The final day of the Dauphiné and another big day the Alps. Before the flag drops the first question is whether Primož Roglič starts, he had a hard crash yesterday and may decide to sit it out, just as Egan Bernal did yesterday.
Month: August 2020
Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 4 Preview
A hard day in the Alps, today’s stage is up and down all day with 4,600m of vertical gain.
Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 3 Preview
Another day, another summit finish and this time with the giant Col de la Madeleine in the way.
Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 2 Preview
The race goes into the Alps with a short stage and a big summit finish, today is a big test of form and fitness with a long climb that’s the hardest summit finish of the week.
Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 1 Preview
The opening stage of the Dauphiné has some familiar roads before an uphill finish. This is notionally the flatter stage before the Alpine racing ahead but it’s all relative, it’s a hard day in the saddle with a tough finish.
Critérium du Dauphiné Preview
If the Critérium du Dauphiné is a condensed version of the Tour de France, this year’s edition is even more concentrated, five stages and all with uphill finishes. After the lively Tour de l’Ain last weekend, we’ll see another round of Jumbo-Visma vs Team Ineos, only this time practically every other contender for the Tour de France and their full-strength squads are coming too.
Milan-Sanremo Preview
The same race but with a new route, this year’s Milan-Sanremo is hotter, hillier and longer than usual but remains as accessible as ever to a wide cast of contenders and just as elusive too.
The Rise of Aleksandr Vlasov
Aleksandr Botcharov’s been knocked of his perch. Until today he’d been the best Russian rider called Aleksandr to race up Mont Ventoux thanks to his second place on the mountain in a stage of the Tour de France back in 2004. Today Aleksandr Vlasov won the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge race ahead of Richie Porte and Guillaume Martin. Here’s a closer look at the Astana rider’s career so far.
Great Expectations
As returns to normality go, yesterday’s stage of the Route d’Occitanie brought some familiarity and certitudes with Team Ineos riding on the front of the bunch all day, then setting the tempo on the final climb for their leader to win.
Only it wasn’t live TV, we might imagine the prospect of a summit finish with Bernal, Froome, Pinot, Porte, Bardet, Lopez and Barguil as valuable but it’s expensive too and for many races it’s their biggest cost.
Monday Shorts
The racing is back and it’s been majestic to see the peloton crossing the landscape in real races instead of riders bobbing around on their balconies for virtual competitions. The blog is back too and time for a quick spin through some current topics before some more detailed pieces in the coming days…