secs onto a side road, the 2nd just has to drive into a gap off road at the last second as they pass, no sign of any moto marshall at all, there was another instance where they passed an on ramp and a car was trying to join the road with them, it at least had a moto marshall stopping it at the last second, but it only takes one vehicle in the wrong place to put the riders in serious danger. I was getting annoyed listening to GCN with the commentators whilst they were supporting the riders taking a stance, were trying to down play the race organisers responsibility for what was happening.

hopefully the Cyclists Alliance, or some of the more outspoken riders will send out some stronger worded messaging tonight, because weve still got another 126kms of this to go on a much flatter stage, and the race organisers clearly cant give guarantees its not going to keep happening.
 
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Samu Cuenca

Samu Cuenca

Sep 26, 2020
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It's a shame if had to come to this, but it's obviously the right call when the safety couldn't be guaranteed. I don't remember hearing about similar issues last year, but I just hope this experience won't scare the organisers from putting on the race again, provided they'll do a better job of it.
 
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awavey

Oct 3, 2021
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IPT, Canyon SRAM and Bizkaia Durango had pulled out before the UCI canned the race, understandably difficult situation for teams and riders to be put in as some clearly were still prepared to race for UCI points, but it would have been nicer imo if there had been more solidarity across the teams to take a stand as I felt yesterday it was obvious we were just going to see more of the same issues today.

and I kind of the feel the UCI were forced into making the decision, rather than coming to the correct conclusion themselves, that CPA letter is pretty damning saying the organisers/commissaires couldnt see the problems.

Hayley Simmonds who was riding for AWOL O'Shea has posted a tweet thread about it, where she details that yesterdays post stoppage neutralisation was actually just rider led, which explains why a group of riders zipped off the front and got chased down by a Human Powered Health rider (I couldnt see who it was) who had a healthy exchange of views with them and brought them back to pacing in the bunch, but also why there wasnt really any clear signal when to restart racing for the climb.

its such a shame because there were positives, the parcours was good, the coverage was surprisingly excellent, its just how can you mess up rider safety so badly.
 
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awavey

Oct 3, 2021
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Samu Cuenca said:
It's a shame if had to come to this, but it's obviously the right call when the safety couldn't be guaranteed. I don't remember hearing about similar issues last year, but I just hope this experience won't scare the organisers from putting on the race again, provided they'll do a better job of it.
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last years race was definitely more pro-conti level, so maybe if there were similar issues, and I dont recall whether there were or not either, but maybe those teams/riders felt it was more part and parcel of what they have to deal with at that level, this year youve got WWT level riders turning up who obviously expect alot better.

but am I right in thinking Marion Clignet is co-president of both the French Association of Female Cyclists (AFCC) and the CIC - Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, whilst also an assistant director at CPA Women ?
 
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awavey

Oct 3, 2021
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statement from Ashleigh Moolman Pasio about the race on her instagram.

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtWMfbGxAG2/?hl=en


View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtWMvgdsk24/?hl=en



not sure its completely fair to say JV can afford to drop out in situations like this, they want UCI points just as much as the other teams to stay in the WWT, and are obviously on the lookout for a new sponsor as well though I dont think theyve ever been as well funded as the mens team, so exposure matters to them alot, but they were prepared to take a hit on that, to prioritise rider safety, which has to be the right decision.
 
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awavey

Oct 3, 2021
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"Elles s’imaginent qu’elles sont sur le Tour de France" so said the race director in an interview with the local press after the final stage cancellation

who also went on to say " I tell myself that it is not worth organizing a race to see all those months of effort ruined for the whims of spoiled children "

kind of demonstrates the attitudes they were up against
 
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