2014 Giro Route

Much of the route has been known thanks to official promotion by RCS and leaked details. But today’s presentation is the chance to supply all the details because if we knew the start and finish towns for a stage, now we know which mountain passes will come between them. It’s also the chance to present the race as a whole and present a theme.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: Il Lombardia

Joaquim Rodriguez Lombardia Lecco

They say there are too many repeats on TV these days and Sunday’s Il Lombardia had an air of déjà vu as Joaquim Rodriguez attacked in the same place on the Villa Vergnano climb as last year to win solo. This was the moment the race was won.

But as repeats go this was still worth watching thanks to a cameo role from Thomas Voeckler and the ongoing rivalry between Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde whilst a cast of new names like Dan Martin, Rafał Majka made the race happen.

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Il Lombardia Preview

la classica delle foglie morte

The 2013 season is coming to an end but not without one of the best races on the calendar. Il Lombardia offers stunning scenery, big name contenders and a selective route to make this a compelling race. And it’s also a revenge match following last Sunday’s World Championships.

Note this race has been moved to Sunday. Here’s a preview with the route, contenders, TV listings and more.

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The Bio Passport and Jonathan Tiernan-Locke

This post isn’t about doping. Instead it’s about procedures and probabilities so if you want something more exciting, wait for the preview of this Sunday’s Il Lombardia race due out soon.

Team Sky’s Jonathan Tiernan-Locke was pulled out from the British team going to the worlds at the last moment and there was talk of an injury with some and fatigue from others. But the weekend saw the story that he was being questioned by the UCI about his biological passport data. What has happened to get these questions and what is next?

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2014 Pro Cycling iCal Calendar

Pro cycling’s off season fast approaching arriving but if the racing stops, the planning doesn’t. Whether you’re plotting a victorious classics campaign or a trip to Europe you need to know when the pro races are.

Here’s the 2014 pro cycling calendar with the final races of 2013 added so you can use it straight away. You’ll soon find the races appear. In addition you can subscribe or download an iCal file to import the same calendar into your organiser, phone and computer diary.

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The Finances of Team Sky

What’s the secret of Team Sky’s success? One element is money as the squad has one of the highest budgets in the sport.

Sky are the only major pro team to publish their accounts and the latest set have just been filed. So here’s a look at the numbers from the headline budget down items like the spend on travel, rider transfers and equipment.

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Tuesday Shorts

Coulda, woulda, shoulda
There’s been a lot of post-worlds chat, especially the Spanish tactics and the British vanishing act. It’s part of the fun to review the race but the Worlds has attracted more talk than usual. How come? Is it national pride that makes people more passionate about the performances? Or maybe because the Worlds is just once a year? Bungle the finish in the Ronde van Vlaanderen there’s always Paris-Roubaix; mess up one day in a stage race and you can still have time to come back. No such chance with the Worlds.

Gran Theft Bici – Disc Brakes – Heulot and Goodbye – Cannondale + Tinkov? – McQuaid – Flandrien Award – Giro Mountain TT – Tiernan-Locke case

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