Round Up: Women's MTB Wednesdays - Issue 4
Welcome to the fourth issue of the Women's Wednesday round up, a monthly digest of some of the most notable achievements from women in the bike world. We want to highlight all of the women who work to push our sport forward, so we plan to share news, race results, our favorite video clips, and more. You can help us find more content from rad women by using the Instagram tag #PBWMN.
News
Our very own Alicia Leggett raced the Trans-Cascadia last month, placing third in the Pro category behind Jill Kintner and Corinne Prevot. She had a great time racing, but one of the things she said in her recap was that it would be great to see more women at the event.
That being said, it's been super cool to see the next generation of female riders getting support early on, with 12-year-old Tayte Proulx Royds joining the SR Suntour lineup of riders after competing at the Dark Horse Invitational and Crankworx BC events.
While not technically mountain bike-related, I would like to mention the first-ever Paris Roubaix Femmes that took place this month. Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo), 2016 Olympic champion and mother, took a truly phenomenal victory at the race. The conditions were nearly impossible, with wet, cold rain making the cobbles an ice rink, but Deignan rose to the occasion, finishing in two hours and 56 minutes and writing her name in the history books.
In other news, 2015 Queen of Crankworx and three-time 4X World Champion Anneke Beerten has announced her retirement from professional sport after sustaining a brain injury in a car accident over a year ago. We're devastated that the legend can't withdraw from professional sport on her own terms, and we wish her all the best with her continued recovery.
We're also sending healing vibes to Jess Blewitt after her nasty crash in Snowshoe where she broke her femur and fractured vertebrae and to Cami Nogueria who broke her wrist during Crankworx BC.
Bex Baraona took her maiden EWS win on home soil in front of friends and family at the EWS final in Tweed Valley.
Racing & Events
The Enduro World Series have now come to their end for the 2021 season, with a nail-biting final in the Tweed Valley. The racing in the women's field this year has been closer than ever, culminating with a nail-biting finale. The women's podium was all within 2 seconds in the Tweed Vally, with Bex Baraona winning by a slim +00:00.32 over Harriet Harnden.
We've now wrapped up the World Cup DH series, and your 2021 women's overall winner is Vali Höll, with Myriam Nicole second in the overall standings, a consistent Camille Balanche in third, Tahnee Seagrave in fourth and Marine Cabirou rounding out the top five. Vali Höll celebrated her win with a trip to the US, where she went to Sea Otter and Rampage as well as the Trek and SRAM head offices.
The final race of the international XC calendar was Marathon World Championships and it was 19-year-old Mona Mitterwallner that took first place ahead of Maja Wloszczowska who recently announced her retirement from competitive XC racing. Mitterwallner dominated the U23 category this year and we look forward to seeing if she continues to race in the U23 category next year or moves straight into the Elite category as a 20-year-old. She'll definitely be one to watch! As for the overall XC World Cup, it was another youngster Loana Lecomte who clinched the overall title with Evie Richards second, Jenny Rissveds in third, Rebecca McConnell in fourth, and Sina Frei finished in fifth place. Sina Frei also won the Cape Epic alongside her Specialized teammate Laura Stigger. The two were fastest in every single stage of the seven-day event.
Next week, Crankworx racers will be throwing down in the Southern Hemisphere for Crankworx Rotorua. In the points standings for Queen of Crankworx, it's Vaea Verbeeck with a substantial lead in the standings. If she wins, she'll take home $20,000 CDN.
 | Each year on the Crankworx World Tour is a different challenge. I do feel like you need the stars to align and be ready for the opportunities to present themselves. So I prepare myself, and thankfully I enjoy riding all sorts of bikes which makes the road to success an enjoyable one. I like to hold on to the basics that the best person should win. So I’m happy if I did the best I could (which is hard to achieve in itself) and if a fellow racer wins over me, I am truly happy for them. They deserved it! My goal is simply to be the happiest I can be and to share those moments with friends, whether we’re celebrating my achievements or theirs. I think this mentality takes the pressure off and works best for me. I ride my best when I’m having fun. |
Enduro World Series
The women's podium was all within 2 seconds in the Tweed Vally, with Bex Baraona winning by a slim +00:00.32.
EWS Tweed Valley - Round 9
1st. Rebecca Baraona: 28:50.89
2nd. Harriet Harnden: +00:00.32
3rd. Morgane Charre: +00:01.51
4th. Noga Korem: +00:08.18
5th. Isabeau Courdurier: +00:20.93
Melanie Pugin won the overall, with Morgane Charre in second and outgoing champ Isabeau Courdurier in third.
