Cycling has many season long stories and sub-plots if you know where to look. One of them is qualifying for the World Championships in September.Nations qualify via the UCI rankings and the more UCI points a nation’s riders have, the larger the team it can bring to support its contenders for the rainbow jersey.
Here’s a reminder of the qualifying rules for the men’s road race and a look at the current state of play before selection is made in less than a week’s time.
Cycling has to change. Too many races resemble each other and don’t attract the audiences they did 20 years ago. The economic model isn’t strong enough. Teams and races are struggling. We need change.
This could be a synthesis of Oleg Tinkov’s pinot noir induced Twitter rants but it could also sum up the state of cycling over a century ago. The Tour de France was born out of desperation, the mother of all newspaper promotion stunts and the event launched by Henri Desgrange in 1903 has become the greatest asset in pro cycling. Why? Because it makes people dream.
If you’ve got the post-Tour blues, it’s normal. July is what we want cycling to be, a summer party with the best riders and saturation coverage. August reminds us what pro cycling really is, with small races, patchy coverage and the white noise of scandal and bickering over money.
Patrick Lefevere described his Tour de France as one of highs and lows with wins and woes alike, typified by Zdeněk Štybar’s stage win in Le Havre. As he was raising his arms in celebration Tony Martin was floored on the tarmac with a broken collarbone. Lefevere said it was better than flatlining around France. The story of Etixx-Quickstep’s season is one of consistency with wins on all terrains and they top the table so far this season with 39 wins.
Yesterday brought news of a leak of blood values of 5,000 track and field athletes from 2001 to 2012 thanks a joint effort by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper and German TV channel ARD, whose 55 minute show you watch online for yourself.
Glancing at athletics, the sport seems to be in a similar position to where cycling was some time ago, not so much for the news that doping was widespread a decade ago but because of its response to the claims. The head of the IAAF, athletics’ governing body, called the report “a joke” but nobody has seen the funny side. Can cycling’s experience help?
Peloton, soigneur, bidon. The lexicon of pro cycling has many French words and stagiaire, French for “intern”, is the topic du jour. It refers to riders who join a pro team on a trial basis from 1 August to the end of the season.
The supporter jerseys are back in stock with Prendas Ciclismo. Made in Italy by Santini this is a lightweight jersey for summer. While stocks last.
The UCI published their annual report and accounts for 2014 the other day and there was too much going on in the Tour de France to pore over the finances of the governing body. Now it’s worth taking a look to see where things stand.
The 2016 Tour de France starts on Saturday 2 July with a 188km stage along the coastline and across Normandy before the finish in Sainte Marie du Mont, better known around the world as Utah Beach, one of the landing sites for the Allied Invasion of 1944. It’s a day for the sprinters. Perhaps we’ll see Mark Cavendish in the hunt for that elusive yellow jersey and a healthy Marcel Kittel in the mix.
Chris Froome attacks on the road to La Pierre Saint Martin, dropping Nairo Quintana, putting both time and doubts into all his rivals. This was the moment the race was won.
The conclusion of the 2015 Tour de France, the final stage is part victory parade, part criterium. The Champs Elysées are reserved for the riders, a privilege only accorded to cyclists and visiting heads of state. In the end a sprint finish.