La Grande Duchesse: cómo la luxemburguesa Elsy Jacobs se convirtió en la primera campeona mundial femenina

When Alfredo Binda led home an Italian 1-2-3 to win the first official men’s Road World Championships in Germany in 1927, it marked a brave new world for the sport. But that brave new world was one only for men, in a world where women’s sport was completely ignored rather than merely marginalised, there was no women’s race, and nor would there be for more than 30 years.

Of course there is a fair argument that World War Two delayed the appearance of a first women’s Worlds, but the counter to that is that hostilities had been over for 12 years before the UCI finally accepted the worthiness of a women’s race. And when finally it happened in Reims in 1958, Luxembourg rider Elsy Jacobs was ready to write her name in the history of women’s sport.

A recent addition to the Cyclingnews staff, Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, working as a freelancer covering the sport for various magazines and websites for more than 10 years.

Initially concentrating mainly on the women’s sport, he has covered hundreds of race days on the ground and interviewed some of the sport’s biggest names.

Living near Cambridge in the UK, when he’s not working you’ll find him either riding his bike or playing drums.