Month: April 2013

The Spin: Paris-Roubaix Preview

The Belgians might say the Tour of Flanders is the best race of the year. Italians could say Milan-Sanremo is the most beautiful. But the hardest race of the year? With labels like “hell”, “brutal”, “hardest of the hardest”, “queen of the classics”, Paris-Roubaix is the toughest race of the year.

There can be moments when it crosses from a race to a circus event thanks to the giant cobbles, the mud and repeated mechanic failures. But there is something beautiful in the contest and watching riders ride their luck. It’s also high entertainment on TV.

After exploring the tech, the geography and other features of the race and the region, finally it’s time for the race.

The Route | How hard are the cobbles? | The Contenders | How to Beat Cancellara |Weather | TV Viewing | Startlist | The Trophy | History

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Roads to Ride: The Arenberg Forest

As the next part in a series exploring the famous roads of cycling, here is the Trouée d’Arenberg in France. The idea with this regular series is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether its part in cycling’s folklore or to explore what it is like on a normal day without a race.

Having covered climbs like Alpe d’Huez and and Mont Ventoux, now it’s time for a piece of flat road.

A fixture in Paris-Roubaix this is a legendary part of the race even if it comes too early to pick the winner. But this only confirms the cobbled sector’s status, it is venerated despite not being crucial to the race.

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The Hardest Race, The Softest Ride

Roubaix crash

With their medieval cobbles the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the most extreme races on the calendar. Yet they’re the shop window for bikes destined to be used on the calmest of Sunday mornings.

The cycle trade has its annual trade shows around September with Eurobike and Interbike but as The Velocast argued recently April is another industry event with a sharp focus on bike technology. If Paris-Roubaix didn’t exist, the industry would have to invent it.

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The Psychogeography of Paris-Roubaix

Psychogeography is a concept designed to let people explore places and view the land and environment differently. There are books on the subject but there no rules, it is up to you to link landscapes to what’s on your mind. For example view London via the famous “Tube” map of its metro system and the British capital becomes a collection of lines and stops rather than streets and buildings.

Cycling does the same to parts of Europe. Belgium has crosswinds, as if no matter the wind is always perpendicular. Can you name a famous col in the Spanish Pyrenees? Probably not because for cyclists the Pyrenees are French despite the mountain range being shared by both countries.

Paris-Roubaix is one of the best examples of a race whose myth redefines the landscape, imposes artificial names on places and even manages to turn a crumbling shower block into an sporting Elysium reserved for an elite.

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Roubaix: The Road To Hell and Back

Germinal

This post isn’t so much about cycling but the wider area around this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race. As you’ll see below, the  race’s “Hell of the North” title doesn’t come from cobbles but the state of the region.

Apologies if I upset the locals but Roubaix and the surrounding places are grim. Tourist rarely visit and the French share negative myths about the area. Today the region thrives as transport hub but it is rarely a final destination.

What’s so bad? The effects of wars past are still visible, from cratered landscapes to fields of white crosses marking mass graveyards. More recently the whole region has struggled with vanishing jobs and entrenched social problems. It’s a tough place with the toughest race.

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Reinventing the Wheel: The 25mm Revolution

Notice anything fat in photo above? It’s can’t be the riders … nor the spectators. Instead look at the front wheel where Matthew Goss is running a 25mm wide tyre.

One trend in bike technology for 2013 is the advent of wider rims and tyres and, accompanying this, the progress of clincher tyres. It’s common to see 25mm width tyres on team bikes today, something that was unthinkable a few years ago.

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Reinventing the Wheel: The 25mm Revolution

Notice anything fat in photo above? It’s can’t be the riders … nor the spectators. Instead look at the front wheel where Matthew Goss is running a 25mm wide tyre. One trend in bike technology for 2013 is the advent of wider rims and tyres and, accompanying this, the progress of clincher tyres. It’s common … Read more

UCI Publish Sporting Criteria

In my column in Issue 2 of 2r Magazine I looked at the options available for team licences with a view to bringing some more stability to the system. Whilst we can explore franchises and more, one of the cheapest and quickest solutions is to publish the UCI’s criteria for scoring riders and teams.

For years teams had been ranked on a secret system that few understood leading to a lot of head-scratching and confusion. Only last Thursday the UCI quietly published Annexe-2014/UCI/A-10… better known as the Sporting Value criteria.

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Tour of the Basque Country Preview

Vuelta al Pais Vasco

Whilst many look the classics, one of the joys of pro cycling is its variety with different riders tackling different races. Today sees the start of the Tour of the Basque Country, another spring ritual that takes place in front of giant roadside crowds that rival the Flemish for support, enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport.

It’s a great race with a series of hilly stages and also a fine test of form ahead of the Ardennes classics.

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