The Lesser Known Women's Road Racing Thread 2023

[awavey]

What's that supposed to mean? Because they didn't want to risk getting hit by cars?

he seems to be of the view there are only two ways to run a bike race on roads, like the TdF where you lockdown the route completely, or the way they were doing it.

so I dont know if he is sleighting the woman by saying well theyre not Tour de France riders, or just saying well this isnt the Tour de France so we cant do it the Tour de France way, but the outcome in his mind seems to be as they cant lockdown the roads, the only way to do it is how they were doing it so the riders should have just put up and got on with it.

which is obviously not really the case as plenty of road races that arent the Tour de France manage to create the safe temporary bubble for the riders to race in, free of moving cars.

 

[Izzyeviel]

I'm surprised we had stage 2.

Absolute piss poor from the organisers. cars on course is unacceptable for professional racing.

 

[awavey]

can you believe this, apparently there was a cyclo sportive run in Lourdes today, using the same finishing circuit as Fridays stage 1 of the CIC-Tour Feminin International des Pyrénée.

the road was completely closed to traffic, even all the parked cars had been towed away/not allowed to park on it for the whole day, and there were police/marshalls on every junction.

the ad line for the sportive "Be a Pro for a day..."

 

[Rob5091]

Absolutely disgraceful comments by the organizers blaming the cyclists. The fault was the disorganization not the attitude of the cyclists. I hope when emotions have died down that common sense will prevail and the race can be run, safely, next year.

 

[Izzyeviel]

indeed. we are incredibly lucky they ran into motorists who weren't in a hurry. If that happened in the UK, we'd have a dozen cyclists in hospital.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

can you believe this, apparently there was a cyclo sportive run in Lourdes today, using the same finishing circuit as Fridays stage 1 of the CIC-Tour Feminin International des Pyrénée.

the road was completely closed to traffic, even all the parked cars had been towed away/not allowed to park on it for the whole day, and there were police/marshalls on every junction.

the ad line for the sportive "Be a Pro for a day..."

TBF that does sound like the old days of RideLondon, where the women got a crit to make sure the roads could be closed for the cyclotourists on the more interesting route the men got.

 

[Danskebjerge]

The debate about the cancellation of Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées is inaccurate in many ways. It's like either you're pro safety or you're against. And of course, the reality is not like that.

There is a range of safety measures that can be used or not in a race. Tour de France probably has the highest level of safety, with parked cars being removed long time before the race starts etc. At lower level pro races this will not necessarily happen. At even more "primitive" races, traffic is allowed in certain directions.

And then there are the pure recreational races. They take place in ordinary traffic, and the ordinary traffic rules apply. In theory, the participants should adapt their way of riding to these circumstances, but with speeds of sometimes over 40 kph in average for the winners, that is of course not the case in all situations.

This year, I've participated in five races of the latter category so far. And what annoys me about the debate, is arguments such as "all races should take place on closed roads". That's completely unrealistic, unless you accept a dramatic decrease in the number of races being organized. (Of course, there are differences from country to country here.)

As I see it, it's not a matter of safety or not - it's a matter of various degrees of safety, and I won't exclude the possibility of pro cycling on roads that don't live up to Tour de France standards.

 

[awavey]

the only one who brought the TdF into this was one of the race directors in some comments to the local press, most of which could be filed in the waste bin for their value.

I think most of us are realistic enough, especially in womens pro cycling, that TdF standards are impossibly high for alot of races to meet, you could argue even the TdFF doesnt quite meet them yet.

so absolutely I agree there are various degrees of safety that are acceptable for pro cycling on roads, no-ones demanding all roads should be locked down completely for hours,and the UCI classification of races gives some clue as the levels to expect.

what I dont think is unreasonable for a pro cycling race though is to say the minimum standard should be that all static road obstacles are properly signed by marshalls so riders can avoid them and know they arent dealing with people who at any second might start moving again, and that theres absolutely no moving non race vehicle within the bubble around the leaders/peloton, there is a point at which riders who get spat out the back on races have to fend for themselves, and that happens in top level events.

but no-one should be riding in a race and suddenly having to decide which way to go to avoid a bus moving towards them, or overtaking a car as theyre building up to a finish.

or having just read Eva van Agts account, what we didnt see on Fridays stage was there was only one moto marshall, who was following the leaders in Lourdes, in the 2nd group that she was in, the roads were completely open, and team cars/medic cars were getting caught up in the traffic.

 

[Hugh Januss]

'Demands that don't match their level'​

Shame on those uppity women for not knowing their place.
Seriously though, if as a race promotor you're either unwilling or unable to provide a safe level of traffic control then just call it a charity ride and tell the riders that they must follow all traffic rules.

