The Giro d’Italia route is out. Most of it had leaked but today’s presentation has given the full route the stamp of approval and all the important details such as stage distances and all the important climbs. It’ll run from 8-30 May. Here’s a closer look at the route with geography, song lyrics, data and trivia…
The route for the Critérium du Dauphiné is out. The race will be held between Sunday 30 May and Sunday 6 June and there’s little for the sprinters and plenty for the climbers. The final two stages look more tasty than any of the Tour de France’s mountain stages. Some notes on the route…
You’re paid to ride a bike, and not just any bike but a top of the range model that’s cleaned and tuned by a mechanic almost every day. If you’ve had a hard day’s riding a massage awaits. Roads are closed for you to race on, even the Champs Elysées are reserved, a privilege usually reserved for visiting heads of state. But has the fun gone out of it? Tom Dumoulin thinks so, Thibaut Pinot has said similar things and there are others who haven’t made the headlines who’d agree.
Now pro cycling is just that, a professional activity and work can be tedious. But things are changing and riders who started in the sport a few years ago are noticing the changes and added pressures.
Did you know the UCI is going to ban the “supertuck” position? It’s been all over the media in recent days, it’s hard to escape the news. Last week cycling’s governing body issued a detailed press release and among them was a line about descending while sat on the top tube, which we’ll get to in a minute, but the substantial issue has to be the breadth of safety measures coming. A lot is about to change and it needs to be done right.
After picking ten established pros to watch for the season, now it’s time to look at some newcomers. It’s not been an easy time to join the pro ranks as plenty of Under-23 riders saw their chance prove themselves last year vanish only increasingly recruitment to the World Tour isn’t based off recent race results but longer term evaluation.
A look at ten riders to watch this year. They’re not all hot tips to fly up the rankings, some are picked to see how they or their team can handle questions and challenges ahead and to build on past achievements.
Traditionally the season-opener for the French calendar, this Sunday’s GP La Marseillaise is now the first pro race for everyone. It could also be the last for a while given several early-season Spanish races have been scrapped and sanitary restrictions are likely to be tightened in France meaning more races in February could be called off too (Update Saturday AM: the French government has brought in new measures but it looks like upcoming races can continue).
All the more reason to enjoy this one, starting with a race preview with the usual look at the course, the contenders and the TV schedules…
It’s not easy being a grand tour organiser at the moment and one extra headache is which team to grant a wildcard invitation because they can only invite two compared to four before and the excluded teams could be in jeopardy if sponsors flee. It seems the organisers of all three have asked cycling’s governing body to waive the rules limiting the number of teams that can take part in order to allow an extra team in each race.
Many races have been zapped from the calendar already but the season-opener in France, the GP La Marseillaise is set to go ahead in just over two weeks’ time and better still it’ll be on TV, a first.
