Weekly Women's Cycling News 13-19.05.2013

Tour Languedoc Roussillon cancellation - Wiggo rides like a girl - Neben injured - YOU can help make a women's cycling documentary - Inequality in BMX - Inequality in California - Afghan Women's Team organiser wins award - Rowsell to lead Manchester ride - Ipswich Johnson HealthTech round relocated to Redditch - Abbott back in the saddle - Bano wins Pakistan Nats - more news - Photo of the Week

Tour Languedoc Roussillon cancelled... then reinstated

"What a scandal!" tweeted Martine Bras

The biggest news of the week is the cancellation of the Tour Languedoc Roussillon - announced the day before the race was due to begin, when numerous teams were either already at the start town on en route, causing much anger among riders and fans alike. The precise reason for the cancellation hasn't yet been made clear with some claims that local police had stopped the event while others suggested financial problems. The latter seems most likely to be true as the race was reinstated a day later, reduced by one stage and shortened in length, after a new sponsor was reportedly found. Nevertheless, some teams - including Rabobank, who later listed "just a few reasons" for their decision - declined to go ahead as an act of protest.

Since the Languedoc-Roussillon organisers don't have the best reputation in cycling (having cancelled last year's edition a fortnight before the start, which also created problems for the teams), this raises an even more important and, for those organisers, extremely awkward question: why didn't they tell anyone that they were experiencing difficulties at an earlier date? Women's professional cycling teams operate on budgets that are mere pocket money when compared to those enjoyed by men's teams and the cost of getting a team, bikes, team officials, team car and so on to a race in the first place accounts for a large percentage of that; cancelling a race with so little notice could bring one of the poorer teams close to bankruptcy. If they have lost money, will they be recompensed? The organisers have no money, so it'd be down to the UCI. That, for many fans, equals "no they won't."

Finally, one of the most shocking aspects of the story less than a year after the world started to take notice of women's cycling at the Olympics, is that the news has been almost entirely overlooked by the media with most of the well-known cycling news websites ignoring it entirely.

The Unofficial Unsanctioned Women's UCI Cycling Blog has much more on what the news means for women's cycling.
More from Bridie O'Donnell.
(See also: Photo of the Week, at the bottom of this page)

Wiggo rides like a girl - he wishes!

Bradley Wiggins (no medieval honorifics on this blog, comrades) has kicked up a bit of a stink by explaining his loss of time at the Giro d'Italia thus: "I descended like bit of a girl really after the crash."

"Oh, but Wiggo won a Tour!"
some fans may argue. True.
However,so did Luperini.
Three times.

Throwaway comment? Perhaps, but a very stupid one all the same - especially since Wiggins put some of his own money towards backing British-registered pro women's team Wiggle-Honda, who've been doing more than their fair share of work to try to raise awareness of women's cycling. Let's hope team boss Rochelle Gilmore has a little word.

Or perhaps what Wiggo meant to say was "If I'd descended like a girl after the crash, I'd have still had a chance of winning." After all, if he really did ride like a girl he might actually have won the Giro, just like Fabiana Luperini won the Giro Donne five times.

The price of forgiveness? An admission that he's been a bit stupid and another few thousand for Wiggle-Honda ought to do the trick, I reckon.

Neben breaks hip and ribs
Current US National Time Trial Champion Amber Neben will be unable to defend her title on the 25th of May after a bad crash at the Tour of California left her with a fractured hip and cracked ribs. The 38-year-old was caught by a strong crosswind on a steep descent, putting her out of her line as she went into a corner. Braking the caused her to skid off the road where she collided with a cliff and hit the ground hard.

"Bummer. This hurts literally and figuratively. I'll recover, though... Believe it or not, there can be positive stuff that comes out of adversity," she told reporters afterwards.

Wanna see a women's cycling documentary?
Would you like to see a documentary film about women's cycling and the issues that surround it? Of course you would - and with a little help from your wallet, Kathryn Bertine can make it happen.