 

[RedheadDane]

'Lack of judgement': Tour des Pyrénées organiser doubles down on women's peloton criticism

‘We run the risk that there will no longer be women’s races in France,’ says event organiser

www.cyclingweekly.com

‘We run the risk that there will no longer be women’s races in France,’ says event organiser

I'm pretty sure there have been several women's races in France this year without those issue...

 

[awavey]

'Lack of judgement': Tour des Pyrénées organiser doubles down on women's peloton criticism

‘We run the risk that there will no longer be women’s races in France,’ says event organiser

www.cyclingweekly.com

I'm pretty sure there have been several women's races in France this year without those issue...

the thing I dont understand is the large disconnect between the race organisers view, that everything was fine, when it clearly wasnt and actually wasnt in ways we didnt get to see via the tv coverage, what we saw was bad, what we didnt see sounds to have been alot worse

and that meant more than just the mere handful of riders/team managers view the press release talks about, which was no this was still too dangerous thats why we pulled out, and the UCI eventually agreed with stopping the race.

why are they so far apart on whats an acceptable safety level for cycling racing on roads ? it doesnt seem like a race organisation thats trying to save face or shift blame so much after they messed up, and more like they genuinely seem to believe the level of safety theyd provided was adequate and are lost as to understanding what the issue is.which is why they keep referring to TdF levels of road closures.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Meanwhile over in Latin America, the Queen of the small race, Lilibeth Chacón, took two stages and the GC of the Vuelta a Guatemala. Now 31, you have to assume that realistically it's that old positive from a few years ago that keeps her from moving on because she's clearly too strong for the scene she's riding in, overpowered in a similar fashion to Miguel Ángel López racing on the America Tour and in 2.2 races this season.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Tour de Suisse starts tomorrow. The first two editions of the revamped version have both had close and exciting conclusions, but I'm not sure it will be the same this time around. Just like last year, they're starting off with a less than 90 minute curcuit race followed by the same ITT that the men will ride. But there are no uphill finishes this year, and the climbs they do use are a bit meh.

However with a strong SD Worx present, the course itself will probably have little impact on the results, although the ITT might give Reusser the edge over Vollering, but that will depend on who ultimately gets to ride away on the other stages.

 

[RedheadDane]

Danish commentators just made a pretty good point:
They finish late today, but have to start early tomorrow because they have to be done before the men's ITT.
So, my question is; why don't they just start after the men tomorrow?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Danish commentators just made a pretty good point:
They finish late today, but have to start early tomorrow because they have to be done before the men's ITT.
So, my question is; why don't they just start after the men tomorrow?

Because the men's stages are all planned to finish right around the same time. If they started late tomorrow, they then wouldn't get as much rest before the next full stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

Because the men's stages are all planned to finish right around the same time. If they started late tomorrow, they then wouldn't get as much rest before the next full stage.

Is there a joke here I'm not getting? The (men's) next full stage?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Is there a joke here I'm not getting? The (men's) next full stage?

I'm talking about the women riding the ITT tomorrow evening instead.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Go, Elise!

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm talking about the women riding the ITT tomorrow evening instead.

Just have them ride all the stages in the evening!
But surely they're not gonna start all the other stages at 8 in the morning, so it would still be more time of rest between an evening stage tomorrow, and a stage with regular start time Monday, than between an evening stage today, and an early stage tomorrow.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Come on, SD Wors, you're not going to win the sprint anyway. Give the people the Chabbey win they want!

 

[RedheadDane]

Come on, SD Wors, you're not going to win the sprint anyway. Give the people the Chabbey win they want!

You were saying?

Nice win by Vas.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

You were saying?

Nice win by Vas.

It aged badly.

I expected, and my prediction team hoped, Sierra would find a way past, but it's also nice to see Vas finally get a non NC win.

 

[yaco]

I was happy that no teams co-operated with SD Worx - Do this and multiple teams getting into the break and then you have a chance to reduce the SD Worx domiantion.

 

[yaco]

The stage design at this race is awful. How can you have a 25km ITT with 3 moderately hilly stages? At least year they had one serious mountain to climb.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's hard to imagine someone not named Vollering or Reusser winning the ITT, but I'm not sure who the favourite is. This is Vollering's first longer ITT since the 2021 Women's Tour, where she crushed the competition, while Reusser have done quite a few since then. However it's the first of the season for both of them.

Longo Borghini starts 2 minutes before Vollering, and although she isn't a bad time trialist herself, it can't really be ruled out that Demi will pass her before the finish line or at least get close to it.