Young talent is coming through
A gritty ride from 20-year-old Niamh Fisher-Black saw her bridge to a three-up move with Grace Brown (Canyon-SRAM) and Elise Chabbey (Team BikeExchange) to take the young rider’s jersey and third on GC.
By the end of stage two, she was up to second, thanks to a higher-placed finish than Brown. Once Chabbey was called back to domestique duties for Kasia Niewiadoma including a searing attack on a descent Fisher-Black was on top at the end of stage three.
Wearing the leader’s jersey in a WWT race as a 20-year-old is no mean feat, but Fisher-Black’s efforts also paid dividends for her team allowing Anna van der Breggen to take the win and the overall on the fourth and final stage.
After a busy spring packed with one-day racing, the peloton changes gears.
Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the women’s calendar has been thrown out of kilter, with just one stage race so far since the season began in February.
That changes with four key stage races filling the cycling landscape during the next few weeks, beginning Friday with the Festival Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg. Other stage races on the horizon include Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Vuelta a Burgos Feminas and the International Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen.
U.S. national champion Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) will be among the contenders this weekend after a strong classics campaign that saw her win Brabantse Pijl. Winder was forced to miss Liège-Bastogne-Liège after she was considered a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
Un groupe de 5 à l avant et un sprint pour la victoire de @demivollering.
Revivez le dernier kilomètre de ce #LBLwomen. 5 riders at the front and a sprint for victory by @demivollering.
Relive the last kilometre of this #LBLwomen. pic.twitter.com/n32efs5zhM
Primož Roglič – ‘I could not follow the best’
Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) showed an uncharacteristic moment of weakness when the pace heated up on the Roche-aux-Faucons climb Sunday. The Slovenian matched the frantic tempo of UAE-Team Emirates and Deceuninck-Quick-Step at the base of the day’s final climb only to miss the split when Michael Woods kicked to pull out the final five toward the summit.
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Sagan at the 2021 Volta a Catalunya. Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
The spring classics are now in the rearview mirror, and the peloton switches gears into stage-racing mode.
The weeklong Tour de Romandie highlights a busy week that also sees stage races in Spain, with Nairo Quintana headlining the Vuelta a Asturias, and with the women’s peloton at Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs.
75th Tour de Romandie grand tour stars converge
Switzerland, April 27 to May 2
The Tour de Romandie is the traditional transition race that bridges the race calendar from the spring classics to the grand tours.
Defending champion Deignan withdraws from Liège-Bastogne-Liège due to illness
Defending champion Lizzie Deignan has been forced to pull out of tomorrow’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège because of illness.
The British rider was initially down to defend her title but Trek-Segafredo have decided to leave her out of their six-strong squad.
Shirin van Anrooij of The Netherlands has been drafted in to replace Deignan for the International Cycling Union Women’s World Tour race in Belgium. Lizzie was sick last week (not COVID) so she isn’t at 100 per cent going into these tough races, a Trek-Segafredo spokesperson told