The last big race of the season and one of the most beautiful courses, Il Lombardia often has a wistful feel, the anticipation of a great race on a fine course but the nagging feeling that it’s all about to end.
This Saturday’s edition promises plenty with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard among the top contenders.
Remco Evenepoel is going nowhere, at least when it comes to his contractual future. But the story of interest from Ineos is revealing as making it public can destabilise things, the mere act of having to say he’s staying put is awkward just when his programme for 2023 is being decided and has generated a lot of column inches in Belgium. The plan seems to be the Giro but of course the Tour is a temptation.
With two weeks of the season to go there’s a wide gap for Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech to close, but now feel like stragglers far behind the peloton.
US President Joe Biden might have just declared the pandemic is over but for pro cyclists it certainly isn’t.
The sport’s adopted a set of rules to address the issues of racing with Covid but regardless of these protocols and despite everyone’s best efforts, the virus seems here to stay for a while and remains a chronic concern for athletes. Now worrying about bike racing feels like a narrow, almost petty focus, but given this is a cycling blog rather than a public health forum, we’ll stick with that.
The end of the season looms and the promotion and relegation race is heading to an even faster conclusion. The glorious uncertainty of sport is what makes it compelling but Lotto-Soudal need a series of fluke results to remain in the World Tour. Israel-PremierTech require a miracle or failing that, a lawyer.
One metre, two metres. Alexey Lutsenko might have fancied his chances in a two-up sprint but Remco Evenepoel wasn’t going to risk that. Evenepoel attacks on the penultimate climb up Mount Plesant and it’s going, going, Wollongong.
The final race of the World Championships is this Sunday and while some riders haven’t made the journey to Australia, there’s a galactic startlist an open course awaits that offers something for grand tour champions and one day heroes alike.
The sport’s governing body, the UCI, published a big document (PDF) yesterday setting out an agenda for the coming years. It runs to 126 pages and covers plenty, so much that achieving all of ideas inside is a tall order but it will set the direction for the sport’s governance in the coming years. It’s not just sports admin, it’ll affect the racing too.
Changes to the calendar, TV rights and team budgets could be coming. There will be discussions, debates and, over some issues, probably some big bust-ups.
You must have heard about the bird attacks on riders at the Worlds in Wollongong – to look at Twitter today has been to see Bauke Mollema – this blog can’t add much more. So have some alternative avian content instead… the image above is an advert for racing pigeons from Japan, snapped by ex-pro Fumy Beppu. Weirdly the birds have a cycling theme as the first pair listed, yours for 100,000 (about €700), are called “Good Kittel” and “Young Sagan”… presumably they pack a fast finish.
Another week, another update and with only a month of racing left, the story is the same with Lotto-Soudal and Israel-PremierTech facing relegation. Let’s take a closer look to see if their World Tour ambitions are done for.