This Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix has to be the unique race on the calendar. Its cobbles are enough to make the Oude Kwaremont look new. The velodrome finish is unusual but the exceptions don’t end there, this is a race where reaching the showers has become part of the ritual. Even the name stands out, Roubaix is celebrated as a strong brand by the cycle-trade when in the reality it’s France’s poorest town and rarely something to celebrate.
All sponsors get a big and public message of thanks and it’s time to put US menswear designer NINOX on the podium for their support this April.
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Monday’s crash in the finish of the Tour of the Basque Country was horrific, the bunch was speeding inside the final kilometre, rounded a bend into the finishing straight to find two narrow iron bollards topped with traffic cones in the way. The first riders came around the corner just tight enough to avoid trouble, behind others could not see the obstacle. Some swerved at the last minute prompting the first falls before others hit the metal poles at full speed.
Racing is dangerous enough and there are safety rules and guidelines to protect riders. Only they’re vague because it’s too hard to set down firm rules for events that exploit open roads.
He’ll go in the breakaways, he’ll win bunch sprints, he’ll take 300km classics or morning split stages. Alexander Kristoff is a problem for everyone else how to beat him in Paris-Roubaix is the question worrying many team managers keen to salvage something from the final cobbled classic.
What do give you a billionaire for his birthday? Katusha team owner Igor Makarov has private jets, two luxury yachts and all the trappings you’d expect of a Russian oligarch. Fortunately there are things money can’t buy no matter how many Roubles you might have. Niki Terpstra tried to spoil things up the Paterberg, forcing the pace on the vicious 20% slope but there’s no cracking Kristoff and the sprint finish in Oudenaarde was a formality for Kristoff.
The greatest one day race in the world takes place on Sunday. Giant crowds, fierce climbs and more await. This year’s edition promises an open edition with no particular rivalries there’s a long list of contenders and pretenders.
More than the race resembles a mini-Tour de France, this race as an Alpine dress-rehearsal for the Tour, complete with an identical mountain stage and a comparable team time trial. Held between the 7 and 14 June, here’s a look at the stages and what to expect along the way.
Cycling’s imagery means that thoughts of spring don’t always turn to blooming flowers and warmer weather but instead generate dark images of leaden skies and muddy fields, Belgium at its most dismal. Another theme is the omnipresence of the Etixx-Quickstep team. The name has changed over the years but story remains the same, a team expected to deliver big results ahead of every other team. While some squads are delighted with a podium placing this one risk being blasted for “losing” the race should a rider come second.
Cycling fans are grouping together to form a lobby group called Association de Vélo de Route Internationale. AVRI will campaign on behalf of fans to ensure their voices are heard and stake a claim to share in the spoils of professional cycling and lobby for improvements to help fans such as better race websites and sharper TV production.
All eyes are rightly on Flanders in anticipation of this weekend’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, one of the best races in the world. All the more reason to take a quick look at a different subset of riders and evaluate where things stand for the Giro.