The Lesser Known Women's Road Racing Thread 2023

[Samu Cuenca]

When Niedermaier pulled out of the first races she was scheduled to do for Canyon Generation, I was a little worried, but she has definitely proven since then that she has the talent to be competitive in road cycling.

The course wasn't the hardest in the history of the race and the field was week compared to other editions, because of the Vuelta and Watersley Challenges, but winning Ardèche (and two stages along the way) as a 19 year old is still a pretty big achievement.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

When Niedermaier pulled out of the first races she was scheduled to do for Canyon Generation, I was a little worried, but she has definitely proven since then that she has the talent to be competitive in road cycling.

The course wasn't the hardest in the history of the race and the field was week compared to other editions, because of the Vuelta and Watersley Challenges, but winning Ardèche (and two stages along the way) as a 19 year old is still a pretty big achievement.

I saw some things on twitter suggesting she should move up to the WT team next year following this race, but while Bauenfeind has consistently shown she's probably capable of doing so, I don't think one race should be the decider for it. Especially as Niedermaier's a couple of years younger than Bauenfeind. Personally I think it would be good for Maud Oudeman to also race for the Generation team rather than the world tour team next year, as other than a couple of times in Elsy Jacobs she hasn't shown a great deal this season (partly due to injury and illness I think). Having Niedermaier and Oudeman together would probably help both of their developments no end.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I saw some things on twitter suggesting she should move up to the WT team next year following this race, but while Bauenfeind has consistently shown she's probably capable of doing so, I don't think one race should be the decider for it. Especially as Niedermaier's a couple of years younger than Bauenfeind. Personally I think it would be good for Maud Oudeman to also race for the Generation team rather than the world tour team next year, as other than a couple of times in Elsy Jacobs she hasn't shown a great deal this season (partly due to injury and illness I think). Having Niedermaier and Oudeman together would probably help both of their developments no end.

Niedermaier is still trying to find out if a cycling career is something she wants to fully pursue after the 2026 Winter Olympics. Not that a steep learning curve can't be beneficial for a young rider, but I don't think another year (or two) in the Generation team would hurt her development at all. If they think she can become a future team leader, she might also be better off getting more experience in that role on a lower level beforehand.

With the skiing sponsorships she has, there might also be financial reasons for Canyon not to promote her yet, if she can make a living anyway. She also had plans to join the police, which isn't an unsual career path for German athletes, but that will of course also affect her training and racing opportunities during her education.

Canyon only have 8 riders confirmed for 2023, and at this point it's uncertain how much Dygert will be able to ride in 2023. If they extend the contracts with Amialiusik, Harris, Harvey, Bradbury and Oudeman they're on 13 (14 with the upcoming Zwift
Academy winner), which will probably be enough for now. Especially if they either promote Bauernfeind and/or Niedermaier or just take them to some races with the WWT team.

Since devo teams is still a fairly new concept in women's cycling, we haven't really seen anyone take advantage of the second possibility yet (even the UCI rules only refer to men's teams), but I assume it would be possible for Canyon to do that without giving them WWT contracts, and also to take Oudeman to races with the Generation team without having to relegate her.

They've announced that there will be more news about the 2023 Generation team soon. I expect it to have more riders next season, because 8 isn't a lot, especially not when one of them isn't racing in Europe and some of the others have had their first season at this level. But it's definitely still been a successful first year for the team.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Mischa Bredewold took her third win in 12 days on the first stage of the AG Tour de la Semois, and Maria Giulia Confalonieri keeps adding new additions to her long list of podiums and top 10s without a win.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I've been busy with other things today, so I completely missed that the impossible thing happened: Maria Giulia Confalonieri actually won a race

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I've been busy with other things today, so I completely missed that the impossible thing happened: Maria Giulia Confalonieri actually won a race

This is probably because Silvia Persico broke the space/time continuum by doing likewise in Spain.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I was unsure which thread to post this in, and I also thought about making it the OP for the 2023 Amy Pieters Trofee, which I'm currently working on. But I believe most of the other posts about her condition have been made here (though I’m not sure if she actually is a lesser known woman).

It has (almost) been a year since the horrible accident that left Amy Pieters in an induced coma. She luckily regained consciousness after a while, and despite a few bumps along the way, she's slowly been making progress since then, though it's still uncertain (at least to the public) to what extent she'll be able to recover. But the main thing is that she's still here, which wasn't at all guaranteed a year ago.

Fortunately, she has a lot of friends and colleagues, who's been willing to help her family secure funds for her rehabilitation. I know that there was fundraising going on during the Six Days of Rotterdam, and that both Annemiek van Vleuten and Amalie Dideriksen have auctioned off some of their old kits and stuff recently to raise money for the Amy Foundation.

There's also an ongoing online auction, which ends tomorrow, with some interesting items on offer (I considered putting in a bid for Robert Gesink's yellow jersey from the 2008 Paris-Nice, but it doesn't quite fit me (one of us continued to eat chocolate after the 2015 season)).

Zoek amy pieters in Catawiki's veilingen - Catawiki

Ontdek 1 amy pieters objecten, geselecteerd door experts. Koop en verkoop amy pieters in Catawiki’s veilingen. Verken en plaats je biedingen!

www.catawiki.com

And if you'd like to contribute without taking part in an auction, it's also possible to donate through her website:

Amy Pieters Stichting; Voor Amy is er een stichting opgericht.

