{"id":180714,"date":"2020-12-03T12:51:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T12:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=180714"},"modified":"2020-12-03T12:57:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T12:57:17","slug":"highlights-of-womens-road-cycling-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/12\/03\/highlights-of-womens-road-cycling-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights of Women\u2019s Road Cycling 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year like no other, the 2020 women’s racing season started strong with a series of thrilling events before being brought to a sudden and globe-spanning halt. The show must go on though, and despite contending with a variety of lockdowns, cancelled events, and new restrictions, the sport of cycling was still able to pull off an exhilarating (albeit truncated) second season beginning late summer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In addition to the oddities of absent spectators and masked podium finishes, the peloton, for its part, delivered all the action and excitement that we\u2019ve come to expect. Not to mention 2020 offered its own set of opportunities in terms of eSports and made way for conversations that helped further advance the agenda of equality in cycling. With a righteous group of women riders showing that they\u2019ll give fans something to cheer about regardless of the challenges life throws their way, this year\u2019s strange but memorable season gave us plenty to celebrate. Let\u2019s take a look at a few highlights from the last 12 months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Women's<\/a>
A year like no other. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Vleuten takes second at the Elite Women\u2019s Road Race despite a broken wrist\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Never one to come up short on odd-defying finishes, Annemiek van Vleuten brought all sorts of excitement to the Elite Women\u2019s Road Race that took place in Imola, Italy in September. Despite having broken her wrist in a crash at the Giro Rosa just days before, with a metal plate insert and clearance from her doctor, she eagerly set off to defend her UCI Road World Championship title. She ended up coming in second to Anna van der Breggen\u2019s impressive and decisive win but put up quite a battle against Elisa Longo Borghini to take silver.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That is not to overshadow van der Breggen\u2019s exceptional performance, which made her the first elite rider since 1995 to win time trial and road race gold medals in the same year. Nevertheless, van Vleuten\u2019s astonishing climb at the end, which sealed a Dutch double, embodied all the unpredictability and fierceness that we love about women\u2019s racing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Van<\/a>
Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini sprint to the finish. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

eSports ushers in a generation of new riders<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When it comes to gender parity and accessibility, virtual racing is blazing a new trail in the fast-evolving world of professional cycling. The pivot towards online events, sparked by the pandemic, provided a whole series of well-organized virtual cycling activities that entertained fans with equal coverage and offered uniform sponsorship and prize money for men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams.\u00a0The introduction of essentially a new discipline,<\/a> in addition to the increased accessibility of riding from home, meant that a variety of new faces were able to make a name for themselves while ensuring that the next generation is entering a situation in which gender parity is the norm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lizzie Deignan makes us fall in love all over again\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although she gave fans a scare earlier in the season when she announced her retirement, this British wonder apparently had a change of heart and committed her future to Trek-Segafredo until the end of 2022, and aren\u2019t we all grateful for that! After winning the WorldTour individual standings with three one victories, it seems that we can expect to see our beloved Deignan enjoy at least two more years at the top. Over the second part of the 2020 season, she won GP Plouay in tough conditions and followed it up with an extraordinary win at La Course, before completing the season with a stunning win at Liege Bastogne Liege. Add top 10 places at the World Championships and Fl\u00e8che Wallonne as well as the overall win in the UCI Women\u2019s World Tour, and we are beyond grateful to have more to look forward to from the pelotons\u2019 (arguably) most complete all-round rider.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lizzie<\/a>
Lizzie Deignan beats Marianne Vos in a sprint finish to win the 2020 La Course. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fans show up for women\u2019s racing\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fans might not have been allowed to be physically present at events this summer, but that doesn\u2019t mean their support was lacking. As we\u2019ve been emphasizing for years, increased television coverage is crucial to the viability of women\u2019s cycling and 2020 proved that there is more than enough of an appetite to sustain it. The races that did end up being broadcast live were received with a ton of enthusiasm, and viewing numbers also confirmed the popularity of women\u2019s cycling. Anyone who tuned into Grand-Prix de Plouay, the European Championships, or La Course were treated to some great entertainment and helped prove that more women\u2019s cycling should be televised going forward. The announcement and support of a future women\u2019s Tour de France in 2022 was also a welcome development, as fans have long been waiting for La Course to be extended from a single-day race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zwift World Championship sets the bar high\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And the year\u2019s not quite over yet either! Another nail in the coffin for the days when women were expected to race for a fraction of the prize money, next month, online training platform Zwift will host the first-ever\u00a0UCI\u00a0Cycling Esports World Championships with rainbow jerseys up for grabs for both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s races.\u00a0The races will take place on a 50km course, taking in the Watopia Figure Eight Reverse route, finishing atop the Hilly KOM.\u00a0 Both the men and women will compete over the same course with the same distance.\u00a0Sounds like a great way to wrap up the season and to set the right tone going into 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A year like no other, the 2020 women’s racing season started strong with a series of thrilling events before being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":180718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[2158,477,2711,4658,2715,2659,1298,2712,4661,4659,2264,3612],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-180714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-anna-van-der-breggen","tag-annemiek-van-vleuten","tag-elisa-longo-borghini","tag-esports","tag-giro-rosa","tag-la-course","tag-liege-bastogne-liege","tag-trek-segafredo","tag-uci-cycling-esports-world-championships","tag-uci-womens-world-tour","tag-womens-cycling","tag-zwift","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen's Racing Highlights of 2020 - We Love Cycling Magazin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A year like no other, the 2020 women's racing season started strong with a series of thrilling events. 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