"HALF THE ROAD is a documentary film that explores the world of women’s professional cycling, focusing on both the love of sport and the pressing issues of inequality that modern-day female riders face in a male dominated sport. With footage from some of the world’s best international UCI races to interviews with Olympians, World Champions, rookies, coaches, managers, officials, doctors and family members, HALF THE ROAD offers a unique insight to the drive, dedication, and passion it takes for female cyclists to thrive.  Both on and off the bike, the voices and advocates of women’s pro cycling take their audience on a journey of enlightenment, depth, strength, love, humor and best of all, change & growth."

Any donations, in any currency, are welcomed; donations of $50 or greater will get the donor's name in the film credits.

Other reports
Cycling sexism: BMX bandits steal money from women
"At the 2013 BMX Nationals held in Brisbane last week, female competitors received half the prize money of male riders in the main event..." (Herald Sun, Australia)

Stevens, van Garderen call for equal footing for women’s racing
"The one-day-a-year spotlight the women racers get at the Amgen Tour of California is wonderful. Just not wonderful enough. Not hardly." (VeloNews)


Afghan National Women's Team organiser wins prestigious award
Shannon Galpin, founder of a charity that provides aid to women in war zones and one of the main figures behind the newly-organised Afghanistan Women's Cycling Team, has been awarded the National Geographic Humanitarian of the Year Award. More from the Huffington Post.


Joanna Rowsell to lead out Great Manchester Cycle
"The Olympic gold medal track cyclist will be leading out this year's Great Manchester Cycle on Sunday June 30." (Road.CC)

Ipswich round of Johnson HealthTech GP relocated to Redditch
More from Eastern Daily Times

Mara Abbott finds her way back to road
More from ESPN-W

Raheela Bano wins Pakistan Nationals
More from The News, Lahore

More News
UK
Pendleton hails rising popularity of women's cycling (GiveMeSport)
More Pendlenews (AllMediaScotland)
CTC: 'Why we launched an elite women's race team' (BikeBiz)
Sexism is endemic in cycling. Keep calm ladies and ride on (Daily Telegraph)

Worldwide
Pedal-pushers hail new Woodstock women's bike race (Recordonline.com, NY, USA)
Good performance from Cuba in PanAmerican women’s cycling championships (Granma, Cuba)

Photo of the Week

Riders stage a sit-down protest at the Tour Languedoc Roussillon
Tweeted by Lotto-Belisol Ladies

Grand Prix of Maykop 2013

04.06.2013 Official Site
Russia, One-day Road Race
UCI 1.2

With most of the Elite Women keeping themselves busy at Chongming Island and Gooik-Geraardsbergen, the Grand Prix of Maykop was given over entirely to riders from the ex-Soviet nations when it was held for the first time on the 13th of May in 2012: out of the ten riders first over the line, nine were Russian (including all the first seven); all the other riders to take part were either Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian or Lithuanian. This led to the race losing its UCI points due to a failure to satisfy Article 2.1.003 in the UCI rules, "To be able to be registered on the international calendar, a race must guarantee the participation of at least 5 foreign teams. A mixed team is regarded as a foreign team if the majority of its riders are of foreign nationality."

The race takes place some three weeks later in early June this year, which probably had the organisers hoping for a more international field - unfortunately, it now clashes with the Emakumeen Saria which, as important preparation for the Emakumeen Bira in addition to being an important and prestigious race in its own right, is likely to attract more riders than Maykop can, possibly leaving the Russian race in the same situation. With so many races having vanished forever in the last couple of years it'd be a great pity if this one did the same after only two years.

However, the organisers might find that their event generated a lot more interest if they made some information available now that there's less than a month to go until it takes place. Over an hour spent on Google has turned up nothing other than the results from last year - no map, news or anything at all, even on the official website (which would be of much more use to a great many cycling fans in this world if the English version didn't have such limited information and functionality, incidentally).

