A broken duck Apparently kwak kwak and cuá cuá are the sounds a Flemish and Spanish duck makes. The cycling season is well underway but several teams have yet to break their duck and win a UCI-registered race this year. They are: Pro TourEuskatel – EuskadiOmega Pharma – Lotto UCI Europe TourAndalucia – CajasurCeramica FlaminiaColnago … Read more
Forget Sky, Radioshack or Quick Step, arguably Liquigas is the strongest team around. They’ve got Basso, Nibali, Pellizotti and Kreuziger for the overall honours in any stage race, they’ve got Bennati and Chicchi for the sprints, there’s Willems and Kuschynski for the classics and the likes of Quinziato and Szmyd to help make things happen. … Read more
This is part of a series of podcast reviews. I was going to review the Beyond the Peloton films later but Cervélo have just announced a new series of films for 2010, so here are my thoughts on their 2009 output. Beyond The Peloton Rather than an audio podcast, this is a collection of videos. … Read more
Having earlier picked Omega’s Jean-Christophe Perraud as one to watch this season, another ride to track is FDJ’s Yoann Offredo. Peraud’s early season success continued since I tipped him and it now looks like he could be riding the Tour de France. But Offredo’s season is more dependent on the coming weeks. You might have … Read more
Having blogged about riders’ names, where Boonen means beans and Cipollini is Italian for small onions, here’s another name: Campagnolo. What does campagnolo mean? It’s an Italian term that translates as someone from the campi or fields or more precisely… a country bumpkin. I’m not sure that’s the sort of image you had in mind? … Read more
RTL-L’Equipe – Carrément Vélo Ok, this is broadcast in French so I’ll keep this review quick in case it’s less appealing for you. But if you can understand French then, for me, this is probably the best bit of pro cycling audio. It’s a weekly radio show at 11.00 am CET every Monday morning, an … Read more
Don’t touch Milan-San Remo!As I wrote last week, Milan-San Remo is the longest race on the calendar but it all comes down to the final 20km. Reading the post-race comments it seems many people lament this. For many the race just isn’t exciting enough. But I don’t see why the race needs more climbs and … Read more
It doesn’t get more dangerous than an unlit tunnel. If you haven’t ridden in an unlit tunnel before, let me explain what it’s like. You suddenly go from daylight to dark and can’t see the riders around you, nor the road in front. The first time it happened, the tunnel had a bend in it … Read more
Valverde’s always been an interesting rider. He’s got a good position on the bike and is one of the rare riders in the bunch who can win a variety of races, from Liège-Bastogne-Liège to the Dauphiné Libéré to the Vuelta. But the Spaniard is under investigation for doping. This case has dragged on for a … Read more
It’s not got much coverage but the Lampre team’s existence has been under threat. The paperwork presented to the UCI before the season was deemed to have some “administrative errors” but this was code for a lack of funding for the team, the input of funds from all the team sponsors simply didn’t match the … Read more