The Christmas Holiday Quiz

A Christmas quiz with 50 questions. Some are obvious, some odd, most can’t be Googled and a few are fiendishly. By all means have a go and there’s a prize for the winner but most will probably find fun in testing themselves and seeing the answers that will appear here in the coming days.

Festive Greetings
1. Can you name the joyous Noël pictured above? He’s now a sports director with a large team.
2. Jesus H! Nothing blasphemous, just the first name and initial of two World Tour pros. Name them.
3. Which Danish pro has a name that sounds like Christmas?

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Who Will Make The Cut?

If the 2017 Tour de France does end up on the HC calendar for 2017 then a maximum of 14 out of 20 teams can come from the World Tour, meaning at least four World Tour teams won’t get an invitation to ride the Tour de France. The Tour is the biggest race with huge media coverage but every year even the most assiduous follower can forget a certain team is in the event. With this in mind which teams could be left out come July 2017?

If you’re into Schadenfreude then this could be a fun exercise but the real story behind this is the panic it will sow among several teams and sponsors.

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ASO vs UCI: The War Resumes

Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) issued a press release today saying it plans pull all of its races from the 2017 World Tour and register them as HC-status events in 2017. This isn’t a technical matter of labelling events but a huge issue for the UCI’s World Tour and the design of pro cycling.

It’s a bombshell but the fuse had been lit a long time ago. ASO look aggressive for deploying it and the UCI looks negligent for not defusing it.

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2016 Paris-Nice Route

Paris Nice 2016 map

The route for the 2016 Paris-Nice (6-13 March) is out. It lets us look through to the other side of winter to one of the first major stage races of the year. There’s a blend of old and new with familiar places alongside novelty like the introduction of gravel roads for one stage.

Already there’s a strong list of contenders with Richie Porte, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Fabio Aru and more. Here’s a look at the route and more.

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Book Review: “Parlons Vélo” with Marc Madiot

Parlons Vélo by Marc Madiot and Mathieu Coureau

It’s written in French so at first sight a book review may not be of great use to an anglophone audience but it’s a hook to write about Marc Madiot, share some legendary anecdotes and show some hidden sides to one of the sport’s bigger personalities.

Often seen as a hothead and a relic from the past there’s the story of a manager who, while Russian billionaires come and go, has lead one of the sport’s longest lasting teams and sponsorship deals.

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Tink-Off

Oleg Tinkov has said he’ll stop sponsorship of the Tinkoff team and sell the squad at the end of 2016. There’s no surprise, Tinkov has openly said it was a possibility, once telling La Gazzetta Dello Sport that he saw his team as a “toy” which he could get bored with. He’ll go with a wake of headlines but could there be others?

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The Return of Lightweight Bikes?

The UCI is slowly preparing to scrap the rule stipulating the minimum weight of a bike which says a road or track bike must weigh 6.8kg or more. It’s about time given some teams have resorted to dropping chains or lead weights down the seat tube to add weight but if the rule is scrapped there are more profound changes to consider.

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The New World Tour

Christian Prudhomme

The UCI announced it had reached agreement with teams and race organisers for the upcoming World Tour reforms in a press release this week. Tomorrow’s World Tour will look a lot like today. A lack of vision or sensible stability?

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Taxation Without Representation

What have world championship medallists Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and Ramūnas Navardauskas got in common? Aside from the obvious, they’re all forced to pay a share of their prize money to fund the CPA rider union. Only they’re second class citizens when it comes to getting their voice heard.

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