On Thursday Stage 4 of the Dauphiné goes to Risoul, the first summit finish of the stage race. It’s a climb that’s not been used much before, so here is a brief introduction: Risoul ProfileClimb By Bike has the full profile and states “the Risoul – Station ascent is 14 km long. Over this distance, … Read more
I see this morning that pro squad Ceramica Flaminia is offering contracts to the best riders in the baby Giro or Girobio. This race is a mini Tour of Italy for riders aged under 27 and its list of winners includes many who went on to star in the real Giro d’Italia. Only this offer … Read more
Have you seen Kim Kirchen? The Luxembourg rider had been a force for several years, culminating in his stunning 2008 season where the Luxembourger won the Flèche Wallonne, took stages in the Tour of the Basque Country, the Tour of Switzerland, the Tour de France and many other prizes. Alive and well? Kirchen was so … Read more
I’ve reviewed the Velocast podcast and will repeat that it’s a great listen. Now to my surprise, this blog was briefly mentioned on their latest podcast. The guys had read my posting on the Dauphiné prologue and the fact that I saw Millar and Contador warming up on the course whilst the race was on. … Read more
Team Sky gives it riders a lot of choice over kit, for example riders can pick the length of their shorts or the style of their mitts. I’m not sure these tiny details offer many marginal gains but we all have our preferences and it’s nice to be able to choose. For example maybe you … Read more
Spanish sports paper Marca has a scoop on the team invites for the Vuelta a Espana. 22 teams will take part, of which 16 were known in advance: Spanish squads Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Footon-Servetto, plus the following foreign outfits: Columbia, Liquigas, Astana, Rabobank, Omega Pharma, Cofidis, Lampre, Quick Step, Milram, Saxo Bank, Ag2r, Fdjeux … Read more
In case you haven’t seen it, take a look at the Cycling Quotient website as it’s got a good ranking system and the subrankings are fun. Here’s a screenshot of the “most kilometres raced” rankings where you can see who has been racing the most this season, at least in UCI category .1 races and … Read more
I’d struck gold and managed to get a work assignment in Geneva at the back of last week and stayed the weekend to ride in the Alps and then watch the Dauphiné prologue in the smart lakeside town of Evian. First up, you’ve seen Didi Senf, the roadside Devil, who is a fixture at bike … Read more
Take a look at Cycling Quotient’s team rankings, or see the screenshot below: These are the ProTour teams which explains why the “ranking” column has gaps. Liquigas-Doimo are at the top of the table for now, not surprising given their excellent Giro but they have been taking wins everywhere this season. Now Footon-Servetto are at … Read more
We’re marching all the way to Aigle There’s sometimes a fear in France of “anglo-saxon” influence, although it’s more often a misunderstanding. For example some fear their cuisine is being overtaken by le fast food, worry that Aussie wines could flood the French market, or that the European Commission in Brussels is imposing free-market reforms … Read more