Two contrasting races start today. ENECO TourThe ENECO Tour is the former Benelux Tour, taking in Holland, Belgium and normally Luxembourg, and today named after race sponsor ENECO, a Dutch energy company. It’s a race that favours sprinters, although the stages include the Mur de Huy and there’s a tough final time trial to settle … Read more
It’s quite common for sons to copy their father’s career path and cycling is no exception. Yesterday saw Cofidis’s Tony Gallopin take the lead in the Tour de l’Ain and the young rider is the son of RadioShack directeur sportif Alain Gallopin. Meanwhile in the junior worlds, the sixth fastest finisher in the pursuit was … Read more
Welcome to all the new readers. I realise many people come here for information and updates but if you’re interested in past ramblings from this year, here are seven of the most popular items: Is Bradley Wiggins’s changing position on the bike as important as weight loss? Cancellara’s electric bike rumours were covered on here … Read more
Ok, this is not a revelation but it’s worth reflecting on. During the latest edition of the cyclingnews.com / Pro Cycling magazine podcast, Anthony Tan says: “advertising, to our detriment, gets precedence over often editorial“. Tan was quickly muted by his journalist colleagues. But let’s not extrapolate from one remark over a dinner conversation. Instead … Read more
See the article below for an idea sent in by a reader. Several others have been in touch with suggestions and I’m really happy to hear from readers with comments, suggestions, criticism and more. Note the email address on the top right plus you can use Twitter to keep up, I use the psuedonym 39teeth. … Read more
Any visitor to France will soon notice the wasp-like whine of scooters that have been modified by teenagers. Some part of me thinks that if you are going to be riding an underpowered moped powered by engine designed for a garden strimmer then you’d want to ride around in silence, to avoid drawing attention to … Read more
OK, this is straying away from the usual cycling territory but I’m fascinated by the ejection of the English team from the soccer World Cup. I also wrote about France’s elimination too. Some of the team said they were “tired” and commentators said that the players looked languid. Apparently some blame a lack of a … Read more
It’s now time for the national cycling championships across Europe. The right to wear a distinctive jersey for a year is something worth fighting for, it brings increased recognition but also extra earnings power as the rider becomes a default invitation for many criteriums. The Italian championship in particular looks hard and anyone other than … Read more
Ag2r-La Mondiale’s kit gets plenty of criticism, the brown shorts are not exactly a favourite. But I’ve seen a few riders for real, as opposed to photos, and the jersey looks fine. One thing that will be different for July is that the clothing will feature a special carbon fibre “spine” for the jersey. The … Read more