A team time trial to start the Vuelta in Ourense, billed as the thermal spa capital of Galicia and a chance for the bigger and better teams to turn up the heat on their weaker rivals right from the start.
Who Will Win The Vuelta?
Chris Froome and Alberto Contador top the bill with a wide cast of contenders behind them, the likes of Esteban Chaves and Steven Kruijswijk are looking to build on their experiences from the Giro while Nairo Quintana and Tejay van Garderen are among those looking to salvage something from a season that has yet to go to plan. Then come a new wave of stage races like Miguel Angel Lopez, Simon Yates, Pierre Latour and Warren Barguil to name just a few.
It makes for a fascinating contest with varying degrees of motivation and fatigue and all on a testing course with more summits than the United Nations and most riders have not bothered with route recons.
Lucien Blyau Obituary
Lucien Blyau has died on his 91st birthday. He was one of the characters of the Tour de France and beyond, a dedicated supporter and quencher of thirst.
Vuelta iCal
Time flies. The track programme’s finished at the Olympics and for road cycling fans the next big event is the Vuelta a España which starts this Saturday. Here’s a calendar of all the stages for your diary.
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.
If Cycling Was Swimming
Track cycling begins today with a six-day programme to determine 10 gold medals, five for the men and five for the women. That sounds like a a lot given track cycling is a niche within cycling when compared to the road and its four gold medals but that’s half the fun of the Olympics, to see contests that don’t appear so often. Only if indoor cycling was indoor swimming there would be 32 medals up for grabs and the chance of winning titles multiplies given the repeat chances of comparable efforts.
Olympics Time Trial Preview
The final road event of the Olympics, the time trial is open to many but unlike the road race the medal prospects seem to be reserved for a select few. Here’s a quick look at the course, the contenders and the start times.
The Moment The Olympics Were Won
Anna van der Breggen wins the sprint by the Copacabana beach. A top pick for the race the manner of her win was unexpected as she and the other medal contenders had been dropped on the final climb to the Vista Chinesa only everything changed when her team mate Annamiek van Vleuten had a horror crash on the final descent, going from the race-winning move to an ambulance. This crash was the decisive moment of the race as van Vleuten was well ahead and could count on her time trialling abilities to take her to the line.
The Moment The Olympics Were Won
Greg Van Avermaet crosses the finish line in Rio. The obvious winning moment and in the absence of many photos from the race the image is a good cue as it shows him well ahead of Jakob Fuglsang and Rafał Majka. The Belgian arrived with these two rivals and the result seemed inevitable given his sprinting ability, a rare moment of certainty in a wild and unpredictable race.
The actual winning moment came with 70km to go when Van Avermaet jumped on the Vista Chinesa climb along with Damiano Caruso and Geraint Thomas, a move that put him at the front of affairs.
Men’s Olympic Road Race Preview
The Olympics come to town and what better way to show off Rio de Janeiro than a bike race under the gaze of the Cristo Redentor statue, past the Copacabana beach and a coastal run that includes cobbles, climbs through the jungle and some tense descents. It’s a fine route and add to this a stellar starting list, small teams to make the race uncontrollable and it makes for a mouthwatering weekend of racing.