Sho-Air Twenty20 bikes stolen, $10,000 reward - Women's News Shorts
Vos returns for Amstel Gold Race, Van Dijk wins Healthy Ageing Tour, Kopecky aiming high at Track Worlds
Nine of the Sho-Air Twenty20 team's Felt bikes were stolen last week from a trailer at City Cycle in Marin County, and the team has announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thieves and the safe return of the equipment.
The bikes included four Felt DA time trial bikes painted black with red accents, equipped with SRAM Red groupsets, Quarq power meters, Zipp Super 9 clincher rear disc wheels and 808 front wheels, Kenda tires and Prologo saddles. Three were 700c and one was a 650c frame with a Zipp 404 front wheel.
Also taken were five Felt F carbon road bikes with Zipp 30 and 303 wheels, also black with red accents and a solid white Felt logo.
Contact teamtwenty16@gmail.com with information.
Vos returns for Amstel Gold Race
Marianne Vos will make her return to road racing in the Amstel Gold Race women's event this weekend with her WM3 team. Vos took a break after the Trofeo Alfredo Binda to stave off the type of over-training that led to her being out of action for a year in 2015.
The new WorldTour event runs 121.6km with 17 climbs and a finish 2.5 kilometres after the crest of the Cauberg, where Vos won the World Championship title in 2012.
Lauren Kitchen, Jeanne Korevaar, Anouska Koster, Kasia Niewiadoma, and Moniek Tenniglo will line up with Vos for the race.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Van Dijk wins Healthy Ageing Tour
Team Sunweb came away from the Healthy Ageing Tour (formerly the Energiewacht Tour) with the overall individual win with Ellen van Dijk and the points and teams classifications to boot.
Van Dijk won the opening time trial and maintained her lead throughout the next five stages to claim the overall ahead of Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) and Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM).
"We are really happy to bring the yellow home," Van Dijk said. "The team did an incredible job all week, everyone really sacrificed themselves for the jersey, it was unbelievable to see."
The team had to fend off numerous attacks and weather a strong challenge in the team time trial from Boels Dolmans, relying on a squad that included two neo-pros in Juliette Labous (18) and Liane Lippert (19).
"It was great to see our two young girls riding so well, this is their first stage race in the elite category and it was incredible to see them riding at the front all week. This jersey isn't mine, it belongs to the whole team," Van Dijk said.
Van Dijk had been key to the team's wins in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with Lucinda Brand and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour of Flanders with Coryn Rivera. "After all of the work that Ellen has done all spring for other riders earlier in the season it's great that she is now able to get a reward from winning this stage race herself," Sunweb coach Adriaan Helmantel said.
Kopecky aiming to make history in Track World Championships Madison
Lotte Kopecky and Belgian teammate Jolien D'Hoore are hoping to make history as the first women to earn the world title in the Madison during the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong this week.
The pair became the first European champions in the discipline, but are still relative novices, as is most of the women's field.
"At the age of 13-14 years I learned this discipline on the track in Gent. Afterwards, I have never practiced this again since it was not organized for women, until this season," Kopecky said on the Lotto Soudal team website. "Before the European championships in October, Jolien and I had only practiced one or two times together for the Madison.
"For a lot of people we are the top contenders but except for the European Championships we have never participated in international races. Moreover, there is now competition from outside Europe such as Australia, Canada and the United States. We do not prefer to talk about the result but a place on the podium would certainly be great. We are both in very good shape and are a strong combination. It would also be nice if this discipline would be a part of the Olympic programme."
Kopecky will also compete in the Omnium, Points Race and Team Pursuit.