The video’s from Stage 3 of the Tour of Qatar. Watch the first few minutes if you can but if you’re in a hurry, fast forward about one minute in. You can watch the rotation of the riders, the desert wind is blowing in from the left and the group is rolling at speed in … Read more
A photo from today’s opening stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean. Saur-Sojasun’s Laurent Mangel got in the winning breakaway of six riders and thought the sprint was his. But he didn’t count on French champion Thomas Voeckler, the Europcar rider threw his bike for the line just as Mangel sat up. Voeckler won the … Read more
We might think of Paris-Roubaix or an mountain stage of the Giro as being one of the toughest moments of the year but actually right now is one of the trickiest times of the season. Why? Several teams are meeting up and it’s the first get-together for the riders that will form a team in … Read more
The UCI is apparently holding a training course for directeur sportifs. I can’t help feel that trying to teach men in their 40s how to do their job is going to be a very difficult task. Can you imagine Johan Bruyneel or Patrick Lefevere to learn new tricks? But this isn’t a small scheme, it’s … Read more
There was plenty of controversy during the 2010 Tour de France and one polemic was Ag2r-La Mondiale’s John Gadret’s “moment of treachery” when team mate Nicolas Roche punctured and Gadret refused to give him his wheel, despite the Irishman being the team leader and sitting higher on GC. Roche said afterwards that he felt like … Read more
Sunday’s photograph takes shape already We’ve had one of the most mountainous Tours in recent memory and Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck are barely indistinguishable, a mere 8 seconds after 88 hours of racing. That’s a margin of 0.0025%. There’s some irony in the 52km time trial as the course is so flat that the … Read more
On trial: Contador lost the yellow jersey in the Dauphiné Everyone is saying that Andy Schleck’s 31 second lead over Alberto Contador is not enough, given the 52km time trial through the Bordeaux vineywards. I tend to agree but want to give two examples to suggest nothing’s certain.Final Time TrialsFirst, let’s go back to 2008. … Read more
Today sees the Giro d’Italia resume in Italy. The overall classification is already taking shape with Wiggins, Evans and Vinokourov wearing pink so far and today’s stage could change things once more. It’s a unique event, team time trials are very rare in the calendar. They punish individual talents, a rider can lose valuable time … Read more
Cancellara’s winning move yesterday took some guts, he was going clear a long way from the finish line, with a headwind too. But did he attack? Yes, but in a very clever way. He used the “sneak attack”. I’ve not won many races in my time but when you want to attack, think twice. “Attack” … Read more
Forget Sky, Radioshack or Quick Step, arguably Liquigas is the strongest team around. They’ve got Basso, Nibali, Pellizotti and Kreuziger for the overall honours in any stage race, they’ve got Bennati and Chicchi for the sprints, there’s Willems and Kuschynski for the classics and the likes of Quinziato and Szmyd to help make things happen. … Read more