Garmin’s Genius

Last year’s video of Christophe Le Mevel soaring above the snowline was a good video and now Garmin have a fresh advert for their new devices featuring their team’s riders and of course the features of the product.

This blog isn’t in the habit of hosting ads for free nor wowing because a rider endorses a product. But a quick note about this clever promotion that explains the product but also exploits the obvious links to the team, famous riders and reaches out to the fans. Why isn’t every other cycling sponsor doing the same?

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2013 Pro Team Bikes

Movistar Pinarello bike

Here is the list of pro team bikes for 2013, now updated to include the 19 Pro Continental teams as well as the 18 World Tour teams that featured the other day.

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Giro Wildcards: The Luxury of an Impossible Choice

Michele Acquarone Giro

It’s easy to see the pick of three teams for the Giro as afterthought because the biggest and best names are automatically invited. But it’s not so, the wildcard picks are vital for the race, a chance to shape the Giro and take it to new audiences.

As well as the choice, the process and event itself is cleverly becoming a story and this is something other races should think about.

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Sunday Shorts

Albert Bourlon

Pierre Cogan died just days short of his 99th birthday. He was eleventh in the 1935 Tour and seventh in the 1950 Tour, his career cut in half by war. But he’d been known for an alternative longevity, that as the oldest Tour de France rider.

Now the title falls to 96 year old Albert Bourlon (pictured). It can’t be something to celebrate, as if you’re next in the starting hut for a time trial and there’s a clock ticking, only hopefully this time the ramp goes upwards.

But Bourlon could be an eternal rider for he holds the record for the longest solo breakaway in the Tour de France. He was away for 253km across the South of France, from Carcassonne and Luchon, to win Stage 14 in 1947.

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Roads to Ride: The Ghisallo

Colle Ghisallo

As the second part in a series exploring the famous roads of cycling, here is the Madonna del Ghisallo climb in Italy. The idea with this weekly series is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether its part in cycling’s folklore or to explore what it is like on a normal day without a race.

The Madonna del Ghisallo was described as “the poor man’s spaceship” by Italian writer Gianni Brera for the way it allowed someone with a bicycle to copy Neil Armstrong and go up to the heavens. It’s not the highest of climbs, perhaps the chapel at the top, a Catholic shrine to cycling, plays its part.

Some places can be significant in sport because of history but this is a climb that raises sports fanaticism to the exponential, propelling memorabilia and history into relics and spiritualism thanks to the chapel, the Pope and aided by sporting history and the stunning views.

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2013 World Tour Rider Age and Nationality

Jens Voigt

There are 507 riders from 43 nations registered with the 18 UCI World Tour teams for 2013.

The average age of a rider is 28 years and 2 months. The oldest rider is the 41 year-old Jens Voigt (Radioshack) whilst Vacansoleil-DCM’s Danny Van Poppel is the youngest pro aged 19.

Here’s a look at the 2013 peloton in numbers. There’s a look at rider age, the “oldest team” and also analysis of how many pros come from each country and more.

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Cycling Anthology and Calendar Giveaway Competition

Prendas Calendar 2013

Recent memory can displace the past but I think the first volume of Cycling Anthology should stand as one of the better cycling books of 2012. Here’s a quick competition to win a copy of the first edition, plus a Mémoires du Peloton photo calendar for 2013.

To win, just leave a comment below with your guess for the word count of The Cycling Anthology and we’ll see if the wisdom of crowds can do the rest.

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2013 Pro Cycling Calendar

With a new year, a new calendar. You can now see the upcoming races with with the Tropicale Amissa Bongo being followed by the Tour de San Luis in Argentina and then the Santos Tour Down Under whilst the Euro season-opener, the Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise is now in view.

The full calendar of mens and women’s pro races is at inrng.com/calendar or look for the link at the top of the page or see below to download a copy.

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Roads to Ride: Alpe d’Huez

Alpe d'Huez

As the first part of a series to explore the famous roads of cycling, here is the Alpe d’Huez in France. The idea with this weekly series is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether its part in cycling’s folklore or to explore what it is like on a normal day without a race.

Alpe d’Huez is first as it’s one of road cycling’s most famous routes, an Alpine theatre that has become famous and even had books written about it. Next summer the Tour will climb the road twice in one day.

But for all its fame, this is a new climb that only gained in notoriety during the 1980s where began to feature almost annually on the Tour’s route.

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