Riis against time?

With the news that the Schleck brothers are to leave Bjarne Riis’s cycling team, time is running out for the Dane to find a new sponsor. The presence of the two lanky brothers is a real draw for any sponsor given the podium potential in the Tour de France. In the short term it’ll be … Read more

Five questions for Contador

Contador is such a favourite for the Tour de France that many are just wondering who will come second and third. But a bad day, a puncture, a crash and everything could change Indurain famously cracked in the 1996 Tour. More recently you could argue Cadel Evans would have won the last Vuelta and Giro … Read more

Cycling tips – what gear for the high mountains?

First time visitors to the big mountain passes often ask “what gear do I need“. But unless the question is followed up by a copious amount of personal information, from experience to wattages to ambitions then it’s almost on worth asking. So for those of you going to the mountains of Europe for the first … Read more

Small race, big crowds

Britain produces some very good riders but for a country visible from French shores, it does not have a much a race calendar. After all, only a handful of events are UCI-ranked, I think Slovenia has more. Many of the best British riders come from the track, not the road But thanks to Twitter I’d … Read more

In prase of cyclismag.com

Cyclismag.com is a French website that punches above its weight. It seems to pick up stories before everyone else, and it’s often quick to relay news from other media sources, making it almost a news aggregation service. It’s something I read almost every day and I’m not alone. British-owned Cyclingnews.com seems to collect a lot … Read more

National Championships

It’s now time for the national cycling championships across Europe. The right to wear a distinctive jersey for a year is something worth fighting for, it brings increased recognition but also extra earnings power as the rider becomes a default invitation for many criteriums. The Italian championship in particular looks hard and anyone other than … Read more

Rapha Fail encore?

When I wrote how Rapha got the French and Italian colours mixed up on their “Country Jersey”, it became the most popular item on here in March, thousands of people visited these pages, including, I think, some people from Rapha. Well now they have a new item in time for the Tour de France, the … Read more

Allez Les Bleus

If you haven’t lived in France – I’m not talking about a holiday – then you probably don’t understand how much life here can be politicised. It has its plus points but it means that even the little things become swept up into the big deal. No exception, the humiliation of the French soccer team … Read more

UCI allows disc brakes for cyclo-cross

It might seem odd to talk about cyclo-cross in the middle of the European summer but there’s a good rule change: disc brakes will be allowed. Legalize my Cannondale Disc brakes replaced cantilevers on mountain bikes many, many years ago. But it’s only now that the UCI has got round to allowing discs for cyclo-cross … Read more

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