Enduro World Series Standings:
1st. Melanie Pugin 4135
2nd. Morgane Charre 3905
3rd. Isabeau Courdurier 3715
4th. Harriet Harnden 3695
5th. Noga Korem 3380
World Cup Overalls
Your most consistent women of the 2021 season.
XC World Cup Overall Standings:
1st. Loana Lecomte 1550
2nd. Evie Richards 1510
3rd. Jenny Rissveds 1275
4th. Rebecca McConnell 1215
5th. Sina Frei 1110
Your overall World Cup winners for 2021.
DH World Cup Overall Standings:
1st. Valentina Höll 1125
2nd. Myriam Nicole 1079
3rd. Camille Balanche 1065
4th. Tahnee Seagrave 936
5th. Marine Cabirou 691
Crankworx World Tour
Casey Brown racing Psychosis. This steep course is not for the faint of heart!
Crankworx BC Results:
Crankworx Air DH SilverStar: Vaea Verbeeck
RockShox Pump Track Challenge SilverStar: Kialani Hines
Specialized Dual Slalom SilverStar: Kialani Hines
Jump Jam: Kyleigh Stewart
Psychosis: Casey Brown
Crankworx Downhill Sun Peaks: Vaea Verbeeck
Specialized Dual Slalom Sun Peaks: Vaea Verbeeck
Crankworx Air DH Sun Peaks: Vaea Verbeeck
Vaea Verbeeck is in a good place to keep her Queen of Crankworx crown heading to Rotorua.
Crankworx Overall Standings:
1. Vaea Verbeeck 751
2. Kialani Hines 582
3. Casey Brown 574
4. Harriet Burbidge-Smith 544
5. Robin Goomes 396
6. Gracey Hemstreet 310
7. Emmy Lan 263
8. Danielle Beecroft 225
9. Jordan Scott 195
10. Valentina Holl180
Tech
With Crankworx, Sea Otter, Trans Cascadia, and more, we found some interesting bikes to check out.
Bike Check & Interview: UK National DH Series Winner Stacey Fisher & her Transition TR11
[L=https://www.pinkbike.com/news/bike-check-vali-holls-trek-fuel-ex-sea-otter-2021.html]Bike Check: Vali Holl’s Trek Fuel EX - Sea Otter 2021[/L]
Bike Check: Jill Kintner's Winning Norco Sight at the Trans-Cascadia 2021
Bike Check: Vaea Verbeeck's Rocky Mountain Altitude at Crankworx BC 2021
Noga Korem finished fifth in the overall EWS standing this year and is always one to watch.
Podcasts
There's nothing like getting to know someone in a long-form interview. Here were some of the podcasts that we listened to in the past month.
Adventure Stache Podcast: Vali Höll, Women's Downhill World Cup Champion
The HKT Podcast: Paving A Way For Women In Mountain Biking With Helen Gaskell
Trail EAffect Podcast: Episode 42 with Julie Ferrara, The Knoxville Series
Downtime Podcast with Noga Korem
Freewheeling Podcast: Hats off to Trek-Segafredo
Downtime Podcast with Leigh Donovan - The Joy of Choosing Bikes
Videos
The Full 26-Minute Red Bull Formation Documentary
Social Highlights
As always, there's a lot to celebrate this month, and we love to see it. Unfortunately the Instagram embed feature on our website is currently broken so we can't embed them here like we usually do, but we'll share our favourites on social media and keep tagging #pbwmn on Instagram to help us find more content from all the rad ladies out there!
Celebrating all the female riders out there working together to push our sport forward. Remember to use #PBWMN on Instagram so that we can find your content and engage with it. We look forward to sharing some of our favourites on our social media and in monthly women’s round ups.
Author Info:
Member since Mar 30, 2011
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It was the first time for both of them riding the race that challenges all.
Though they did have the coaching of the greatest women's Cape Epic rider in history, Annika Langvad.
Who made the move to announcing and did a very good job. Very interesting hearing all of her insights.
Izabella had an amazing season, would've been nice to also read a quick shout out to her and get reminded of who was in the mix there this year aswell.
Unfortunately it's difficult to be up to date on those junior riders (male aswell) as they don't get the broadcast time on Redbull TV