Remarkable Polikeviciute Twins!
Image Courtesy of Davide Tricarico

As far back as the late 1800's, women were racing high wheeled bikes both for fun, and as a way to generate some income. *Ernestine Bernard of Paris put on a spectacle with a three mile race with a horse on her high wheeled bike at Toronto. The years that followed garnered a large following in North America of women racers on high wheeled bikes. A few years back Nevada Magazine had a three page article on the historical accounts of women who raced and regularly bested the men in these early showdowns.

One women was noted to have not only raced and won repeatedly for years making a decent income, but she indulged in some elaborate antics, and handicapped herself on occasions to give the opponents a better shot at winning. However she was very good, and rarely lost these races, but the article was interesting enough to establish the fact, that women were racing bikes as early as anyone, and have continued to do so down through the years.

In the early 1900's women were competing in 6 day events with evening competitions. Still, it wasn't until the 50's that racing started to become structured and align more with men's events, noting the first women's world championships in 1958. However there were some interesting random events before that time. On June 25, 1894, Annie Londonderry became the first women to cycle around the world. *Evelyn Hamilton rode 700 miles in September 1935 covering the distance in 4 days in beautiful Northern Scotland.

Another was Alfonsina Morini who raced in the men's Giro in 1924. Some of the notable riders in the 50's were Berly Burton and Elsy Jabobs who both won the world championships, Elsy being the first winner in 1958, but the record was held by Yvonne Reynders who won the road race at the worlds 4 times which was a record that stood for 30 years until Jeannie Longo tied it in 1989. Jeannie added one more in 1995 for a total of five, a record that will likely never be broken again. Anna Konkina won it twice in 1970, 71, as did Keetie Hage and Genevieve Gambillon.

Elsy Jacobs won the first World Championships road race in 1958 at Rheims France. Women's team time trial started in 1987 at Villach Austria, while the individual time trail started in 1994 at Agrigento Italy. Grande Boucle or Women's Tour De France also known as the Tour De Feminin started in 1984. Giro d'Italia Femminile started in 1988, and this was about the time Jeannie Longo entered the scene and started her domination of the sport. She had a great rivalry with Maria Cannins who was a great climber.

In 1984 Marianne Martin won the first editon of the Women's Tour De France also known as the Tour De Feminin. Also in 1984 Connie Carpenter became the first America to win the Olympic Road Race at Los Angeles California. Audrey McElmury was the first America to win the World Road Championships in 1969 at Brno Czechoslovakia and Karen Kurreck won the first time trial at the World championships. Jeannie Longo, Anna Wilson, and Leontien Van Moorsel have all been successful at the women's hour record.

Marianne Martin and Connie Carpenter back to back wins were not only firsts for America, but they were credited with bringing awareness and breathing new life into women's cycling in America. The door was open to many new events that have become the crown jewels of women's racing including Fleche Wallone, Tour De l'Aude, HP Challenge, Tour of the Gila, Tour De Toona, Liberty Classic and many others both in Europe and America.

Also the advent of the World Cup series and UCI-NRC race calendar which is a series of classics based on a point system and year long competiton. Between the grand tours, world cup, various classics and the world championships, this provided a platform worldwide for the women to shine. Here is an interesting article in PDF about how women led the way in the early days for America.

In 1984, the UCI established the UCI World Rankings and the UCI World Cup in 1989 for men. However, the first Women's World Cup wasn't until 1998 with Diane Zilute being the overall winner, and Dede Barry actually won the first world cup race on March 29, 1998 at Centennial Park, Sydney Australia. The first UCI women's trade teams were formed, and officially called that in 1999. The IOC changed the rules allowing Pros to compete in the Olympics in 1994, with the first Pro winners in 1996.

However this didn't effect the women because before that time both amateur and pro women were allowed to compete in the games, so it didn't make any difference. At the time, the benchmark for earnings in the amateur status changed from year to year for women, so what defined a pro women in cycling was a gray area, which the UCI had their own solution for. Since the limits for earnings in the amateur status changed from year to year, not every organization conformed to that guideline, and they were allowed to set their own standards until the time came when clarification was needed. The UCI set the rules for what it was to be called a Professional women in cycling by being on a UCI team.

