The British Women’s Team Cup gets underway on Sunday 23 April with the Dave Peck Memorial in Surrey. This post explains what the British Women’s Team Cup is, its history, what the races are, and how it works.
What is the British Women’s Team Cup?
The British Women’s Team Cup began in the year 2000. Known as the Women’s Team Series until it was renamed in 2020, the competition was created in response to the perceived decline of the Jo Bruton Trophy (the forerunner to the women’s National Road Series).
The competition comprises a series of National B road races across the season, with the onus on team performance. Each team can enter six riders in an event with the first four riders finishing positions scoring points that count towards the team’s placing in the overall series.
The LAKA Pedal Mafia RT team won the 2022 competition and is back to defend its crown for 2023.
History
“Women’s racing reached an all-time low in 1999 when British Cycling decided to handicap the Bruton Series, an action that saw a general decline in the number of riders, followed by a decline in the number of races”, reflects British Women’s Team Cup organiser John Miles on the competition’s website. “Indeed, in August 2000, the general feeling was that the Bruton Series should be allowed to ‘die’”.
After a meeting with British Cycling in Leicester in 1999, Miles met with Jenny Gretton at the car park outside. They lamented the poor state of women’s racing and just half an hour later, they had formed the concept of the Women’s Team Series.
The first-ever Women’s Team Series race was held on 30 April 2000 in Bedford, with two other races also being added to the series that year.
The competition has grown significantly since those early beginnings. Many of the UK’s top riders have participated in British Women’s Team Cup races on their way to the top of the sport: Anna Henderson, Hannah Barnes, Laura Kenny, Lizzie Deignan, Lizzy Banks, Alice Barnes, and Zoe Bäckstedt, to name just a few.
What are the races?
This year the British Women’s Team Cup features six rounds – all National B road races – spread across the season.
The competition begins with the Dave Peck Memorial on 23 April and culminates with the Halesowen A&CC Women’s Road Race on 2 September.
| Date | Round | Location | Race |
| 23 Apr | 1 | Virginia Water, Surrey | Twickenham CC Dave Peck Memorial |
| 21 May | 2 | Banbury, Oxfordshire | Banbury Star Women’s Road Race |
| 10 Jun | Hillingdon, London | Will Houghton Memorial | |
| 9 Jul | 4 | Solihull, West Midlands | Inkberrow Women’s Road Race |
| 30 Jul | 5 | Naseby, Northamptonshire | Duncan Murray Wines Road Race |
| 2 Sep | 6 | Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire | Halesowen A&CC Women’s Road Race |
The teams
On the eve of round 1, 24 teams were registered to take part in the Cup:
- 05/03
- Army Cycling Union
- AWOL Worx
- Brother UK Orientation Marketing
- Cowley Road Condors
- FTP-Fulfil The Potential Racing
- Hutchinson-Brother UK
- Inflite Femme
- Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon
- JRC Interflon RT
- LAKA Pedal Mafia RT
- Le Col Race Team
- LDN Academy
- Liv CC Halo Films
- London Dynamo
- Loughborough Lightning
- Onyx RT
- Saint Piran WRT
- StolenGoat Race Team
- Tactic UK WRT
- Team Boompods
- Team Empella
- Team Spectra Cannondale
- Wahoo Le Col
How it works
Team rules
Teams can field a maximum number of 6 riders in each event.
Where teams wish to enter more than 6 riders in a race then they can enter two teams of four riders (Team A and Team B) that will need to compete in differently designed jerseys; in the event that this is used only occasionally during the season, only Team A’s points will be counted for the overall team points total.
Guest riders are allowed where teams are unable to field the full complement of riders for a race but they must be notified to Team Cup admin prior to the race and must ride in the team jersey of the team they are guesting for. Guest riders may only swap between teams up to twice in the racing season.
Scoring
In each race, the first four riders in each team will count for British Women’s Team Cup points, with points awarded as follows:
| Pos | Points |
| 1st | 150 |
| 2nd | 130 |
| 3rd | 115 |
| 4th | 100 |
| 5th | 90 |
| 6th | 80 |
| 7th | 70 |
| 8th | 65 |
| 9th | 60 |
| 10th | 55 |
| 11th | 52 |
| 12th | 49 |
| 13th | 47 |
| 14th | 45 |
| 15th | 43 |
| 16th | 41 |
| 17th | 39 |
| 18th | 37 |
| 19th | 35 |
| 20th | 33 |
Then from 21st place onwards, points descend in one-point gaps down to the rider in 49th place (who gets 4 points). Then from 50th place onwards, each rider to finish gets one point.
Any rider over and above the first four counting riders for a team will have their points discounted.
The winning team will be the team that accrues the most points over each of the six rounds.
Eligibility
4th category license holders are excluded from the British Women’s Team Cup events.
Individual riders, or riders that are not members of a team that has registered for the British Women’s Team Cup, can compete in the races but are not eligible to receive team prize monies. Riders in teams that are already registered for the Team Cup competition will be prioritised for race entry acceptance.
Find out more
Follow the British Women’s Team Cup on Twitter.
Follow the British Women’s Team Cup on Instagram.
Follow the British Women’s Team Cup on Facebook.
Visit the British Women’s Team Cup website here.
