I could write a big preview for Het Nieuwsblad but the guys over at Pavé will probably do a better job. The opening race of the Belgian classics season is always interesting given the manic racing, the cobbles and yes, the foul weather that is expected. The route The 2011 edition is 203km long and … Read more
The cold European winter is finally beginning to lose its grip. Whilst it can still return with a snow flurry or icy rain, there are signs that spring is on its way. The tree buds are beginning to swell, some woodland flowers are beginning to emerge and for cyclists, the unmistakable colour of spring: the … Read more
I’d been meaning to look at the sponsoring future for Team Radioshack. The US team was built around Lance Armstrong but now he is retired, the sponsor’s interest is bound to be waning. Especially since the US electrical retailer has very little presence outside the USA. So what’s next for the team? Well I’d hinted … Read more
Here’s a post to satisfy fans of BigRingRiding.com. The latest edition of Vélo magazine has an interesting take on track cycling, reporting on the gears used over the years by the sprinters. 1970 Daniel Morelon 48×14 7.32 metres 1999 Florian Rousseau 49×14 7.47 metres 2001 Arnaud Tournant 50×14 7.62 metres 2011 Kévin Sireau 52×13 8.54 … Read more
This weekend marks what was once the proper start of the year’s racing season, in years past any event before Het Volk was effectively a training race. Now known as Het Nieuwsblad (“the newspaper”), Saturday sees the Belgian season start and it’s followed by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday. Many races in Flanders feature cobbles, from residential … Read more
I’m only just getting used to seeing Cavendish, Greipel and Farrar get the jump on Freire, Petacchi and McEwen. But several neo-pros have got off to a winning start already. You could say they are raring to go whilst big name sprinters are waiting for bigger objectives. But that doesn’t discount nor really explain their … Read more
Mark Cavendish is one of my favourite riders. He’s not to everyone’s taste but I’m impressed by the number of wins he’s got. Still just 25, he’s on the verge of overtaking some of the biggest sprinters in the sport. Cavendish took his first win of 2011 a few days ago in Oman. But if … Read more
I like Carlos Sastre. Not just as a rider, although his endurance and stamina are something, but the man too. He does a fair amount of charity work and tries to make a difference. He’s coming to the end of his career now and facing the possibility of never riding the Tour de France again. … Read more
As a user of Twitter I follow plenty of pros. In the last couple of days several of them have been posting near-identical excitable messages about the SRAM Red groupset. There’s a new version coming out in black. As far as I can tell it’s merely a change of powder-coating or anodisation. There is no … Read more
There was some interesting comment from Joe Lindsey’s Boulder Report blog on bicycling.com. Essentially his point was that the US media struggles to report cycling. Taking the example of a report from the Tour of Algarve, one American report said: “Tony Martin of Germany won the Tour of the Algarve in Portugal with a strong … Read more