Since women started racing the games in 1984, about the same time UCI men's rankings started, the UCI felt the need to clarify what was a woman pro with it's women's UCI teams, but that didn't start until much later as noted above. The first UCI women's rankings actually started in 1994 with Monica Valvik-Valen leading the final rankings under what was at the time called UCI World Classments, or UCI World Challenge. Today they are simply known as UCI World Rankings, and the UCI World Cup Rankings.

Alfred North was previously the father of the World Classments for women. Mr. North had been doing his own models of women's world class rankings going all the way back to 1989, which he also broke down national charts and rankings based on a fair and impartial point system from all the major races. The women of that era, and even today still greatly respect his models and recognize Alfred as the father of the world class rankings for women before the UCI model came into existence.

Also noted that Mr. North's models were and are still considered to be the most accurate because they do not exclude major races in which women riders have raced brilliantly. The UCI model is based on a UCI calendar of UCI sanctioned races, and this model doesn't include all the major races worldwide excluding certain demographics, which is unfortunate. The UCI model is basically a model based on Europe and races central to a certain demographic area of Europe, and only include a few races from Australia and Canada, but rarely America.

The UCI model has often been critized as a model which favors teams centrally located to the UCI model, which requires less cost and effort to travel to these races. One can drive almost North, South, East or West in Europe sometimes less then a hundred miles to attend another UCI santioned race, which gives such teams an advantage of the logistics over teams coming from Australia or America. However, Europe is where all the action is, and that's the road to fame, since they also control all the major races including the Worlds and the Olympics.

The American NRC racing calendar series came into existence in 1997 with Susy Pryde of New Zealand winning the final rankings that year. In the beginning, the NRC calandar had as many as 50 races on it, today the rules have changed, tightening the number of riders and teams, costs have increased, and the number of sanctioned NRC races has decreased to about half of what it once was. Winning the NRC series is prestigious and the fast track to fame in America. It emulates the UCI model, and prepares riders to progress and race in Europe with their UCI sanctioned races and World Cup.

The first ever American women's national team was put together in November of 1977. It included some well known names like Connie Carpenter, Heidi Hopkins, Sue Novara, Mary Reoch, Connie Paraskevin, and 7 other riders. In 1978 Arizona hosted the Schlitz Light International in Tucson, and had the largest field of women in bike racing history (102). Ten countries were represented, but that record has since been eclipsed. Recently the 25th edition of the Redlands Classic in California orginally tallied 160 riders and 21 teams in the women's prestige series, along with International riders from Europe and Canada.

Racing in America has improved quite a bit over the years for women, but it has also continued to flourish in Europe and especially Australia. In the 90's riders often rode for themselves although teams would continue to improve in the 90's. Stronger teams, and money started to enter the sport and for the first time, women started to enjoy earnings that were not previously possible. Women like Leontien used their fame and talent to increase their earnings in the same way Super Mario did.

However these have been few, since women like Leontien have been not only multi-talented in all areas of cycling like track, road, and time trialing, but landed modeling contracts and a variety of ads in major magazines. Her status as a cycling superstar is extremely rare, but others have tried to follow in her footsteps. Take for instance Rochelle Gilmore has had a successful cycling career and has become a sexy model as well. Her antics have made her one of more notable hot talents in the cycling world, as has others like Svetlana Bubnenkova and Modesta Vzesniauskaite. Other glamorous gals of cycling would include Nicole Brandli, Lynn Gaggoli, Dotsie Bausch, Audrey Lemieux and Emma Johansson and of course newcomer Liz Hatch.

Today while earnings pale in comparison to the men's salaries, things have improved a lot in the last five years, and the Top women of the world today can earn as much as 150k to 200k a year. Good salaries start around 50k a year, and that's not bad at all, but some are getting as little as 15k a year, or nothing at all. Consider that 50k a year would be considered a middle class yearly income in America and not bad at all, unless you have a big family. However many of the girls earn very little and sometimes even have to dig into their own pockets shelling out money for meals, gas and hotels.

Even some girls maintain their own bikes, turning wrenches, and spraying WD-40 on the parts and such. Not really a pretty job for women, but many do not mind at all. Most of the big teams supply meals, gas and hotels free for the most part. After that more then likely there are only a handful of top women who really are paid well, but things have improved with better teams and sponsors during certain years, depending on the economy, peak economic growth, etc. Since 9-11, tourism changed and impacted racing, but probably nothing has impacted the decline of sponsors and growth of the sport more then doping, and sadly, the women are largely, (not) to blame for this!

