A reader recently pointed out that my website is heavily geared towards male cyclists. This, of course, is due to the fact that I am a male and that’s the cycling world I ride in.
However, it goes without saying that there are wonderful resources out there for women cyclists. A few notable cycling bloggers out there that would interest the female community include:
But for now, I’d like to feature the top female cyclists (of all time). Reading about these incredible women and the times in races that they’ve accomplished absolutely blows me away.
Top Female Cyclists
1. Fabiana Luperini
Fabiana Luperini is an Italian professional cyclist. Luperini has won the Giro d’Italia Femminile a record five times, with four consecutive victories in 1995–1998 and a fifth ten years later, in 2008. She has won the Grande Boucle Féminine three times consecutively, from 1995 to 1997. In 1998 she won the Tour de l’Aude, and in 2006 she won the Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira. (Wikipedia)
2. Jeannie Longo
Jeannie Longo is a French racing cyclist, 59-time French champion and 13-time world champion. Longo began racing in 1975 and was active in cycling through 2012. She was once widely considered the best female cyclist of all time, although that reputation is now clouded by suspicion of doping throughout her career. She is famous for her competitive nature and her longevity in a sport where some of her competitors were not yet born during her first Olympic competition in 1984. She was selected to compete for France in the 2008 Olympics, her seventh Olympic Games. She had stated that this would be her final participation in the Olympics. In the Women’s road race, she finished 24th, 33 seconds behind winner Nicole Cooke, who was one year old when Longo first rode in the Olympics. At the same Olympics, she finished 4th in the road time trial, just two seconds shy of securing a bronze medal. She is currently number two on the all-time list of French female summer or winter Olympic medal winners, with a total of four medals, which is one less than the total number won by the fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic. (Wikipedia)
3. Joane Somarriba
Joane Somarriba Arrola is a former Spanish cyclist. She won the Grande Boucle in 2000, 2001 and 2003. She achieved a time trial victory at the 2003 World Championships in Hamilton, Canada. Additionally, she was a time trial silver medallist at the 2005 World Championships in Madrid and took a road race bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships in Zolder/Hasselt, Belgium. She retired from cycling in 2005. (Wikipedia)
4. Maria Canins
Maria Canins is an Italian racing cyclist who twice won and came second three times in the Grande Boucle. She rode for Italy at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. Canins was a cross-country skier from 1969 to 1988. She was Italian champion 15 times and the first Italian to win the Vasaloppet cross-county competition in Sweden and win from 1979 until 1988 10 times the Marcialonga. She was double world champion and double Italian champion in mountain biking. She was married to the cross-country skier and ski mountaineer Bruno Bonaldi who was a member of the civilian world championship team in the 1975 Trofeo Mezzalama. (Wikipedia)
5. Nicole Cooke
Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29. (Wikipedia)
6. Leontien van Moorsel
Leontien Martha Henrica Petronella Zijlaard-van Moorsel is a Dutch retired racing cyclist. She was a dominant cyclist in the 1990s and early 2000s, winning four gold medals at the Olympic Games and holding the hour record for women from 2003 until 2015. (Wikipedia)
Many thanks for following along, fellow cyclists! Happy riding!