{"id":559514,"date":"2026-03-23T18:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559514\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T18:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:22:21","slug":"the-best-photos-from-the-womens-cicle-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559514\/","title":{"rendered":"The best photos from the Women’s CiCLE Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when you mix pork pies, gravel cycling and bikes? <\/a>You get the CiCLE Classic<\/a>, of course.<\/p>\n

The East Midlands race had the honour of opening the UK domestic calendar last weekend with the 10th edition of its women\u2019s race. Doubling up as the first round of the women\u2019s Rapha Super-League<\/a>, the 115km-long route tackles a demanding Classics course, following the bergs and gravel roads surrounding the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray.<\/p>\n

On the road \u2014 or, rather, the gravel \u2014 No\u00e9mie Thomson of Das-Hutchinson sailed clear to claim a dominant race victory, taking her right to the top of the standings in the Super-League GC. Three minutes behind, CAMS-Majaco rider Melanie Rowe won the sprint for second ahead of Morven Yeoman, adding another Das-Hutchinson rider to the final podium.<\/p>\n

Photographer Andy Smith<\/a> headed up to the East Midlands to capture the action at Britain\u2019s answer to the Flemish Classics. Here are 20 of his best photos.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what parents are for.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take a guess and say the three dots symbolise a gravel sector.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

17-year-old Ruby Isaac is the British Junior Champion…<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

…And the proud owner of this pooch.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

No time for pre-race pints at Melton Mowbray’s Anne of Cleves pub.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Nothing like a bit of domestic racing.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Much of the CiCLE Classic’s route is on very British country lanes.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

That’s until the gravel sets in. <\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

20-year-old Matilda McKibben negotiates some of the more loose terrain.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

The CiCLE Classic was inspired by the racing scene in Flanders. The only thing missing is rain.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Last year’s winner, Lucy Harris, finished in a respectable 12th place.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Some of the tracks appear more like farmers’ fields than sectors from Strade Bianche.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

One unlucky rider is forced to walk down the gravel sector while the group rolls by.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Here she is. Mountain biker Amy Henchoz was forced to retire from the race. Looking at the size of those stones, it’s a miracle more riders didn’t suffer from punctures.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

What riders gained from no rain was more than made up for by dust. <\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

It was no problem for this rider. No\u00e9mie Thomson pulled out a three-minute lead, making this the largest winning margin ever seen in the Women’s CiCLE Classic.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Thomson is a dab hand at gravel racing. Last year, she won Graean Cymru, the UCI Gravel World Series event in Wales.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

The race-winning bike had no right being this clean at the finish line.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Thomson takes the lead in both the Rapha Super-League and the National Road Series.<\/p>\n

\"CicleAndy Smith<\/p>\n

Since we’re in Melton Mowbray, the winner of the CiCLE Classic receives a pork pie (a big one at that) and some Belgian beer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What happens when you mix pork pies, gravel cycling and bikes? You get the CiCLE Classic, of course.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,5590,784,85],"class_list":["post-559514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-classics","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}