Helpt u ons mee haar de mogelijkheden te bieden om haar leven maximaal te kunnen leven? Wij, en Amy vooral, zijn u hier onwijs dankbaar voor.

amypieters.nl

There are of course also organisations out there that help non-famous people in similar situations. I'm not involved with any of them, nor the Amy Foundation. I'm just a sympathetic cycling fan. But the news of the crash did also hit a bit close to home, because my mother suffered a brain haemorrhage the day before New Year's Eve in 2020. She was thankfully able to make an almost full recovery during the following months, but not everyone is that lucky. Hopefully, Amy will be able to take further steps during the next 12 months and get closer to living a "normal" life.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The European season has got underway today with the first edition of the sort of but not quite women's version of the Clasica de Almería. Teams have been allowed to start with 8 riders, so that could possibly influence the result.

The main climb, the Alto de la Geoda de Pulpí, was part of the last stage of the 2021 Ruta del Sol (the day of the Stannard/Impey crash). It seems they're using a longer ascent today (6.6 km, 4%), and the top is located less than 30 km from the line.

I think there are about 50 km left now, so they're not far from the bottom of the climb.

 

[RedheadDane]

The European season has got underway today with the first edition of the sort of but not quite women's version of the Clasica de Almería. Teams have been allowed to start with 8 riders, so that could possibly influence the result.

Pretty sure it's definitely women's

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Pretty sure it's definitely women's

Well only lesser women's.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well only lesser women's.

Norsgaard isn't lesser!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Norsgaard isn't lesser!

She isn't the shortest rider in the race, no.

 

[RedheadDane]

She isn't the shortest rider in the race, no.

Eider Merino isn't lesser either!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Heidi Franz of Zaaf has been out in front for a long time, but the gap is coming down. It seems UAE and Movistar are working behind for Norsgaard and Consonni (presumably).

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Ari Fidanza won ahead of Norsgaard and Cordon-Ragot. I hadn't expected that.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619683985361354754

View: https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1619683985361354754

 

[yaco]

An intersting off-season for Jayco Alula - Spratt left and had success in Australia. Williams left and was third at the TDU, while today Fidanza wins Almeria - I would have let Spratt go but they foolishly chose to retain Allen who is no longer up to it and they retained tan whose wage is paid by the Singapore Cycling Federation. They would have been better to retain Williams and Fidanza.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ari Fidanza won ahead of Norsgaard and Cordon-Ragot. I hadn't expected that.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619683985361354754

View: https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1619683985361354754

I wish the Women's CQ game covered all races and not just the WWT + Championships, but this was part of the reason I picked Ari, she's quick and pretty underrated I think, she gets a good amount of placements and her top speed is very good, but she isn't always best placed but should get stage race placements and pick up a bunch of points from races where the likes of Wiebes aren't in attendance.

Then again if it was all races count style, I'd probably have picked somebody like Lilibeth Chacón to harvest race points from South America.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

An intersting off-season for Jayco Alula - Spratt left and had success in Australia. Williams left and was third at the TDU, while today Fidanza wins Almeria - I would have let Spratt go but they foolishly chose to retain Allen who is no longer up to it and they retained tan whose wage is paid by the Singapore Cycling Federation. They would have been better to retain Williams and Fidanza.

They had a surplus of decent sprinters, who probably didn't get as many chances to ride for themselves as they could have deserved, so it might have been the best for both the team and the riders that some of them have now moved on.

 

[yaco]

They had a surplus of decent sprinters, who probably didn't get as many chances to ride for themselves as they could have deserved, so it might have been the best for both the team and the riders that some of them have now moved on.

I understand they have a number of sprinters and Fidanza was part of a a decent sprint train. Williams is not a sprinter more a versatile rider who does a good job for the team - Spratt who took AVV's role as the leader was one of the best paid riders in the peleton, so had to be let go - The most interesting signing is Paternoster - She is seriously quick, but she doesn't ride consistently enough on the road in between track commitments, injury and illness. She is a boom or bust signing.

 

[Izzyeviel]

So, its fantasy cycling season again, a) i need a cool team name & b) ideas for picks.

As you can see, last year was an absolute *** show for me - I only managed to come in the top 210 teams (out of 214)

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So, its fantasy cycling season again, a) i need a cool team name & b) ideas for picks.

As you can see, last year was an absolute *** show for me - I only managed to come in the top 210 teams (out of 214)

Having picked Deignan shortly before she announced her pregnancy must have been quite a blow.

If you replace Van den Broek-Blaak, then it wouldn't necessarily be a bad team for 2023, if you can still afford the updated prices. I'd probably replace Wright, Barnes and Andersen with different riders, though, and possibly Labecki as well. I have Charlotte Kool (8 points), Anna Kiesenhofer (2) and Clara Koppenburg (2) in my CQ team, and I would probably also pick them for this one, if I took part. Some of my other CQ picks like Gaia Realini and Megan Jastrab could also be worth it.

12 points for Dygert is actually pretty crazy, and makes no sense at all, so you should definitely avoid her this time around.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Vuelta a CV Feminas (no relation the Danish magazine) is on tomorrow. As we know from the men's race, the route is a lot harder this year. That unfortunately also means that the race could be decided before the live coverage starts, since they will have passed the two climbs by then.

Startlist: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=10439&y=2023&k=8

 

[Izzyeviel]

Barker has returned. Interesting.

 

[RedheadDane]

Barker has returned. Interesting.

She returned for the nationals last year, though she didn't finish. Then she did the Commonwealth Games, and Binche Chimay Binche.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

She returned for the nationals last year, though she didn't finish. Then she did the Commonwealth Games, and Binche Chimay Binche.

She also rode some non-UCI races in England and Belgium.

The peloton is close to the bottom of the last climb. There have been multiple breakaway attempts, but nothing has managed to stick yet.

Liveticker: https://vueltacv.com/seguimiento-en-vivo-feminas/

I don't really know why they are riding this early, when the men's race doesn't start before 3 o'clock.