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
This weekend sees the first “VDB Forever Classic”, a ride in memorial of Frank Vandenbroucke, aka VDB. Just over 100km long, the route goes from Steenhuize-Wijnhuize to Ploegsteert, VDB’s home town and now his place of rest. I hope readers don’t find his memorial too morbid, nor mawkish but it’s worth noting that the Belgian … Read more
It’s obviously very satisfying. Three years ago I lost the leader’s jersey on the first stage. This time I hope I won’t get caught out. Saur-Sojasun’s Jimmy Engoulvent, speaking after his prologue win in the Tour of Luxembourg, a repeat of his prologue victory in 2007. Only history repeated itself on the first stage, Engoulvent … Read more