Nevertheless, it's a very hard life for the hopeful young rider who has dreams of stardom, riches and glory. There are many lonely hours training nearly all year long just for a few minutes of glory. Used to be women could achieve many solo victories in the past, which really highlights the glory of the winner. One such rider who often rode solo to victory was Fabiana Luperini, but during the mid 90's women's cycling was still growing, so such attempts were not as highly publicized as it is today. While it's much harder to solo to victory today with the improvement of women's teams, it still happens on occasion as recently when Luperini soloed to victory in Grand Premio Brissago in Switzerland.

Some riders like Longo who have often rode without being on a team, can have it's ups and downs. Riding for a team means being a team player and a delivery person bringing food and water to other team players. Also sometimes being in the ideal position to win is negated by team tactics and riding for the team leader. On the other hand, riding for oneself allows one to totally focus on your goals, plus riding your own choice of bikes and gear. The down side is spending more money on bikes, gas, food and hotels. Some girls refuse to be on any team and ride solo, which sometimes puts them at odds with the various cycling organizations. Also girls often switch teams nearly every year, and this can play havoc with a rider's career.

Some people think that some events like track, hour record and even the Olympics means little when it comes to what a really great rider is. In my opinion I always thought a grand tour rider was the best example of a great cyclist. The ability to ride day after day and win on both flats, hills and time trials, well is indeed a good yardstick to measure the greatness of a rider, while track, one day races and even the Olympics are more or less just slices of the pie. I do think that the Olympics is harder then many people think.

Like the Worlds, which seems to be the hardest one day event since every women would like to win it, the games also represent the same concept but it can be many days of the same mental and physical disciplines especially when being multi-talented competing in track, time trialing and the road events. The games are really hard on the nerves and mental toughness is important as well as stamina and endurance to finish all the events with a good effort. Still I think a grand tour is the best measurement of a rider overall.

To win grand tours back to back year after year is another great achievement, and when the tours are back to back within a few days or a week of each other, then that is truly the mark of great champion to win all of those. Very few men have even competed in all the grand tours back to back in the old days, but today very few if any compete in the Giro, Tour De France and the Tour of Spain. One of the last riders to do it was Marino Lajeretta for the men and Joane Somarriba for the women, but Fabiana Luperini did it fours years straight from 1995 to 1998. It's just too demanding and wears out the riders. It's the same with the women, and very few can compete and win the Giro and Tour De France back to back.

Of course today the grand tours have shortened their length of stages from the old days for the women like the Giro, going from 15 stages to 9. However during the last Tour De Feminin, all the Top Pro Women were in it during 2003, still it had over 15 stages and many hard mountain stages. Competing all year long also takes a toll on the riders. Racing seasons are extremely long compared to other sports, nearly all year with only December off before they start training again. If fact most pros even ride some during December, just to keep the legs loose. After ten years of this, it can really take a toll.

Most riders careers are short in the sense of what it would be like compared to a typical career where one works for 25 years and then retire. Only Jeannie Longo has raced long enough to be called a lifetime career still riding into her late 40's. Most of the women's careers are anywhere from five to ten years, and many of those years could be with little pay. If they are a great rider, often they don't come into good money until the last few years of their career when they peak.

Still some like to travel and race and enjoy seeing the world, meeting women from other countries, learning new languages, their cultures, food, etc. Kind of like exchange students in some ways, where cycling is the course of study! It's a great way to see the world if you are racing in Europe. The UCI circuit can include not only Europe, but Australia and Canada as well.

Women are equally as fun to watch as the men, even more since they are underdogs of the sport. The men enjoy the best sponsors and pay worldwide as well and many more races to compete in. However the women are beautiful in the bright colors of their sponsors and I think the silk and spandex, Coolmax, etc, only adds to them making the sport all the more sexy and enjoyable for the fans. They suffer and bleed, cry, laugh and rejoice just as much as the men, and they offer just as an exciting race for the fans then if you are simply not just fixated on speed. Top women are usually compared to cat-2 men, but the best women can at times hang with cat-1 men. However it's not so much the speed, but the bike handling skills, climbing and team tactics that make it fun.

