The route had leaked out but today sees official confirmation of the Paris-Nice stages, starting on Sunday 6 March without a short prologue but a road stage instead. The 2011 “race to the sun” is also an edition with other differences, notably featuring a 27km time trial across the rolling hills of Provence. Stage 5 … Read more
A British Prime Minister once said that “a week is a long time in politics“, remarking how much can happen in the space of a few days, that fortunes can change and new stories come charging over the horizon. I’ve been away for a week and return to find the European racing season has started, … Read more
Eau yeah! Evian, Perrier, Vittel, Volvic: France is famous for its mineral waters. Once sold as a tonic in pharmacies, bottled water has become a worldwide consumer phenomenon. At first gracing the tables of wealthier types in Europe and North America, today it is also a ready source of clean drinking water in the developing … Read more
You might think the typical cycling fan owns a couple of bikes, gets up on a Sunday morning to ride and attends a bike race or two during the year to cheer on his favourite riders. Wrong. That may well describe you or a friend but the fact that you’re coming to a dedicated blog … Read more
Famous for its tyres, the French manufacturer hit upon the idea of encouraging the growing class of motorists to travel with a series of tourist guides. This spurned the imperious restaurant guide, where chefs have killed themselves after unfavourable reviews. But there’s also a series of maps. The series of folding 1:200,000 maps are … Read more
Above is a map of France. Look closely and you’ll see coloured dots marking where riders from each of the four main French cycling teams are from. I’d been wondering if the teams had any regional bias towards signing riders and finally got round to charting where the riders are all from. Bbox, now Europcar, … Read more
France is illuminated by flashing lights screaming “Pain”. Famously there’s a sign at the bottom of the Tourmalet that reads “pain”. But these aren’t clubs for sadists, nor warnings for cyclists, but bakeries. Pain is French for bread. The typical French bread is the baguette, meaning wand, as in magic. It’s a clever ruse since … Read more
I’m away this week on a sort of training camp. An old team mate has a vineyard in Sicily and in exchange for helping with the annual pruning of the vines, I’m getting a week’s worth of local food and the afternoons off to ride. Plus a lot of wine to take home. It’s rural … Read more
Ready to rock and roll Just a quick thought. Switzerland has long had a compulsory scheme where bikes have to be taxed and insured. Known in French as a vignette, cyclists have displayed a sticker on their bikes that’s been available in post offices each year, just as motorists need a sticker to use the … Read more
I’ve been doing The Inner Ring for a while now and try to cover a range of issues in pro cycling, including some commentary and debate. But sometimes it’s better to stand aside and let others have their say. So here’s the self-styled Mr Nik Bag TV, aka Bloggaholic, on Lance Armstrong: Who needs Mark … Read more