Slow motion pavé

A reader’s sent in a link to this Dutch video clip from Paris-Roubaix. Shot with a Weisscam, a German-made high speed digital camera capable of 4,000 frames per second, it captures surprising details in slow motion. You can see tubs deform on the cobbles and specks of dirt flying off the wheels. It’s so detailed … Read more

No more cobbles

Pavé

The mania for medieval roads is over. There might be one or stretches to come in the weeks and months, but gone are the races where cobbled climbs and farm tracks are the strategic points. Now the races begin to head to the hills and by the end of the month, the mountains. This isn’t to say we’ve not had hilly races, more that the focus of the sport has been on the Belgian classics instead of races like the Tour of the Basque country or Giro dell’Appennino. This is now about to change. The climbs are coming.

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Vansummeren’s turn

Vansummeren on the way to winning

What a race. What a season. I’ve seen enough racing this season to satisfy me for some time to come and Johan Vansummeren’s win today is one big part of all of this.

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What about the French teams this Sunday?

Sebastien Hinault Roubaix

They are not favourites but that’s no reason to ignore them. Paris-Roubaix is the only one of the five Monuments in France so I thought I’d take a look at the French teams and their chances and options for tomorrow. Plus there’s a quick look at France’s best chance, Sylvain Chavanel tacked on to the end of this piece.

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Showers for Roubaix

Roubaix showers

Paris-Roubaix must be the only race where the washing facilities make up part of the legend. The showers inside the velodrome are as much a part of the ritual as is the photo of the winner lifting the cobbled trophy in the air. Indeed can you name another sport where the showers or locker room is treated with the same reverence?

If you weren’t into cycling and from outside France, you’d probably never have heard of Roubaix. But maybe an artist would know of the town as it has an art gallery made from a converted swimming pool.

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Paris-Roubaix Tech

Mavic support Roubaix

Five points on the tech side ahead of this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race. The Tour of Flanders has pavé but things are a lot worse in Paris-Roubaix, these roads are simply brutal and unlike any other race on the pro calendar.

Tip and tricks from years past are reapplied. Mechanics spend days, if not weeks, getting ready for just this one race. Unique equipment is used, even team cars are adapted. Here’s a look at five things related to the tech side.

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Denis Galimzyanov

Denis Galimzyanov

Russian Denis Galimzyanov is one of the sprint revelations of the season so far. The 24 year old rider with Katusha was up there in the results right at the start of 2011 with placings in the Tour of Qatar and Oman before taking his first full win in the second stage of the Three Days of De Panne (note he’d won a TTT with Katusha in 2010) and took home the points jersey too.

Who is he? Well nobody knows. Katusha aren’t the most open of teams but this guy looks like someone you can’t ignore. I got curious and tracked down some info on him, giving myself a headache last night trying to recall my pidgin Russian to translate relevant info. For me at least it was worth it as it turns out he’s probably the only pro with classical piano skills. Plus he knows karate.

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Sky’s backer heads for New York

Team Sky continue to fascinate by their professionalism and new methods. The road team is just one visible element of the Sky sponsorship deal, the aim is also to back the Great Britain team ahead of the Olympics and the expected gold mine in the London velodrome. But for all the excitement generated by the arrival of a big sponsor into the sport, I wondered what financial interest Sky had in backing the sport.

James Murdoch and Dave Brailsford
Long distance sponsors: Murdoch and Brailsford

But one big factor in the sponsorship isn’t business, it’s personal. Sky’s James Murdoch is a keen cyclist who rides a lot, doing the Etape du Tour and other cyclosportives as well as hanging out with his riders.

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Cavendish wins “his” race

It’s not been the easiest start of the season for Mark Cavendish. Normally sprinters look to rack up wins in the early season, profiting from a time of year when the high mountains are closed to traffic, yet alone bike races. But he’s only had one win in Oman and other times have seen plenty … Read more

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