The Tour Med finished on Mont Faron today with Jean-Christophe Péraud winning the stage and Stephen Cummings finishing close behind in fourth place to win the race overall. The podium photo shows riders each with a story to tell.
The Cyclist’s Eye on Skiing
A departure from the usual talk of pro cycling now the Winter Olympics are in full swing. As someone used to watching cyclists in competition there are many crossovers from the impressive VO2 max scores of the XC skiers to the importance of aerodynamics in downhill skiing.
But what of aerodynamics? Looking at the Alpine ski events there seem to be many things where the skiers could take time for free. Taking the screengrab above with Italy’s Verena Stuffer for illustration. The more you look, the more you see.
Le Tour Med Preview
A quick preview of this five day race starting today in France. It’s a event that offers something for everyone with stages over 200km in length, a time trial as well as a steep summit finish on Mont Faron to settle things on Sunday.
It’s not on TV but worth scanning the results over the next few days because this is a hard event that should reveal who is in form.
The Kemmelberg: Belgium’s New Toll Road
Belgium, the heartland of cycle sport where the popularity level of bike racing is greater than any other country in the world. But if it’s a popular sport in the Kingdom, not everyone loves it and there’s growing trend to charge bike races for riding through a municipal area and now even the Kemmelberg is getting in on the act with a new tax for races.
UCI Witness Appeal
CAN YOU HELP? From 1998-2013 a series of anti-doping offences were committed. Did you see or hear anything? If so, contact the UCI.
The UCI announced that its Lausanne-based Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) is now seeking witness testimony from people in the cycling world. Here’s hoping it works but the incentives to come forward look slimmer than Michael Rasmussen from July 2007. All the same the CIRC is an attempt to understand and even document the past.
ASO say “Non” to Project Avignon
The city of Avignon is famous. Once the home of the Papacy many also know it for the song about dancing on the bridge. It’s also where many of pro cycling’s top teams gathered last summer to find new ways to reshape the sport. But just as the famous bridge is broken it looks hard for the pro teams to build bridges.
Sunday Shorts
Taylor Phiney won the overall classification Dubai. You feared he’d be outclassed by his hairstyle but a big time trial performance, some competent team work and his sprinting meant his overall lead was safe all the time. If he had a great race Marcel Kittel’s surely had the best week, three sprint wins and over a variety of terrain and different scenarios.
If this was supposed to be the start of the Mark Cavendish vs. Marcel Kittel it might look like 3-0 to the German. Kittel’s consistency impressed, especially on the stage to Hatta Hill where he surged to the line to surprise everyone. But Cavendish made the same group that day when many other sprinters did not and lost out another day with a mechanical.
Roads to Ride: Col de Marie-Blanque
A scenic road borrowed many times by the Tour de France, the Col de Marie Blanque will often tempt many cyclists visiting the Pyrenees. But there’s a difference: it’s much steeper than your average Pyrenean pass, a fact that’s ruined the day for tourists and Tour riders alike.
Forbidden Races
The years go by and the story remains the same. Loyal readers will remember the subject of “forbidden races” from before, namely events run outside of the remit of the UCI and its member national federations. Such events include many US mountain bike events, French road race, English time trials and more. Under the UCI rules anyone caught taking part in one of these events gets a ban and a fine.
The rule had existed for years but like too many sections of the UCI rulebook, it was ignored. Until this time last year when the UCI ordered national federations to start enforcing it only to get pushback, especially from the US when it was pointed just how many cyclists it would annoy. Within weeks it was decided that instead of enforcing the rule, the rule would be suspended. Now the UCI has quietly confirmed the suspension continues into 2014. It’s good news but still bizarre to see the UCI announce it won’t enforce its own rules.
Qatar: Racing 101
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.