Anyway, I'll add any details I can find here when (and if) I find them.

Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria 2013

04.06.2013 Official Site
Basque Country/Spain, One-day Road Race, 110km
UCI 1.2

After spending much of the last month visiting far-flung targets of the UCI's attempts to globalise professional cycling, the Elite Women's peloton returns to Europe for a race in what may be the only nation where the population's adoration of cycling rivals that of the Belgians - the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria, a one-day race taking place in the ancient Basque Country.

Basque rider Joane Sommariba won in 2004, the first time that the race was held as a UCI 1.2 event, repeating her successes of 2003 and 2002 when it was a UCI 1.9.2 race, as it had been since 2001 when the Italian Sara Felloni won the very first edition. Miriam Melchers began the process of making the Netherlands the most successful nation in the history of the 1.2 race (three victories) when she won in 2005, then Susanne Ljungskog became the first and only Swedish winner in 2006 and in 2007 there was another first when Edita Pučinskaitė was the only Lithuanian to have won. In 2008 the race didn't take place, but Noemi Cantele continued the trend and became the first Italian winner in 2009. In 2010 the inevitable happened - Marianne Vos won; when she won again in 2011 she became the only rider to have won the 1.2 race twice and finished off what Melchers had started back in 2005 and, in 2012, Britain got its first podium when Emma Pooley won.

The Parcours
Details of the 2013 edition have not been released; however, it may be the case that the parcours will follow the same route as in 2012 - the map and profile from that year are on the right. I'll update to this year's versions when they become available; in the meantime we can be certain that this year's edition will bring more of the same tough climbs that make this race what it is.

Start List
To be confirmed

How To Follow The Race
More details as they're made available

Philly Cycling Classic 2013

02.06.2013 Official Site
USA, One-day Road Race, 96.6km
UCI 1.2

Click to enlarge

Despite looking like it might become the future home of women's cycling when a total women's prize fund of $100,000 was offered at the 2012 Exergy Tour - the largest ever in a women's cycling event - the USA almost didn't make it into the list UCI Elite Women's races this year with all the events to have taken place in 2012 coming to a halt for various reasons, most commonly difficulty in securing sponsorship; Philadelphia's famous Liberty Classic, run in conjunction with the men's Philadelphia Cycling Classic, was among them. Civic leaders eager to make sure enormous crowds of cycling fans continued to visit their region stepped in, wanting to keep their city on the international cycling map and make sure that fans bringing spending money with them kept visiting - it looked like the race might have been saved after all. Until January 2013 that is, when an official announcement brought the sad news that they'd been unable to find the financial backing they needed and the race had been cancelled again as a result.

However, those civic leaders didn't give up, which suggests they genuinely care about the event as well as the revenue it brings. Eventually, they managed to persuade local firms Parx Casino and New Penn Financial came on board as sponsors (Parx Casino have promised half a million dollars over two years, hopefully safeguarding the race for 2014 too) and the race was back on.

Changes needed to be made. Some local residents opposed the race and didn't want it to go ahead (it had an "escalating party scene" that attracted "unwanted, often alcohol-fueled, activities," apparently - wonder what they'd make of Dutch Corner on the Alpe d'Huez?), so organisers have slightly reduced the length of the parcours, making it 4.35km shorter than last year, and redesigned the course to make it more compact so that it can be more effectively policed (policing also becomes cheaper, as does paying local authorities for road closures and the clean up operation afterwards). The most important parts have been preserved with the same fast straights, tight 90-degree corners (the roads are set out according to a typically American grid pattern) and the notorious Manayunk Wall climb all remaining part of the route, so hopefully this year the race will prove to be a success with fans as well as acceptable to those locals who didn't like it in years gone by. In fact, the organisers are so certain that their changes will prove to be improvements that they claim this isn't a continuation of the Liberty Classic, insisting that it's an entirely new race - hence the new Philly Cycling Classic name.

