Rapha Condor Women Stepping into Europe

Story posted July 28; Team Press Release

With an exciting domestic British women’s season drawing to an end and off the back of a great performance in the Tour Feminin Krasna Lipa, the Rapha Condor Women’s team have secured a place in two of the top European stage races, The Holland Ladies Tour and the Tour de l’Ardeche.

Currently ranking third in the Team Series, the Rapha Condor women’s team was only formed in February this year after the title sponsors, who have been backing the Rapha Condor Sharp men’s team for a number of years, decided to continue their commitment to race and the growth of the sport and develop a women’s team in the UK.

Photo: Cheryl King (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckingimages/)

The team was initially formed as a London based grass-roots team, riding local races, but during the season it became clear that they had a lot more potential. Despite not attending every round, they’ve had some good results in the National Series and are going for the team and overall win in the newly formed London Women’s League.

In addition to this, earlier this month they raced the tough, four day Tour Feminin Krasna Lipa stage race along the Czech/German border region, placing 7th  out of 29 teams. Where other British club teams have found it hard in the past to hold their own in Europe, the Rapha Condor team was only beaten in the Tour Feminin by one UCI team and a number of national teams. This result caught the attention of other race organizers who instantly decided to invite the team to their races.

The Holland Ladies Tour (31st August to 5th September) is a six day, seven stage race through the Dutch countryside. Starting in the hillier south of the country, slowly making its way to the wide open windy fields of the north-east, the race covers almost 500 miles in one week and in the past has been won by worlds best - Marianne Vos was last year’s winner. The Tour de l’Ardeche (7th to 11th September) is one of the hilliest races on the calendar with over 7,500 height meters of climbing over six stages. Last year the race was won by Olympic Time Trial Champion Kristin Armstrong, who then went on to take the crown as World Time Trial champion.

Both races will be excellent experiences for the Rapha Condor women and Team Manager, Rene Groot, commented “These races are the pinnacle of women’s racing in Europe. To get an invitation is hard as the organisers get to pick from the cream of the crop. To get an invitation for both races as a non professional team is virtually unheard of. Despite these not being planned at the beginning of the season, this is too good an opportunity to miss. The girls are all really excited about the chance to race at this level and who knows what might happen next.”

The Rapha/Condor women’s team is sponsored by Rapha and Condor Cycles, with additional shoes, helmets and glasses provided by Specialized UK.