Switzerland’s Emosson dam has featured sparingly in pro races, more because of its location that its severity but all the more reason to explore this corner of the Alps. The Roads to Ride series here has referenced climbs all over the world but Switzerland has been skipped despite the country’s vast repertoire of stunning climbs, fine scenery and billiard-table tarmac so it’s about time to include one and hopefully more of the classics in the future.
Descent by Thomas Dekker and Thijs Zonneveld, translated by David Doherty
When Paul Kimmage’s Rough Ride was first published he was accused of “spitting in the soup”, of dirtying the very milieu he’d worked hard to join and profit from. Here Thomas Dekker does the same only by now the broth is unpalatable to begin with and if this is a new story it repeats familiar scenes whether bloodbags hanging from hotel room picture hooks or team managers asking as few questions as possible about the training methods of their riders.
Time to look back at five highlights of the season with the luxury of hindsight. Here is the second from Paris-Nice and the final stage which saw the overall result uncertain until the very end.
Time to look back at the 2017 season and pull out a few highlights. First up is the Tour of Flanders which is such a great race that the fear is the action on the day won’t live up to the high expectations. Only it did thanks to the return of the Kapelmuur and the comeback of Philippe Gilbert.
Even blogs get their off-season and it’s time to swap the keyboard for the surfboard; reading a palmarès for snoozing under a palm tree and where the only tweets will be from real birds. But stay tuned as a few pieces have been cued up to go online during the next 10 days.
As well as ten riders for 2017, ten neo-pros were picked in January as ones to look out for this season. How did they fare?
Cold out there? For readers in the northern hemisphere this feels like the season to wear caps so a punctual reminder that you can get some gear and support this blog at the same time. There are t-shirts, jerseys and socks and the caps are back in stock.
At the start of the year 10 riders were picked to follow during the season. These were not necessarily the best riders – why didn’t you pick Sagan was a refrain in the comments – but more those with a point to prove, a story to tell or some other interest. How did they get on?
Movistar announced a men’s squad of 25 riders for 2018, down from the 28 rider squad they had this year. BMC Racing go from 28 riders down to 24. The peloton is getting smaller and the men’s World Tour peloton will shrink by 16 riders, not as much as initially feared but still a trend across most teams.
The calendar for 2018 is out and there are new races added to the calendar although the World Tour is unchanged. Here’s a closer look at the World Tour events for 2018 to see which are the busiest months and which countries get the most racing.