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VeloNews Race

Nats Week: these are your 2017 women’s national champions

The northern hemisphere countries collectively hold their national championships in June, due to a designed break in the professional European race calendar: the OVO Energy Women’s Tour is behind us and the Giro Rosa won’t start until the last day of June. Nats week is in full…

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The northern hemisphere countries collectively hold their national championships in June, due to a designed break in the professional European race calendar: the OVO Energy Women’s Tour is behind us and the Giro Rosa won’t start until the last day of June.

Nats week is in full swing and we’ll update this article as results come in, so keep checking in this week!

For complete results, visit our race results page.

Scroll down for an overview of all 2017 national champs per country and all the current national jerseys within the ‘Women’s WorldTour’ teams.

Belgium – road race

It was strange not seeing one of the fastest women in the world, and for sure the fastest woman in Belgium, in the national championship jersey in the past year. A bad day in the 2016 Belgian road race championships made Jolien D’Hoore (Wiggle-High5) hand over the national jersey to Kaat Hannes (Lensworld-Zannata) for a year, but it’s now once again firmly around her shoulders, with Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal) silver in the elite championships – making her the U23 Belgian road race champion – for the fourth year in a row.

  1. Jolien D’Hoore (Wiggle-High5)
  2. Lotte Kopecky (Lotto-Soudal)
  3. Kelly Druyts (Sport Vlaanderen-Guille d’Or)

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Denmark – time trial

The best young rider in the peloton at the moment, wearing the light blue leader’s jersey of the young rider competition in the Women’s WorldTour, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla) has made a major step in her development this year. Not sursprising then that she defended her national time trial title, having won her title last year with over a minute on the number two, Trine Schmidt (and yes, world road champion Amalie Dideriksen also participated, finishing thirteenth while being ill).

  1. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla)
  2. Pernille Matthiesen (Team VéloConcept)
  3. Louise Norman Hansen (Team VéloConcept)

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Words from the winner:
“I’ve had a good season and good preparation coming into the race. Thomas [Campana] was guiding me and told me a good performance at the Women’s Tour would get me ready for this race and I believed in it. There was pressure, mostly from myself so I’m extra proud I could repeat the victory.”

Denmark – road race

Camilla Mollebro
As a ‘Women’s WorldTour’ team with five riders lining up at the Danish road race championships, the pressure was on then. And they delivered. They were able to beat lone wolfs Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla), Amalie Dideriksen (Boels-Dolmans) and Julie Leth (Wiggle-High5). It was Camilla Møllebro, the number 5 of the Danish individual time trial championships, who took the win and delivered her team the white crossed jersey.

  1. Camilla Møllebro (Team VéloConcept)
  2. Tine Andersen
  3. Louise Holm

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Finland – time trial

Lepisto_TT_Elsy Jacobs 2016

Lotta Lepistö’s fourth Finnish time trial championship title didn’t really come as a surprise, with the 27-year-old finishing the 23 kilometer course from and to Syoöte almost three minutes ahead of silver medalist Sari Saarelainen – who took silver last year as well.

  1. Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla)
  2. Sari Saarelainen
  3. Laura Vainonpää

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Words from the winner:
“It’s always nice to win. It always means something to win the national title. I feel like I can’t ride without my flag, I am very proud. I’ve been a little sick so the preparation wasn’t perfect coming into the race. Last week I did a race with the men here in Finland, the oldest race here. Then I did good training so the signs are that the form is improving now finally after illness.”

Finland – road race


In the Finnish national road race championships, Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla) lined up as the five-time defending champion. She arrived soloat the line, not having to give up her white and blue national jersey for another year.

  1. Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla)
  2. Minna-Maria Kangas
  3. Sari Saarelainen

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Words from the winner
“There is pressure as the favourite but I thought if I don’t win, I’m still the same Lotta. Of course, I fought for the victory because I am proud to carry the flag but I think I am growing mentally, I was really relaxed compared to other years. I’m getting older every year and learning to remove unnecessary stress.”

