2014 Team Victory Rankings

Mark Cavendish
The season’s over for 2014. It’s been a great one for OPQS with 62 wins, half as much again as the nearest team. Mark Cavendish has been their best rider with 11 wins and it could have been more were it not for that crash at the finish of the Tour de France’s opening stage. But OPQS’s win rate is helped by 18 of their 30 riders winning.

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Roads to Ride: Pra Loup

Thevenet Merckx Pra Loup 1975 Tour de France

Pra-Loup has only been used twice in the Tour de France. It is the the climb that defeated Eddy Merckx and on the route of the Tour de France and Dauphiné for 2015. Is it enough to make anyone nervous?

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Astana’s Licence Review

Alexandr Vinokourov

The UCI swung into action today following a third positive case involving a rider from Astana, promising special review of the team’s World Tour licence for 2015.

The rider involved is Ilya Davidenok, normally a rider on the subsidiary Astana Continental team but promoted to the main team as a stagiaire. It’s yet more awkward news for the Kazakh team but if it’s embarrassing their licence is probably safe for 2015.

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2015 World Tour Analysis

There are less than 100 days until the season resumes with the Tour Down Under. 2015 will look a lot like 2014 but here is a closer look at the calendar.

Which countries have the most races? Where can you win the most World Tour points? What’s the busiest month of the year? And more.

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Who Will Take Over From Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez

Valverde Contador Rodriguez

The World Tour is over and Spain tops all the rankings: Alejandro Valverde leads the UCI rankings, Movistar win the best team and Spain finish well ahead of Italy for the best nation. A fiesta or a statistical quirk?

Spain’s best riders are ageing, the trio of Valverde, Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodriguez have a combined age of over 100 years. Who are the young riders carrying the Spanish hopes for the future?

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Book Review: The Race Against The Stasi

The Race Against The Stasi Dieter Wiedemann Herbie Sykes

The Race Aganst The Stasi by Herbie Sykes

This is the tale of a cyclist called Dieter Wiedemann. His career as an international racing cyclist takes off at the same time as the Berlin Wall gos up. Wiedemann was on the wrong side.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: Paris-Tours

When was the race won? In the final sprint for the literal explanation but Thomas Voeckler was easily beaten. He went into the finish with no theatrics, stunts or even facial expressions. The image above shows the Europcar rider and Jelle Wallays of Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise racing with less than 10km to go. Voeckler is hunched low and straining to produce the power and the the closer the finish got, the more a win would become elusive.

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Paris-Tours Preview

Paris Tours

Autumn’s here and with it, the last televised race of the year. Labelled “the sprinters’ classic”, Paris-Tours might have a flat route but most of the winners in recent years have come from breakaways thanks to attacks launched late in the race.

Last year’s race was an exception of sorts with a bunch sprint but the top three riders had been on the attack in the last 20km, infiltrating a move instead of waiting for a sprint only to get caught and still find the energy to surge in final moments. It offered a thrilling finish. Can this Sunday’s race deliver?

Once a prestigious race, Paris-Tours has slipped in status still provides a thrill worth watching. More so because it’s the last classic until the 2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. That’s 140 days away.

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Roads to Ride: The Colle delle Finestre

Colle Finestre

The Giro’s route for 2015 was announced earlier this week and one highlight is the Colle delle Finestre, the highest point of the 2015 Giro and unpaved too. What’s it like to ride?

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Friday Shorts

Andy Shleck is alive and well. A lot of the coverage of his retirement has resembled an obituary, with sorrow at his sudden departure, talk of a promising career that stopped too early and people sharing fond memories. Apart from a knee that can’t take the demands of pro cycling – the doctors said if he kept riding he’d need a knee transplant before he’s 40 – he’s in rude health, has a young family and he’s a millionaire too. He’ll be ok.

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