One of the biggest changes is that the women's race will now begin before the men's, rather than both races being on the parcours at the same time - a logistical nightmare in previous years whenever one peloton came close to catching up with the other. Another big change, welcome among riders and fans alike, is the introduction of prize fund equality - the pot for the women's race is the same as for the men's at $30,000. "Equal pay for equal pain" say the organisers, and as far as I'm concerned they deserve our full support just for that.


View 2013 Philly Cycling Classic course map in a larger map

The Parcours
The parcours is 19.3km in length with the women completing five laps to finish the race. Other than the reduced length, the biggest change is that the race both starts and finishes at the top of the Manayunk Wall, a climb that gains 71m in 0.64% at an average gradient of 11.1% with a steepest point at 17%. Riders set out from Lyceum Avenue and turn right onto Pechin Street, beginning a straight section leading downhill for 370m which should ensure a fast start. The hill is gradually steeper towards the 90-degree right corner onto Roxburgh Avenue at the end - there's plenty of room, but still plenty of scope for an early crash if the peloton turn at full speed.

Altimetry - click to enlarge

Roxburgh Avenue is flat and straight; the riders remain on it for only 160m before a 90-degree left carries them onto Manayunk Avenue for a 1.01km stretch south-east to Ridge Avenue, accessed by a right-hand turn that, while not as tight as the last corners, has a drain cover roughly in the middle and looks like the ideal place to find slippery patches of spilled oil and diesel - it could be a hazardous spot in wet weather. Ridge Avenue heads south briefly, then follows a sweeping left-hand curve before merging with Main Street on the right and then continues for 200m to a flyover - once again, most of the section is downhill and will generate high speeds, probably preventing breakaways. The Google map isn't particularly clear at this point and appears to show the route turns right at the flyover to join Kelly Drive; closer examination shows that this is impossible. The ParxCasino map seen at the top of this article doesn't offer as much detail, but seems to show a slightly different route that has the riders pass under the flyover and then continue for 100m before turning right onto an access road leading onto Kelly Drive. This route then continues for 2.95km, following the banks of the river and passing under several bridges, until it arrives at the turn-off for Reservoir Drive on the right and is flat throughout.

The parcours changes nature once on Reservoir Drive, climbing (but without GPM points) during the first half-kilometre of a 2.25km section. It flattens as it passes by a baseball field on the right and a reservoir on the left, then descends steeply over the last 0.6km after turning away from the lake to return to Kelly Drive through the tunnel at the bottom of the hill, where the riders turn left at the statue of Ulysses S. Grant - the corner isn't tight but could be dangerous for any rider who fails to scrub off speed at the bottom of the descent. Ahead is a 0.74km flat section that starts off picturesque, running between the trees and the river, then gets even better after passing under a grand stone bridge and through a tunnel cut into a rocky outcrop. The left turn is 70m beyond the tunnel, just before another bridge, and presents no challenge; however, once around it the riders begin climbing Sugar Hill, the first GPM ascent on the parcours. For the first 0.25km it's very steep, then it flattens out and even descends briefly for 130m before a final climb over the next 0.25km to the highest point where the road emerges from the woods. The average gradient isn't particularly steep at around 6%, but it becomes much steeper at several points on the way; the remaining 0.61km along Sedgeley Road promises to be very fast indeed - fortunately the right turn back onto Kelly Drive at the bottom has plenty of room, allowing the peloton to get round en masse if need be.

The return journey follows Kelly Drive for 6.35km back to the access road used earlier to get from Ridge Avenue to Kelly Drive, passing through the feeding zone just prior to the Reservoir Drive turn. This time the peloton passes by the access road, continuing straight ahead to follow the road as it begins to bend right - the first part after the access road is wide but, just beyond the bridges 270m after it, the parcours uses a narrow cycleway leading for the final 120m to the left turn onto Ridge Avenue. This is the best opportunity for riders who can't compete with the climbers on the hills to form a break because the limited space will make it difficult for rival teams to organise chase groups and get them to the front of the pack ready to pursue any escapees.