France – time trial

Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5) in the 2016 Emakumeen Bira prologue, a 3.3km time trial.

In the absolute upper-most part of France, the time trialists battled for the French national individual time trial title and the tricolour skinsuit. After three consecutive national time trial titles in 2012-2014 for Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon-SRAM), it’s now a three-year dominance for Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5), taking her third consecutive win in the event.

  1. Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5)
  2. Seveline Eraud (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA)
  3. Aude Biannic (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA)

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Words from the winner:
“I think this year was the key one. I just smashed it. I really wanted to make a big result, and make a big performance, because it’s really important when you’re the person selected for the Olympics; if you can’t perform the year of the Olympics, then the year after you want to prove that you were the good selection, and you want to show that you’re the best one in France. So it was important for me to make a big result, and also to confirm my good shape from the beginning of the season. I think I did it, and I’m really proud.”

France – road race

A similar situation to Denmark in France; a big ‘Women’s WorldTour’ team versus a couple of individual riders who are all very strong athletes – think of Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5), Elise Delzenne (Lotto-Soudal) and Juliette Labous (Team Sunweb). But cycling is a team sport, so it helps to have teammates in the race. FDJ-Futuroscope-NA delivered and took home the national road race title with 25-year-old Charlotte Bravard.

  1. Charlotte Bravard (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA)
  2. Amélie Rivat-Mas (Lares-Waowdeals)
  3. Marjolaine Bazin (SAS-Macogep)

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Germany – time trial

Trixi Worrack
Winning the 2016 German National Time Trial Championships was a very special moment for Worrack.

It was a special moment when Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM) crowned herself German individual time trial champion in 2016, as she had crashed heavily in early spring of that year, causing her to even lose a kidney. One year on, she shows everyone she’s still got it. At 35 years old, she beat her younger teammates and is still the fastest riding woman in Germany.

  1. Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM)
  2. Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM)
  3. Stephanie Pohl (Cervélo-Bigla)

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Words from the winner:
“I knew that the course was a bit easier on the way out than the profile had shown. After riding the course you could feel that the way back was actually quite a lot harder, not climbing uphill, but definitely harder. So I paced the first half of the course on the way out at around 90%. I gave everything on the way back to the finish and this is where I made up the time.”

Germany – road race

The 20-year-old Lisa Klein (Cerveélo-Bigla) finished just outside the podium in the German individual time trial championships, showing her abilities behind the three powerhouses on the podium. She has won the young rider jersey in the Healthy Ageing Tour and Festival Elsy Jacobs and now she wins the German national road race jersey, which she can wear for an entire year.

  1. Lisa Klein (Cervélo-Bigla)
  2. Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM)
  3. Charlotte Becker (Team Hitec)

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Words from the winner:
“I can’t believe it right now. This is a really special feeling. I started my sprint early but I trusted Stephie [Pohl] 100% because she did a perfect lead-out for me. Clara [Koppenberg] was fighting the whole day and did a long lead-out with 5km to go, she was incredible. It was a team performance; without the team I would not have won. In my career, it’s one of the greatest moments, I have no words. It’s so crazy. I’ve made some mistakes with gearing in the sprints this year and this time everything was perfect; it was really really amazing.”

Great-Britain – time trial


A British rider in an American team and a relative newby in the sport, Claire Rose (Visit Dallas-DNA) probably didn’t lead the betting boards going into the British time trial championships, many more people looking toward the eventual silver and bronze medalists in the event, or the defending champion Hayley Simmonds (WNT), taking fourth this year. But Rose’s fourth place finish in the Joe Martin Stage Race stage one ITT and her sixth place in the Chrono de Gatineau earlier this year already showed her capacities, which are now rewarded with the red-white-and-blue skinsuit.

  1. Claire Rose (Visit Dallas-DNA)
  2. Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM)
  3. Katie Archibald (WNT)

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Great-Britain – road race

Lizzie Deignan

With Lizzie Deignan (Boels-Dolmans) not present in the 2016 national road championships, it turned into a unique one-two for sisters Hannah and Alice Barnes, earning them the elite and U23 national road race titles. But this year, Deignan was back at the start of the British road race championships and eager to take back the national jersey. With a late solo attack, she managed to do just that and win her fourth national title on the road.

