12 Women, 202km: Femmes Take On the 2026 Double Century
Three years ago, a handful of Joburg women who had ridden every road race and stage race on their own got a phone call: why not get a few of us together and go and have fun at the Double Century? Joanita Simpson of Femmes tells us what happened next. Femmes arrived at their first Old Mutual Wealth Double Century with ten riders and no sponsors, and crossed the line in Swellendam with eight. Today they’re a squad of 14, plus a bench: mothers, wives, business owners and self-confessed corporate animals who fit 202km of team time trialling in around everything else in their lives. Turquoise for life. Joanita takes us inside the team. She talks about the captain’s whistle that tells everyone when to eat, what it takes to hold 220 watts on the front, and why women’s teams police drafting so fiercely. She explains what proudly South African lubricants brand Herschell gets back from backing a women’s team, and how women in leadership could put far more women on bikes. Then there’s the plan for their fourth DC, and a time challenge she’s promised to take back to the team.