200m ahead, the race arrives back at the Main Street/Ridge Avenue junction and stays left, taking Main Street for 1.6km to the start of the intermediate sprint at the Cotton Street intersection. A sharp right turn at the end leads onto Levering Street, passing by a shop with a large mural on the wall before coming to a section underneath an elevated section of road. The riders turn right here, following the road as it passes underneath the elevated section for 40m on worn Victorian cobbles, then turn left. The following 740m are what this race is all about: climbing steeply as soon as the elevated road is left behind it arrives after 225m at the Manayunk Wall which, perhaps in the final lap and perhaps earlier on, is likely to decide the outcome of the race - if a rider makes it to the halfway point on Lyceum Avenue by the junction with Fleming Street with a big lead over her nearest rivals, she'll only have to hold off her rivals over the last 300m to the finish line. However, a rider who has expended too much energy picking up points on the climbs in earlier laps might find that a rider who sat in the pack, allowing domestiques to make the climbs easier, now has sufficient strength reserves to overtake on the final stretch and take the victory.

Starters
Team rosters are to be confirmed; teams registered to compete are as follows:

Tibco-To The Top
Colavita
Now Novartis
Optum p/b Kelly Benefits
Specialized-Lululemon
MVP Healthcare
GSD Gestion-Kallisto-Specialized
Louis Garneau p/b Fuji
Nutrition Cyclepower
Peanut Butter & Co.-Human Zoom
Fearless Femmes p/b Pure Energy-Vie13
Stevens Racing p/b Cyclery
Farm Team Elite-Tristate
FCS
Vanderkitten
Magic Mushroom
EPS-CSS Riptide

How To Follow The Race
If you can get to the race, the most obvious places to watch from are the climbs at Reservoir Drive, Sugar Hill and the Manayunk Wall; one of the advantages of the new, more compact parcours is that it becomes far easier to see the race go by from a different point during each lap, then to get to the Wall to see the riders battling for position on the final approach to the finish. Organisers will be providing a guide for spectators on the race website.

If you can't, Twitter is likely to be the best way to find race updates - Specialized-Lululemon and Vanderkitten team officials do a fine job of providing fans with live, up-to-date information. Parx Casino has a Twitter feed too, as does the district of Manayunk.

Weekly Women's Cycling News 06-12.05.2013

Lucy Garner wins at Chongming -  ITV4's Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details - New  women's races in the UK - other news - more news to come

Lucy Garner wins Stage 1 at Chongming

Lucy Garner wins Stage 1, Tour of Chongming Island
(image credit: 1t4i)

Sprinter Kirsten Wild was widely expected to dominate on the pancake-flat parcours at Chongming Island until a crash at the Omloop van Borsele left her with a broken shoulder. Wild, who is women's cycling's answer to Mark Cavendish, leaves a gap in the peloton that is very hard to fill - certainly one that few people would have expected an eighteen-year-old in her first year with an Elite team to be able to slot into, even if that eighteen-year-old does have two Junior World Champonships to her name. Argos-Shimano manager Jorn Knops is apparently something of a visionary, then, because he set up the team to support Lucy Garner in the first stage. She repaid his faith with interest, delivering her first professional stage victory.

"The plan was to prepare the sprint for Lucy. In the beginning the team looked after Lucy to keep her toward the front and make sure that she wouldn’t waste any energy," Knops says. "She has already progressed a lot this season, not only physically but also tactically, and it’s remarkable that she could stay so calm in a chaotic sprint like this. I am very pleased with this win."

The stage went smoothly until the final 2km when a crash threw the peloton into a state of flux and prevented several teams from putting their own plans into action, but this in no way detracts from Garner's achievement - her main rival in the dash to the line was none other than Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products-UCK, a rider who has outsprinted Marianne Vos and Giorgia Bronzini in the past and won the General Classification at this race back in 2009. The next 69 riders over the line were awarded the same time (1h47'18") as Garner who, following bonification, has a 1" advantage in the General Classification.

