It’s transfer day in cycling. Under the UCI rules existing professionals can now sign for another team for the 2018 season, both a pointless rule and a precious one.
Seven the top-10 in the Tour de France are potentially on the market* but it’s also the start of a nervous two months for lesser riders whose contract is up at the end of the year. Here’s a quick scan of the market…
The t-shirts are back in stock and available on the Prendas Ciclismo website: prendas.co.uk. They were launched last month and sold out faster than a promising U23 sitting down alone without an agent for contract negotiations with Team Sky.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” goes the saying only the front of the UCI’s annual report and accounts for 2016 says plenty as features the men’s road race at the world championships in Doha, the concluding event of a very lucrative week for cycling’s governing body as the accounts show the Qataris paid far more than the usual amount to host the event.
The UCI’s annual report and accounts (PDF) came out on the eve of the Tour de France. The big race got the limelight, now it’s time to take a quick look at the sport’s governing body and its finances.
The years go by and the result is the same as Chris Froome wins his fourth Tour de France in five years. This year was different with a trio of inseparable riders in the mountains where the contest was so close that they were scrapping over time bonuses, if not to beat Froome then at least to ensure place on the podium. But like last year Froome built his win in the time trials, dominating them in Düsseldorf and dispatching them in Marseille.
An evening sprint where a lot of sprinters who have not won a sprint so far get their last chance.
An urban time trial to show off the best of Marseille, a technical course including the steep climb to the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde. If the mountains and plains can’t separate the top three, today’s course will deliver a final verdict. Ahead of this there’s also the second part of La Course, the women’s race with its pursuit format borrowed from cross-country skiing.
The race leaves the Alps behind for a stage that should see a battle between the breakaway and the sprinters teams because many team have yet to win a stage and this is their last chance.
Will the final mountain stage and its high altitude summit finish be enough to prise apart the overall contenders? This is a double day of racing, tune in to watch La Course and then again to see Le Tour.
Want a signed copy of Max Leonard’s new book “Higher Calling”? It was enjoyed and reviewed the other day here and now here’s your chance to win a copy with a simple quiz.
The first of two days in the Alps and a giant stage awaits. This year’s race has a theme of short steep climbs but today reverts to a classic Alpine route where duration and altitude matter more than the gradient… and so does the direction of the wind on the final descent because it will either reward or condemn an attack on the Galibier.