IG Markets, the financial company that sponsors Team Sky also has a useful ranking system for riders, the IG Markets Pro Cycling Index.
On Wednesday IG Markets organised a quiz between several teams taken from the British world of cycle sport, media and trade and hosted it in a very British setting, a pub.
With reputations to protect and the shield above to win the competition was fierce. But the questions were even harder. Set by staff from Opta, the sports data behind the index, the people at IG Markets were kind enough to send over the questions so you can have a go.
Today is a national holiday in France and Belgium. Le jour de l’Armistice is a chance to remember those who fell in the war from 1914 to 1918 and subsequent conflicts.
You’ve the riders spraying champagne on the podium sometimes. In case you didn’t notice, it’s a symbolic gesture that some have linked to, err, male ejaculation.
The Leopard-Trek team spent the first rest day of the Tour de France at the Gabarit Hôtel and in the reception area were several photos from the past when the GAN team, later known as Crédit Agricole. Fabian Cancellara joked about Stuart O’Grady who features in the photos from the late nineties but he’s not the only big name rider on this team.
I found the full photo on the excellent Site du Cyclisme website and the first thing that stands out is the size of the squad. 18 riders in total, small by today’s standards when several teams are at the UCI-limit of 30 riders and able to cover three races simultaneously even with a few injured riders. Back in 1999 Crédit Agricole was not the biggest team but it certainly was competitive; in 2001 the squad won the team time trial stage of the Tour de France.
Imagine the scene: it’s hard stage with several climbs and you’ve made the breakaway. There are strong riders with you and the gap to the bunch is steady. Watching each rider take their turn you’ve kept some energy in reserve and suspect the others have too and with some luck you might be able to hold off the chasing bunch. You’re 70km from the finish. Then – BAM! – suddenly one of the riders attacks, going clear in a solo bid. It’s surely futile but his attack disrupts your group, instead of a harmonious group of seven, there’s now one up the road and two trying to get across and four of you left cursing the madman. The breakaway is blown to pieces and in time everyone is caught, including the attacker who cramps up.
Alternatively imagine the move keeps going but with about 30km to go one of the riders starts missing his turn. The gap is coming down and now’s not the time to play poker. Yet this rider is wincing, his face a picture of agony as he takes a pull but oddly his pedalling is as smooth as ever. 20km to go and several are now aware of this Oscar-winning performance as the grimacing rider is taking ever shorter turns. 10km to go and the breakaway has a slender lead but its possible. With 6km to go the final hill of the day and as you crest the top – KAPOW! – the actor/rider takes off and solos to the win as the rest of you are caught with 2km to go.
That’s racing, no? But the first example is a Johnny Hoogerland move and the second is pure Thomas Voeckler. The disruptive riding and the energetic attacking might make for exciting viewing but many in the peloton resent it and the likes of Hoogerland and Voeckler are not universally popular in the bunch to put it mildly.
With his win today on the Cap Fréhel, Mark Cavendish’s total of Tour de France stage wins stands at 16 stage wins. That puts him above übersprinter Freddy Maertens but still a few places behind André Darrigade, the Frenchman who took 22 stage wins from 14 Tour de France appearances. Aged 26, Cavendish has time on his side to achieve more wins.
Chances are you don’t know of Jean-Paul Brouchon. Most readers here are English speaking and JPB was a French journalist who died today, aged 72. But his departure is a loss to cycling because he was a sort of the guardian for cycling’s history.
“I really view cycling as a team sport… …that in order for their to be a sustainable business model behind cycling you need to have people identify with the team and not the individuals… …if we want the sport to be successful you have got to generate long term loyalty to organisations and not individual athletes”
Those are the words of Jonathan Vaughters, team owner of Garmin-Cervélo in a recent interview with podcasters The Flammecast, explaining his vision for pro cycling as a team sport in the years to come. But glance at the results and it is very much an individual sport, for example the records show Johan Van Summeren won Paris-Roubaix this year. So is cycling a team sport or one of individuals?
The simple answer is that it is an individual sport conducted with teams. But it gets more complicated than that, particularly if we look at the history of the sport and where things might be heading at the moment.
I found this thanks to French journalist Jean-Paul Brouchon. Today a collection of notebooks from Alphonse Steinès are up for sale in Paris at the Christies auction house.
You might have heard of Piaggio, the Italian scooter manufacturer and its “Vespa” model. Two wheeled transport is very popular in Italy, especially with smaller 50 and 125cc engines. The countryside is often hilly, towns and villages are never far away, and frequent good weather all combine to make this mode of transport very practical and suitable.
If vespa is Italian for wasp, then note ape means bee, you say “ah-peh”. It’s this that gives its name to the Piaggio Ape, a three wheeled scooter with a flatbed at the back. These are quintessential Italian. Modern pizza is everywhere and partly an American invention; talking with big hand gestures is common all round the Mediterranean. No, I think the Ape is something you’ll find in Italy and nowhere else.