  1. Lizzie Deignan (Boels-Dolmans)
  2. Katie Archibald (Team WNT)
  3. Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM)

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Italy – time trial

When BFF Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5) prolonged her national time trial title for the second time on Wednesday, Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) had to follow suit the following day. Without any problems she added a third straight time trial title to her results, donning the tricolore skinsuit for another year.

  1. Elisa Longo Borgini (Wiggle-High5)
  2. Elena Cecchini (Canyon-SRAM)
  3. Silvia Valsecchi (BePink-Cogeas)

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Words from the winner:
“It was very hot today. It was about 37 degrees. The course was fast, very fast, so it didn’t really suit me, but I had good general form. I was happy that I had the best intermediate time, after 10km, and was even happier to have even more time at the end and win by 38 seconds!”

Italy – road race

After a win and a fourth place finish in the first two rounds of the WorldTour, Elisa Longo Borghini was the first to lead the 2017 Women’s WorldTour.

With the results list of Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5), it was hard to imagine she had never once won the national road title. Elena Cecchini (Canyon-SRAM) has been the Italian road champion for three years in a row, writing history doing that, but her time in the tricolore is up as Longo Borghini finally takes the win in the 2017 road nationals with an impressive solo finish.

  1. Elisa Longo Borgini (Wiggle-High5)
  2. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-High5)
  3. Sorayah Paladin (Alé Cipollini)

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Luxembourg – time trial

With ten (!) consecutive national time trial titles and twenty-five national titles overall to her name, Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) lined up at the start of the 2017 Luxembourg time trial championships as the absolute favourite. Barring mecanicals and illness, Majerus would once again be donning the regular Boels-Dolmans skinsuit for one day only, to be changing back to the red-white-and-blue one straight after. And indeed she did, winning her twenty-sixth overall national title.

  1. Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans)
  2. Elisa Maes (Team WNT)
  3. Chantal Hoffman (Lotto-Soudal)

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Words from the winner:
“I didn’t do it really well because I went out fast, probably too fast, and after a half-lap, I decided I should push a little bit less watts to recover a bit. I didn’t want to take any risks. That’s when people got a little nervous. I was able to speed up in the last four kilometres and finish with 20-seconds ahead. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough and especially given the warm temperatures, I’m happy with my performance.”

Luxembourg – road race

Okay, she had to do it first, of course. But if Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) would not have prolonged her national road race title, it would have been a great shocker. With her win in the 2017 Luxembourg road race championships, she takes her 27th national title overall. It also means she can stay in the red-white-and-blue for another year across all three disciplines she’s active in (road, time trial and cyclocross).

  1. Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans)
  2. Elise Maes (Team WNT)
  3. Ann-Sophie Harsh

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The Netherlands – time trial

AVV 2017

Lots of potential winners in the Dutch ITT nationals, but it turned out to be a battle between the three former national champions in the discipline: Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb), Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) and defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott). Only fourteen seconds separated the trio from each other at the first intermediate point, and it was ‘Vleuty’ who set the fastest time at the first intermediate point and at the finish, and took her third national title on the time trial.

  1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott)
  2. Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb)
  3. Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans)

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Words from the winner:
“I actually felt better last year so I didn’t think I was having a super day. It was heavy and I had to go deep, but the reward is fantastic. At the first time check I was already 15 seconds faster than [Ellen] Van Dijk and 10 seconds faster than [Anna] Van der Breggen. I went out really fast and after that I started to believe it was possible.”