Also solo efforts are equally compelling to watch. Most of the women I have met at races have been very nice to talk with and seem to revel in the attention. Women's racing is no longer a social event but a real serious business where the lungs are bursting and legs are burning. It's no longer the case where they circle lap after lap chatting like friends out on a social ride. That might of been the case so many years ago at some races, but today's top women is a totally serious business punctuated by race radios, head sets, ear pieces, the best bikes money can buy, computers for altitude, time trialing and heart rate monitors. It's all a science now, and on the cutting edge.

While in the old days, there were a handful of great riders dominating the competition like Longo and Van Moorsel, today there are many riders that are great. Also the quality and amount of good races worldwide has increased. In the old days, the biggest women's events were the Women's Tour of France, the Women's Giro, World Championships, Olympics, and not much else. In America we had the biggest stage race and the biggest payoff worldwide with the HP Women's Challenge.

It reached as high as 125k in payoff for the women in one year. Also Nicole Reinhart was headed for the biggest payoff in history for women, a quarter of a million dollars for winning 4 events which she was on her way to winning on the last lap of the last event before the tragic crash that claimed her life. We also have several big races here in America for the women today like, Tour of the Gila, Redlands, Sea Otter, Tour De Toona, Liberty Classic and the now retired T-Mobile International in San Francisco which offered a very steep course, one that tested the best women in the world.

Also in Europe other races have been added, some have come and gone like the Tour De Snowy. Fleche Wallone is alive and well for the women and is a very classy famous one day event for the women. World cup events like Montreal, Rotterdam Tour and Geelong Tour have become household words. Other less known events but good one day races include Amstel Gold, Tour De Berne, and women's Tour of Flanders.

Women's Giro still enjoys the greatest prestige as the biggest classic on the calendar, taking over from the turmoil that has surrounded the women's Tour of France. The problems with the Women's TDF have yet to be sorted out and it is a problem of divisions in ownership between the race and it's name. Still Europe has a wealth of classics and stage races to choose from, also to note is the well known Tour De Aude which our American Amber Neben won in 2005.

All that lacks really is for America and Europe to become truly integrated on the World Cup scene as well as the incentives for Euro teams to come to America to compete in our races. However this problem also effects the men as well. We have as of yet, not fully integrated with Europe except with teams like Discovery who race the Tour and the classics. None more famous then Lance with Postal and Discovery, but the women in America, and vice versa in Europe lack the money and the integration to race on both continents. However this is changing as we speak, and soon this problem will disappear.

Today's Top Women include stars probably none more well known then Oenone Wood, winning of the World Cup, and the British sensation Nicole Cooke. Other well known Top Women include Nicole Brandli and Joane Somarriba, both well known from their grand tour wins. Other characters well known for their racing and antics like Svetlana Bubnenkova and Rochelle Gilmore. Some of the older champions are still riding well like Jeannie Longo, Edita Pucinskaite and Fabiana Luperini. The two well known twin pairs (sisters) in cycling, the Polikeviciute and Beltman sisters.

Powerhouses like Judith Arndt and Zoulfia Zabirova are still riding well, both on the track and the road. Newer stars are coming into their own like Tatiana Guderzo and Silvia Parietti both winning, the nationals for Parietti and 2nd at the worlds for Guderzo. Probably no bigger talent for the moment then Regina Schleicher who not only won the worlds but won four stages back to back in the Giro, a great feat! While some great riders have retired like Petra Rossner, Alessandra Cappellotto and Genevieve Jeanson, others are coming into form like Victoria Pendelton of Great Britain for track, and Christine Thorburn of United States, who is a world class time trialist.

Riders to look out for in 2006 are both some of the seasoned veterans and relative newcomers, but look for Nicole Cooke to ride well this year as well as Oenone Wood, Trixi Worrack, Regina Schleicher, Judith Arndt, Ina Teutenberg, Fabiana Luperini, Giorgia Bronzini, Karin Thürig, Mirjam Melchers, Nicole Brandli, Svetlana Bubnenkova, Christine Thorburn, Amber Neben, and possibly Joane Somarriba although while her name is on the team list, she was to retire at the end of 2005.