If a bike race is “first a tale of geography” there might not be much of story to tell from the Ladies Tour of Qatar and the men’s race next week. The stages proceed through a desert with few features and tactical points, just a road wide enough to land an aircraft. Even when people are watching the race, half of them have a bemused look, the same as Parisians watching a handicap camel race on the Champs Elysées.
But all this makes the racing unique, a minimalist form of the sport. Racing 101.
ASO have announced the route for Paris-Nice and here’s a quick look at what’s in store next month. With no time trials and no big summit finishes either it promises a tactical race for the puncheurs with steep ramps and walls to provide the suspense.
Here’s a video documentary from last night’s Informe Robinson show in Spain about Luis Ocaña, the 1973 Tour de France winner. It’s a Spanish production but with a lot of French audio thanks to interviews with Eddy Merckx, Johny Schleck and Ocaña’s French widow. Without subtitles it’s obviously not for everyone but if you’re patient you’ll find rich archive of video, photo and more in a slick package.
It’s also the chance for a book giveaway, with a free copy of Daniel Friebe’s excellent Eddy Merckx, The Cannibal book.
A prolific winner, Mark Cavendish is also a publishing phenomenon with two autobiographies out by the age of 28. After “Boy Racer”, this is the second instalment that tells the tale of his time with the Highroad team, his World Championship win in Copenhagen, the year with Team Sky and one season with OPQS.
Zdeněk Štybar wins the World Cyclo-Cross Championships. He only decided to start last Thursday. I can’t help wonder if this was a bluff, a way to deflect pressure? Because the idea of showing up at a World Championships at the last minute is rare but to win it is quite something else. Probably not but remember this day in case he’s a late entrant for Paris-Roubaix next April.
The season has started the Tour Down and the Tour de San Luis. But this weekend marks the return of road racing in the Northern Hemisphere with the Grand Prix d’Ouverture-La Marseillaise. With it comes a sense of familiarity and repetition and if there are only a few hours to go before this race starts you sense there’s another clock ticking too and this race along with others might have only a few years left on the calendar.
Set aside your Chris Horner jokes and say bonjour to Robert Marchand who at 102 years old has just done an hour record attempt and set a new personal best distance of 26.925 kilometres, pulverising his old record of 24km.
Chris Horner’s jobs saga is over with a one year contract with Lampre-Merida being announced today and so he’ll start his 20th season as a pro. It’s a triumph for his new agent Baden Cooke who is getting a lot of publicity out of the deal, valuable since he’s setting up a new agency. It’s the second time this week news of a big deals has emerged with Peter Sagan’s reported agreement to join the new Alonso team for 2015. Normally agents work in the background so here’s a quick look at their role.
The days of an easy winter are long gone for cyclists where some light riding and the odd bit of cross-training was enough to last you through January. Today Carlos Betancur’s extra kilos are the exception rather than the norm. If anything some pushing too hard in their winter training. Those returning from Australia to Europe get a climate shock from the cold that lasts for days, just as getting used to the heat was a problem on arrival.
The four invitations for the Tour de France have gone to Cofidis, IAM Cycling, NetApp-Endura and Bretagne-Séché.
Antoine Blondin once wrote the Tour de France was “primarily a story of geography” but these four invitations tell a story of gentle nationalism with home team Bretagne-Séché getting the nod ahead of MTN-Qhubeka.