The Netherlands – road race

For years, the Dutch national road race championships have been dominated by the Rabobank team of Marianne Vos. For nine years, it has either been Vos herself or one of her teammates who took the win. With Rabobank no longer on the scene, and the riders more equally divided over three big teams – WM3 Pro Cycling, Team Sunweb and Boels-Dolmans – it was going to be a very interesting race. Holland was expecting Vos to be taking back the national title this year, but with her sidelined because of a broken collarbone, the title was up for grabs for anyone. That it was an open race doesn’t mean it’s an unexpected winner. The red-white-and-blue jersey was a long time coming for Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) and after she got herself in the break, she was able to finish it off with a solo win.

  1. Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans)
  2. Anouska Koster (WM3 Pro Cycling)
  3. Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb)

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Words from the winner:
“I’ve always said: becoming the national road champion is a dream. It’s such a unique opportunity to ride around with a national jersey all year. I’m really happy! We were only with three riders here today, so we had to be aggressive. We had discussed beforehand that we were all given a free role, since all three of us can win out of a break. But then you have to be in that break to do that, of course. It meant we were also going for breaks early in the race, in which I ended up.”

Poland – time trial

Kasia Pawlowska ITT

After a late start to the season, due to an unfortunate crash at the Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team presentation, Kasia Pawolowska (Boels-Dolmans) needed time getting back at peak level. Having raced only one road race in May, which she didn’t finish, the national championships were her big first goal of the season. She took her second ever win in the time trial championships, four years after netting her first win in this event. The Polish eagle will be back on her skinsuit.

  1. Kasia Pawlowska (Boels-Dolmans)
  2. Alicja Ratajczak
  3. Agnieszka Skalniak (Astana Women’s Team)

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Words from the winner:
“We have an eagle on our national jersey. This eagle gives me wings. I hope the second half of my season is better than the first. I have a feeling that I’m going in the right direction.”

The United States – time trial

Amber Neben, 2017 US National Time Trial Champion. Photo: Casey B. Gibson.

With the rainbow bands around your chest, you’re automatically the top favourite for your national championships too. Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept) confirmed that she deserves the title of fastest woman of the world as she took thirty-two seconds on the number two in the USPRO TT nationals, first-time podium finisher Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-SVB), in a 23 kilometer time trial.

  1. Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept)
  2. Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-SVB)
  3. Leah Thomas (Sho-Air-Twenty20)

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Words from the winner:
“This course was tricky. There was really no rhythm or flow to it. Mentally, I had to ride it a lot more than physically ride it. It was a challenge to figure out how to pace it, and then factor in the heat.” – read our full report on the USPRO TT championships.

The United States – road race

Amber Neben listens to the start of her national anthem after winning the individual time trial. Photo: Cor Vos.

In a unexpected win by one of the individuals lining up at the US Pro road nationals, Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept) took back to back victories in both the American time trial championships and road race championships.

  1. Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept)
  2. Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb)
  3. Ruth Winder (United Healthcare)

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Words from the winner:
“When I got to 3k to go and I still had 35 seconds, I thought ‘Wow, I’ve got a chance!’. Just don’t do anything stupid!. I thought my front break was rubbing, so I was a bit nervous there. But I just hammered it down.” – read our full report on the USPRO Road Race championships.

Overview of all national champions:

Austria: ITT: Martina Ritter (Drops) // Road race: Martina Ritter (Drops)
Belarus: ITT: Tatsiana Sharakova (Minsk Cycling Club)
Belgium: ITT: Ann-Sophie Duyck (Drops Cycling) // Road race: Jolien D’Hoore (Wiggle-High5)
Czech Republic: ITT: Nikola Noskova (BePink-Cogeas) // Road race: Nikola Noskova (BePink-Cogeas)
Costa Rica: ITT: Milagro Mena (SAS-Macogep)
Croatia: ITT: Mia Radotic (BTC City Ljubljana) // Road race: Mia Radotic (BTC City Ljublana)
Cuba: ITT: Arlenis Sierra (Astana) // Road race: Arlenis Sierra (Astana)
Denmark: ITT: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla) // Road race: Camilla Møllebro (Team VéloConcept)
Estonia: ITT: Liisi Rist (Lideris)
Finland: ITT: Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla) // Road race: Lotta Lepistö (Cerveélo-Bigla)
France: ITT: Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5) // Road race: Charlotte Bravard (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA)
Germany: ITT: Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM) // Road race: Lisa Klein (Cervélo-Bigla)
Great-Britain: ITT: Claire Rose (Visit Dallas-DNA) // Road race: Lizzie Deignan (Boels-Dolmans)
Greece: ITT: Eleni Tsimpol
Guatemala: ITT: Nicolle Bruderer (Team Tibco-SVB) // Road race: Nicolle Bruderer (Team Tibco-SVB)
Hong Kong: ITT: Chun Wing Leung
Israel: ITT: Shani Bloch-Davidov (Team VéloConcept) // Road race: Omer Shapira (Giusfredi-Bianchi)
Ireland: Road race: Lydia Boylan (WNT)
Italy: ITT: Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) // Road race: Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5)
Japan: Eri Yonamine (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA) // Eri Yonamine (FDJ-Futuroscope-NA)
Kazakhstan: ITT: Natalya Sokovnina (Servetto-Giusta) // Road race: Tatyana Gevelena (Astana)
Lithuania: Road race: Daiva Tuslaite (Alé Cipollini)
Latvia: ITT: Lija Laizane (Aromitalia-Vaiano) // Road race: Lija Laizane (Aromitalia-Vaiano)
Luxembourg: ITT: Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) // Road race: Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans)
The Netherlands: ITT: Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) // Road race: Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans)
Norway: ITT: Vita Heine (Team Hitec) // Road race: Vita Heine (Team Hitec)
Poland: ITT: Kasia Pawlowska (Boels-Dolmans) // Road race: Karolina Karasiewicz
Russia: ITT: Ksenia Tsymbalyuk // Road race – Anastasia Iakovenko
Rwanda: ITT: Beatha Ingabire
Serbia: ITT: Jelena Eric (BTC City Ljubljana)
Slovenia: Road race: Polona Batagelj (BTC City Ljubljana)
Slovakia: ITT: Yanka Stevkova // Road race: Alzbeta Pavlendova
Spain: ITT: Lourdes Oyarbide (Bizkaia-Durango) // Road race: Sheyla Gutierrez (Cylance Pro Cycling)
Sweden: ITT: Lisa Nordén (Apollo Sports Skoda) // Road race: Sara Penton (Team VéloConcept)
Switzerland: ITT: Marlen Reusser // Road race: Nicole Hanselmann (Cervélo-Bigla)
The United States: ITT: Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept) // Road race: Amber Neben (Team VéloConcept)
Ukraine: ITT: Yevgenia Vysotska (Conceria Zabra-Fanini-Guerciotti) // Road race: Yevgenia Vysotska (Conceria Zabra-Fanini-Guerciotti)

National championship jerseys per ‘Women’s WorldTour’ team

Alé Cipollini
Lithuania (RR)

Astana 
Cuba (ITT+RR), Kazakhstan (RR)

BePink-Cogeas
Czech Republic (ITT)

Boels-Dolmans
Luxembourg (ITT+RR), Poland (ITT), The Netherlands (RR), Great-Britain (RR)

BTC City Ljubljana
Croatia (ITT+RR), Slovenia (RR), Serbia (ITT)

Canyon-SRAM
Germany (ITT)

Cervélo-Bigla
Denmark (ITT), Finland (ITT+RR), South-Africa (ITT), Switzerland (RR)

Cylance Pro Cycling
Spain (RR)

FDJ-Futuroscope-NA
Japan (ITT+RR), France (RR)

Orica-Scott
Australia (ITT+RR), The Netherlands (ITT)

Servetto-Giusta
Kazakhstan (ITT)

Team Hitec
Norway (ITT), Norway (RR)

Team Tibco-SVB
Guatemala (ITT+RR)

Team VéloConcept
Israel (ITT), Denmark (RR), Sweden (RR), The United States (ITT+RR)

Wiggle-High5
France (ITT), Italy (ITT+RR), Belgium (RR)

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