Saturday Shorts

Thomas Voeckler got played yesterday. Shortly after finishing Liège-Bastogne-Liège the Frenchman made his way to Frankfurt airport to fly out to Gabon. Once a French colony, today an oil-rich state on the west coast of Africa with exceptional wildlife, Gabon also has an annual bike race, the Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Named after a member of the Bongo family that rules the nation, the race has a diverse field of teams with Europcar.

Sadly the results are hard to come by. I can’t see them on cyclingnews.com but instead the superb AstanaFans.com has coverage (in Russian) because the Astana development team are riding, and with some success. The photo above by Elena Ryabovol shows the conditions for one of the stage transfers with riders, staff and media loaded into a military transport plane.

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The Photo Finish Explained

Ever wondered why the spokes appear to bend in a sprint finish when you see the photo finish image from a race? Are the riders going so fast that they flex the spokes? Or is something else at work?

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“Biocashflow” wristbands

In the summer of 2010 I wrote about the Power Balance wristbands. They were almost fashionable for a while but also became the subject of ridicule and even police investigation.

Now it seems a similar concept is here, this time under the name of Bioflow and they are being endorsed by a leading Team Sky rider amongst others.

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Can the Leopards change their spots?

What is going on inside Radioshack-Nissan? There’s been some bizarre debate in public between riders and management over who gets to be the directeur sportif during the Tour de France. But this seems to be about more than just picking a manager for one month.

Let’s go back to 2010 when the Schleck brothers were riding for Team Saxo Bank under Bjarne Riis. During the course of the season there were rumours the brothers were working on a project for a new team. These were denied but in time Leopard-Trek was created. Fränk Schleck in particular was one of the driving forces behind this.

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Cycling and Politics

Cycling and coffee often seem to go together; but what about politics and cycling?

First here’s a bizarre brew of Colombian cycling and Italian politics. Then there’s a more general look at those who have tried to swap pedal power for political power.

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Tour de Romandie Preview

The Tour de Romandie starts today. The spring classics are done and the focus of the sport now shifts to stage racing.

If races were ranked by their websites, it’s the best race of the year. But Romandie is a great race in its own right with some big names on a good course and it’s all taking part just before the Giro d’Italia. Here’s a quick preview.

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Bringing Le Tour to your TV

You probably haven’t heard of Jean-Maurice Ooghe. But the man in the striped shirt above is responsible for the TV images of the Tour de France and several other races, including the Tour of California.

Whilst the cycling world might be thinking about the upcoming Giro d’Italia, Ooghe is currently doing his own Tour de France ahead of the race in July, visiting all the stage towns en route. Last week he was in the Pyrenees and on Sunday morning he was in Brive, the finish of Stage 18.

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Liège-Bastogne-Liège: The Moment The Race Was Won

For a while it looked like Vincenzo Nibali was going win Liège-Bastogne-Liège but he was reeled in with one kilometre to go by Maxim Iglinskiy and the Astana rider sailed past and soloed to the line, look carefully and you can spot the losing shade of lime green above. But perhaps this time there was no single winning moment and today’s race was instead defined by attrition and endurance?

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Liège-Bastogne-Liège Preview

The oldest one day race of the year. Liège-Bastogne-Liège might be in Belgium but it has over 4,000 vertical metres of climbing, comparable to an Alpine stage of the Tour de France. Steep climbs and twisting descents make this a supreme physical contest where there’s rarely a surprise win.

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The hidden climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the hilliest of the one day classics. Glance at the race profile and you’ll note 11 climbs on the route, plus the climb to the finish. These are described as côtes répertoriées, or “catalogued climbs”.

Only the race has many climbs that aren’t catalogued. One in particular is crucial as it is climbed with less than 20km to go.

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