A time trial to shake up the overall classification before a series of mountain stages. If watching a TT on TV isn’t your thing then don’t miss La Course this morning.
Women’s Cycling
What Makes A Grand Tour?
Once upon a time a “grand tour” was a term applied to the journey young noblemen would take around Europe to finish off their education, perfecting languages and learning new things. As a cycling term it seems only to have appeared only in the 1990s as a collective label for the respective tours of Spain, Italy and France and implies a three week race. But with women’s cycling building its own calendar, can the women’s peloton have its own grand tours in new places?
Highlights of 2018: Part IV
In the fourth of five picks, here’s La Course which provided action, attacks and a twist in the final.
UCI Reforms Review
A quick note on the UCI reforms announced or reported on last week, whether the Women’s World Tour, tramadol bans or the sort-of reforms for men’s pro cycling. Skip this post if your eyes are glazing over already but it’s helpful to put some notes down.
Prize Money
Prize money in cycling rarely makes the news. Sometimes when people see how much the men collect they’re surprised it’s so low… until they see how little the women get. But what do the riders actually collect? The net sum received by the winner is often a tiny fraction of the headline prize for first place.
La Course’s Lack of Course
The Tour de France was unveiled this week while La Course, the women’s race, was mentioned in passing. Where will it go? We know the start and finish and it’s back in the Alps but if the date was announced the proper route wasn’t. Here’s a guess at the most likely route.
Competing For Attention
Enjoy the Flèche Wallonne yesterday? A series of breakaways tried their luck until a small breakaway reached the foot of the Mur where the winner attacked to take an impressive solo win. If this scenario sounds unfamiliar then it’s the story of the Women’s Flèche Wallonne and by all accounts it sounded more exciting than the men’s version, even if both races were essentially repeats with Anna van der Breggen and Alejandro Valverde each winning again and again.
This week is packed with high quality women’s racing thanks to the revived Amstel Gold Race, the established Flèche Wallonne feminine and the newly-created Liège-Bastogne-Liège for women. It’s great to see this growth but the deliberate schedule clash forces the women’s race to compete with the men’s race for media attention and the inevitable outcome is the women’s race barely registers.
Riders To Watch For 2017
With the new road season a week away here are ten riders to follow this year. This isn’t a top-10 list of the world’s best, more a collection of riders with interesting aims and stories whether trying to beat a stellar 2016 season, finding new challenges, or trying to revive a career that’s gone quiet.
Boycotts and Breakdowns
It takes something special to unite all the World Tour teams. Normally they’re in competition but also have opposite views, or at least their owners and managers can often clash on a range of issues. Now all 18 teams have decided to boycott the upcoming team time trial event at the World Championships in Qatar during October. You might not care too much for this event but the boycott is about a lot more than this one event.
Ronde Van Vlaanderen Preview
The 100th edition of the greatest one day classic takes place this Sunday. Huge crowds, narrow lanes, rough cobbles, steep hills and more await along the 255km obstacle course. Here’s a preview of the race with the route, riders, TV and more.