Tour of Chongming Island Stage 1 results

ITV4 Johnson HealthTech Tour coverage details
Round 1 (Stoke-on-Trent) 22:00, Wednesday 22 May
Round 2 (Colchester) 22:00, Friday 30 May
Round 3 (Woking) 22:00, Wednesday 12 June
Round 4 (Aylsham) 22:00, Friday 14 June
Round 5 (Ipswich) 22:00, Monday 17 June

Coverage will be provided as part of ITV4's Pearl Izumi Tour coverage. In 2012, the Johnson HealthTech Tour only got a few minutes in each episode; we'll have to hope that following the enormous popularity of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics the producers will experiment with giving the women a little more airtime (though of course, any women's cycling on TV is a good thing). More details (including coverage of the men's races) here.

New Holme Valley Wheelers and London Velo women's races
"Following the success of the 2012 event Holme Valley Wheelers  will be organising both women’s and men’s events in 2013." More details here.

London Velo race (Essex) details here.

Other News
UK
Victoria Pendleton: women's cycling is big business since Olympics (Daily Telegraph)
Worldwide
Women's Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix to hit streets on Mother's Day (with video) (Daily Freeman, NY, USA)
Ocycler racing: 'Let's Race Bikes' initiative helps draw more women to PIR (Oregon Live, USA)
Award means cyclist Kaarle McCulloch is the best of our best (St. George and Sutherlandshire Leader, Australia)

Weekly Women's Cycling News 29.04-05.05.2013

Karla Boddy wins Cheshire Classic - Wiggle-Honda at Nocturne - UK women-only MTB marathon - Sheffield GP secure women's race sponsor - Kaarle McCulloch wins Sportstar award - other news - Tweets - Photo of the Week

Karla Boddy wins Cheshire Classic

Karla Boddy

She only had two team mates to back her up (other riders had seven) and was far from a favourite to win, but Karla Boddy (MG Maxifuel) knows that clever tactics will frequently prove mightier than brute strength. After she'd spent the Cheshire Classic (28th April)  biding her time in the peloton, preserving her strength while attention was drawn away by the more crowd-pleasing, theatrical attacks of Penny Rowson (Breast Cancer Care) and Amy Roberts (Wiggle-Honda), most of those riders who were favourites had probably forgotten that she was even there; or if they knew they didn't pay any notice. Until, that is, she launched her sprint some 300m from the finish line during the tenth and final lap of the 7.7km circuit, catching the peloton by surprise. Matrix Racing Academy's Emma Grant responded quickest and went after her - but had she been quick enough? Even the two riders weren't sure at first, with joyous fans taking great pleasure in being able to reassure Boddy that she'd won. More here.

Cheshire Classic Top Ten
1 Karla Boddy (MG-Maxifuel)
2 Emma Grant (Matrix Racing Academy)
3 Emily Kay (Scott Contessa Epic)
4 Amy Roberts (Wiggle-Honda)
5 Gabriella Shaw (Breast Cancer)
6 Charline Joiner (MG-Maxifuel)
7 Hannah Walker (Matrix Racing Academy)
8 Louise Mahe (Team Mulebar Girl-Sigma Sport)
9 Amy Hill (Abergavenny RC)
10 Kayleigh Brogan (Breast Cancer Care)

Rowsell, Trott and King

Wiggle-Honda to race at London Nocturne
The Women's Criterium at the IG Markets London Nocturne has, within just a few years, become one of the most prestigious women's cycling events in the UK, able to attract the top names in the sport - to take part in the race and to support its future, as became necessary last year when pressure from British Cycling (who were concerned that the riders might be too tired to take part in a BC event the following day) very nearly led to the women's race being cancelled. This year, it's pulled in none other than the best-known women's team in the country: Rochelle Gilmore's British-registered Wiggle-Honda are sending Olympic stars Jo Rowsell, Dani King and Laura Trott to make the team's British racing debut at the event, which takes place at Smithfield Market on the 8th of June. More details here.

