Book Review: Mountains

Mountains by Michael Blann

Mountain roads have a special place in cycling, venerated and the subject of secular pilgrimages every summer. A lot of this makes sense, a ride in the mountains brings great scenery and many want to test themselves on the same roads as the big races. This book covers many of these famous climbs with fine photos but doesn’t stray into the mythology so often associated with these climbs. Instead the expansive photos capture the road and the environment around it, including all the artificial features from ski lifts to hotels.

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Ronde Van Vlaanderen Preview

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. This is an event of national importance in Belgium.

The headlines look to the rivalry between Peter Sagan and Greg Van Avermaet only there are plenty of others in contention. Here’s a preview of the race with the route, riders, TV and more.

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Shrinking Audiences and Unintended Consequences

Looking forward to the Giro? You must be, once glance at the start list and you feel like the astronaut David Bowman in the Arthur C Clarke novel “2001 A Space Odyssey” as you exclaim “my god, it’s full of stars“.

If you’re Dutch it’s even better as Steven Kruijswijk is back for revenge with Tom Dumoulin, Wilco Kelderman and Bauke Mollema all in the mix too. So far so good but broadcast deals mean the race will no longer be shown on the main public channels because the rights have been bought by Eurosport. This may pose problems for some teams and their sponsors as it means a shrinking audience.

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Team Victory Rankings

We’re already one third of the way through the season if measured by race days. As ever here’s a chance to review the wins and take a look at the teams and some of the stories around them from the Catalonia team time trial fiasco to Peter Sagan’s tactical woes and why Astana’s image as peloton villains doesn’t work if they can’t win a single race.

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GP E3 Harelbeke Preview

It may not be the Ronde van Vlaanderen nor Paris-Roubaix but in recent years this race has made up for its lack of history and dull name with some exciting racing to become one of the finest cobbled classics of the year. It’s unusual that it’s held on a Friday but being Belgium we can expect large crowds as usual.

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Roger Pingeon Obituary

Roger Pingeon, an early advocate of marginal gains and a fighter of adversity who often came off worse, has died aged 76, a few months short of the 50th anniversary of his 1967 Tour de France win.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: Milan-Sanremo

Only Milan-Sanremo can provide such a thrilling finish. The race seemed locked down until the Poggio when Peter Sagan accelerated. Sonny Colbrelli and John Degenkolb tried to chase but as you can see in the photo above, they could only watch as the world champion rode away from them, just as Michał Kwiatkowski and Julian Alaphilippe launch their move to get across.

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Milan-Sanremo Preview

The first Monument of the year, this Saturday’s Milan-Sanremo is all about the tense finish, the paradox of the longest race of the year that’s often decided in the final metres and one of the rare one day races where grand tour contenders and sprinters can each stake their claim. Who will keep their nerve?

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2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Route

The route for the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné has been presented today, a chance to project beyond the spring classics into summer. The Dauphiné is often seen in the shadow of the Tour de France because it borrows some of the same roads and acts a dress rehearsal for July, even with some copycat stages. It runs from Sunday 4 June to Sunday 11 June. Here’s a closer look at the route ahead.

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Roads to Ride: Nice to Sanremo

With Paris-Nice done and Milan-Sanremo coming up soon it’s only a short ride along the coast between their two finish lines. Along the way there’s plenty of interest to the sport, from fine climbs, star gazing and a cycle path that’s so good the Giro used it for its opening stage a couple of years ago. Plus the definitive answer to whether it’s San Remo or Sanremo.

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