The 40km Sprint

Matteo Pelucchi

A sprint royale today in Tirreno-Adriatico with Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and André Greipel only IAM Cycling’s Matteo Pelucchi won and Arnaud Démare was second. Still it was an exciting race and if we know Kittel bounced out and bounced his bike, what else happened is relatively unknown. Where did Pelucchi come from? Who led him out? We know the winner but with the sprints there more are questions that can probably only be solved by finding the race on Youtube or another site because sprint analysis is rare. In fact cycling rarely gets the data, metrics and analytics that other sports get.

Play word association with sprint and as well as naming fast riders, many will pick words like “final straight”, “last kilometre” or even “200m to go”. But if  this is the obvious culmination of the sprint it’s part of chain of events that started long ago in the race.

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Paris-Nice Stage 6 Preview


The Queen Stage of the race? Perhaps but as Christian Prudhomme’s revolutionary fervour rages royalist pretensions are out and instead of a regal mountaintop finish we get a short wall of a climb. But there’s nothing egalitarian about this finish, it’s highly selective and could well crown the winner.

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Paris-Nice Stage 5 Preview

A short stage that head directly south. They’ll cross the finish line once before tackling a second category climb and a descent back to town. If the route looks lumpy, the gradients are soft and the sprinters have their last chance to grab a stage win.

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Tirreno-Adriatico Preview

Tirreno Adriatico Trident TrophyIt’s mild in Italy and France right now and the two clashing stages races each share dreamy labels that conjur up the summer, with la course au soleil in France and now la corsa dei due mari, the race of the two seas, hence the giant Neptune trident as the trophy.

Starting today this race offers an exciting week with some wild stage finishes. As well as the immediate action it should offer some instructive moments as we see some big name riders clash. A lot of the focus is on the uphill finishes and who will win overall but the sprints will see Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and André Greipel go elbow to elbow too.

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Paris-Nice Stage 4 Preview

A stage of two halves with a flat start followed by a hilly finish as the race changes terrain abruptly with a finish on roads that read more like a wine menu than a bike race. After some skirmishes and sprints now the race will change with some sharp climbing.

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Roads to Ride: Mont Brouilly

Mont Brouilly

When the route for Paris-Nice was announced Mont Brouilly was one of the novelties. Announced with fanfare, race organisers ASO said this climb had sections at 25%, a number widely reported but ride it for real and it’s just not that steep.

Here’s a detailed look at the decisive climb for Wednesday’s Paris-Nice stage. There’s too much info to cram in a stage preview and so here’s a separate post along with notes on the surrounding area which offers fine riding and more.

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Paris-Nice Stage 3 Preview


Another day for the sprinters but the roads get hillier than the profile above suggests before the finish in the Magny-Cours motor racing circuit.

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Paris-Nice, a History of Innovation

With Paris-Nice on, time to look back at the race’s history.  Over the years it has welcomed exotic teams, transported riders by air and invented new race rules. Through the race’s history we can trace the evolution of the sport we know today.

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Paris-Nice Stage 2 Preview

Stage 2 is another for the sprinters but if you tune in for the last five minutes you risk missing the action. Sunday’s opening stage saw a dramatic finish with Nacer Bouhanni winning but one minute later a group of riders rolled in. Their chances took a real knock and it shows the tension and collateral damage. Today promises more of the same.

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Paris-Nice Stage 1 Preview

If anyone’s in a hurry to get to Nice this is a slow start because Stage 1 starts and finishes in the same place. It might be the longest version of the eight day race ever but the race will make up ground elsewhere. The opening stage should be for the sprinters but watch for others trying to poach bonus seconds or get an early march on their rivals.

Here’s the first of daily previews with route info and more from the weather to TV listings.

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