Britain's first women-only MTB marathon
I don't usually cover mountain biking on this site (the excellent Mountain Biking UK magazine and others began reporting on female riders and races right from the start of their existence, at a time when the road cycling mags didn't seem aware that women's road cycling even existed), but news that Wales is about to host Britain's very first women-only MTB marathon is well worth spreading.

The non-competitive event takes place near Builth Wells and features 20 and 40km off-road routes with something suitable for everyone; there is camping available and plenty of stuff to amuse children and dads whilst the mums are busy riding. For more information, see British Cycling.

Sheffield GP secure women's race sponsorship

Sheffield Grand Prix ‏@SheffGrandPrix
More big news. We are proud to announce that we have secured a headline sponsor for the Women's Grand Prix. All set for a fantastic race!!

McCulloch and Meares, 2011

Kaarle McCulloch is Tynan-Honda Sportstar of the Year
Chances are that, as the Olympic glow fades with every passing month since August last year, before too long the majority of the world's population will have once again forgotten that women's cycling exists as a sport. In the meantime, however, we can all enjoy seeing the athletes receive the attention they so rightfully deserve - as was the case with Australia's Kaarle McCulloch when she was named Tynan-Honda Sportstar of the Year this week. McCulloch, born in New South Wales, became Elite National 500m Champion for the fifth time in January this year.

McCulloch received the award for her bronze-winning Team Pursuit performance alongside Anna Meares - Australia's first track cycling medal at the Games.

Other News
UK
Cheshire Classic (Northwich Guardian)
An insight into cycle racing by Karla Boddy (ThameNews)
Jess Varnish: Pendleton left a void (Track Cycling News)
Chris Newton is new British Cycling women's Team Pursuit coach (Eurosport)
Worldwide
Grey Ghost Bicycles will host a Women’s Cycling Series event featuring Megan Guarnier (PostStar, NY, USA)
Tunisia to host third Arab Women's Cycling Championship (Magharebia)
Women-only cyclocross team races onto the Bay Area cycling scene (Bay Area Living)
Putting on a show in the Norwegian Cup (Tone Hattland, Cycling News)
Celebrate women in cycling on Women's Ride Day (CatWalkChatt, North Georgia, USA)
Cyclists get hearts racing at Spartanburg's Spring Fling (GoUpstate, USA)
All-women bike rides around the globe (Canoe Travel)
Bangladesh Ansar won two gold medals in the 8th Bangladesh Games (Financial Express)
Wiasak 'stoked' with hard-fought time-trial win (Canberra Times)

Tweets
Ashleigh Moolman ‏@ashleighcycling
"@TheDailyPeloton: Giro Rosa unveils participating teams and stages http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=20520 … #womenscycling @GiroRosa2013" looking forward :-)

Marianne Vos ‏@marianne_vos
Meet the riders of my team @RaboLivGiant: http://youtu.be/kqsTNstYHsQ 
Proud to be part of this motivated group!

CyclingFlash ‏@CyclingFlash
VIDEO Women Cyclingfever: G. Bronzini (@GiorgiaBronzini, @WiggleHonda) wins 1st stage #ElsyJacobs 2013 - http://women.cyclingfever.com/stage.html?etappe_idd=MjkxMzQ=&_ap=video …

Photo of the Week

From the Gracia Orlova
Photo by Bell X One; do not use without owner's
permission

Gracia Orlova photos

All the photographs below are by Bell X One, who has very kindly given me permission to use them here. I was going to use them in a report, but they speak for themselves - I haven't seen any better images from this year's race and if you take the time to look at all the images on the owner's website, I think you'll agree.

 Bell X One Photography

(please do not re-use without owner's permission)