Paris-Roubaix Preview

Paris Roubaix 2017 podium

The best for last as the cobbled classics come to an end this Sunday in the Roubaix velodrome. Former race director Jacques Goddet described this race as “the last act of madness” and his decision to use tiny farm tracks with rudimentary cobbles has created a legendary and exceptional event.

Once again it’s everyone against Quick Step with the star riders caught in a collective tactical trap, they must combine against the Belgian team to win but start working and their rivals will sit tight and beat them in the finish. It’s live on TV from start to finish.

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Pro Race Calendar Reminder

Loyal readers might be familiar with the calendar but with the season in full swing there are many more readers so if you missed the posts about it during the off-season, here’s a reminder you can get a pro cycling calendar for your organiser, phone or computer diary with all the major UCI men’s and women’s pro races around the world included. Below there’s a quick explainer on how to subscribe, the meaning of the UCI labels and more.

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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.

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Ronde Van Vlaanderen Preview

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It’s Quick Step versus the peloton this Sunday as the home team take on all comers, including Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke. It’s live on TV from start to finish and in front of an estimated million of roadside fans, an event of national importance to the Belgians.

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Supporter Kit

A timely reminder that you can get supporter t-shirts, socks, jerseys… and the as-seen-on-TV supporter caps. You get yourself some new kit and help keep the wheels turning here.

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Roads To Ride: The Taaienberg

A fixture in the Flemish classics, the Taaienberg is a cobbled climb where it’s all about the gutter, the thin strip of concrete that makes this tough berg into the perfect place to blow the kopgroep apart.

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Team Victory Rankings

A quiet week on the calendar so a quick moment to take stock of the stats and look at the teams and the news around them especially as the transfer market begins to warm up. Riders can’t sign for another team until August but they can agree terms and sign pre-contracts, for example Matteo Trentin’s move to Mitchelton-Scott was done around this time last year, the year before John Degenkolb’s move to Trek-Segafredo was done in the spring too and many more riders shake hands in March and April before signing the official document later this summer.

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Route Mapping The Cols

See the map above, is the white road running north-south familiar? Well done if you named the Col du Galibier in the French Alps, better still if you mention the Télégraphe and Lautaret passes too. Only many common mapping services don’t label these mountain passes so if you’re looking online these famous places they can be hard to find.

The Roads to Ride series here get used by some as help to pick a destination but once you’ve picked one road, what about all the other nearby ones? A quick departure from pro cycling to some tips for mapping your rides in the Alps and beyond.

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The Moment Milan-Sanremo Was Won

Vincenzo Nibali, Poggio 2018 Milan Sanremo

They’ve no government following indecisive elections, they’ve no team left in the World Tour but Italy can still count on Vincenzo Nibali. His attack on the Poggio won him the race and brought the first home victory in Sanremo since 2006.

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