Paris-Tours Preview

Autumn’s here and with it, the last televised race of the year. Labelled “the sprinters’ classic”, this Sunday’s Paris-Tours might have a flat route but most of the winners in recent years have come from breakaways thanks to attacks launched late in the race. It’s this tension between the sprinters and breakaways that makes the race so thrilling.

Once a very prestigious race, Paris-Tours has slipped in status still provides a thrill worth watching. More so because it’s the last classic until the 2016 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, some 140 days away.

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Friday Shorts


Richie Porte wants to ride the Tour de France and Olympics. “I didn’t leave Team Sky for BMC just to target the Giro d’Italia” he tells cyclingnews.com. This has always been the plan and it seems the idea is to keep Tejay van Garderen on his toes, to provide internal competition for him as well as one of the most well-funded teams in the sport simply being able to buy a strong leader like this. Rohan Dennis has to fit into this too.

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2016 Team Q&A

Who is up and who’s down? In a press release issued last night 17 teams have applied for a World Tour licence in 2016 and some 20 have applied for a Pro Continental licence to ride in cycling’s second division knowing they’ll collect plenty of wildcard invitations for the big races.

No surprises but Dimension Data are not on the list for a World Tour spot but as we’ll see below, there’s a special procedure available if they, or anyone else, still fancies a promotion.

Several reader questions by email and Twitter following yesterday evening’s announcement. Here’s a Q&A on the teams, timing and more.

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2016 Giro d’Italia Route

Giro d'Italia map 2016

It leaked out the other day but RCS have today given full details of the 2016 Giro d’Italia route. All the stages are online at the Giro website but here’s a closer look at the route, the highlights and the likely contenders.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: Il Lombardia

Nibali dicesa descent lombardia 2015

Religion and sport combine once a year in Italy as the Tour of Lombardy passes the Ghisallo chapel. This year’s edition was a communion between Vincenzo Nibali and Italian cycling fans. With 16km to go Nibali attacks on the descent from Civiglio and uses his descending skills to distance a select group of climbers.

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Il Lombardia Preview

The course changes every year but the race remains the same, a long distance test across the plains, valleys and climbs of Italy’s Lombardia region, a scenic race for viewers and a technical challenge for participants with double-digit gradient climbs and numerous twisty descents.

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Thanks to Prendas

Prendas Ciclismo

All sponsors get a note of thanks and it’s time to show some gratitude to Prendas Ciclismo for their support over the last month and beyond. Their ad has been here since the Vuelta a España, back in those days when Tom Dumoulin was seen as a time trial specialist.

Loyal readers will know the British bike shop already as they’ve had ads here before and sell the INRNG caps, armwarmers and jerseys.

If Prendas are new to you they specialise in clothing and have a range of stock including vintage and retro items including the GS Carpano jersey, as worn by Fausto Coppi and perhaps the inspiration for today’s MTN-Qhubeka jersey?

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Wednesday Shorts

marcel kittel polska

Etixx-Quickstep have unveiled Lidl as a new sponsor for 2016, the German discount retailer’s commitment isn’t known yet but is expected to appear on the kit as a partner but the team’s name won’t change. It steps in just as construction materials group Renson pulls out after switching its allegiance to Giant-Alpecin for 2016.

In the other direction to Renson could be Marcel Kittel. Today brings news in Het Nieuwsblad that Marcel Kittel could move from Giant-Alpecin to Etixx-Quickstep, buying himself out of his contract to make the switch however cyclingtips cools things a bit.

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The Moment The Race Was Won – The Worlds

Richmond, city of tobacco and the home of the Lucky Strike brand. What better place for Peter Sagan to strike once? The Slovakian launched his attack on 23rd Street, flying past Greg Van Avermaet who’d had the same idea, only slower, and then using the twisting descent to extend his lead. This was the moment the race was won.

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World Championships Road Race Preview

An open course that’s got just enough difficulties for riders to exploit in order to slip the sprinters, Sunday’s men’s road race promises and uncertain race with tension that ratchets up lap after lap.

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