14 out of 20 races of the 2017 UCI Women's WorldTour are done, and the season heads into its very busy final month. After a rainy Prudential RideLondon Classique in Great Britain's capital, the UCI Women’s WorldTour peloton had one last weekend off before the final leg of consecutive racing for five weeks with no less than 14 race days starts. In the meantime Marianne Vos (Netherlands) crowned herself as new European Champion in the road race of Herning in Denmark, whilst her compatriot Ellen van Dijk won the individual time trial.
With no UCI Women’s WorldTour races happening on the first weekend of August, Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) kept her purple jersey as overall leader with 837 points, but Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica Scott / 778) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (WM3 Pro Cycling Team / 758) follow closely in her slipstream. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team) still wears light blue as best young rider and is almost unbeatable in the remaining six events of the season. She has 44 points and her closest contender Alice Barnes (Drops) has 16 with a maximum of 36 points still up for grabs.
Friday, August 11: Crescent Vårgårda TTT (Sweden)
Sunday, August 13: Crescent Vårgårda (Sweden)
Whilst van Dijk and Vos won the European Championships at Elite level, Pernille Mathiesen was the rising star of the events in Herning, Denmark. The local hero claimed gold medals in both, the individual time trial and the road race of the Under 23 category - being only 19 years old.
Mathiesen might be the next one of the very promising Danish talents that conquered the world of women's cycling lately and she could make her next big step soon, now that she finished school this summer. The 1.83m tall woman from Holstebro is a good time trialist, as she already proofed by taking silver at the Danish National Championships on Elite level just five seconds behind UCI Women’s WorldTour's best young rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Her time trial skills also helped her to win the European Championships' road race solo, but she also won a mountain top finish at Gracia Orlova in 2016 already.